In this tour we will cover the 5 most popular destinations in Tanzania – Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Central Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater. Tour starts and ends at Arusha. With our experienced driver guides, it will be a trip of a lifetime!
Itinerary
Today our safari begins! Your guide will pick you up from your hotel in or around Arusha between 8 to 8:30 AM and take you to Arusha National Park. This is a scenic park with a decent number of animals. The park is at the base of Mount Meru and has a range of habitats including forest – home to the black-and-white colobus monkey – and is excellent for birding. Lakes here often host flocks of flamingo. The park's appeal is mainly its scenery. After short game drives, we explore the park on foot where you might come across giraffes, buffalos and other animals from a distance. Post the game drive, you will head back to your camp/lodge where a delicious dinner awaits you.
We start at around 7:00 AM from Arusha and drive to Tarangire National park with packed lunch boxes. Tarangire gate will be about 2.5 hours drive away. Once we reach the park, we start game drives here. Tarangire National park is known for its majestic baobab trees that dot the landscape, dwarfing the animals that feed beneath them. The Tarangire River is the centerpiece of this park which is famous for some of the largest herds of elephants in Africa. Here you may see lion, leopard, cheetah, lesser kudu, buffalo, Oryx, eland, giraffe and zebra. We will have a lunch break at a picnic scenic picnic spot. Post lunch, we will continue with game drives till around 5:00 PM or so and after the game drive, we will drive to accommodation. Dinner and overnight at this lodge.
After a good nights's rest, finish your breakfast and get ready by around 8:30 AM. Depart to Lake Manyara National Park with a picnic lunch for a full day game drive. As you enter the national park, lush forests of Acacia and Mahogany trees begin to set the mood for what is waiting ahead. The game drive will go on till around 5:00 PM or so with a small break for picnic lunch. During the game drive watch out for buffaloes, giraffes, impalas, baboons and the blue monkeys. Another spectacle of Lake Manyara National park is the tree climbing lions, however spotting them is a game of luck. In the right season, you can see the shoreline turning pink with millions of flamingos flocking there. Post the game drive, you will head back to your lodge to reach before 6:00 PM where a delicious dinner awaits you.
Optional add-on tours this day: Canoeing at Lake Manyara for about 2.5 hours ($74 per person ), Night game drives ($114 per person).
After breakfast, we checkout from hotel around 9:00 AM and head towards Serengeti National Park, via the beautiful high lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. After driving for about couple of hours, we Leave Ngorongoro highlands behind, and descend into dusty plains of Ngorongoro while passing next to Maasai villages. Around 1:00 PM, we reach the gate of the Serengeti National Park. After lunch, we check into park and head to the central park area, known as the Seronera area, one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park, featuring the Seronera River, which provides a valuable water source to this area and therefore attracts wildlife well representative of most of the Serengeti's species. We do an afternoon game drive in the Serengeti National Park till around 5:30 PM. The long day comes to an end with a heavy dinner and a good night’s rest in your accommodation.
Optional add-on tours this day: Maasai Village tour ($25 per person) or Olduvai gorge museum visit ($35 per person) in Ngorongoro on the way to Serengeti.
You can either have a relaxed breakfast and depart for full day game drives around 9:00 AM with packed lunch and return back to lodge late afternoon around 6:00 PM. Or you can depart at 6:00 AM on an early morning game drive. Later return to accommodation for breakfast and relax for a bit and depart on an afternoon game drive with packed lunch. You will explore the central portion of the Serengeti National Park today. The legendary Serengeti National Park is the most renowned safari destination for its incredible population of lions and leopards. The central portion of the Serengeti - known as Seronera area is one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park. It features the Seronera River, which provides a valuable water source to this area and therefore attracts wildlife well representative of most of the Serengeti’s species. During the off season of the migration, one must really look out for the many lion pride that thrive in this region. The interactions and survival of these lion pride provide an excellent game viewing experience all year round. Along with a picnic lunch during the full day game drive, the day will come to a close by around 5PM. The long day comes to an end with a good dinner and a good night’s rest in your accommodation.
After early breakfast, we depart at around 6:30 AM and will have game drives till around noon in Central Serengeti. Later depart for accommodation in Karatu, crossing Ngorongoro conservation area. The day comes to an end with a good dinner and a good night’s rest in your accommodation.
After an early breakfast, descend to the crater floor for game drive(5 hours). You can expect to see lions, elephants, zebras, hippos, hyenas, Jackals, rhinos and many birds. The birds seen here include eagle, vulture, flamingos in the Crater Lake, storks, giant vulture,and many more. Post the picnic lunch at the beautiful Hippo pool, you will begin a steep ascend to the top exit of the crater. With a 3.5 hr drive left to your accommodation in Arusha, the day will come to a close. This is also the last day of our tour! Bid goodbye to your guide with lots of good memories. Hotel in Arusha can be arranged at extra cost.