Tanzania: A Grand Family Safari (11 Days) 

     Arrive Arusha, Tanzania and your family Africa tour begins with departure from Kilimanjaro International Airport. A transfer is included from Kilimanjaro International Airport to Arumeru River Lodge – get a good night’s rest! An African safari is truly one of the world’s greatest adventures – and it begins with the departure of your family's Africa tour in the morning.

     A choice of adventures awaits you today! Join an experienced local guide on a game drive in Arusha National Park to look for gentle giraffes, boisterous baboons, colorful flamingoes and big buffalo. Or, hike with us up the Merengu trail in Kilimanjaro National Park, home to inquisitive monkeys, doe-eyed antelopes and abundant birdlife. After your hike, meet a member of the Chagga tribe, whose terraced farming techniques have helped conserve this amazing natural habitat. Take a closer look at their 300-year-old customs when you go inside a multi-generational private home and learn about daily life on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. Everybody meets back at the lodge for a welcome dinner tonight. (B,L,D)

     Your family's Africa tour continues as you head to Tarangire National Park today, immortalized by many movies about Africa. Take a look at the classic African savannah studded with baobob trees and the wildlife-rich plains of the Serengeti. Hop aboard our open-topped safari vehicles for a game drive. Look for big cats lounging under baobab trees or elephants cooling off at a watering hole. Join the Maasai in a tribal dance this evening and have dinner in a traditional boma. (B,L,D)

     This safari and Africa tour ensures an up-close look at daily life in the African bush when you learn how to make beaded handicrafts with the Maasai and see how paper is made from elephant dung. Add afternoon and nighttime game drives where you see wildlife during the day and in the dark, and today's adventures will create shared memories that last lifetimes! (B,L,D)

     Discover what life is like for the Maasai when your Africa tour takes you to visit an authentic Maasai boma and spend some time at a local school. Enjoy a game drive into Lake Manyara National Park en route to Kiratu; look for baboons, pink flamingos and great birds of prey from your safari vehicle! Your accommodations for the next two nights are at an authentic farmhouse on a 500-acre coffee plantation, facing the Oldeani Volcano. (B,L,D)

     See how coffee is picked and processed at a local coffee plantation. Spend the remainder of the day at the lodge where you'll be staying, with ample time to explore, enjoy the pool and savor great views from your verandah. (B,L,D)

     One of the best places in Africa to spot the Big Five – elephants, leopards, lions, buffalo and the rare black rhinoceros – ancient Ngorongoro Crater is home to almost every species in Africa, except the giraffe who can't negotiate the steep incline down. A game drive and picnic lunch on the crater floor offer ample opportunities to spot lions, cheetahs, hippos and lots of birds. While the crater has been cradling Africa's wildlife for thousands of years, nearby Olduvai Gorge in the Great Rift Valley is thought to be the home of mankind's earliest "people." See the place where Louis and Mary Leakey found the fossilized remains of one of the first humans to walk upright and continue on to an exclusive tented camp – reserved just for you and your fellow travelers! Learn some Swahili tonight around the campfire, mastering such words as "jambo" (hello), "kwa heri" (goodbye), "simba" (lion) and "ninafurahia" (I am having a great time!). (B,L,D)

     Rise early for a hot air balloon ride at dawn over the vast Serengeti as animals, large and small, start a new day in the African bush. This afternoon's game drive with a local guide offers up-close encounters with zebras, hyenas, elephants, jackals and more. Share stories around the campfire tonight on this fascinating family Africa tour. (B,L,D)

     Make tracks for the western Serengeti, a great place to see the wildlife of the region. Morning and afternoon game drives showcase Africa untamed, as you view lions, giraffes and zebras, along with the creatures said to have been put together with spare parts, the African wildebeest. Spend two nights in a tented chalet off the beaten path for a unique safari experience. (B,L,D)

     Your riverfront lodge in the western Serengeti enables you to savor the African landscape as you wish. Enjoy morning and afternoon game drives in the western corridor of Serengeti National Park. Here you can often see wildebeest and large numbers of lions, and cheetahs, as well as herds of giraffe and zebra – a most unforgettable spectacle of Africa's circle of life. Equally impressive are Africa's magical sunsets, which out here are celebrated at traditional "sundowners." Enjoy your final night on safari at a sundowner at your lodge, followed by a farewell dinner. (B,L,D)

     Your amazing Africa tour concludes after a flight back to the city of Arusha. Flights departing Africa leave late tonight; we have reserved a day room for you at the Arumeru River Lodge so that you can repack and relax as you wish. A transfer is included from Arumeru River Lodge to Kilimanjaro International Airport this evening. Your family Africa tour ends at Kilimanjaro International Airport. (B,L,D)