6 Days Stunning Wildlife Safari in Tanzania

After breakfast, a short briefing will be followed by a drive to Lake Manyara National Park. The two-hour journey takes us westward from Arusha. Along the route, you may encounter Maasai herdsmen herding their cattle for pastures before reaching the colorful small town of Mto-wa-mbu.

Game Watching in Lake Manyara:

You'll find yourself in Lake Manyara National Park with its endless tropical trees and savannah grassland, including the impressive baobab trees and seasonal marshes. The park is home to lions that climb trees, troops of monkeys and baboons in northern Tanzania. In addition to flamingos, you are also likely to spot giraffes, buffaloes, elephants, zebras, and other types of antelopes and gazelles.

Lake Manyara National Park lies between Tarangire National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, right along the 400 meters deep Great Rift Valley. The park boasts a variety of landscapes that attract many different animals. You can, for example, visit the lake, pass through a dense rainforest with hundreds of monkeys and birds, see elephants up close in the woodlands, and visit the renowned Manyara hippo pool with many hippopotamus bathing from early morning to late evening.

Walking Safari:

Enjoy a half-hour adventurous Lake Manyara treetops walkway, which is a 370m walkway that starts with a short boardwalk that rises 18m off the ground. Travelers get to walk over a series of suspension bridges with very thick netting on the sides.

Tourists will enjoy eye-to-eye encounters with monkeys, birds, and butterflies accompanied by a guide. You will also get an aerial view of the lake and perhaps spot a herd of elephants, buffalo, and zebra inside the lush shrubs.

Accommodation:

In the late afternoon, your driver guide will take you to the pre-booked accommodation in Lake Manyara National Park as listed on the rates and availability table below for a hot shower, relaxation, dinner, and overnight stay.

After breakfast, you will drive across the Rift Valley, passing through Mto Wa Mbu and Karatu, in the cooler regions of the crater highlands. Entering the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, you'll stop for a short look into the crater from a viewing point. Continuing your journey around the crater, you will descend the other side, enjoying your free “African massage” on the bumpy road, passing Maasai villages on your way to the Serengeti National Park.

Game Watching in Serengeti:

At the Naabi Hill entrance gate, you can walk to a viewpoint with spectacular views across the plains of the Serengeti savannah. You will then continue towards the Seronera Area in the central part of the Serengeti for the late afternoon game drive. The park offers a multitude of wildlife, including the Big Five – lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino, and leopard.

December to Late March:

After the small rainy season in November, you will typically see herds moving through the central area of the Serengeti to the plains in the south, with some giving birth (calving) in the Ndutu area. Your guide will try his utmost to find the animals and ensure you see them from the best spots in the park. The migration also attracts predators, and with luck, you might witness a kill in action.

June to Late September:

After the big rainy season in April and May, herds typically move through the central area of the Serengeti to the North. Your guide will endeavor to find the animals and ensure you see them from the best spots in the park. Around this time, you may be lucky to witness wildebeests and zebras migrating. Serengeti is rich with lots to see, including the big five animals, cheetah, hippopotamus, zebra, warthog, monkeys, and other small animals.

After the game watching, you will drive to your lodge for dinner and overnight stay.

Accommodation:

In the evening, you will arrive for dinner and overnight at your lodge.

Meals:

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinking water will be provided.

Serengeti National Park – Ngorongoro Conservation Area Enroute Drive

After a morning game drive and lunch, this afternoon we will head south-east towards Ngorongoro, a distance of 145km which will take us around 3 ½ hours. Today, we will get our first sight of the spectacular, incomparable Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera and the art of the Conservation Area of the same name. But before that, we have another morning game drive in amazing Serengeti, marveling at its animal inhabitants.

Safari in Serengeti National Park

With its informative visitor center, the Seronera area of Central Serengeti is the national park’s most popular area. And it is very popular with the wildlife, too. The Seronera river overflows year-round, so there is always something of interest to observe. Wildlife visits the river to drink and its bank for green pastures and preys. Several game drives here might reveal lions in sizeable prides, hippo or herds of elephants - whose populations in the park have risen in recent times.

Depending on your interest and time, we may opt to call in at the Serengeti Visitor Centre, where there is an excellent explanation of the park’s eco-system and a chance to understand the history of conservation in this area. In particular, you will find out about the work of Bernhard Grzimek and the Frankfurt Zoological Society who had the foresighted vision of preserving the Serengeti’s eco-system. Even at the center, you may well find wildlife: populations of hyrax and mongoose, as well as many small bird species.

After lunch, we head south-east towards Ngorongoro. You continue to experience the Serengeti’s ‘endless plains’ which will make a deep impression on you as we take the long, straight road which passes Simba Kopjes (famous from ‘The Lion King’) to reach Naabi Hill Gate, close to the divide between Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Here you can gather information at the gate’s visitor center, clamber up the hill for superb views back over the plains, or look out for a colorful agama lizard among the rocks.

Accommodation

Your lodge is situated at the best spot to Ngorongoro crater not far from the crater-rim, you may be visited zebra, elephants, hyena and small animals who live nearby. Enjoy your delicious hot dinner - and fall asleep, dreaming of the day’s highlights.

Meal Plan

Breakfast will be enjoyed at your lodge. Lunch will be a nutritious and balanced meal, enjoyed at Serengeti. Your evening meal will be a full, cooked dinner created by our chef and his team at the campsite, all gears provided by us.

Safari in Ngorongoro Crater

We set off from our accommodated lodge after breakfast, around 6am departure to reach the rim and then descend into the vast crater itself. At one side there’s the Lerai Forest, classic mountain forest landscape with almost tropical characteristics. This is good elephant country, so keep your eyes peeled. By the side of the nearby swampland is what is sometimes called the ‘elephant graveyard’ as the mighty male tuskers at the end of their lives come to chew on the soft, swampland grasses once their teeth have failed them.

The crater has a population of around 120 lions, with well-defined territories; 15,000 wildebeest, 9,000 zebra, 400 hyenas, and around 50 black rhino. Many wildebeest and other herd animals are resident, benefiting from the many sources of year-round waters and are boosted by some migrators in season. Buffalo, Thomson’s gazelle and eland are also present in numbers. Hippos can be found in pools and swampland and highland birdlife is colourful and plentiful around the waters. Flamingos can often be seen in Lake Magadi, which occupies part of the crater floor.

Road trip: Ngorongoro – Arusha

After our morning visit to the incomparable crater – see below - and then lunch, we will have a 3-hour road trip. Like nothing else on Earth, the stunning crater of Ngorongoro is a unique home for many, many species of Tanzania’s wildlife. With some luck, you may even see a black rhino here.

Accommodation:

Breakfast is served at your accommodation at Ngorongoro. Lunch will be prepared by the accommodation in Arusha after your game-drive.

Arusha Hotel/Lodge

HB; with dinner and breakfast included