Observe wild birds in their natural habitat with plenty of opportunities for comfort stops, meals, and photography at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro, the Amani botanical gardens in East Usambara Mountain.
Trip highlights This tour will give you opportunity to observe wild birds in their natural habitat with plenty of opportunities for comfort stops, meals, and photography at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro, the Amani botanical gardens in East Usambara Mountains . Bird watching means learning to identify the birds and understanding what they are doing.
Observing birds & wildlife in their natural surroundings is the main focus of our tours, and the itineraries are designed to provide the best opportunities to encounter Birds and mammals. We also strive to understand a bit of the bigger picture, such as how birds & wildlife go about their daily lives, and integrate into the environment. The quality of your experience is our number one priority and above all, our field experience is what makes us unique.
We are always based in comfortable lodging or generally the best available in the most remote part of the country. The days are sometimes long, but usually at a relaxed and easy pace, with plenty of opportunities for comfort stops, meals, and photography.
Before starting your tour get prepared with a pair of binoculars, a field guide, and a hat. Maybe a little notebook to carry in your pocket.
Day 1: Arrival day: On your arrival, Meet and greet at the Point of entry (Kilimanjaro International Airport) and then transferred to the lodge for Dinner and Overnight at KIA Lodge. You will be briefed by your Tour Leader on arrival at the Lodge
Day 2: Usambara Mountains Your Day begins with a brief Bird walk around the Lodge gardens, then drive via Moshi the base of Mt Kilimajanro through the dry country side of Hedaru where we stop for a local Bird walk with aims of finding dry country specialities such as the Taveta golden weaver and the Black bellied Bustard, we then transverse the old rock system of the Pare mountains into the famous Usambara ranges for Lunch at the Lawns Hotel Lushoto. After Lunch we straight go into hiking the Magamba Rain forest trails searching for the most rare and other Tanzanian endemics to include the Usambara weaver, Usambara Akalat, Dapple throat and many green bulls-We then aim at returning to our Lodge at dark with chances of finding the nocturnal and endemic Usambara Eagle Owl. Dinner and overnight at the Mullers Mountain Lodge.
Day 3: Usambara Mountains After breakfast we again do the forest trails aiming at finding species not identified the last evening, return to the Lodge for an early lunch, leaving as with time to drive to the Amani botanical gardens in East Usambara Mountains. We arrive at Amani in the evening in time for dinner at the Amani Rest House.
Day 4: Usambara Mountains Full day East Usambara with exploration of the Tea Estates at Karamjje. East Usambara is home to many other un usual species which we will be discovering on one of our various forest walks; the Uluguru violet backed sun bird and the endemic Little green sun bird as well as the small Amani sun bird could be Identified. Others will include forest species such as a variety of Turacos, sunbirds, Brown bulls, Trogons and Green Bulls. Lunch, Dinner and Overnight at the Amani Rest house.
Day 5: Usambara Mountains - Marangu After the excitement in the mountain forest, wedrive to Moshi for lunch at the Marangu hotel at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. If the weather is good, you may have chance to see the snow iced peak of Mt Kilimanjaro. Dinner and over night at Marangu hotel.
Day 6: Marangu – Arusha National Park After break fast, you will drive from Marangu to Arusha National park for birding and game viewing. While in the park, you will make a visit to the various crater lakes in the park, catching up with the Maccoa ducks, Egyptian Geese, Hottentots teals, Comb ducks and many unusual waders. The forest surrounding Ngurudoto crater may reward us with Trogons, orange bellied Parrots, Silvery cheeked hornbills and the hurtlurb`s Turaco… you should be encountering your first Mammals here which should include Elephants, Bush Bucks, Hippos and Buffaloes. Return to your Lodge for Dinner and overnight at Meru mbega Lodge. FB
Day 7: Arusha - Lake Manyara After a morning breakfast, with your lunch box drive to the plains North of Arusha town, where you will have the opportunity to walk in the plains while birding for a number of dry country species, and then drive to Lake Manyara, at Migunga forest Tented Camp in the late afternoon. We will then spend the rest of the evening at leisure. Dinner and overnight at Migunga forest Tented Camp. FB
Day 8: Lake Manyara National Park After Breakfast, drive into Lake Manyara National Park with picnic Lunch. Lake Manyara National Park, has a rich eco- system composed of an under ground water forest, Open savannah and of course the lake it self, all being an excellent habitat for both Big game and birds. We will spend the entire day exploring the park. While in the park we may chance out on the large herds of Elephants, Buffaloes and other plain game. Birds are profuse; including the blue napped mouse birds and many European migrants will be soaring up in the sky. Return to our overnight stop for Dinner and Overnight at Migunga Tented Camp. FB
Day 9: Lake Manyara - Tarangire National Park After Breakfast, drive from Lake Manyara to Tarangire National Park.This day will be spent in the Park adding up the list on the Tanzanian Endemics with the Endemic Ashy Starling and the Yellow collard Lovebird. Lunch and dinner at the Tarangire Safari Lodge.
Day 10: Tarangire National Park Full day exploring Tarangire Park for Birding. Dinner and Over Night at your Lodge.
Day 11: Tarangire National Park to Arusha After break fast drive to Arusha town for shopping and then transferred to the Airport for your flight back home.
We can arrange accommodation for first and last night if required
Price: USD 2236 per person – Camping accommodation. USD 2610 per person – Lodge accommodation.
Price Includes: - Accommodation as stipulated in the Itinerary including service charges and taxes - Airport transfers - Sightseeing as specified in itinerary - Transport on safari in a 4WD vehicle with an open roof - All parks entrance fees - Water 1.5 Lts per day per person - Service of English Speaking driver guide
Price Excludes: - International flights - Tips to the driver guide - Thing of personal nature - Sleeping bag if camping - And all not mentioned in the tour itinerary
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.
