Inlands & Islands

DAR ES SALAAM/ MIKUMI NATIONAL PARK/ MAFIA ISLAND/ ZANZIBAR/ DAR ES SALAAM

No. of Days : 14 days

£2,275 per person (diver)
£2,175 per person (non-diver),
£2,495 per person (single supplement) – all excluding international flights.

Price includes: 5 nights B&B, 7 nights full board, 10 dives, 1 whale shark experience, 4 safari activities & all scheduled internal transport.

Not included: international flights, drinks, tips & gratuities, Mafia Island Marin Park fees @ $20 per person per 24 hours, non-specified activities, transport to and from non-specified activities.

The Trip

Day 1
03/03/12
Forget winter winds and dark nights for today you are flying to Africa. Just say it to yourself: it sounds good. Enjoy the mid-air cuisine, hope for a good film (with headphones that work) and anticipate the two weeks that lie ahead.
AIR FARE

Day 2
04/03/12
Landing at the international airport in Dar es Salaam, you will be met by your guide and driven through the noise and confusion of the city to the calm oasis of the Mediterraneo Hotel on Kawe Beach. Here, next to the Indian Ocean, you can recover from the constrictions of the flight and enjoy the wonderful cuisine of our home from home in the city.

MEDITERRANEO HOTEL – BREAKFAST & OVERNIGHT STAY

Day 3
05/03/12
After an early breakfast, you will leave the city, escape the sprawling suburbs, and embark out onto the coastal plain. Rural Tanzania welcomes
you. Following the old trade routes, you head west, past the Uluguru Mountains, to Mikumi National Park. Once in the park, you will head for your campsite under the baobab trees. Here the luggage will be unloaded as you head into the park for a late afternoon game drive. Sundowners in Africa; it is seldom bettered. In the evening, you will enjoy a three-course meal under the stars. Listen to the night come alive and let your guide translate.
MIKUMI NP CAMPSITE – FULL BOARD – 1 GAME DRIVE

Day 4
06/03/12
Unfortunately, the best time of the day for meeting the residents of the park is early morning, around sunrise. Therefore, you will be woken with coffee before leaving the lodge to watch the African savanna come to life. You can expect to see a host of species, from the mighty elephant to the cantankerous ground hornbill and everything in between. After 2-3 hours, you will return to lodge for a good hearty breakfast and a chance to compare animals seen. As the morning sun brings the temperature up most species find a cool place to hide. Around 3pm, you will once more leave the lodge, this time in search of the predators. As the sun starts to fade the dinner bell rings, dusk is a best time for seeing lion in the park. They will have spent most of the day lying around, but now it is their time to feed.
MIKUMI NP CAMPSITE – FULL BOARD – 2 GAME DRIVES

Day 5
07/03/12
The bush is rarely quiet and this morning it is the bird song that wakes you. As the sun rises, you will go out into the park for an early morning game drive. This gives you the opportunity to visit different areas of the park, or return to yesterday’s favourites. Now, when it is cool, the wildlife is more active; listen to your guide as he explains to you life on the savanna. The buffalo will be wallowing and the elephants browsing in the tree line; it will be difficult to leave.
After the morning game drive, you will return to Dar es Salaam and the domestic airport for your flight to Mafia Island. Forty five minutes in the air will take you to this island, the site of one of the Indian Ocean’s most important marine parks. Look out for the dark silhouette of a whale shark in the clear waters below you. Your home on the island is Shamba Kilole Lodge, the new development of which the people of Mafia are most proud.

SHAMBA KILOLE LODGE – FULL BOARD

Day 6-9
08-11/03/12
You have the next four days to explore as many of Mafia’s dive sites as you can. Whether you enjoy encountering the big pelagic species or prefer a spot of macro photography, the island has something for everyone. The exact sites dived will be dependent upon local conditions and the advice of our guides. Enjoy the stunning drift dive at Kinasi Pass, greeting the charismatic groupers and sharing the waters with great shoals of reef fish. Our guides have dived these waters for the past fifteen years so make the most of their knowledge.
Whale sharks are on most divers tick list and Mafia Island is the one of the best places in the world to do it. You will travel back across the island to the west coast where for seven months of the year we have a resident population of these magnificent creatures. No need to be worried, the largest shark on earth happens to be a filter feeder.
SHAMBA KILOLE LODGE – FULL BOARD – 6 DIVES & 1 WHALE SHARK EXPERIENCE.

Day 10
12/03/12
Time for a change. You will be driven back to the airport for the flight north to Zanzibar, Mafia’s famous sister. Collected at the airport, you will be driven across the island, through Jozani Forest to the glorious stretch of the south east coast. Your base will be the Arabian Nights Hotel in Paje Village. Staying in a purpose built hotel, built in the Swahili style, it is now time to dive Zanzibar! The afternoon is yours to relax and explore the beach – or just crack open a beer or two – diving begins tomorrow.
ARABIAN NIGHTS ANNEX – BREAKFAST & OVERNIGHT STAY

Day 11 & 12
13 & 14/03/12
Zanzibar is a ‘dive n’ vibe’ destination. The diving is great; using the dive centre next to the hotel you will use modern boats to get quickly out to the reef wall for dives that combine coral and big stuff. You can also look inland for drier delights. Visit Stonetown, a UN World Heritage Site; join the habituated red colobus monkeys in Jozani Forest or take a Big Blu Safari. If you would prefer to rest, then find the shade and settle in for some lazy island life.

ARABIAN NIGHTS ANNEX – BREAKFAST & OVERNIGHT STAY – 4 DIVES

Day 13
15/03/12
Last night may have been a bit of a party, so take it easy and potter around until the time has come to return to the airport for your flight to Dar es Salaam. Once back in the city, make the short drive to the international airport in time for the long flight home. Tanzania waits patiently for your return. Karibuni tena – Welcome again.

Day 14
16/03/12
Land back in the UK with a lovely – if lopsided – tan and a heart full of memories.