Human Origins in Tanzania

B= Breakfast • L= Lunch • D= Dinner

Tuesday, June 29, 2021: Depart home
Depart home on flights to Tanzania.

Wednesday, June 30: Arrive Arusha, Tanzania | Transfer to hotel
Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) near Arusha, Tanzania, likely in the early evening. Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred to our inn, approximately 30 minutes from the airport. Overnight at the 5-star Country Inn & Resort for two nights. (D)

Thursday, July 1: At leisure
Enjoy this day at leisure, to rest up and explore our inn’s 30 acres in a private community. The main house has 10 rooms and stunning gardens with views of Mount Meru to the west and Mount Kilimanjaro to the east. Relax on the balcony of your room and/or enjoy amenities such as the pool, a tour of the coffee plantation and vegetable gardens, and bird watching. Before dinner we will gather for an introductory lecture by Dr. Harcourt-Smith. (B,L,D)

Friday, July 2 to Sunday, July 4: Tarangire National Park
Depart Arusha after an early breakfast and drive approximately 2.5 hours to Tarangire National Park. This is a peak time of the year in the Park, when it hosts a large elephant migration. The park has 3,000 resident elephants that are joined by another 3,000 migratory elephants that come into the park for water in the Tarangire River and surrounding wetlands. Other herd animals such as wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, and antelope of all kinds also migrate into the park between July and the end of October. Tarangire is also famous for its beautiful baobab trees, variety of habitats, and large numbers of baboon and impala. The park’s lion often climb trees, just as they do in the Serengeti.

On July 2^nd we arrive at the lodge in time for a hot lunch and an afternoon game drive. On July 3^rd and 4^th we will continue our explorations of the park on morning and afternoon game drives. In addition, we will arrange time with one of the elephant field researchers for a field talk (schedule permitting). Overnight at the 3-star Tarangire Sopa Lodge for three nights. (B,L,D each day)

Monday, July 5 & Tuesday, July 6: Lake Natron & Engare Sero
After an early breakfast at our lodge we check out and game drive out of Tarangire to Lake Natron, enjoying a picnic lunch along the way. We drive to the colorful village of Mto wa Mbu before turning off the main road onto the unpaved road to Lake Natron. We will be driving through the Gregory Rift, an offshoot of Africa’s Great Rift Valley, and while there will not be much wildlife we will enjoy the splendor of the Valley and pass small villages along the way. Our destination, Lake Natron, is famous for its mineral-rich soda lake which attracts 75% of the lesser flamingo population for breeding season between October and February. The very high alkalinity of the lake discourages predators from living in the area, and the lake’s very high alkalinity allows abundant growth of the spirulina algae that is the main food for lesser flamingo. Lake Natron is also well known for being near Ol Doinyo Lengai, the only active volcano in Tanzania.

July 5^th will be a long day of driving to our camp, and we expect to arrive in the late afternoon. In the morning of July 6^th we visit Engare Sero, site of the more than 400 fossil hominin footprints, dated to the Late Pleistocene (6,000 to 19,000 years ago) and preserved in volcanic ash, that were recently excavated and studied by Dr. Harcourt-Smith and his colleagues. For the afternoon you may choose from a selection of activities offered by our camp, such as swimming, birding, and hiking. Overnight at the 4-star Lake Natron Camp for two nights. (B,L,D each day)

Wednesday, July 7: Loliondo Game Management Area
Depart our camp this morning and drive north in the Loliondo area to TAASA Lodge, arriving in the mid- to late afternoon. Expect another day of driving on unpaved roads, but our destination is a lodge that sits high above the Serengeti with stunning views to the west – perfect for sunset. Perhaps enjoy a guided walk on the property and/or a refreshing dip in the pool before we gather for dinner under the stars. TAASA Lodge is located just outside of Serengeti National Park, a natural UNESCO World Heritage site, so we can enjoy a nighttime game drive (something that is not permitted inside the park). Overnight at the 5-star TAASA Lodge. (B,L,D)

Thursday, July 8 to Saturday, July 10: Maasai boma visit | Northern Serengeti & Mara River
Before setting out for the Serengeti and the famous Mara River, visit an authentic Maasai boma (enclosure for houses and livestock) that is affiliated with TAASA Lodge. We will likely depart the lodge before 6am on July 8th so we can arrive at the boma before the men and boys take the cattle and goats out for grazing. From the village we will enter the Serengeti and then game drive to the northwestern Serengeti and Mara River to pursue the dynamic river crossings.

July 9^th and 10^th will be full days of exploring the northwestern Serengeti in anticipation of witnessing portions of the wildebeest herd cross the river. The herd has actually experienced a significant change in their movements over the past eight to ten years, primarily due to the loss of habitat in the northernmost area of the Serengeti ecosystem, which is also Kenya’s Maasai Mara. Tanzania has a committed policy to conduct controlled burning of grassland to increase the nutritious quality of the grass, but Kenya does not conduct the same policy, so grasses are higher quality and more abundant in the northwestern Serengeti and approximately 70% of the wildebeest herd now remains inside the Serengeti during the dry season. Overnight at the 4-star Karibu Serengeti River Camp for three nights. (B,L,D each day)

Sunday, July 11 & Monday, July 12: Central Serengeti
On the morning of July 11^th we depart our camp and game drive to the central Serengeti to spend two days in this cat-rich area of the Park. Game drives on both days focus on cats hunting and the resident wildlife of the vast central Serengeti. Although the large herds are not present at this time of year, the resident wildlife is excellent. Since cats do not migrate with the herds, they are left to defend their territories and search for dwindling prey. Lions and leopards now have to hunt both day and night to secure enough food for survival. Overnight at the 5-star Karibu Serengeti Sametu Camp for two nights. (B,L,D each day)

Tuesday, July 13 to Thursday, July 15: Olduvai Gorge | Laetoli | Ngorongoro Crater
Depart the central Serengeti on the morning of the 13^th and drive to the Ngorongoro Crater, stopping along the way for an extended visit to Olduvai Gorge, all part of the UNESCO World Heritage (mixed natural/cultural) site of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Olduvai Gorge was the site of Louis and Mary Leakey’s famous hominin fossil discoveries that put East Africa on the paleoanthropological map. The first discovery was in 1959, when Mary Leakey found a hominin skull fragment (dated to about 1.75 million years ago) that was eventually classified as Paranthropus boisei. Homo habilis and Homo erectus specimens were also found in the Gorge, as were Oldowan stone tools and animal bones and teeth that had been manipulated by hominins. Our visit will also include the newly-renovated site museum, dedicated to the Leakeys’ discoveries and the archaeology and geology of this area. Continue to the Ngorongoro Crater and drive down to the floor of the caldera for a game drive as we travel to our camp on the eastern rim.

On July 14^th we will leave the camp very early and drive down to the Crater floor to take a “short-cut” on our drive to Laetoli, which is about 3 hours from the western rim. Laetoli is the site of the famous, nearly 90-foot-long “Laetoli Footprints,” a 3.6-million-year old trail made by early humans, most likely Australopithecus afarensis, as they walked in wet volcanic ash. Dr. Harcourt-Smith will be at his best discussing this important area for human origins. (Please note that the footprints themselves are not visible.) Drive around the rim road to return to our camp for dinner. On July 15^th we will enjoy a full day down in the Crater for wildlife viewing, including a special bush lunch. In the Crater are thousands of wildebeest; still many black rhino, cheetah, and gazelle; abundant birdlife; and, arguably, the highest density of hyena anywhere in Africa. Enjoy a farewell dinner our last evening at the camp. Overnight at the 5-star Ngorongoro Lion’s Paw Camp for three nights. (B,L,D each day)

Friday, July 16 & Saturday, July 17: Arusha | Transfer to airport | Fly home
After breakfast we drive back to Arusha, stopping along the way at the Cultural Heritage Center for lunch and some shopping. Continue to The Country Inn & Resort where you have a day room with time to relax, shower, and pack. Transfer to Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) in time for homeward flights that depart on the 16^th, and arrive in the U.S. the next day. (B,L,D on July 16^th)