The Great Migration Safari
An unparalleled luxury safari tour
Embark on an extraordinary journey with us as we traverse through Tanzania’s renowned national parks, bearing witness to the awe-inspiring spectacle of the Great Migration – up close and personal.
Our meticulously curated luxury camps, exclusive to us, provide a private and comfortable oasis where you can unwind after exhilarating days filled with wildlife sightings and game drives. Expect personalized service from our team, starting from the moment you enquire until after you return home.
Sean Lues, an expert guide, will enlighten you with his extensive knowledge, experience and passion about the region, enabling you to appreciate the richness and diversity of the local flora and fauna.
From the ancient and massive baobab trees of Tarangire National Park to the vast grasslands of the Serengeti, this safari promises to be an unforgettable adventure. We focus on providing you with privileged access to these breathtaking locations, promising extraordinary wildlife sightings and unique cultural encounters. Don’t miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore Tanzania’s natural wonders in luxury and exclusivity – join us now!
LUXURY SAFARI TOUR HIGHLIGHTS
- Witness one of the wonders of the natural world as the herds of Africa’s great plains migrate across rivers and over long distances to their new seasonal territories
- Safari through Ngorongoro Crater keeping a sharp eye for Africa’s ‘Big five’ Lion, Cape Buffalo, Leopard, Elephant and Rhino
- Meet the tribes of the Eyasi and Datonga people on the shores of Lake Eyasi – the Datonga consider themselves the oldest tribe in Tanzania.
- Explore the lesser visited Tarangire National Park with its extremely rich game including migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland.
- Stay in opulent exclusive lodges the height of old world African safari luxury
The Basics
Start: Olerai
Finish: Olerai
Trip style: Luxe
Max group size: 12
14 Days
OLERAI – OLERAI
$26 450 AUD*
Departure date: 5 September 2024
OR CONTACT US for more information
Trip code: GSOO *from
Want to find out more about the Great Migration? Make sure you check out our guest blog written by Sean Leus, an expert safari guide and the tour leader for this amazing tour.
ITINERARY
Resting at the foot of Mount Meru, the sprawling city of Arusha is known as the safari capital of northern Tanzania and is where we spend our first night.
After your arrival in Kilimanjaro airport, you will be met by one of the driver-guides and driven to our base at Olerai.
Check in at Olerai House
Situated in the outskirts of this busy little town, Olerai, the Strand family house, is set under a canopy of yellow-barked acacias and other indigenous trees.
Once a private home, Olerai welcomes its guests with an air of calmness – an urban oasis, perfect for starting (and ending) an adventure on safari. The philosophy is simple – exclusivity is the greatest luxury and so we get the entire home to ourselves. The small team of dedicated staff are there to provide personalized service in a home setting.
9 en suite rooms spread over the garden grounds provide comfortable accommodation.
In the evenings, the fire is lit for socialising with one’s travel companions over an iced gin and tonic, regional wine or a simple cup of tea.
Mercy and her team endeavour to create a sense of family warmth to welcome you to Africa.
Full day at leisure – time to recover from long flights, orientate and possibly a little retail therapy or similar.
Vehicle at disposal for town excursions.
A massage therapist is available to come to Olerai for onsite treatments.
After a truly sumptuous breakfast, we bid Mercy and her team goodbye and depart for Tarangire National Park with our driver-guides.
Within the park we enjoy a game drive en route to the camp, getting our first experience of the African bush and Tarangire’s unique scenery. We will stop for a picnic lunch in the park and, depending on what we see along the way, will arrive in camp mid to late afternoon – greeted by the ever friendly staff and some very welcome cold drinks.
Check in at Osunyai Lamarkau
Osunyai Wilderness Camp, our exclusive Camp set on the edge of the wilderness zone, is situated close to the Silale wetland – prime elephant & buffalo habitat and in the heart of big game country. The camp is set beneath mature acacia trees facing the rising sun.
The luxury safari tents are large and airy with full width windows and en-suite bathrooms, king sized double or two-extra long single beds, hanging wardrobe, luggage racks and interior solar light tables. Each has a private veranda. All the creature comforts of a seasonal Camp, whilst retaining the balance & feel of the mobile heritage.
The baobab-strewn Tarangire is a haven for wildlife and has an extremely rich game viewing potential: herds up to 300 elephants scratch the dry river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons.
Osunyai and nearby Silale swamp are fantastic habitats to view predators and prey in an unsurpassed setting.
Close liaison with our driver-guides will ensure the choice of daily activities match our mood and pace as well as what is happening in the bush around us. If we hear of lions on a kill – we’ll go there; if we know the elephants are massing at Silale, we’ll spend time there. The key is to be flexible and the excitement is real!
A wide range of wildlife and nature activities are offered within the area:
in addition to the traditional Game drives, we are happy to be able to offer Game walks accompanied by our own armed walking guide;a night game drive will be arranged, where we will depart into the darkness with a spotlight to try and spot some of the more elusive nocturnal animals; we will also have a traditional Masai cultural experience – ‘Olpul’ and medicine walk.
After breakfast and farewells to the amazing staff, we will take a morning game drive out of the park. This drive within the National park will be at least a couple of hours.
We will drive through open Maasai land, passing the Maasai traditional bomas and likely to see them herding their cattle, sheep and goats.
We will stop in the charming, forested village of Mto wa Mbu, where Sean will no doubt buy some of their unique red bananas. There is an option here to also purchase local artefacts and paintings.
Making our way slowly up the magnificent escarpment, which forms part of East Africa’s Great Rift Valley, keep an eye out for ever present baboons and possibly even elephants on the road. There are fantastic views down onto Lake Manyara.
Check in at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge
The lodge is nestled high above the plains into the Crater’s jagged rim, cloaked in river stone and indigenous vines, Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge is barely visible to the naked eye. Framed by arched stone passages and timbered decks, its torch-lit walls are adorned with stylized cave paintings. Rooms are looped around the Crater rim. Each has its own rock-enclosed balcony, and all enjoy completely uninterrupted views of the crater floor.
We make a very early start for our trip into the Ngorongoro Crater. Abounding with lion, buffalo and many other species, including rhino and elephant, this is a day not to be forgotten.
We will descend from the crater rim through the clouds and early morning mist, keeping an eye out on the distant crater floor to see where the herds are. We will spend the day traversing this incredible destination and marveling at the abundant wildlife. We will stop for a stretch and a picnic lunch, before continuing to explore. Later, we will start the climb out of the crater and make our way to Plantation Lodge, tired, but awestruck.
Standing at 2236m above sea level, Ngorongoro is the largest unbroken caldera in the world and is surrounded by very steep walls rising 610m from the crater floor. Covering an area of 259 square kms, it is considered to be one of the Wonders of the Natural World and is a veritable haven for wildlife.
Check in at the Plantation Lodge
Today, drive to the shores of Lake Eyasi in order to meet the Datoga and the Hadza people. The Datoga consider themselves the be the oldest tribe in Tanzania. Originally fierce warriors, they are now mostly pastoralists and farmers, as well as talented blacksmiths. The Hadza are one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes left in the world and are distinct from other tribes in East Africa culturally, linguistically and genetically. They are the earliest known inhabitants of the Yaeda Valley, though no one can say for sure when they arrived or where they came from originally.
Late lunch and afternoon at leisure at Plantation Lodge.
A morning departure from Plantation Lodge, we will make our way to the airstrip at Manyara, for a small-plane flight to the northern Serengeti.
Check in at Akiba Kibwe
We will spend three full days exploring the nearby areas of the Serengeti ecosystem, following local conditions and the movement of game, using Akiba Kibwe as a base to explore. We will be moving through the herds of this Great Migration, trying to anticipate each day a possible river crossing by a herd of zebra or wildebeest, or both. One cannot describe adequately the immensity of this phenomenon.
Lion, cheetah, hyaena and jackals, amongst others, naturally take a very keen interest in this sudden abundance of prey.
We will drive to the nearest airstrip, possibly passing through the herds as we go, where we board our light aircraft flight to Arusha for lunch.
There will be a shopping opportunity and then all gather for one last fantastic dinner together at the wonderful Olerai!
Day at leisure – there will be a shopping opportunity, with a vehicle at our disposal today.
Late checkout / day use room will be at your disposal, allowing you to relax, repack and feel like you’re at home – away from home.
Later on you will be transferred to the airport for your onward flight.
Details
Duration: 14 Days
Trip style: Luxe
Group size: Minimum 6 / Maximum 12
Trip code: GSOO
Cost: $26 450 AUD twin share
Single supplement: $Please enquire
Inclusions
- 13-nights accommodation in unique and exclusive luxury game lodges
- Domestic flights as mentioned in the itinerary (Ngorongoro – Northern Serengeti / Serengeti – Arusha)
- All Meals as specified in itinerary (B = Breakfast / L = Lunch / D = Dinner) and house drinks
- Airport transfers on arrival and departure
- All game drives as mentioned in the itinerary
- Park entrance fees, camp fees and conservation fees
- Services of your trip leader and local guides
- Membership to the Flying Doctor’s emergency evacuation scheme whist on safari
- Laundry
Trip price does not include
- International airfares
- Visa for Tanzania
- Premium drinks
- Additional accommodation before or after the tour
- Items of a personal nature including but not limited to souvenirs, porterag, gratuities etc.
- Travel insurance – please note comprehensive travel insurance is a condition of travel with Inverted Atlas
Journey Rating – Journey
This is a luxury safari tour through the National Parks of Tanzania, a country that is rugged, but which has some of the best accommodation available in Africa. There are some long travel days, but rest assured on arrival we will always be checking in to accommodation that is of a luxury standard. Tanzania is largely tribal and if you have never been anywhere in the developing world, you could be in for a bit of a culture shock.
Facilities such as pharmacies, banks and ATM’s will be largely absent and travellers should bring cash in USD which is king in Africa.
Any dietary requirements should not be an issue while traveling on this trip, provided they are disclosed to Inverted Atlas at the time of booking.
A note about fitness
This luxury safari tour requires a moderate level of physical fitness. You should be able to walk up to 2km at times and manage uneven surfaces during sightseeing, which will sometimes be at an incline.
In addition, you should be in good health, with no major chronic conditions requiring frequent medical attention. This trip often travels through remote locations where the availability of a hospital or even phone reception to call an ambulance is limited. While all our trip leaders are required to have a valid first aid certificate, they are far from doctors and any assistance they are able to provide will be limited to basic first aid. For more information please see our booking conditions.
Single supplement
Traveling by yourself? No problem, we love single travellers and don’t believe in penalising them by charging half the trip price again for our single supplement. With us you are only paying the actual cost to have a room all to yourself. If you’re up for making a new friend, you can elect to share with another single traveller of the same sex and only pay the twin-share price. The choice is yours!
Trip leader description
Accompanying you along your luxury safari tour will be your trip leader. Your trip leader is a logistics extraordinaire, keeps the trip running smoothly and ensures you have the best time possible on your trip. It is important to know that while your trip leader has the best job in the world, they aren’t actually on holidays, but rather they are there to make sure you have the best time while you are on your holiday! Your trip leader may at times need some time out so that they can complete back of house tasks that ensure everyone continues to enjoy the trip. It is also your trip leaders’ job to handle any issues (heaven forbid!) that come up while you’re on your trip like:
- If you lose your passport or other travel documents
- If there is a problem with your room at the booked accommodation – seriously please tell your trip leader don’t wait until you leave
- If you become unwell and need to find a pharmacy
- Assisting with restaurant recommendations or additional sightseeing during free time
- Questions regarding the itinerary
Your trip leader will have some good local knowledge about the destination in which you are traveling, however they are not a ‘local guide’. You’re welcome to ask your trip leader anything about the trip and if they don’t know they will find out and get back to you. Other people you will meet along the way are ‘local guides’ who are generally available to the group in specific towns or at specific sites like national parks, temples or archaeological sites. These people are the local experts and will be able to answer any questions you may have about the history and culture of a specific site.
A taste of the Great Migration with Sean Lues
Itinerary disclaimer
This itinerary is correct at the time of upload to our website and we have composed it in good faith. From time to time we may elect to make changes before departure, if we are making a big change we will of course notify you, however if it is a small change this will be reflected in the final trip notes. So, make sure you download these prior to departure. Small changes prior to departure are usually made with the groups best interests in mind and come about due to liaising with our best resources – our past travelers and of course our trip leaders! The ability to change and evolve depending on what our travelers enjoy is what makes us such a great trip operator.
While we strive to operate our trips exactly to the letter of the itinerary, sometimes we may need to make changes on the ground while the group is on the road. This is all part of the adventure of traveling and we would ask that you come on your trip with an open mind and a good sense of humour because as much as we want it to, everything doesn’t always go to plan. In fact, these impromptu situations often make the best stories that you can have a laugh with your friends about later.
This trip is run in conjunction with our friends at Journeys Worldwide.
Age requirements
Minimum Age: 18 years
There is no upper age limit for this trip, but you should consider the above fitness requirements prior to booking. If you are 65 years or over, you will be asked to complete our Health Check Form and have your medical practitioner sign it to confirm you are in good health and able to participate safely on this trip.
Travel insurance
Please note that comprehensive travel insurance is a condition of travel with Inverted Atlas. Insurance must include provision for medical situations, emergency medical repatriation to your home country and personal liability at a minimum. Proof of valid travel insurance will be requested by your trip leader on arrival at the pre-departure meeting. Please have this paperwork available for them. If you are unable to provide proof of comprehensive travel insurance, you may not be allowed to join the trip and no refund will be payable.
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