Birding & Ecological Tour | 12 Days

Photo tour specializing in creating the best photographic wildlife safaris and cultural tours, You want to be confident of being in the right place at the right time, have qualified guides that understand your needs as a photographer, have freedom and flexibility that a small group ensures, and the experience of a lifetime.

Duration: 12 days
Cancellation: 6 days learn more
Highlights

| Arrive in Arusha

Arusha - Upon arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport you will be met by a member of the Expect in Africa Safari team who will transfer you by road to your hotel.

| Full day Birding in Arusha National Park.

Arusha National Park - Have an early morning breakfast and leave the lodge at 0600hrs to Lark Plain with picnic lunch for full day walking safari and bird watching trip in Arusha national park in search for birds like African fish eagle, Hartlaub’s turaco, Little grebe, African olive pigeon, Peregrine falcon, Red-fronted parrot, Augur buzzard, Bar-tailed trogon, Bearded vulture, Black saw-wing, Egyptian goose, Cinnamon-chested bee-eater, Tawny eagle, Great crested grebe, Narina trogon, Scaly francolin, Silvery-cheeked hornbill, Southern pochard, Verreaux’s eagle among others. You will also encounter number animals including the elephant, hyena, buffalo, giraffe, hippopotamus, baboon, zebra, and a wide range of antelopes. We are also likely to see an interesting array of mammals including black-and-white colobus monkey, blue monkey, elephant, buffalo, red duiker, bushbuck, waterbuck and giraffe.

| Transfer to Tarangire National Park

Tarangire National Park - Have breakfast and transfer from Arusha national park to Tarangire national park for big game and bird watching trip. Tarangire hosts over 500 bird species; making it a great bird watching site. The Ashy starling, Red bellied parrot, Red and yellow barbet, Speckle-fronted weaver and Tawny eagle are the common birds in Tarangire national park.

| Full day birding in Tarangire National Park.

Tarangire National Park - After breakfast, head to the park for full day big game viewing and bird watching in search for birds like; African grey flycatcher, Ashy starling, Bare-faced go-away bird, Donaldson-Smith’s nightjar, Vulturine guineafowl, Great white pelican, Rufous-tailed weaver, Mouse-coloured penduline tit, Northern pied babbler, Northern white-crowned shrike, Ostrich, Pink-breasted lark, Slate-coloured boubou, Von der Decken’s hornbill, Yellow-collared lovebird among others. You will also meet several wildlife including the Elephant, Hippo, Giraffe, Buffalo, Zebra, Wildebeest, Lion, Hyena, fringe-eared oryx and peculiar, long-necked gerenuk,

Depart to Serengeti National Park

Serengeti National Park - After breakfast drive to Serengeti via Olduvai Gorge site for game viewing and birding to look for over 500 bird species such as Ostriches, Secretary birds on the grasslands, Kori bustard, the Black Eagles above the Lobo hills, larks, fiches and raptors among others.

| Bird Serengeti National Park

Serengeti National Park - Full day in the Serengeti to explore this amazing eco-system, find the wildebeest migration, search for a wild dog lair, watch the huge Grumeti crocodiles or spot a sleeping leopard up a tree, follow the circling vultures to a recent lion kill or study the birdlife. You can choose to stay out all day or return to your lodge for lunch and a siesta before venturing out again in the cooler evening temperatures and then get back to your Camp before sunset.

Photographing in the Central Serengeti

Migration at Serengeti National Park - Big herds and big cats that is what has made the Serengeti famous worldwide. Lion, leopard, and cheetah, will be our focus while in this very productive area. Again, you can expect to be up early and returning to camp in the evening, or as conditions warrant.

Photographing in the Central Serengeti

Serengeti National Park - You will depart the lodge at first light with a picnic breakfast for a big day in search of the biggest herds of the great migrations. Alternatively, as usually you may choose to enjoy a more leisurely breakfast at the camp instead of a picnic breakfast and depart with picnic lunches for a full day of game drives exploring different areas of the central serengeti. Areas that will be visited are the Retima Hippo pool, maasai and sametu kopjes and plains as well as Moru and Simba kopjes.

Depart to Ngorongoro Conservation Area via Olduvai Gorge

Ngorongoro Conservation Area - After an early breakfast, depart with packed lunch and drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area

| Birding in Ngorongoro Crater

Ngorongoro Crater - After breakfast descend to the crater floor for full day crater tour in search for birds like; African spoonbill, Augur buzzard, Capped wheatear, Greater flamingo, Eastern double-collared sunbird, Egyptian vulture, Fan-tailed widowbird, Hartlaub’s turaco, dove, Hildebrandt’s francolin, Hildebrandt’s starling, Jackson’s widowbird, Scarlet-chested sunbird, Schalow’s wheatear, Kenya rufous sparrow, Northern anteater chat, Kori bustard, Livingstone’s turaco, Namaqua Red-and-yellow barbet, Rufous-tailed weaver, Rosy-throated longclaw, Speke’s weaver, Verreaux’s eagle, White-eyed slaty flycatcher among others. You will also see several wildlife in Ngorongoro crater including Elephant, Wildebeest, Black Rhino, Hippo, Buffalo, Zebra, Lion, Cheetah, Hyena etc.

| Full Day Birding In Lake Manyara National Park

Lake Manyara National Park - Have breakfast and set off for a full day big game and birdwatching in Lake Manyara National Park to look out for birds like; Abdim’s stork, African fish eagle, African grey hornbill, African hawk eagle, African jacana, Grey crowned crane, Hamerkop, African spoonbill, Baglafecht weaver, Greater flamingo, Pink-backed pelican, Sacred ibis, Comb duck, Crowned eagle, Great white pelican, Hottentot teal, Lesser flamingo, Little stint, Pied avocet, Southern ground hornbill, Spur-winged goose, Pied kingfisher, Saddle-billed stork, Silvery-cheeked hornbill, Von der Decken’s hornbill,

| Transfer to Arusha & depart

Arusha - Around 9am we will start our journey back to Arusha. Stop at cultural heritage for an optional shopping, and then drive to the hotel for a day use room before driving to Kilimanjaro Airport for your flight back home.

What's Included
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
  • Dinner
  • Airport transfer from JRO
What's Not Included
  • Travel Insurance
  • Tourist Visa
  • Tips
Cancellation Policy

If you cancel at least 6 full day(s) before the scheduled departure time, you will receive a full refund.
If you cancel between 2 and 6 day(s) before the scheduled departure time, you will receive a 50% refund.
If you cancel within 2 day(s) of the scheduled departure, you will receive a 0% refund.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(3 Ratings)
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1 star
249lakshminarayanans
Jun 29, 2024
Expectations are exceeded with Expect in Africa Safari - I am a birder from Boston and my wife love the animals. We were searching for a customized private safari in Safaribookings.com for both Birding and Wildlife and found the "Expect in Africa" Safari tour operator to our liking. It turned out to be the best decision we made among the many tour operators in TZ. They have a great website with all the different packages that will fit to your liking from hikes to Kilimanjaro to Birding and Wildlife safari in TZ. We were able to look at all the packages, pricing, accommodation etc., and were very satisfied with their offering. Upon submitting our enquiry with our travel plan on the website directly, Lawrence the tour manager responded promptly in email/whatsapp to discuss our plans. He was very professional and responsive to all our requests and designed the entire customized tour itinerary for us including stay, travel, food etc., The overall cost was very reasonable for the whole trip, all inclusive. While in TZ, our guide Raymond and Lawrence greeted us at the airport and had taken us into their custody. Raymond was with us the whole trip and turned out to be our perfect guide that knew all about the Birds, Wildlife, flora and fauna. He was very kind and passionate in driving around, able to spot pretty much everything, being at the right place at the right time, showing and explaining about all the habitats, birds and wildlife during our 9 days trip. The Tanganyika wilderness camps and accommodation during our stay have exceeded all our expectations for lodging, food and hospitality. We were able to see the big five and all our target animals and a lot of birds during our tour. I ended up with 230 species of birds and over 200 photographed, not to mention all the 40+ species of mammals and reptiles we saw during the trip. Overall a lifetime experience and a high five to the tour operators.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
954adk
Dec 21, 2023
A birder's dream safari - This was the second time I went with Expect in Africa and this time twice as long. Again Raymond was our guide and driver. He was amazing. Not only does he know every animal we encountered but he also knows where to find the uncommon ones in case, like I, you have seen many already over the years. The accommodations were perfect (medium range), the food was excellent, and there wasn't a problem anywhere. The first time I went (2021) with Expect in Africa was with my wife and we thoroughly enjoyed it, but this time she couldn't join and I came with three friends. They all loved the trip and are probably spoiled now as it was their first trip to Africa. Apart from all the game animals we encountered cheetahs hunting gazelles and a leopard successfully hunting a warthog piglet right in front of us. We are all birders and in the ten days we were on the tour we photographed 260 different species of birds! For my birding buddy who had never before been to Africa it meant 252 lifers for his list. We may have seen many more species but we actually have photos of 260 bird species. The birding possibilities in northern Tanzania are amazing and Expect in Africa is the perfect way to exploit them. Thank you Raymond and Lawrence for another unforgettable safari!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Emmegi_f
Aug 10, 2019
Amazing experience across the north circuit - Our trip was in total 13 days across the entire north circuit: north and central Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara and Tarangire. We flew from Arusha to Kogatende and then drove from north to south all the way back to Arusha. Expect in Africa Safari is a local small company with a deep and competent knowledge about the territory and all that you need to know when you travel around Tanzania as a tourist. Lawrence, the manager, has been extremely helpful during the preparation of our itinerary: the itinerary he proposed was very well balanced and he has been always available to satisfy our requests for small adjustments. The accommodations he booked for us were all very beautiful and cosy and in line with our expectations and what was promised. And the food was just delicious! The price of the safari was totally worth the experience! Our guide, Hezron, knows absolutely everything about all the animals of the savana: he could spot anything with just a quick look and he always knew where to drive to find the animals. With him we saw all the animals, from the easier ones like wildebeest, zebra and giraffe to the more difficult ones like lions, leopards and cheetahs (including cubs of all of them!). We could also see a rhino in Ngorongoro, even though from far away. Hezron is a very good man that really loves his job and does it in a very professional way. He’s been doing this job for over 20 years and a lot of the other guides know him and respect him. Ask for him whenever you book your next safari! We could not ask more for this experience, Expect in Africa Safari is totally recommended! After this experience, we definitely want to come back, maybe in the rain season to see the contrast, and Expect in Africa Safari will be our first choice. Asante sana and tutaonana tena :)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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