12 Days Honeymoon - romantic Safari
Moshi - Lake Manyara National Park - Serengeti National Park - Zanzibar - Ruaha National Park
Highlights
Tanzania celebrates its authenticity with this romantic 12-day journey through the north and south.
Safari, beach, culture, mountain…it’s an intimate trip, connected by domestic flights and enhanced by beautiful accommodation in the country’s top destination.
Blending iconic impressions with off the beaten track exclusivity, this is both a journey into ancient animal kingdoms and a meander through a millennium of history and culture.
Best time to visit : June to October
In the early evening, you will arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport in northern Tanzania. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to look through the window and see the summit of the Mount Kilimanjaro, gleaming white and dominating an iconic-looking African bushveld. Kilimanjaro International Airport is small and relaxed, a gentle introduction to Tanzania just 60 minutes outside Moshi.
Karibuni sana! You will be met on arrival and transferred to a lodge on the outskirts of Moshi Town, nestled in the foothills of the mountain and surrounded by a curtain of greenery.
A relaxing day takes you through the foothills of the world’s highest free-standing mountain, the green slopes of Kilimanjaro, with drives through coffee plantations and welcoming villages.
This half-day culture and coffee tour offers genuine interaction with the locals as well as endearing impressions of Tanzania. Visit the local plantations and savour the freshness of the beans as a guide shows you the entire process of coffee production from farm to cup. As you might imagine, a fresh cup of local coffee is always a highlight.
Continue the drive through the forested foothills and spend an hour in a small village overlooking Mount Kilimanjaro. The children wave enthusiastically and the elders say “karibu” or “welcome” to provide the translation from Swahili.
You return to your lodge in the afternoon and have the rest of the day at leisure. There are a number of international and local restaurants in Moshi, and the lodge can arrange transfers in and out of town.
Meals: Breakfast
A chorus of birds greets you at the entrance to Lake Manyara National Park, hornbills screech from the treetops as you meander into the park’s interior. Hundreds of endemic species fly around the park and flutter over your periphery as your guide leads you through Manyara. Baboons charge across the path, giraffes can be found at the edge of the forest and herds of elephants provide intimate moments.
First safaris are always impressive. With so many new impressions, your eyes are constantly darting around, trying to take in the wildlife. Half hidden in the branches you may find tree-climbing lions, out on the lake there may be a blanket of flamingos, and the herds of ungulates are always a colourful sight.
Lake Manyara is compact and easy to explore; you don’t need a long game drive to see everything, and the leisurely pace ensures that you can fully enjoy the natural surroundings.
Meals: Breakfast, packed Lunch, Dinner
Tanzania’s wilderness is well connected. Traveling by land could take days, the poor road quality actually helping to maintain the authenticity of the landscape. Travelling by plane is much faster. You’re are picked up by Airstrip Lake Manyara and flown off onto the Serengeti, the small plane swoops deep over a landscape of grasslands and wildest herds. Each destination on this route is connected by these short scheduled light plane trips that take you from the hinterland to the hinterland and provide elegant impressions of Tanzania’s scale. Land in the Serengeti and you are on the trail of the great wildest migration.
About 2 million mammals migrate through the Serengeti with the seasons, the wildebeest and zebra connected by predators. Views of this natural wonder come directly from your camp, so sit back and watch the show. Gourmet meals and drinks are served at your verandah and there is virtually no one else in sight. Romantic holidays often necessit solitude and escapism; seemingly infinite Serengeti is characterized by this promise, the atmosphere that you and your partner prefer.
Rest in the camp before an afternoon gamedrive ensures increasing familiarity with the mammals of Tanzania. So many hooves draw a divine collection of predators and two days is enough time to try to discover all the famous big cats.
Meals: Breakfast, packed Lunch, Dinner
A full day of game drives in the Serengeti is all about surprise. Marvel at the vast herds as they graze along the horizon, tens of thousands grouped together and fringed by clouds of dust. Approach slowly and there’s panic, zebra and wildebeest charging in multiple directions with expressions of trepidation. Amongst lions and leopards, cheetahs and hyenas are also around, further toothed predators that patrol these gaping grasslands.
The Serengeti is Tanzania’s most famous safari destination and it never disappoints. Admire hippos as they wallow in swamps and lakes, spot impressive elephant bulls crossing the landscape, and come across large buffalo herds as you explore.
For all the individual sightings there’s an encompassing beauty and natural hue to the Serengeti. Everywhere you turn there’s a photo to be taken, even if there’s nothing but a hundred gazelle grazing in the grass. Lake Manyara provides the introduction to safari while Serengeti offers the ultimate reward. Game drives are longer but the quantity of mammals defies the imagination.
Sometimes it’s difficult to find an angle without a 10.000 strong herd of wildebeest. Like yesterday, after the thrill of the game drive comes the tranquility of camp. Sit back and listen. Silence. Now you hear a trumpeted sound in the distance and slowly the elephant walks past. Silence again. Now a lion roar perforates camp and the two of you sit back in this haven of part solitude, part wild adventure.
Meals: Breakfast, packed Lunch, Dinner
A small bushplane fly you across the Serengeti to the next of Tanzania’s renowned destinations.
You arrive in tropical Zanzibar and your first night is spent in Stone Town, a living breathing UNESCO World Heritage site that ripples with old-world atmosphere. The Islamic call to prayer elegantly flickers across the rooftops and old cathedral remains. Hindu temples join the harmonious religious mix and labyrinthine streets offer mesmeric journeys that entice the senses.
Your hotel is situated in a historic converted building, complete with intricately adorned wooden doors and an ambiance of enchantment. Open the luxury room window and this ancient town cascades down before your eyes. Today is left free for you to explore at your own pace, although it is possible to book a guided tour of Stone Town. Without a guide you’re likely to get lost, but that’s all part of the fun. Whether it’s in Arabic or Swahili, the locals are always welcoming and eager to point you in the right direction.
Meals: Breakfast
Stone Town is just one part of Zanzibar’s beauty. A soporific loop of white sand fringes the island, the beaches lapped up by gentle Indian Ocean rollers and exuberantly green palms.
You’ll be transferred to a quiet and beautiful beach on the tip of Zanzibar. For three days you escape into this beach paradise. Daily snorkeling or there’s the opportunity to check out some of Zanzibar’s finest dive sites with both the macro and micro of the underworld world ever-impressing. With a romantic hideaway at the beach and a vast green canopy providing the backdrop, these three days serve up a compelling contrast to the safari and culture. Dolphins occasionally swim past, traditional wooden dhows, hollowed out canoes, make for easy half-day marine trips and the beach provides a lasting impression of tropical charm.
Enjoy seafood meals and sundowner drinks served on the sand. So relax, remove your watch, and allow the hours to float into days and the seclusion to enhance this romantic vacation.
Meals: 3x Breakfast
Ruaha provides the final piece of your romantic safari. The park is all about the utopian scale demanded by the big predators and largest mammals. Ruaha’s additional trick is to provide enhanced accessibility, so two days have been dedicated to the park in this itinerary. Full-day gamedrives delve deep into the heart of this glorious park, each loop bringing forest adventure and journeys into the unknown.
Again, it’s unlikely you‘ll see another safari jeep and there’s a marvelous reeling of being transported into a primeval landscape. Wildlife occasionally has to be shooed from the runway here, an example of how the development of tourism has remained low-key.
Meals: Breakfast, packed Lunch, Dinner
Your guide can take a number of routes that are dependent on your interests. They may seek to find an iconic sight that’s eluded you so far. Alternatively, the itinerary could focus on your safari favorites, like spotted cats or the bulldozing trails of rhinos. Ruaha is a haven for a full range of wildlife and a myriad of habitats take you through the home of each characterful cast. The antelopes on the forest edge, hippos along the riverbank, elephants and birds patrolling the trees, then nomadic herds crossing vast plains.
Like always, the game drive runs at an easy pace, so there will be lots of opportunities to enjoy a quiet hour overlooking the landscape together.
Meals: Breakfast, packed Lunch, Dinner
Despite being in the indelible heart of the wilderness, it’s not long before you’re back to modern civilization.
The flight takes you directly from Ruaha to Dar es Salaam where a Team Assisant from Afrimine Tours is on hand to assist you with transferring to international departures. lt’s goodbye to Tanzania and goodbye to Africa but you’re already planning when to return.
Meals: Breakfast
WHAT'S INCLUDED
- Flights as in program
- All accommodation
- English speaking Safari Guide
- Private Land Cruiser 4 x 4
- All Park Fees
- All Government Tax
- Drinking Water during Safari
- Accommodation in Zanzibar
- Meals as in program
NOT INCLUDED
- Alcoholic Drinks at your accommodation
- Personal needs
- Tips
- Activities in Zanzibar