$8940 (including local flights)
March 6-16, 2013

From Jim Heck: Dear Traveler, The question I get asked most often is, "When is the best time to go on safari?" Quite honesty I explain there are good and bad things about all the different seasons on safari. I remind people how difficult they might find it to answer the question when is the best time to visit their own home. But often I'm pressed. "What's your favorite time?"       This is my answer.       I've spent almost half my adult life in the African bush. There is not a day during the whole year when the bush is not exciting and inspiring. But it is the enormous congregation of the great herds on the southern grassland plains of the Serengeti, which occurs only in March and April, that makes this my most favorite time.       It's also a green time. Rains which begin at the end of the year slow down in February, then start up again until they reach a peak in May. This means for this safari the rains aren't a bother at all. In fact, they're beautiful and dramatic, late summer thunderstorms that don't last too long. So our travel isn't impaired, and the veld is absolutely at its most beautiful. There have been times in the Serengeti when for literally 50 or 60 miles all you can see are carpets of yellow flowers.       I also like this time, because of all the animal babies! Many animals, of course, calve year-round, but the great herds are more finicky, their life cycles linked inexorably to the seasons. The only sure time for birthing is when food (grass) is abundant.       The beautiful, gorgeous skies; the fresh and cool climate, flowers and babies everywhere, and the icing on the cake: the greatest congregation of animals left on earth!       I can't wait! Hope you'll join me!

Jim's 2013 Great Migration Safaris represent his 37th consecutive year of guiding safaris into the great herds of the Serengeti. Very few professional guides share his length of experience and intense knowledge of the area.

This year's 11-day program is all Tanzania, all game viewing, from start to finish and featuring the great migration, more than 2 million animals on the great prairies of the Serengeti.

There's no question this is the best game viewing safari in the world. But Jim does much more and includes important historic and cultural touring.

Jim's passion for early man will get you into into the excavation sites of Olduvai. And his long-serving driver/guides add immeasurably to the visitor's balanced knowledge of what East Africa is, today, 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, Jim leaves little doubt that this safari is the absolute best!

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. Additional expenses not included: - Meals not included; - Some beverages; - All international, regional and local scheduled 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. And if you have the time, consider coming early or staying later to visit Zanzibar with its ancient Stone Town city and outstanding beaches. We have a variety of independent extensions to Zanzibar under "East African Safaris."

  

  

Wednesday, March 6
Arrive any time, today, at Kilimanjaro or Arusha airports and you'll be personally met and privately transferred into the foothills of Mt. Meru, Africa's 5th highest mountain. Enjoy boutique luxury accommodation and gourmet meals at the luxurious Lake Duluti Lodge. For those who arrive early enough, a game drive will be available into Arusha National Park.  [ - -d]

  

Thursday, March 7
This morning is a wonderful meandering drive through northern Tanzania on our way to Tarangire. We travel first through Arusha town, stopping at the monument that marks the half-way point between Cape Town and Cairo. And there's time to buy coffee and tea and other simple gifts from the city's supermarket and boutique coffee shops. Jim can also take you to the better shops that sell Tanzanite. As we leave Arusha town there are a number of famous curio stores, fabric shops and modern art galleries you'll be able to visit. But before noon we reach the great Tarangire National Park. Near the gate we enter is a lovely picnic spot above the Tarangire river with sweeping views of this beautiful veld. The afternoon is spent game viewing through the park deep into its interior. We arrive our exclusive Swala Camp in time to watch the sunset over the camp's water hole.  [b-l-d]

  

  

Friday, March 8
The day is spent in Tarangire National Park game viewing this amazing wilderness. The feature of the park is elephants and grand scenery, but virtually all the big game is found here in abundance. Over a picnic above Silale Swamp, Jim will tell you the story of Stanley and Livingstone, for it was not far from here that Stanley had to march his expedition. Back at camp there will be time to enjoy the truly beautiful surroundings. Meals and overnight at Swala Camp.  [b-l-d]

Saturday, March 9
We spend almost all of the morning game viewing in this great park before leaving Tarangire and its other sand rivers. We'll enjoy another picnic overlooking the great expanses of the park and then return to the highway for a short time. It's a spectacular drive as we ascend the Great Rift Valley. We stop at an overlook above Lake Manyara with the best visual example of the Great Rift in all of Africa. On a clear day you can see almost to the still active little volcano of Ol Donyo Lengai. It's then a very short drive through farm country and into the town of Karatu before arriving our wonderful lodging for the next three nights, Gibb's Farm. This expansive working coffee plantation and vegetable farm is one of the most beautiful stops in Tanzania. This evening we enjoy some of the exceptional food harvested on the farm.   [b-l-d]

  

  

Sunday, March 10
We leave the farm before dawn for the 20-minute ride back down the great escarpment into Lake Manyara National Park. This remarkable wilderness is rather small but has more habitats than practically any other park in Tanzania. The drive into the park is through towering forests with a multitude of beautiful tree species, many reaching nearly a 100' into the sky. There's no better time in Manyara than dawn, as the hundreds of thousands of birds begin their day, the giant casqued hornbill start squawking madly and the hundreds of baboon begin loud squabbles. This is also when the chances of finding Manyara's legendary leopard are the greatest. And the park is famous for its tree-climbing lions! We'll enjoy a bush breakfast on the shore of the lake that is often used by thousands of flamingos. We return to Gibb's Farm for a late lunch and free afternoon to enjoy a number of Gibb's activities, including a visit to the local town, or a walk in the forest to elephant caves. Dinner and overnight at the farm.  [b-l-d]

Monday, March 11
We spend the whole day in what is probably Tanzania's most famous national park, Ngorongoro Crater National Park. After breakfast we leave the farm with a picnic lunch, make our way through the magical highland forest of the rim, and then take the exciting, sometimes hair-raising down road onto the crater floor. The crater is widely considered "Africa's Garden of Eden" and at this time of the year, as many as 20,000 animals will be living on its 100 sq. mile floor. We normally now see thousands of wildebeest calves, dozens of lion and hyaena. Our picnic lunch is beside a lake that is usually filled with hippo. After some more game viewing after lunch, we return up the crater for dinner and overnight back at Gibb's Farm.[b-l-d]

Tuesday, March 12
Beautiful morning drive around the crater rim past the impressive alter-crater and into the great Serengeti. First stop is Olduvai Gorge where so many precious finds of early man were found. Afterwards the safari heads just to the south of the Serengeti National Park to begin our five days of exploring the world's greatest wilderness at exactly the right time to do so, during the height of the Great Migration. Along with the great herds come the predators, the kills, and the large number of hyaenas and jackals cleaning up. Big funnels of vultures are seen in the sky, and everywhere is found the Thomson's gazelle peppering the endless veld. Enjoy a picnic lunch somewhere enroute, usually with a view that extends to 50 or 60 miles over the plains. By the end of the day Jim brings you to Ndutu Lodge in the southwest lakes area of the park in the beautiful lakes region.  [b-l-d]

  

  

Wednesday, March 13
Ndutu and the lakes area technically lies right on the border of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti National Park. This is a gorgeous wooded area of the Serengeti, its only with lakes. Jim begins his search for the locus of the herds here, and they are often here! The schedule that Jim works out with his driver/guides depends on the situation at the time, but often includes full-day excursions to such areas as the nearby Kerio Valley or Kusini plains. The area is vast, and normally a game drive takes a picnic breakfast or lunch. Once outside the forests ringing the lakes, there is only the endless plains of the Serengeti. Meals and overnight at Ndutu Lodge.  [b-l-d]

Thursday, March 14
This morning Jim takes you north through the Serengeti via the great Naabi Hill where a short climb brings you to the highest point overlooking these vast plains. The migration moves with the grasses that grow with the rains, and over this huge 7,000 sq. miles unbelievable numbers of animals roam. Shortly after Naabi, there are a few more rivers and Jim will take you into the Moru Kopjes, which many consider the most beautiful area of the Serengeti. No telling what drama of game viewing might be found here, but this is also where Jim will lead you to the secret caves of the Maasai to see old cave paintings. Lunch on the sacred Ngong Rock gives Jim the opportunity to tell the story of the Maasai. By the end of the day we arrive at our Luxury Camp in the very center of the Serengeti for two final exciting nights under the stars!  [b-l-d]

  

  

Friday, March 15
On this final day of game viewing it's likely there will be plenty of cats as Jim normally now searches along the Seronera River Valley, famous for its leopard. This is also a beautiful area for many of the Serengeti's colorful birds, more than 300 species, including parrots and colorful lovebirds. And as with days past, Jim's game drives are among the greatest concentration of wildlife yet with rarely another single vehicle seen the whole drive long! With the exceptional guiding you'll get from Jim, this is certain to become one of your most treasured trips! Tonight before dinner enjoying that final Tusker or two, Jim will review the great experience everyone's just had and invite everyone to put down their camera for one instant and listen to the sun setting over Lake Ndutu! Meals and overnight at our Luxury Camp.  [b-l-d]

  

Saturday, March 16
After a final morning of game viewing, you fly back to Arusha arriving around noon. Jim takes you to lunch at a popular local restaurant, with time to shop, before continuing to Kilimanjaro Airport. At the airport everyone has a private room at the lodge adjacent the terminals, KIA Lodge. Later this evening the lodge personally shuttles you to the departures hall to begin your journey home. It's always hard to say "good-bye." But here's a secret -- you'll be back!  [b- - ]