11 Days Tanzania Intrepid Expedition

Fly from Arusha to spend three nights in the Serengeti National Park, one of the most famous wildlife areas in the world and home to the annual wildebeest migration. It covers 5700 square miles of grassland plains, open savannah, riverine forests and woodlands. This northern Serengeti area of lush, rolling grassland and tree-lined watercourses is the hub around which the Serengeti migration circulates. During the dry season, the herds mass on both banks of the Mara River, frequently crossing - and braving the crocs. Unlike the southern plains of the Serengeti that dry out, forcing all but the hardiest of species to leave, this area remains lush and green.
There's a collective sigh of relief from the resident game when the one and a half million migrating wildebeest - and the madness that follows them - leave town for a few months. The resident game in the area is spectacular. Plains game in the form of zebra, topi, gazelles, impala, buffalo and giraffe all frequent the area throughout the year. Lion are rarely far away and leopard, ever present, but always elusive, stalk the rocky kopjes and river lines. Spend your days exploring this area with a resident guide and other guests. Enjoy morning and afternoon game drives, capped off by sundowners. Walking safaris are also on offer and give you a real sense of place as you walk the land. Overnight at Nimali Mara.

Accommodation: Nimali Mara

From the Serengeti take a 3-4 hour flight in a bush plain to the remote Katavi National Park to spent three full days exploring. Access limits visitors to this park, thus only about 1000 people visit each year. Perhaps because of this, it feels untouched, almost like travelling back in time. The park centers on a series of wide flood plains, blond with waist high grass in the early dry season, green and flooded like a mini Okavango Delta after the rains. Connecting the main flood plains – Ngolema, Katisunga, Katavi and Chada - is a network of fragile seasonal rivers. It is these rivers that form the focus of the game viewing for which Katavi is renowned during the dry season.
Water rapidly becomes a limited resource in Katavi during the dry season so animals of all kinds are drawn to the Katuma, Kavu and Kapapa Rivers. Thousands of hippo cram the remaining pools, crocodiles retire to caves in the mud walls of the river banks, buffalo and elephant are drawn to the rivers to drink. The lion, hyenas and other predators know this. In the late dry season, there are few places that offer such a raw and wild experience as Katavi.
The rains usually come mid November and continues until early June. Katavi then undergoes a complete transformation. Almost as soon as the first rains hit the ground, everything goes green; long green and lush grasses sprout from what was just dry and cracked earth. The rivers flow again, the pools overflow and there is space for all. It's a birders paradise as all the migratory birds flock back. Actives at Katavi include morning and afternoon game drives, walking, and one evening you’ll experience a night game drive, looking for nocturnal species such as bush babies and leopard.Overnights at Chada Katavi.

Accommodation: Chada Katavi

Fly one hour from Katavi to Mahale where you'll take a boat across Lake Tanganyika. Named after the Mahale Mountain range that runs through the Park, Mahale is 625 square miles of road free wilderness, where the only trails you’ll follow are the forest paths and tracks made by animals over the years. Flying in over the northern end of the mountains, you'll see nothing for many miles and only small villages and local fishermen in dhows dotted along the lake shore. The only way in and out of the lakeshore lodge is by traditional dhow boat which further adds to the sense of seclusion and unique character of this camp and those who are able to visit it.
The park is home to some of the Africa's last remaining wild chimpanzees; a population of roughly 800. Some 60 individual forming the ‘‘M group'' were habituated to human visitors by Japanese researchers from Kyoto University in the 1960s. Each morning, with a specialist guide and trackers, you’ll hike in a group of no more than six to spend an hour with the chimps as they eat, forage, play, and squabble. Getting to the chimps can require up to a few hours of hiking so be prepared. After your magical visit return to camp for lunch and time in the afternoon to reflect, swim, fish, or take a boat trip along the deserted shore. Each evening is capped off with stories around the campfire while millions of stars wheel overhead.Overnight at Greystoke Mahale.

Accommodation: Greystoke Mahale

Spend one last morning at Mahale walking in the forest or swimming in the lake, before lunch and your boat trip to the airstrip. The flight to Arusha takes about 4 hours depending on the number of stops, and you will arrive into the Kilimanjaro International airport in time to connect to your onward international flight.