7 Days Safari to Tarangire, Serengeti, Lake Manyara & the Ngorongoro Crater

Overview

1. Day01 Arusha – Tarangire National Park

   

   Your guide collects you from your Arusha hotel in the morning, and after a short briefing you set off on the roughly two-hour drive to Tarangire National Park. This is baobab country: huge, centuries-old trees stand above the grassland, and the Tarangire River draws one of the largest concentrations of elephants in Tanzania, especially in the dry season.

   Your guide plans the game drive around the latest sightings, looking for lions, leopards and cheetahs as well as the giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, buffalo and warthogs that graze the river valley. Lunch is a picnic at the Tarangire River viewpoint, where animals come down to drink (keep an eye on your lunch box, the vervet monkeys are bold).

   You leave the park at around 4:30 pm and drive to your lodge in the Tarangire area for dinner and the night.

   • Meals Lunch & Dinner
   • Overnight Mid-range lodge in the Tarangire area (or similar)
2. Day02 Tarangire National Park

   

   A full day to explore Tarangire at an unhurried pace. Morning and late afternoon are the best times for predators, so you head out early to look for lions resting in the shade of the baobabs and leopards in the riverine trees.

   Elephant families are the stars here: watch them dig for water in the dry riverbed, dust-bathe and cross the plains in long lines. The park is also excellent for birds, with over 500 species recorded, from yellow-collared lovebirds to the huge kori bustard. You return to your lodge for dinner.

   • Meals Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
   • Overnight Mid-range lodge in the Tarangire area (or similar)
3. Day03 Lake Manyara National Park

   

   After breakfast you drive the short distance to Lake Manyara National Park. The park sits at the foot of the Great Rift Valley wall, and the drive in takes you through a lush groundwater forest of fig and mahogany trees that is home to large troops of olive baboons and blue monkeys.

   Out on the open floodplain you'll find elephants, buffalo, giraffes, zebras and a busy hippo pool, and the alkaline lake often hosts flamingos and pelicans. Manyara is also known for lions that rest up in the acacia trees, although sightings are never guaranteed.

   In the late afternoon you drive up the escarpment to your lodge in Karatu.

   • Meals Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
   • Overnight Mid-range lodge in Karatu (or similar)
4. Day04 Karatu – Serengeti National Park

   

   After breakfast you set off for the Serengeti. The road climbs through the green highlands of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, with views over the crater rim, before dropping down onto the endless short-grass plains of the Serengeti.

   After a picnic lunch at Naabi Hill Gate, you game-drive the rest of the way to the Seronera area in the heart of the park. The Seronera river valley has one of the highest densities of big cats in Africa, so even the first afternoon often brings lions, cheetahs or a leopard draped over a sausage tree.

   You arrive at your lodge in central Serengeti (Seronera) around sunset for dinner and the night.

   • Meals Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
   • Overnight Mid-range lodge in central Serengeti (Seronera) (or similar)
5. Day05 Serengeti National Park

   

   A full day of game drives in the Serengeti, with a picnic lunch out on the plains so you don't have to cut the day short. Your guide shares news with other guides over the radio to find the best sightings of lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, giraffes and hyenas.

   Depending on the season, you may also meet part of the Great Migration: more than a million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebras that circle the Serengeti and Maasai Mara ecosystem all year.

   An optional sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the plains can be arranged at extra cost; ask us when you book.

   • Meals Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
   • Overnight Mid-range lodge in central Serengeti (Seronera) (or similar)
6. Day06 Serengeti – Ngorongoro Conservation Area

   

   Enjoy an early-morning game drive in the Serengeti, when the cats are most active, before heading back across the plains towards the Ngorongoro highlands.

   On the way you may pass Maasai herders with their cattle and, if time allows, stop at Olduvai Gorge, one of the world's most important sites for the study of early humans (entry at extra cost). You reach your lodge in Karatu in the late afternoon.

   • Meals Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
   • Overnight Mid-range lodge in Karatu (or similar)
7. Day07 Ngorongoro Crater – Arusha

   

   After an early breakfast you drive up to the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater and stop at the viewpoint. The view is unforgettable: a 600-metre-deep, 20-kilometre-wide volcanic caldera with lakes, swamps, forest and grassland laid out below you.

   Then you descend to the crater floor for your game drive. The steep walls keep most animals inside all year, so wildlife is dense and easy to see: lions, elephants, buffalo, hyenas, zebras, wildebeest, hippos and flamingos are all regulars. The crater is also one of the best places in Tanzania to look for the endangered black rhino, which takes patience to find.

   After a picnic lunch by the hippo pool you climb back out of the crater in the afternoon and drive back to Arusha, arriving in the early evening.

   • Meals Breakfast & Lunch

What’s included

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Frequently asked questions