In this tour we will cover the 4 most popular destinations in Tanzania – Tarangire National Park (1 night), Central Serengeti (3 nights) Ngorongoro Crater (1 night) and Lake Manyara. Tour starts and ends at Arusha. With our experienced driver guides, it will be a trip of a lifetime!
Itinerary
Pick up at 7:30 AM from your hotel in Arusha and depart for Tarangire National Park with a picnic lunch for a full day game drive. Tanzania’s third largest 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. Post the game drive, you will head back to your camp/lodge where a delicious dinner awaits you.
After finishing up a good breakfast, you will head out towards the Serengeti National Park and travel in the midst of the never ending plain grasslands. The Serengeti is arguably the most impressive wildlife sanctuary in the world. You will have an afternoon game drive in the endless plains of the Serengeti for a chance to see the great herds of wildebeest, zebras and gazelles or a pride of lions lounging in the shade. A picnic lunch will be done during the day long game drive itself. The eventful day comes to an end with a heavy dinner and a good night’s rest in your accommodation.
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 breakfast around 6:30 AM, you will depart with a packed lunch from the camp and have a morning game drive in Serengeti National Park till lunch time. There are several game drive circuits in Central Serengeti and depending on what you have already seen on your safari and your interests, your guide will take you to game drives at one or more of these circuits. You are very likely to see a good number of big cats, especially lions, along with a diverse array of other wildlife. In the afternoon depart for Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Depending on your choice of accommodation, you will be either staying inside Ngorongoro conservation area or exiting from Ngorongoro and staying at a lodge in Karatu. The day comes to an end with a good dinner and a good night’s rest in your accommodation.
We start at around 8:30 AM from hotel after breakfast and drive to Manyara National park with packed lunch boxes. Manyara gate will be about 30 min drive away. Once we reach the park, we start game drives here. 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 hotel in Arusha to reach before 6:00 PM. End of tour.
Optional add-on tours this day: Hiking at Rift valley for 1.5 hours in morning ($35 per client), Canoeing at Lake Manyara for about 2.5 hours ($76 per person). Hotel in Arusha can be arranged at extra cost.