Day 1 – Arusha – Lake Manyara

Pick up from Arusha and drive to Mto wa Mbu for morning cultural tour with local lunch and then afternoon game drive into the Lake Manyara National Park. This national park is one of Tanzania’s most dramatically located wildlife areas, consisting of a massive but shallow soda lake (covering two-thirds of the park), located at the foot of the Great Rift Valley’s western escarpment. The park’s varied habitat attracts a wide variety of animals, including one of Africa’s largest concentrations of elephants, Lake Manyara’s unique tree-climbing lions, as well as large flocks of flamingos attracted by the algae in the lake.

Dine and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.

Day 2 – Lake Manyara National Park – Serengeti Plains

After breakfast, drive towards the Serengeti National Park via the beautiful high lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Leaving the highlands behind, you will proceeds into the heart of wild Africa – the Serengeti National Park – with its endless plains, rolling into the distance as far as the eye can see. You will drive into 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. You will arrive in time for picnic lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive in the Serengeti National Nark.

Dine and overnight in the Seronera area, as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.

Day 3 – Serengeti Plains

Be one of only a few fortunate people to glide in a Hot Air Balloon over the Serengeti Plains (available at supplementary cost by pre-arrangement). Floating silently above the awakening bush, while spotting wildlife and enjoying the amazing scenery of Africa, across rivers and over numerous small villages.

After breakfast, game viewing drive along the Sogore River Circuit, which loops into the plains south of the Seronera River, and which is good for possible Lion, Thomson gazelle, topi, ostrich and cheetah sightings. The Visitor Centre close to the Serengeti Seronera Lodge and public campsites, is well worth a visit after the morning’s game drive. This nicely designed center offers some interesting wildlife displays as well as a gift shop selling information leaflets and maps of the area. The center also has a shop where cold drinks and snacks can be purchased, as well as a picnic area and information trail up and around a nearby kopje. You will enjoy a relaxed picnic lunch at the center in the shade of the giant acacia trees.

In the afternoon, you will follow the Kopjes Circuit, which goes anti-clockwise around the Maasai Kopjes, which usually attract a number of lion and some formidably large cobras. Kopjes are weathered granite outcrops, scattered around the plains, most of which are miniature ecosystems, providing shade and drinking water in pools left in the rock after the rains. This makes the kopjes particularly good for spotting wildlife in the dry seasons – including lions, which like to lie in wait for animals coming to drink!

Dine and overnight in the Seronera area, as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.

Day 4 – Serengeti Plains – Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA)

After early breakfast at the lodge, you will have morning game drive in the park while heading to Ngorongoro Conservation area with packed lunch and game drive en-route. You will stopover at Olduvai Gorge, boasting with a history dating back to the dawn of time. It was here, that the anthropologists Drs. Lois and Mary Leakey discovered the skulls of ‘Nutcracker Man’ and ‘Handy Man’, both very significant links in the chain of human evolution. You will arrive in time for leisure, dinner and overnight at your lodge.

Dine and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.

Day 5 – Ngorongoro Crater

After your breakfast, you will descend over 600 meters into the crater to view wildlife for a full day crater tour with picnic lunch down into the crater. Supported by a year round water supply and fodder, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) supports a vast variety of animals, which include herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo, and giant African elephants. Another big draw card to this picturesque conservation area, is its dense population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs and the ever-elusive leopard, which sometimes requires a trained eye to spot. You will visit Lake Magadi, a large but shallow alkaline lake in the southwestern corner, which is one of the main features of the crater. A large number of flamingos, hippos and other water birds can usually been seen there.

Dine and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested on the crater rim, no accommodation available inside the crater. 

Day 6 – Ngorongoro Conservation Area – Tarangire National Park

After breakfast, depart for the Tarangire National Park arriving in time for a full day game drive in the park with picnic lunch. The park runs along the line of the Tarangire River which is mainly made up of low-lying hills on the Great Rift Valley floor. Its natural vegetation mainly consists of Acacia woodland and giant African Baobab trees, with huge swamp areas in the south. Both the river and the swamps act like a magnet for wild animals, during Tanzania’s dry season. The Tarangire National Park is reputed to contain some of the largest elephant herds in Africa. This African National Park is also home to three rare species of animals – the Greater Kudu, the Fringed-eared Oryx, as well as a few Ashy Starlings. After a full day of game drive with picnic lunch, you will drive to your lodge for leisure, dine and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested. 

Day 7 – Tarangire National Park – Arusha

You will enjoy an early morning game drive in the park, followed by breakfast at the lodge. You will then drive back to Arusha arriving in time for lunch and then you will end your African safari adventure at Arusha Airport or at any other place in Arusha.