Visit Olduvai gorge, one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world, Engaruka - famed for its irrigation and cultivation system, and the cultural heritage at the coastal cities of Tanzania
Trip Summary: Student’s trip in Archaeological sites such as Olduvai gorge, Engaruka, Laetoli, etc. Olduvai gorge a geological and palaeontological site, which is the one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world and has been instrumental in furthering understanding of early human evolution, Engaruka is an abandoned system of ruins in the Great Rift Valley of northern Tanzania, famed for its irrigation and cultivation system. It is considered one of the most important Tanzanian archaeological sites, and also a travel to some national parks of Tanzania such as Saadani National park a place where the beach meets the bush and also has many different wild animals and plants and Udzungwa Mountain National Parks which is the one of Tanzania’s most outstanding, pristine, paradise and unique exciting wilderness mountains forested with greatest altitudinal range of forest. It is one of thirty-four “World Biodiversity Hotspot” and one of 200 WWF Ecoregion of global critical importance, and the cultural heritage at the coastal cities of Bagamoyo and Kilwa and beach of Tanzania mainland.
Day 1: LAETOLI/OLDUVAI GORGE In the morning drive to Ngorongoro Laetoli archaeological site for viewing the footprints of the three Australopithecines, which have been preserved for some 3.6 million years. Those footprints are the proof that our Australopithecine ancestors were bipedal, and walked in a modern manner, heel first, and then toe. In the afternoon transfer to Olduvai Gorge the archaeological site for viewing the richness of fossil fauna, many hominid remains and items belonging to the one of the oldest stone tool technologies, called Olduwan. The time span of the objects recovered date from 2,100,000 to 15,000 years ago. Launch, dinner and overnight in Ngorongoro.
Day 2-3: ENGARUKA After breakfast, transfer to Engaruka archaeological site for viewing the place where the Iron Age in East Africa discovered and to see some remains of the Iron Age tools, which where discovered there. Launch, dinner and overnight in Engaruka and one the next day visit the villages around Engaruka and learn their culture, after launch by 15:00 drive to Arusha. Dinner and overnight in Arusha.
Day 4: TANGA After breakfast, drive to Tanga with packed launch. Dinner and overnight in Tanga.
Day 5: AMBONI CAVES After breakfast, drive to Amboni Caves with packed launch for viewing the remains of bones of early human beings and animals and to see the practicing of various spirits of local tribes which, filled with offerings like obsidian blades and pottery. Fertility offerings are also made at one of the shrines. The caves were formed during the Jurassic Period, over 150 million years ago, and lie mostly underground. In the evening go back to Tanga town. Dinner and overnight in Tanga town.
Day 6-7: SAADANI NATIONAL PARK After breakfast, transfer to Saadani National Park for game viewing. Next day in the afternoon drive to Saadani village where there are ruined walls of Arab built fort that was used as a holding cell for slaves and then a customs house during the German colonial times. Visitors can take part in a cultural program offered in the village to learn about local life and the history of the area. All meals and overnight in Saadani.
Day 8: BAGAMOYO After breakfast, transfer to Bagamoyo, which is the historic town where there is Kaole Ruins are a major attraction just south of Bagamoyo. The ruins date back to the 13th C and consist of two mosques and 30 tombs. The older of the two mosques is thought to date to the third or fourth C, making it the oldest mosque on the mainland of East Africa. The mosque provides evidence indicating early contact between Africa and the Islamic world.
The ruins can be reached on foot by following the beach past Kaole village and in to the mangrove swamps, the stone pillars are quite noticeable and will act as your guide, or visitors can travel the road past the College of Arts.
Day 9-10: KILWA KISIWANI AND SONGO MNARA ISLANDS After breakfast drive to Kilwa (Lindi) with packed launch and dinner and overnight in Kilwa sea view resort campsite. On the next day after breakfast, sail by traditional dhow to Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara islands with packed launch for historical tour. Late afternoon sail back to the mainland to relax on the beach. Dinner and overnight at Kilwa Seaview Resort campsite.
Day 11: SELOUS GAME RESERVE Early morning, drive to Selous game reserve for game viewing with packed lunch and proceed with Boat Safari till evening overnight in selous campsite.
Day 12: SELOUS GAME RESERVE After breakfast drive for whole day tour. Selous Game Reserve is the largest game reserve in Africa (second largest in the world). Selous holds large numbers of wildlife, most of it along the mighty Rufiji River. Due to seasonal flooding, it has created along its course many permanent lakes which are centers of wildlife activity. In addition to a large population of elephants, there are buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, waterbuck, eland, lion, leopard, wild dogs, hippo, crocodiles, etc., and over 350 species of water and land birds. Only in Selous one can experience the thrill of a walking safari, which assures close contact with wildlife.
Day 13: SELOUS GAME RESERVE After breakfast walking safari with game ranger for 2-3 hours and in the evening, game drive back to the camp. Launch, dinner and overnight in Selous game reserve.
Day 14: MIKUMI NATIONAL PARK After breakfast drive to Mikumi National Park. The main feature in the Mikumi National Park is the flood plain of Mkata River, together with the Uluguru mountain ranges which border the park on two sides. The flood plain is largely open grassland and is bordered in the west and east by wooded grassland and intermediate vegetational zones which merge with miombo woodland. Animals include elephants, giraffes and lions. Launch, dinner and overnight in Mikumi National Park.
Day 15-16: UDZUNGWA MAOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK Early morning drive to Udzungwa Mountain National Park for Hiking, packed lunch on route. Udzungwa Mountain National Park is a favorite of nature enthusiasts and hikers. The beautiful Uzungwa Mountains are located just south of Mikumi National Park in the highlands overlooking Iringa. Many endemic plants and animals live in the forests waiting for you to discover them. For Dinner at Twiga Hotel/ Udzungwa Mountain View Lodge/Sanje Hotel and overnight at Udzungwa Mountain National Park camping site.
Day 17: ISIMILA STONE AGE SITE After breakfast, transfer to Isimila stone age site and archaeological site in Iringa with packed launch. There will view the remains of tools, stone artifacts and bones of the animals which discovered in 1951 and excavated in 1957 and they are believed to date from 60,000 years ago, and also you can see a watering hole and a place to hunt for early hominids. Isimila Stone Age site is in the gully, so in this also you can see different geographical features such as pillars of limestone that were left standing over the millennia. This site is worth the journey and has become popular in picnic spot. Launch, dinner and overnight in Iringa (Baptist center)
Day 18: DODOMA After breakfast drive to dodoma via Mtera dam to view the water falls and go to dodoma for town to view the capital city of Tanzania. Launch, dinner and overnight in Dodoma.
Day 19: KONDOA ROCK ART SITE After breakfast, drive to Kondoa rock art site in Kondoa Irangi for viewing the rock painting arts, which is in a series of caves carved into the side of a hill looking out over the steppe. In the evening drive to Babati. Dinner and overnight in Babati.
Day 20-21: BABATI After breakfast, departure for Babati. Visit Managhat village, original home of the Gorowa tribe to see the dairy activities of them. Launch, dinner and overnight in Babati. On the second day visit a respected Gorowa tribesman Mzee Kwaraa for insight on Gorowa culture such as marriage ceremonies, rain prayers, burial, religious and circumcision rituals and lastly climb Bambaay Hill from where you can see beautiful Rift Valley landscape with Lake Babati and Lake Manyara and the Maasai Steppe. This is a half day tour and in the afternoon departure for Hanang.
Day 21: HANANG After launch, meet with Barbaig tribals and gain cultural insight on their marriage procedures, burial rites, local taboos, and way of making ornaments and goatskin dresses, and their daily activities. Dinner and overnight in Hanang.
Day 22: TARANGIRE After breakfast, departure for Tarangire to see Maasai people, learning about their culture, and their lives. The activities include: hiking, bird watching and guided cultural visits including information about the way Maasai use medicinal plants. In the evening drive back to Arusha.
The tour price includes: •All meals, guides and accommodation •National Park fees and guiding fee for Udzungwa Mountain National park per group of 8 people. •Transport is in Land cruiser, Land rover or Mini bus.
The price does not include: •International Flights •Transfers from/to airport •Softdrinks or alcohol •Tips •Things of personal nature
Our unique relationship with our tour operators ensures only people who have participated in a trip after making an enquiry for it at The Africa Guide can leave a review.
The email we send you when you make an enquiry has full instructions for registering a booking and leaving a review - both are free services.
Feel free to read through the reviews for any trip you like the look of.
Trips with no reviews are usually new to the The Africa Guide but are normally operated by a tour operator who is established here. Most tour operators listing here will usually have gained reviews about other trips they have listed here.
Thanks for visiting, happy travels and don't forget to send us your reviews...
This is a fantastic tour and a "must do" for any first time visitor to Dar, as I was.
It helps you understand more about the people who live in Dar and makes what can seem like a complex and intimidating place, accessible, friendly and understandable.
My customized 13-day trip in Tanzania was absolutely amazing!
From breathtaking Ngorongoro hiking to a taste of Kilimanjaro and local village visits, it was truly a life-changing experience.
My driver and tour manager went out of their way to accommodate my whims and made sure that my stay in Tanzania was a pleasant one. Unfortunately I fractured my ankle during one of the hikes I took, but I was taken to the hospital immediately, and taken a great care of.
I would definitely recommend this operator to anyone who's looking for a tour that's much more than just game drives.'
We went on a two day walking – canoeing trip in Arusha National Park. The tour operator also made hotel arrangements for the first three days we were in Arusha.
They stayed in contact for 11 months via email. The person I was in contact with Elifasi and our guide, Apolo Kihwil, meet us at the airport took us to our hotel. On our rest day we visited a school at our request and not part of the paid itinerary this was on their time.
Our guide Apolo was the best we had on our entire trip. He was informative, friendly and had a great sense of humor, we were rewarded with a dream trip my favorite giraffe and several at a time the last bunch we counted eleven, baboons, wart hogs, black and white monkeys, hundreds of thousand of lesser and greater flamingos on big Momella Lake he provide delicious lunches and was infinitely patient while we took photographs.
I would not hesitate to use them on my next trip to Tanzania and would request Apolo as our guide.
We had a most wonderful holiday in Kenya and Tanzania.
They looked after us very well and we were very satisfied with their service. The service provided value for money. The only comment we would make is that the email from them gave us the impression that we would be staying in a lodge but when we arrived we were in a tent. We were satisfied with the tented accomodation, however it could have been made clearer in the original email that it was tented accomodation.
The staff were very kind and helpful.
Tour Operators Reply:
Thank you for the client's feedback and contructive comment/suggestion. We are glad that they were very satisfied with the service we provided to them, despite their impression that they would be staying in a lodge instead of tent.
As per the first enquiry which the clients sent into our company, she stated that she will prefer to stay in Camping “Accommodation Preference: Camping” and the price given to them was based on Camping accommodation, and these was stated in the itinerary that “Dinner and overnight at the camp”
However, there was typing error at the end of the itinerary which indicates Lodge accommodation instead of Camping accommodation.
We will try our level best to make sure that this mistake will not happen again.
After having a wonderful safari in southern Africa organised through your webiste, we decided to return again to Tanzania after 45 years.
We booked a 19 day safari to visit six game parks...Selous, Mikumi, Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, and Tarangari.
Our guide/driver, Hurumu, met us at the Dar airport and drove us to a hotel for our day of jet lag recovery. We drove to Selous first. We're not strangers to East Africa, having first arrived in 1963. By far, Hurumu is the best guide that we've ever had. He was extremely knowledgeable of wildlife, has great game eyes, a good conversationalist, and was very caring for all our needs. He understood our physical age limitations (74) but was not at all solicitous. Cool water was always available. Hurumu had the ability to always get the Toyota into position for the best photograph.
We made our initial contact the operator in 2009. Elifasi, in the office, worked with me to create the itinerary. He also was most helpful. While at Selous we requested an itinerary change. Elifasi made the changes without a problem.
The entire safari was most enjoyable and problem free.
The best of Kenya & Tanzania and they made that experience a reality. They were always on time, concerned about our well being and would without any reservations recommend them! The scenery and game viewing were all memorable and expectations met. Organizing the tour was also without any hassle
I went solo, a 50 something white woman, and me and _______ (I forget his name), rode around for 5 hours. It was a unbelievable experience.
He was a wonderful guide, I called him the "Mayor" because everybody knew him! He was so popular everywhere we went that I felt completely comfortable, safe, and like an invited family friend.
He showed me 3 or 4 neighborhoods, I met coffee makers, chapati breakfast cooks (had breakfast there with a Masaai family who stopped by!), a traditional herbalist (where I learned the treatment for meconium aspiration, I'm a perinatal pathologist!), herbal pharmacist (where I saw that fenugreek seed is used to facilitate delivery with prolonged labor), local market, fabric seller, and had a delicious lunch at an outside Swahili restaurant. I played with kids, talked with everyone, and really got a great sense of the community.
My guide also is very active in local projects and inspired me to help with a bridge rebuilding project he is spear heading. The bicycle riding was easy and really the only way to get around in these neighborhoods. It was by far the best experience I had in Dar, and one of the best I have had in my many travels in East Africa!
We could not have asked for abetter way to end our incredible adventures in Tanzania. We saw everything and did everything we could have ever imagined. From the big game watching in the Serengeti, Ngorongoro, and Lake Manyara, to ascending the highly active volcano next to Lake Natron, it was all so unbelievably incredible. A total dream come true!
Our guide Huruma had he most expansive breadth of knowledge of the natural environment, he was a pleasure to talk to. He was also extremely flexible with us as lans often changed for various reasons, but ALWAYS for the better. Huruma made us feel safe and comfortable the whole time. Alex our cook as wonderful as well making sure we had the best quality meals possiblemade from the freshest ingredients.
Choosing a safari operator is tough, but I will just say that I will always recommend these guys. They are very professional and will do everything to make sure you have the best trip possible. Thanks again for our lifetime memories. We will be back, so you will hear from us again.
Thanks Elfasi for all your time, flexibility and support in orchestrating this dream trip.
