Why Safari with Mountain Gurus?
Our director has been planning world-class safaris in Tanzania for nearly twenty years. We are intimately familiar with Mount Kilimanjaro and the national parks of Tanzania’s Northern Circuit and the Great Rift Valley. As with our Mount Kilimanjaro climbs, all of our itineraries are specialized, small group adventures led by professional guides and drives, with high-quality meals and lodgings and safe, well-maintained safari vehicles.
What can I expect on my Safari Adventure?
On safari, every day brings something new. Depending on your itinerary, you can expect to travel to a variety of national parks and conservation areas, each with its own distinct landscape and ecosystems. You’ll visit with Tanzania’s indigenous Maasai people in their villages with their cattle and other animals, and of course you’ll see abundant wildlife from a vast array of species. A typical day will include a game drive in either the morning or the late evening, and another during the day. We vary the schedule depending on when animals in the area will be most active. Many become more active in the cool hours of dawn and dusk, when they are less visible to their prey. We eat breakfasts and dinners in lodges or our luxury mobile camps in the parks themselves. We usually bring a lunch basket for to eat while on safari. You can expect to be able to purchase snacks and beverages in small towns along the way. These are generally not available inside the game parks. If you become weary of driving, you can always take a break from viewing wildlife and relax instead at our safari lodges, many of which offer cocktail bars, beautiful gardens and swimming pools where you can enjoy the beautiful African sunrises and sunsets.
What does my Safari Adventure include?
After summitting Mount Kilimanjaro, you’ll descend to luxury hotel accommodations where you can rest from you climb. The next day, most of our guests set off on a 3-day or 5-day itinerary in the Ngorongoro Highlands or on the awe-inspiring Serengeti, the plains where early man took his first steps. These safaris are the stuff of legends! You can expect a wildlife viewing like no other.
Our safaris include national park entrance fees, skilled guides and drivers, ground transportation in fully equipped 4×4 safari vehicles with pop-up-tops for game viewing, double sharing accommodations in wildlife lodges and/ or luxury mobile tent camps, and all scheduled meals. Individual lodgings are available for an additional fee for those travelling alone or who are unable to be paired. Additional expenses may include entrance fees to the Olduvai Gorge and Maasai village tours, balloon rides, walking safaris, and other supplemental activities, as well as bottled beverages and alcohol and non-scheduled meals.
At Mountain Gurus, we plan our adventures to provide our guests with the best possible experience. At the same time, we take care to respect the local customs and traditions of our host countries. We strive to minimize the environmental impacts of our expeditions, ensuring that while you will take away many memories, you will leave only boot tracks.
What wildlife will I see on my Safari Adventure?
A great variety! On every safari, we hope to see Africa’s Big Five: the bush elephant, black rhinoceros, cape buffalo, lion and the most elusive of these, the leopard. The Northern Circuit is also home to hippos, white rhinoceros, cheetahs, hyenas, jackals and wild dogs, and of course, great herds of migratory herbivores, including: zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, hartebeest, Grants Gazelle, Thomson Gazelle, antelopes, dik diks, gerenuk, elands and kudus. Many of these take part in the Great Migration. We often see flamingoes, ostriches, crowned cranes and other birds from the hundreds of species that live in Tanzania, as well as warthogs, crocodiles, baboons, blue monkeys and colobus monkeys.