8 Day Safari (Lake Manyara / Serengeti Plains / Ngorogoro Crater / Tarangire and Local tribes visit).

Non game-viewing

Travel time: 2½ hours

Distance: 130 kms.

Pick up from Arusha and transfer to Lake Manyara National Park for a full day game drive. 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 (rare), as well as large flocks of flamingos attracted by the algae in the lake.

Dinner and overnight in Budget Camping safaris, Mid-range safaris or luxury safaris accommodation.

Non game-viewing

Travel time: 6 hours

Distance: 205 kms.

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.

Dinner and overnight in Budget Camping safaris, Mid-range safaris or luxury safaris accommodation.

Optioin 1: 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.

Option 2: We do an after breakfast full day game drive with lunch at the lodge. We 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!

Dinner and overnight in Budget Camping safaris, Mid-range safaris or luxury safaris accommodation.

After breakfast we enjoy a full day game drive with lunch at the lodge, 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’s centre not far from the Serengeti Seronera Lodge and public campsites, is well worth a visit after the morning’s game drive. This nicely designed centre, offers some interesting wildlife displays as well as a gift shop selling information leaflets and maps of the area. The centre 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. We will enjoy a relaxed picnic lunch at the centre in the shade of the giant acacia trees.

Dinner and overnight in Budget Camping safaris, Mid-range safaris or luxury safaris accommodation.

Non game-viewing

Travel time: 4 hours

Distance: 145 kms.

After breakfast at the lodge do we depart to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. After breakfast we descend 600m into this magnificent crater for a full-day game drive. The Ngorongoro Crater is one of the most densely crowded African wildlife areas in the world and is home to an estimated 30,000 animals including some of Tanzania’s last remaining black rhino. Supported by a year round water supply and fodder, the Ngorongoro National Park 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 national park is its huge population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs and the ever-elusive leopard. We will enjoy a picnic lunch on the crater floor.

Dinner and overnight in Budget Camping safaris, Mid-range safaris or luxury safaris accommodation.

Non game-viewing

Travel time: 1½ hours

Distance: 68 kms.

After breakfast embark for a morning hunt, a haunting experience that reveals the phenomenal skills of these ancient people an the Tanzania’s remarkable residents. Indigenous hunters and gatherer tribes still exist in East Africa (just) and you’ll enjoy a full day of memorable cultural immersion. The nimble Hadzape Bushmen sidestep through the trees, picking up on every clue as they stalk a small antelope. You can also see the clues; an upturned stone, a line of animal droppings, a slight indent in the grass. But the bushman spots them without breaking stride, eyes always scanning ahead, the path of the prey continually visualized, they do still use a homemade bow and arrow.

This is a place of tranquility, harmony, and getting involved with local tribes. The Hadzape

hunter-gatherers use an ancient click dialect, while the waDatonga villages remain unchanged for

millennia.

Dinner and overnight in Budget Camping safaris, Mid-range safaris or luxury safaris accommodation.

Non game-viewing

Travel time: 3½ hours

Distance: 155 kms.

After breakfast we depart for the Tarangire National Park. The park runs along the line of the Tarangire River and 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 picnic lunch we do an afternoon game drive.

Dinner and overnight in Budget Camping safaris, Mid-range safaris or luxury safaris accommodation.

Non game-viewing

Travel time: 2 hours

Distance: 120 kms.

We enjoy breakfast at the lodge, depart for half day game drive or transfer back to Arusha/airport for your flight back depending on your flight schedules.

End our African safari adventure.