September 24-25, 2010:
Depart US / Amsterdam / Arrive Tanzania

Venture to Tanzania via Amsterdam, where you will catch a connecting flight to Kilimanjaro Airport. From there, you will be met and transferred to your lodge in Arusha.

• Overnight: Arusha Lodge

September 26-27:
Private Nature Refuge

Take a short flight to the remote wilds of a private nature reserve exclusive for Thomson guests. Over two thrilling days, you will explore the pristine savannah and woodlands by vehicle and by foot, seeing zebra, impala, giraffe, and more. You will also have up-close and interactive experiences with our many Maasai neighbors and friends, such as a women’s collaborative, a storyteller, and dancers. This is the Africa you have been dreaming about.

• Overnights: Thomson East Serengeti Nyumba

September 28-30:
Serengeti National Park

After a morning drive, enter the endless plains of the famed Serengeti, where you’ll have three days of wilderness ventures over a diverse landscape of acacia forests, rolling hills, grasslands, rivers, and kopjes. With luck, you will even encounter the great migration of wildebeest, zebra, and antelope, as it makes its way south over the Mara River. See and capture more through the lens, as Halperin gives daily informal photography lessons. You will stay at two distinct Thomson sites both ideally located for the best possible wildlife viewing.

• Overnights: Thomson Serengeti Nyumba

October 1-2:
Ngorongoro Crater

You will drive from the Serengeti to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area this morning, stopping for lunch en route at Olduvai Gorge, where Louis and Mary Leakey discovered the 1.75-million-year-old skull of Australopithecus. You’ll have the rare opportunity to descend into the gorge and explore its prehistoric sites, while Wrangham captivates you with discussions based on his prominent work in evolutionary biology. From there, you’ll head to the Ngorongoro Crater, spending two nights at a camp perched on the crater rim. You’ll spend the following day on the crater floor, where thousands of animals reside, including black rhino, cheetah, lion, hyena, eland, and numerous antelope. The alkaline Lake Magadi serves as an important water source, also attracting flamingo flocks during the dry season.

• Overnights: Thomson Ngorongoro Nyumba

October 3-5:
Gombe Stream National Park

Take an early-morning drive down to Manyara Airstrip to catch a flight to Kigoma town in western Tanzania. Just as Halperin and Wrangham did nearly 40 years ago, you will then take a boat ride over Lake Tanganyika to Gombe Stream National Park, where you will be greeted by the staff of the Jane Goodall Institute. After a chimp trek briefing, you will have a dinner in celebration of Jane Goodall’s 50-year legacy at the Gombe Forest Lodge.

Rise early on the following days in high anticipation of tracking down Gombe’s legendary chimpanzees. Hike through the dense bamboo and mountain forests, perhaps having lunch at Jane’s Peak or Kikombe Waterfalls. When you do finally come upon the chimps, whether they are playfully squabbling, grooming each other, or swinging through trees, the moment will be simply spectacular. When not trekking, you can also pursue other optional activities, such as bird-watching and even snorkeling in Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest lake in the world. As you share in their own homecoming journey, Halperin and Wrangham will be sure to make your experience all the more enlightening and meaningful. Take heart in knowing that your stay will significantly support the critical conservation mission of the Jane Goodall Institute, so the chimpanzees will thrive for generations to come.

• Overnights: Gombe Forest Lodge

October 6-8:
Zanzibar

You’ll bid farewell to your friends at Gombe this morning to catch a flight across Tanzania to Zanzibar. Known as the Spice Islands, Zanzibar has limitless wonders for travelers, from its immaculate beaches and coral reefs to its cultural and historic tours. Upon arrival on the main island, you will be met by one of our partners and escorted to your hotel in the middle of the historic Stone Town, where you can explore its labyrinth of narrow streets, white-washed Arabesque buildings and mosques, sprawling markets, and palm tree-shaded courtyards. On the following day, you’ll transfer to your little plot of paradise beside the Indian Ocean at a resort on the island’s opposite end. The reefs and coral offer exquisite views, including an immense diversity of vibrant aquatic life: butterfly fish, emperor angel fish, dolphin, lion fish, green turtles, and manta ray. Spend two days taking in the local Swahili culture and enjoying the beach — whether swimming, snorkeling, diving, taking photos, or simply relaxing.

• Overnights: Stonetown Lodge and Zanzibar Beachfront Lodge

October 9-10:
Depart Tanzania / Amsterdam / Arrive US

You will transfer to Stone Town after breakfast, having more time to visit its sites. You’ll then take a late afternoon flight to Dar es Salaam, where you will have a day-room at a seaside hotel and bazaar before heading to the airport to catch your flight to Amsterdam and then home.

Land-Only Pricing

$15,890 per person for JGI Peak Society Members. *$16,890 for non-members.
Price based on 12 guests

$14,490 per person for JGI Peak Society Members. *$15,490 for non-members.
Price based on 14 guests

$13,390 per person for JGI Peak Society Members. *$14,390 for non-members.
Price based on 16 guests

Current Jane Goodall Institute Peak Society members must provide proof of membership at time of booking.

Booking

Call us at (800) 235-0289 to reserve your space. This once in a lifetime safari is exclusive, so please book early to ensure availability.

A $2,000 non-refundable, non-transferrable credit card deposit is required to reserve your space.

*A $1,000 JGI Peak Society membership fee is accounted for in the non-member rates. Please note that the participant is responsible for paying this amount directly to JGI. Once Thomson Safaris receives proof of membership, you will be invoiced based on member rates.

Cancellation Charge

From booking to 121 days before departure: 100% of the deposit

From 120 to 91 days before departure:
50% of trip price

From 90 to 61 days before departure:
65% of trip price

From 60 days or less before departure:
100% of trip price

Additional Terms

Itinerary and price is subject to change. Lodges in Arusha and Zanzibar will be determined prior to the final payment deadline.

This trip requires a minimum enrollment of 12 guests; should Thomson Safaris need to cancel the trip due to insuffient enrollment, your safari deposit would be refunded in full.

Richard Wrangham, Primatologist

After four decades of studying primates in East Africa, Richard Wrangham is still in awe of chimpanzees. Currently the Ruth Moore Professor of Anthropology at Harvard, Wrangham has produced pioneering studies about primates, including discovering that chimpanzees self-medicate.

Most recently he published, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, which proposes a radical new theory on human evolution and has been listed by the New York Times and the Economist as one of the best books of 2009. Since 1987, he has directed the Kibale Chimpanzee Project in western Uganda, the British anthropologist’s second home whenever the academic year ends.

Wrangham says he hopes travelers will reflect upon what it means that chimpanzees and humans are each other’s closest relatives and will come to have a deeper understanding of the remarkable intricacies of animal and human behavior.

As a graduate student at Gombe, he once reportedly attempted to live like a chimpanzee — diet of termites and all.

Stewart Halperin, Photographer

With his keen eyes always alert and cameras ready, Stewart Halperin has journeyed to more than 80 countries while capturing an eclectic array of extraordinary color images over the past 40 years.

His collection includes some 120,000 color transparencies of fine art photographic prints and an expanding digital library, which ranges from stunning landscapes in New Zealand to dreamy abstracts in Italy, from wildlife in Key West to dramatic cultural displays in Brazil. The most formative moments of Halperin’s career came when he studied under the photography juggernaut, Ernst Haas.

Now based in Saint Louis, Halperin leads regular workshops and world tours, striving to instill his students with a sense of composition so they can discover and develop their own aesthetics.

He says his days as a graduate student with the chimps at Gombe gave him an entirely different sense of time, observation, and wonder.

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