Places Covered: Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Lake Natron, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Eyasi
Highlights
Day 1 Arusha – Arusha National Park
Pick up from your hotel in Arusha around 8am and drive about 45 minutes to Arusha National park. The entrance gate leads you into shadowy montane forest inhabited by inquisitive blue monkeys and colourful turacos and trogons – the only place on the northern safari circuit where the acrobatic black-and-white colobus monkey is easily seen. In the midst of the forest stands the spectacular Ngurdoto Crater, whose steep rocky cliffs enclose a wide marshy floor dotted with herds of buffalo and warthog. You will have a chance to take a walk at the foothill of Meru Mountain accompanied with an armed ranger guide followed by game drive to the rolling grassy hills enclose the tranquil beauty of the Momela Lakes, each one having a different hue of green or blue. There are shallows sometimes tinged pink with thousands of flamingos. The lakes support a rich selection of resident and migrant waterfowl, and also shaggy waterbucks that display their large lyre-shaped horns on the watery fringes. Giraffes glide across the grassy hills, between grazing zebra herds, whilst pairs of wide-eyed dik-dik dart into scrubby bush like overgrown hares on spindly legs. Later drive to Arusha for overnight at the hotel.
Day 2 Arusha – Tarangire National Park
After breakfast depart for Tarangire National Park with picnic lunch boxes for game drive. Tarangire is the fifth largest National park in Tanzania well known for its beautiful landscape and larger elephant population found nowhere on earth. Tarangire River and the majestic baobab trees dwarfing some animal species which comes underneath are among the highlights of this park. Tarangire – Lake Manyara ecosystem forms a cycle of annual migration of over 3000 elephant, wildebeest and zebras. Apart from elephant population you may expect to spot giraffe, buffalo, zebra, hippos, warthog & the three rare species of Lesser & Greater Kudu, Oryx and the Ash staling. Later drive to the hotel for overnight.
Day 3 Lake Manyara National Park
After breakfast at the Hotel, you will be picked up and drive few minutes to the Lake Manyara main gate. After completing all the payment formalities check in and begin your game drive to this wonderful park well known for its tree climbing lions and over 400 of bird species, primate-filled forests and grassy plains. A large area of the park is covered by the alkaline Lake Manyara, the seasonal breeding grounds for large colonies of flamingos and many more waterfowls. The park is also home to giraffes, hippos, wildebeests, impalas and groups of noisy monkeys and baboons. After an extensive game drive leave the park in late afternoon return to the Hotel/Lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 4 Lake Manyara – Lake Natron
After breakfast you will leave the area and travel on a spectacular and very bumpy gravel road along the Rift Valley Escarpment with Ol Doinyo Lengai view “the holy mountain” of the Masai in the distance. Today’s destination is the typical Masai village of Ngare Sero in the hot and dusty plains. Overnight at the hotel near the maasai village.
Day 5 Lake Natron Full Day
Full day to explore this remote area especially to the Lake Natron itself for flamingoes watching, hike to a waterfall in a deep gorge, visit a Maasai village etc. If you are up to the challenge and a very strenuous climber, you can opt for a climb to the OlDoinyo Lengai volcanic mountain. Stay overnight at the hotel/lodge around the area.
Day 6 Lake Natron – Serengeti National Park
After breakfast, you will travel along adventurous dirt tracks with breath-taking views as your vehicle drive out of the Rift Valley to reach the grassy plains of the northern Serengeti by early afternoon. Serengeti means “endless plains” in the language of the Maasai and you will see the grassland savannah stretching to the horizon. This park is the largest in Tanzania and has a diversity of habitats and landscapes – short grass plains, savannah, thick bush, swamps and lakes. Bizarre rock formations called kopjes dot the grassy landscape where predators are often seen. The Serengeti is famous for the yearly migration when hundreds of thousands of wildebeests and zebras trek to find fresh grass and water.
Day 7 Full Day Serengeti
Leave the Hotel/Lodge in early morning with breakfast box for an early morning game drive in the Serengeti to where the big herds are located. The entire day is spent dedicated to game viewing while heading to the heart of the Serengeti National Park; you might spot lots of nocturnal animal coming back after a long night of hunting or a group of lionesses planning a hunt or a hard of buffalo lazily grazing before getting hot. Break for lunch in the bush and proceed on your afternoon till sunset game drive. Later evening drive to your Hotel/Lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 8 Serengeti National Park – Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The morning is set for another game drive in the Serengeti and you might spot some creatures that you haven’t seen yet. Animals tend to be more active in the morning before the temperatures soar around midday. After lunch, you will leave the plains of the Serengeti and travel to the highlands of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Day 9 Ngorongoro Crater – Lake Eyasi
After early breakfast, leave the Hotel/Lodge and descend into the crater floor for about 6 hours of game drive. This massive collapsed volcano is home to over 25,000 mammals ranging from the “Big Five” – lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard. The area also supports a vast variety of animals, which include herds of wildebeest, zebra, eland, warthog and giant hippos to some of the more than 500 bird species can be spotted in this area. Another big draw card to this picturesque place 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 them. After lunch you will leave the crater and drive to Lake Eyasi for dinner and overnight.
Day 10 Lake Eyasi – Arusha
On this day you will go for early morning hunting with Hadzabe’ bushmen’ including tuition on survival skills; this is an indigenous tribe divided in three clans of Datoga, Tindiga and the Hadzabe living in hunting and gathering of fruits, tubes & eggs pretty much the same as people who lived in the Stone Age. Later return to your Hotel/Lodge for lunch, and then begin your drive all the way to Arusha town.
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