ARRIVAL DAY
You will be picked up at the Kilimanjaro International Airport and transferred to your hotel in Arusha town; you will meet your guide who will brief you on your upcoming safari. All the basic information about your safari will be given to you by safari guide.
In the morning you will be picked up from your camp to start your safari to the Tarangire National Park. Bush savannah, seasonal swamps and giant baobab trees make up the landscape of this nature reserve and the park is probably one of the best places in East Africa to see elephants. Not only they are found in thousands but also they seem to be more accustomed to the vehicles, and for this you can be closer to these gigantic animals. It is not only the elephants rather a varied numbers of animals such as to Masai giraffes, various gazelles, antelopes, buffaloes, lions, leopards, baboons and more than 500 types of birds make this the one stop solution for both the bird and the animal lovers. After the game drive you will leave the park in the late afternoon and drive to the campsite for your overnight stay.
Distance: 205km
After breakfast we head towards the Serengeti National Park, via the beautiful high lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Leaving the highlands behind, we descend 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. We 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 arrive in time for lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive in the Serengeti national park.
After your tour around the park, you will be transferred to your campsite where you will be spending the night.
The entire day is dedicated to game viewing in the Serengeti National Park. The areas that you will visit will depend upon where the migrating herds are to be found. Predators usually follow closely behind the trekking animals. During the short rainy season in November and December the herds move from the hills in the north to the plains in the south. During the longer rainy season from April to June they return up north. As the migration depends upon the yearly rains, the location of the herds might vary from year to year but guide will know where to see them best. You will spend another night at the same lodge.
After breakfast you will join another game drive in the Serengeti National Park and you might spot animals you haven’t seen during the last two days. The Serengeti is also home to the “Big Five” – lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard and today you might be able to tick off all the members of this group. After lunch at a picnic site, you will drive in direction of the Ngorongoro Crater and as soon as you have reached the edge of the crater, the caldera opens up before you. This approximate 20 km wide crater is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to over 25,000 animals. You will drive to the lodge from where you can witness the sun set over the crater.
Rise and shine! After breakfast at day break you drive down into the crater. Inside the world’s biggest caldera you will see a diversity of wildlife ranging from black rhinos, Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles, lions and leopards, to elephants and mountain reedbucks in the forests on the slopes. You might also see buffaloes, spotted hyenas and some of the more than 500 bird species of the area. After an extensive game drive and a picnic lunch you will leave the crater in the afternoon to travel to the campsite in Mto wa mbu.
The small Lake Manyara National Park is home to over 400 bird species, primate-filled forests and grassy plains. A large area of the park is covered by the alkaline Lake Manyara, which is home to colonies of flamingos and other water birds. Apart from giraffes, hippos, wildebeests and impalas on the grassy plains, you might see lions lounging in the trees and elephants feeding on the acacias in the woodlands. While the forest near the lake is filled with noisy troops of blue monkeys, extended baboon families hang around the roads. After the game drive you will return to Moshi in the late afternoon.
Rest in the hotel and transfer to the airport.
Hotels check out is 11:00am. In case you need a late check-out because of an evening flight, you have the option to extend your hotel stay till 6:00 PM for an extra fee
