Best Tanzania Safari and Kikuletwa Hotspring

Pick up from your lodge / hotel in Tanzania, you will drive across the floor of the Great Rift Valley to Lake Manyara National Park. This small beautiful gem of a park with its lush vegetation and tropical forests of giant fig trees and mahogany trees, takes its name from the Maasai word for “euphorbia tirucalli”, a wild bush which is used to make a thorny hedge to protect their cattle locally known as a boma.

This small gem of a national park hosts herds of Elephants, buffalo, Masai giraffes, zebras and a variety of antelopes that inhabit the park not forgetting a variety of monkey species and a large population of hippos that roam around the lake and occupy the lake itself. On a luck day you may see also spot the legendary tree climbing lions of Lake Manyara National Park which are well known for their tree climbing habits, lazily resting on the branches of an “Acacia tortilis” trees. The bird life is also abundant with flamingos, pelicans, horn bills and plenty of forest species. In the late afternoon your driver will take you to a lodge at Karatu for dinner and overnight. Overnight at Eileen’s Tree Inn at Karatu. Packed lunch and dinner included.

After breakfast you proceed via the Ngorongoro Conservation Area traversing the Malanja depression towards Serengeti one of the most famous wildlife conservation areas in the world. First you will make a brief stop at the Naabi Hill Gate where you can go for a short walk at the Naabi Hill Kopjes (huge granite boulders) where you can stretch your legs as your guide sorts out the paperwork. After lunch at the picnic site at the gate you continue on game drives all afternoon at the vast Serengeti National Park, named after the ancient Masai word ‘Siringet’, which basically translates to ‘endless plains’. Truly the plains are endless indeed. Overnight at Osinon Serengeti Camp at Seronera, in Central Serengeti. All meals included.

Early morning game drives at Serengeti and visit to the hippo pools and Seronera Visitor’s Center if you wish. After a hearty breakfast in the bush camp you will then proceed with your game drives in the Serengeti back tracking towards Naabi Hill Gate again until early afternoon time to cross over back to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where you reach your lodge for dinner and overnight stay. Overnight will be back at the nice mid-range lodge in Karatu; the Eileen’s Tree Inn. All meals included.

After an early morning breakfast you register again at the Loduare Main Gate and descend into the crater for a wonderful game drive (with a picnic lunch served) inside the Ngorongoro Crater at a designated picnic site. As very few animals migrate in and out of the Ngorongoro Crater with its approx 2000 ft. high walls, you can expect to see many animals at very close range including lions, zebras, hippos, elephants, jackals, rhinos, many other antelopes, as well as flamingos, and many birds and other species. Your safari guide just like in the Serengeti will be in constant contact with other safari drivers and will surely amaze you with his unique skills in locating the hidden animals. After enough game drives and depending in your schedule your driver will take you back to Moshi where you will be dropped back at your hotel ready for next day tour.

We will pick you at your hotel in the morning. The ride to the hot springs takes about an hour and leads partly over bumpy slopes. First we go past sugar cane plantations, and then we come to the African scrubland. Dried river beds, baobab and acacia trees accompany us on our way.

The hot springs of Kikuletwa, also known as Chemka Hot Springs, are close to the village of Rundugai and are one of the most beautiful places in Tanzania to relax. The small pond is surrounded by palm and fig trees with winding roots. In the morning, Blue Monkeys can often be observed in the trees, whilst the crystal clear, turquoise water invites you to a refreshing bath. Although they are called hot springs, the water in Kikuletwa is not truly ‘hot’ but refreshing, as the water source is fed by Kilimanjaro itself.

Enjoy a wonderful day in just the way you want, in the sun dozing, chatting with the locals at the small bar, or swimming - you determine the course of this day. At noon we will have a picnic lunch, and in the late afternoon we return relaxed to Moshi.

In case you are departing on the same evening we can offer you a drop off at the Kilimanjaro International Airport at a very nominal fee as part of our gratitude for booking your safari with us.