$9475 (including local flights)
September 13-24, 2012

  Jim's 2012 Fall East African Safari represents his 36th consecutive year of guiding safaris into East Africa. Very few professional guides share his length of experience and intense knowledge of the area.

This year's program is a 12-day intense game viewing program all within northern Tanzania, and 5-6 of those days spent in the Serengeti!

It's clear to us, now, that global warming is changing for the foreseeable future the weather of East Africa, and what that means is that the Serengeti is wetter than normal. And what THAT means is that a September itinerary in the Serengeti has an excellent chance of encountering the largest sections of the great migration!

The Serengeti Ngorongoro ecosystem is almost 6,000 sq. miles large, and this safari explores virtually all of it, from the very top at the border with the Mara right down to Lake Manyara.

In addition to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara and Tarangire will be visited, and Tarangire will be in its prime. This is the best time of the year to encounter the great elephant migration there!

Jim will introduce you to the finest game viewing on earth on this safari, but he does much more. He'll take you to Olduvai Gorge where you'll experience his personal passion for paleontology. He'll spend a lot of time on early explorers, contemporary history and the dynamic politics that is reshaping Africa, today. And his long-serving driver/guides will add immeasurably to your overall experience, with their own personal stories and intimate understandings.

At any time of the year, exciting safaris can be planned that provide a game viewing experience that exceeds most visitors' expectations. But within this wonderful array of opportunities, there is little doubt that this is the very best safari at this time of the year!

The prices include: ** Jim Heck guiding the safari from start to finish; ** Guaranteed window seating in Landrovers & Landcruisers with pop-top roofs; ** Professionally-trained, English-speaking driver/guides with each vehicle; ** Meals as detailed in brackets following each day's description below; ** All park entrance fees, VAT and other government taxes; ** Comprehensive pre-trip material with discount coupons for travel gear and equipment. ** One local flight: the Serengeti to Arusha. Additional expenses not included: - Meals not included; - Some beverages; - All international flights; - Requisite visas and other travel preparations like inoculations; - Tipping.

Contact EWT for the best international air fares and for recommendations on how to use your frequent flyer miles.

  

  

Thursday, September 13
Arrive Kilimanjaro airport in northern Tanzania any time this morning. The safari begins this afternoon with Jim leading your first game drive into Arusha National Park, an exciting rain forest national park on the slopes of Mt. Meru. Then join your fellow travelers at the bar before dinner for a welcome get-together, followed by dinner and overnight at the luxurious Lake Duluti Lodge.  [ -l-d]

Friday, September 14
Morning drive through Arusha town onto the Maasai Plains, arriving Tarangire National Park in the late morning. Check-in to Tarangire River Camp for lunch before an afternoon in the park game viewing. This is the best time of the year for Tarangire, the middle of the dry season when elephant viewing is at its best. The size, temper and sheer numbers of elephants regularly seen in Tarangire at this time of the year is the best in all of Africa. After an afternoon of game viewing return to camp where Jim holds the regular evening debriefing around the camp fire before a sumptuous dinner! Tonight expect to be lulled to sleep by the barking of zebra and grunts of the hippo in the river just under camp.  [b-l-d]

  

  

Saturday, September 15
Full day of game viewing in Tarangire. Although the park is famous for elephant, it's packed with a lot of other game as well, especially giraffe and buffalo. Leopard sightings are frequent. Jim normally schedules a picnic along the Silale swamp, an exceptionally beautiful and unusual area where you can enjoy your meal overlooking a vast landscape. At this time of the year the swamp is usually filled with elephant, and Jim takes the opportunity to discuss several early explorers who had to cross swamps like this in their search for the source of the Nile. Return to camp for another wonderful dinner. Meals and overnight at Tarangire River Camp.  [b-l-d]

  

Sunday, September 16
More game viewing this morning in Tarangire, and after lunch the safari heads into the Great Rift Valley one of Africa's most beautiful and famous places. The drive goes through the town of Mto-wa-Mbu below the Manyara escarpment, and there will be time to browse the famous Maasai crafts market in town. Jim pulls the convoy over to the lookout as you drive up the valley's escarpment to explain the importance and majesty of the Great Rift, particularly in terms of early man. By the end of the afternoon you've arrived the wonderful Gibb's Farm for three extraordinary nights at this luxurious lodge. Enjoy the first of three special organic dinners produced by the farm's own fields. The exceptional produce is exported throughout East Africa and widely considered some of the finest in Africa.  [b-l-d]

  

Monday, September 17
The day is free at Gibb's Farm but Jim will take those interested on a dawn game drive into Lake Manyara National Park. Lake Manyara is famous for its lions-in-the-tree but as Jim will explain at the forest overlook, the park is scientifically crucial to the remarkable biomass diversity of the Great Rift. Although small, there are as many tree and plant species in the park as found in many entire countries in Africa! The drive will return to Gibb's for lunch followed by a free afternoon. There are a variety of activities offered here, including a walk with an armed ranger into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, tours of the organic farm or local town and school, or consultations with a Maasai shaman. Dinner and overnight at Gibb's Farm.  [b-l-d]

  

Tuesday, September 18
Jim takes you before dawn to nearby Ngorongoro Crater National Park for an exciting morning of game viewing. You'll descend the crater at dawn, when the light is perfect for photography and many of the animals are most active. This is also the best time to find the black rhino. The crater is Tanzania's most famous game viewing place, and justly so. It is an unique volcanic caldera crammed with wildlife! But going down early ensures avoiding the crowds that sometimes form here. A fabulous picnic breakfast is placed beside a lake usually filled with hippos. Return to the farm in the afternoon for time to relax or enjoy some of the farm's special activities before another wonderful dinner and overnight at Gibb's Farm.  [b-l-d]

Wednesday, September 19
Taking a picnic lunch Jim leads you on the spectacular drive around Ngorongoro Crater with its multiple breath-taking views, and then finally over its alter-crater into the great Serengeti. He'll stop at an overlook to let you grasp this amazing vista, Africa's most famous and most exciting wilderness. Then it's to Olduvai Gorge, one of Jim's favorite places where he'll give you an exclusive lecture about early man in the gorge's interesting little museum. With luck Jim will get permission to visit one of the excavation sites, and afterwards the convoy leaves the roads altogether and heads over the seemingly endless plains. It will likely be extremely dry, but the safari will stop atop one of the spectacular Serengeti kopjes for lunch and a vista you'll never forget! Continue in the afternoon over the dry plains but among tens of thousands of Thomson's gazelle, jumping as the car flies by. By the end of the day you'll have arrived the only area in the park with lakes, adjacent the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Meals and overnight at Ndutu Lodge.  [b-l-d]

Thursday, September 20
Today you take a picnic lunch and begin a 5-day journey which will explore the Serengeti from bottom to top! Shortly after leaving Ndutu, Jim leads you on a short walk up Naabi Hill to get a high perspective on the vast plains so he can explain exactly where the safari will go. These last five days on safari will give you a survey of Africa's greatest wilderness that very few visitors ever have. You'll see virtually every ecosystem of the great Serengeti National Park. Changing weather has resulted in the Serengeti becoming wetter than usual, and what that means is the September has become an unusually excellent time for intersecting the Great Migration and that's Jim's goal. By traveling the entire length of the Serengeti over 5 days of exciting game viewing, your chances of intersecting the great herds are really good! Of course nothing can ever be guaranteed in the wild, and even without the great herds the Serengeti is teaming with wildlife. By the end of the day, game viewing constantly, you'll arrive a special Luxury Camp in the center of the park for two wonderful days to explore this northern most region of the vast southern plains. Enjoy dinner to the sounds of lion's calling and hyaena cackling!.  [b-l-d]

  

  

Friday, September 21
The day is spent exploring the northern edge of the great southern plains, including the fascinating Seronera River Valley which is famous for its leopard and lion. On this day Jim normally schedules your picnic lunch atop Ngong Rock, a sacred Maasai site which is where the mysterious "Singing Rock" with its white pock-mocks is located. Provided there are no lions nearby, Jim will then walk you into the adjacent caves to explain important Maasai lore. This area is known as the Moru Kopjes, and many veteran Serengeti travelers consider it one of the most beautiful areas of the park, characterized by its magnificent boulder rock formations. Loved by elephant, it's also one of the main routes taken by the Great Migration. Return to your Luxury Camp for the sunset debriefing and another fabulous meal!.  [b-l-d]

Saturday, September 22
While it is quite possible Jim will already have found the Great Migration the best guess is that it will be today or tomorrow, as you move into the far northern regions of the Serengeti right up to the border with Kenya. The drive begins through the Serengeti's very heavy woodlands just north of Seronera, where there are opportunities to see very unusual cats like the civet and caracal. As you emerge from the forests, the great high rolling grasslands that most travelers characterize with Kenya's Maasai Mara begin. Until recently there were neither camps or even camp sites this far north in the Serengeti! But the recent changes in weather and improvements by the Serengeti parks service allow the intrepid visitor to explore this wild and magnificently beautiful area. Some of the cheetah in the area have seen so few visitors they are remarkably tame! By the end of the day the safari has crossed several rivers and traveled overland to a beautiful Luxury Camp for dinner and overnight.  [b-l-d]

  

Sunday, September 23
A final climatic day game viewing in the far north Serengeti adjacent Kenya. The several major rivers in the area are constantly being criss-crossed by the great migration. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of wildebeest travel back-and-forth headed to where they think the best grasses are growing. This is when the crocs feed, and some very large Nile crocodile are regularly seen. The migration is composed not just of wildebeest; there are hundreds of thousands of zebra as well. It is truly the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth, and at this time of the year, this is your best chance to see it! After this final day of game viewing Jim treats you at the bar to a final celebration of what we hope will become one of the most memorable trips of your life! Dinner and overnight in a Luxury Camp in Serengeti's far north.  [b-l-d]

  

  

Monday, September 24
After a final morning of game viewing the group takes a quick flight back to Arusha town, where there will be time for shopping and lunch at a popular local restaurant before Jim drops you at the Kilimanjaro airport. There everyone has a private room at the airport hotel for final packing and freshening up before the lodge individually shuttles guests to the terminal to begin their departures home.  [b- - ]