Upon arrival this evening, one set group transport will be arranged to get to the hotel. 

Assistance with private transfers can be arranged (additional cost) so you have flexibility to fly in at any time today to best suit your travel needs from your home airport. Hotel check-in is usually around 3pm for your reference. 

Arusha Serena Hotel is warmly reminiscent of a colonial era coffee farm, beginning with the welcoming stone-built reception area and extending to cottage-style rooms neatly arranged among landscaped lawns and the colorful banks of Bougainvillea. Guest rooms feature classic country house design touches like tile floors, leaded windows and French doors giving way to garden and lake views. Modern amenities like complimentary Internet and flat-screen televisions with cable and satellite channels along with personalized touches like ceiling fans and comfortable robes enhance the guest experience.

Dinner will be provided this evening at the hotel (depending on arrival time).

Please Note: Breakfast is included daily in your program.

Overnight: Arusha Serena Hotel (or similar)

Included meals: Dinner

After breakfast have a morning orientation and welcome briefing with your national guide. All travelers will gather this morning and receive further information on the program and this week’s activities. 

Enjoy a local lunch before you explore Arusha this afternoon. 

Arusha is a bustling agricultural town, a tourist center for East African safaris. Stroll around the Maasai market, another local market, and visit the Natural History Museum inside the old German boma. The city is in the middle of the African continent near Mount Meru, which nestles the Arusha national park on its slopes. 

Dinner will be provided at a local Ethiopian restaurant this evening.

Overnight: Arusha Serena Hotel(or similar) 

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

After breakfast depart for Mt. Meru Hospital (or similar). After a chance to meet the staff and a short orientation you will go on a tour of their facilities. Immediately following the tour meet with the team to learn about mental health in Arusha and Tanzania at large to discuss issues of common interest. 

After lunch with some local doctors visit the Tengeru Health Center for your afternoon session with the Mental Health Care Unit. Share your experiences and knowledge with their team and discuss challenges with providing services at district level.

Accompanying guests: Guests will head out today with a local guide to visit Shanga Place and later you will have time to explore the Maasai Market. Shanga is a social enterprise which employs people with disabilities to create unique and high-quality handmade jewelry, glassware and homewares incorporating recycled materials. Lunch will be provided in town today. 

Dinner will be provided this evening. 

Overnight: Arusha Serena Hotel (or similar)

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Today the group will head out to visit the Albino Center. Learn about the work they are doing to reduce the stigma and discrimination the Albino community face. The center is dedicated to improving the health, education, and livelihoods of people with albinism in Tanzania. 

Next visit the Cultural Heritage Center on the outskirts of town. This is a great place to purchase locally made crafts, spices, textiles, art and gems (especially tanzanite).

Lunch will be provided onsite this afternoon. 

This afternoon you will head outside of town to the Arusha National Park. The drive is about 30-45 minutes each way. Enjoy a 3-hour game drive and 1-hour walking tour with a local guide/ranger. 

The walking safari gives you a whole new and unique perspective of the national park and it’s super exciting! The scents and sounds of the African bush are best experienced by foot. Here you’ll be walking alongside wild, freely roaming animals in their natural habitat. Your ranger will share the dos and don’ts, so you remain safe. Apart from sharing loads of knowledge about the animals you might encounter, your guide will also tell you all about the unique flora & fauna of the park. Some unique sights will be visited, like the impressive waterfall that hides in the heart of the park, the Ngurudoto Crater and lake Momella, where thousands of pink flamingos can often be spotted. 

Dinner will be provided at the hotel.

Overnight: Arusha Serena Hotel (or similar)

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Professionals will head out this morning for another professional meeting at Mt. Meru Referral Hospital to engage with their staff regarding enhancement of mental health awareness in the local community. Today you will have a chance to present to the staff about mental health in the US. 

Accompanying guests: Guests will enjoy a cooking class this morning. Learn about Tanzanian dishes like Ugali which is often served with fish, meat, beans, and vegetables. 

Lunch will be provided at a local restaurant.

This afternoon the group will head to Monduli Juu Village for a Maasai cultural experience. The village is situated 50 Km northwest of Arusha on the road to the National Parks of Ngorongoro and Serengeti. The Maasai tribe is unique and popular due to their long-preserved culture. Today you will visit the village and learn about the norms and traditions of the Maasai people, including visiting the traditional leader. The healer will share info about natural medicine, and you’ll get to see how the women make their elegant bead ornaments. 

Dinner will be back at the hotel this evening. 

Overnight: Arusha Serena Hotel (or similar)

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

After an early breakfast, leave Arusha for Tarangire National Park to experience its wonderful wildlife. Tarangire is located two hours from Arusha on a tarmac road and is often referred to as the “Baobab Capital of the World”. Renowned for its wild landscapes and diverse habitats, the park is named after the Tarangire River and is the only permanent water source within 1,600 square miles of this protected wildlife area. In addition to numerous animals, the park has over 550 recorded species of birds and has the highest recorded number of breeding bird species of any habitat in the world. Tarangire is most famous for its elephants. 

The park is home to around 550 species of birds, including dazzling, yellow-collared lovebirds, and the world’s largest avian species, the stocking-thighed ostrich. 

After your game drive proceed to Karatu town for dinner and overnight. 

Check in and stay at the Ngorongoro Coffee Lodge this evening. The Lodge is nestled up against the Ngorongoro Forest Reserve offering stunning views over a working coffee plantation onto the forest. Twenty-six cottages comprise spacious accommodation with hand crafted furniture, a private verandah, fireplace, indoor and outdoor shower, and a ‘slipper’ bathtub. The lodge has a lounge, bar and dining room with free Wi-Fi, pool, spa, and a small gift shop. Enjoy afternoon tea or an evening cocktail.

Overnight: Ngorongoro Coffee Lodge (or similar)

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Enjoy a morning exploring Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Head out early today for a game drive in route to the crater. The Ngorongoro volcanic crater is the largest unfolded and unbroken caldera in the world (about 20kms across, 600 meters deep, and 300 sq km in area). You will begin to be able to pick out the familiar shapes of elephant and buffalo on the crater floor, mingled with zebras, wildebeest, and gazelles. It is also one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of big predator lions, leopards, and hyenas can be regularly seen. You may see flamingos and hippos in the Crater’s lakes. 

Later in the day enjoy lunch on the crater floor while looking at the hippo pool.

A final Farewell dinner will be provided at a local restaurant this evening like Gibbs Farm. 

Overnight: Ngorongoro Coffee Lodge (or similar)

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Head back to Arusha today and on to the airport for your international flight home this evening. 

Depending on flight times lunch will be provided prior to departure either before or after your overland departure for Arusha today (about 3-hour drive).

Those extending will head onward to the Serengeti and not return to Arusha today.

Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch 

Arrive back in the U.S. this morning and connect to any domestic flights back home.

Serengeti National Park, recognized as a World Heritage Site, is one of the most famous wildlife areas in the world and is considered the world’s oldest protected eco-system. The Park as we know it today was established in 1951, but a smaller area first received protection in the years 1921-29 by the British to prevent decimation of the lion population. The park itself is 5,700 square miles, but the more extensive Serengeti eco-system is over 9,600 square miles of protected land from Ngorongoro all the way to Loliondo and Kenya (the smaller Maasai Mara) and including the Maswa Game Reserve on the southern boundary of the park. The Serengeti is the largest national park in Tanzania, with a staggering animal population of almost four million and 523 recorded species of birds!

DAY 1: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2025

Begin your Safari!

Drive through Ngorongoro highlands towards Serengeti this morning with a stop at the crater rim viewpoint to see the magnificent world's largest crater. Delve into the story of human origins at the Olduvai Gorge Museum and visitor's center, located near the site where the National Geographic archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey discovered early hominid fossils and stone tools. 

Visit Shifting Sand Dunes, where it’s estimated that these shifting dunes have been wandering the savannah for over three million years. The sand is remarkably dark, especially in comparison with the soil surrounding the dunes. Proceed to Ndutu for a game drive and chance to immerse yourself once more in this incredible setting, with camera ready for flash encounters.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Overnight: Ndutu Katikati Camp (mobile camp)

DAY 2: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2025

Ndutu Wildebeest Migration Tracking Safari

Enjoy another full day of game drives with your expert guides before returning to the hotel for a glorious sunset. Sit around the fire-pit and reflect on your adventurous day. Enjoy the peace and tranquility of the camp and observe the glorious southern hemisphere sky which will be a moment to remember.

The Ndutu area is famous for its short grass plains which grow grass which is particularly rich in nutrients and sustains the migratory animals whilst they have their babies. Traditionally the wildebeest and zebra tend to calve on these plains between January and February which makes for a beautiful natural spectacle and exciting predator hunting behaviors. Wildebeest continue to mature on the short grass plains well into March and April gaining strength for the long migration to the North following the rains and the new pastures. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Overnight: Ndutu Katikati Camp (mobile camp)

DAY 3: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Continued Safari Explorations

Today, continue to view the incredible creatures of the Serengeti. Set out on morning and afternoon wildlife-viewing adventures (included). Ride in a 4x4 over golden plains, gazing out from the pop-up roof to glimpse wildlife through binoculars, or watch as animals walk right by us! Watering holes also draw all kinds of visitors, from towering giraffes to the tiny dik-diks, a miniature species of antelope. With luck, spot all of Africa’s “big five”—lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, and Cape buffalo.

Optional: Get a bird’s-eye view of the park as you float above it on a sunrise hot-air balloon safari (additional cost). 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Overnight: Into Wild Luxury Camp

DAY 4: TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2025

Return to Arusha and Fly Home

On this day you will fly out of central Serengeti going back to Arusha. Upon arrival you will head to Arusha Coffee Lodge for lunch.

After lunch you will head to Arusha Planet Lodge with access to a day room to relax.  

Later in the day a group transfer will be provided back to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your flight to the USA. Arrive back in the US the next morning on February 12. 

Dr Barrett was senior medical officer and senior mental health consultant for the mental health and substance abuse department for the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland between 2004 and 2007.  He was the Mental Health Director for the state of Colorado between 1994 and 2004 and  program evaluation and executive director for Bethesda Community Mental Center in Denver between 1974 and 1990.  Dr Barrett was a Fulbright Professor at University of Zagreb in Croatia in 2011.    

Dr Barrett is also past president of the National Association of State Mental Health Directors Board of Directors.  He has authored or co-authored many journal articles and made keynote addresses at many national and international professional conferences.  

Dr. Barrett currently serves as clinical professor emeritus at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology. Dr. Barrett teaches in both the Pys.D. program and in the International Disaster Psychology program.  He also provides consultation services for the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education and for the Denver Children’s Advocacy Center. Dr. Barrett has led professional mental health delegations to China, South Africa, Rwanda, India, Myanmar, Peru, Iceland, Morocco, and Vietnam and Cambodia.

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