Tanzania Family Safari

• All entrance fees

• Accommodations based on double and triple occupancy at comfortable and distinctive tourist level hotels

• Most meals; we leave off a couple so your family can explore on your own.

• Travel in groups of 15 to 25 people

• Services of a bilingual guide who will accompany you throughout your trip

• Land transportation, airport transfers and internal air

• All excursions

• Bottled water and snacks

• Travel insurance – Travel Insured International policy

• Groups of 8 or more will be accompanied by a mentor whose primary jobs will be to provide kid-friendly enrichment activities for up to an hour each day that enhance the overall trip experience; to provide organized fun for kids that helps them get to know each other; to provide things for kids to do during delays, flights and long bus trips (our teen trips don’t include mentors)

• Ages 6 to 16 will be matched with pen pals with whom they can correspond and then meet in country (our cruises of Inside Passage of Alaska and our teen trips don’t include penpals)

• There may be slight variations to this listing for certain adventures

DAYS 1 AND 2 – DEPART U.S. / ARRIVE TANZANIA
Upon arrival at the airport, you will be met and transferred to your lodge, where your Thomson Family Safari begins.

DAY 3 – ARUSHA NATIONAL PARK
The wonders of Arusha National Park often draw comparison to Mount Kilimanjaro and Ngorongoro Crater, its larger counterparts in northern Tanzania. Mount Meru has been called Mount Kilimanjaro’s little cousin, and Ngurdoto Crater, which teems with wildlife, has the nickname “Little Ngorongoro.” Arusha National Park, however, has offerings found nowhere else in the region, including lush mountain forests that are home to the exquisite colobus monkey, and some 575 bird species. The park is truly a hidden gem.

Wildlife safari

Hike to Mount Meru Waterfall

Picnic lunch beside Momella Lakes

DAYS 4 AND 5 – TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
This is Tanzania’s fourth-largest national park. Spend two full days with your family in Tarangire, exploring its rugged landscapes by safari vehicle and staying in a luxury camp. This park, often overlooked, astonishes many with its massive herds of elephant and distinctive winding riverine landscapes and swampy floodplains. It is also known for its large numbers of bizarre baobab trees, famous for their enormous trunks and root-like branches.

Wildlife safari

Swimming

DAY 6 – NGORONGORO HIGHLANDS
As you travel to the Ngorongoro Highlands en route to the Crater, you and your kids will head up a steep, winding road near the edge of the Great Rift Valley. Make sure to keep your cameras ready on the drive – you will be rewarded with expansive vistas of Lake Manyara and the exquisite surrounding plains. At the top of this slope lie the lush Ngorongoro Highlands, where the region's rich volcanic soil makes for some of the most fertile land in Tanzania.

School visit / Friends Across Borders meeting (pen pals)

Lunch at Gibb’s Farm

Forest hike

DAY 7 – NGORONGORO CRATER AND CONSERVATION AREA
Drive a short distance from the rural highlands to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a wildlife and cultural preserve that covers 3,200 square miles, of which a mere 102 square miles represent the Ngorongoro Crater. Only members of the Maasai tribe are permitted to live within its boundaries, and they are seen throughout the Highlands and Conservation Area wearing bright red and royal blue cloths and tending to their herds of goats and cattle.

Wildlife safari

DAYS 8 AND 9 – SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
Protected since 1921, the Serengeti became Tanzania’s first National Park thirty years later. It comprises some 14% of Tanzania’s total land, and features grassland plains and savanna as well as riverine forest and woodlands. You will see wooded knolls around the official entrance called Naabi Hill Gate, which then drops into the park’s signature wide-open expansive plains. Like no other, this stretch embodies the meaning of the word “Serengeti,” which derives from the Maasai word Siringet, and has been translated as “the land that flows on forever.” Serengeti National Park covers 6,000 square miles of pristine land, and offers not only sprawling landscapes but the largest migration of mammals on earth, including 1.5 million wildebeest (December to March).

Picnic lunch

Wildlife safari in the Serengeti

DAY 10 – SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK / ARUSHA / DEPART
This park is just one example of how Tanzania has been a magnificent inspiration for the world in terms of wildlife and environmental conservation. We’ll have time for one last game viewing drive before we return to Arusha. Rest, repack, and shower before your departing KLM flight.

Wildlife safari in the Serengeti

DAY 11 – DEPART AMSTERDAM / ARRIVE U.S.

Days 10 to 13 (Optional Extension) – Zanzibar
One of the famed Spice Islands, Zanzibar has limitless wonders for traveling families, from its pristine beaches with vibrant coral reefs to its cultural and historic tours. For over a millennium, Zanzibar has been known as a powerful Indian Ocean trading hub, with rich cross-cultural history whose influences, whether African, Persian, Portuguese, Arab, Indian or Asian, still continue to thrive today.

Walking tour of Stone Town Explore this historic seaside city center, with its labyrinth of narrow streets, whitewashed Arabesque buildings and mosques, sprawling markets and palm tree-shaded courtyards. Your guided tour will give your family an in-depth and fascinating look at Zanzibar’s history.

Beach time: Spend the day taking in the local culture of the coast, swimming and relaxing on Zanzibar’s white sand beaches. Along the shore, you might even see Zanzibari fishermen and sea merchants carving or readying their dhows, old Arab-African sailing vessels that have been used to navigate between East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula for centuries.

Snorkeling or diving: (at extra cost) Vibrant aquatic life make their home along the shores of Zanzibar, including butterfly fish, emperor angel fish, dolphin, lion fish, green turtles and manta rays – just to name a few. If you or the kids are looking to see some exceptional marine wildlife up close, this is your chance.

Sunset cruise by dhow: Relax and enjoy stunning views from the turquoise waters as we cruise in a traditional dhow at sunset.

Day 14 – Zanzibar / Depart

Spice tour: Zanzibar and its neighbors became known as the Spice Islands over 200 years ago, with the rise of trade in cloves and other spices, such as nutmeg, cinnamon, and pepper. En route to Stone Town, take a tour of one of Zanzibar’s historic spice farms.

Shopping and dinner at the Slipway: In Dar es Salaam, the fastest growing city in Africa with its booming Indian Ocean port, you will have dinner on your own and a chance to do some last-minute shopping at the Slipway bazaar of restaurants and boutique shops before boarding your flight to Amsterdam.

Day 15 – Depart Amsterdam / Arrive U.S.

Touring Date	Land Only	Land + Air	Single (Land Only)	Single (Land + Air)
3/21/2010 - 3/31/2010	$4,790
Airfare Disclaimer A NOTE ABOUT AIRFARE: We encourage you to buy your airfare from the tour operator, because if your tour cancels then your airlines tickets will be covered. Purchasing flights separately at a lesser rate and incorporating it with a Non-Guaranteed Departure Date can result in loss of total cost of your flight investment. Depending on the fare rules, flights may be Non-Refundable and/or Non-Transferable. Neither the tour operator and/or Atlas Cruises & Tours will be held responsible for loss if a tour is cancelled for Lack of Participation. If you would like to check for discounted fares on Guaranteed Departures or for competitive pricing on air and hotel packages, we invite you to follow this link. Documents TRAVEL DOCUMENTS: Necessary Travel Documents such as Passports and Visas is the responsibility of the traveler. Passports must be valid six months from your return travel date.

There is no greater wildlife experience in the world than Tanzania — a nation that devotes 33% of its land to conservation and boasts the highest concentration of animals anywhere on the planet. From the vast Serengeti to the lust rain forests of the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania is home to wildebeest, chimpanzee, zebra, hippopotamus, giraffe, hyena and cheetah — just to name of few! Imagine seeing a hundred Thomson gazelle springing across a dirt road or majestic elephants leading their babies to a watering hole. Tanzania is the only place on earth where the “big five” — buffalo, elephant, leopard, the black-maned lion and the endangered, rare black rhinoceros — all live in one place.

Tanzania is a peaceful, safe country. A democracy since gaining independence 1961, Tanzania is led by a president and national assembly elected by popular vote. While not a wealthy country, Tanzania is quite stable, and its people are committed to preserving its natural and cultural resources. Tanzania is referred to as the “Switzerland of Africa,” peacefully sustaining more than 120 different ethnic groups and free of the political upheaval present in some other African countries.

Protected since 1921, the Serengeti became Tanzania’s first National Park 30 years later. The Serengeti comprises some 14% of Tanzania’s total land, and features grassland plains and savanna as well as riverine forest and woodlands. Wooded knolls mark the official entrance, called Naabi Hill Gate, which then drops into the park’s signature wide-open expansive plains. Like no other, this stretch embodies the meaning of the word “Serengeti,” which derives from the Maasai word Siringet, and has been translated as “the land that flows on forever.” Covering over 6,000 square miles of pristine land, the Serengeti offers not only sprawling landscapes but the largest migration of mammals on earth, including 1.5 million wildebeest.

RECOMMENDED FOR AGES 6+

All tour prices are per person, in US dollars, based on double occupancy.

Internal Air = $200

Child Rate = $4190 and $4490 during December departures
Please call for Teen Rates.

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