Tour Overview
About the tour
The Serengeti is a great place to visit any time of year and with this itinerary you will have two full days to explore this amazing landscape. You will also visit Tanzania’s most popular national parks: Ngorongoro Crater, your best chance of seeing the Big Five and also opportunity to visit the Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world. Tarangire, fantastic for bird lovers and also for its high density of elephants. Lake Manyara, home to a large number of baboons and also the famous tree climbing lions, unique to this park. A private ZAFS 4×4 safari vehicle and an expert guide are provided for the duration of your trip.
Highlights
- See the 'Big Five' at the Ngorongoro Crater
- Spot the elephants in large numbers at Tarangire River
- In the right season, witness The Great Migration in the plains of the Serengeti
Itinerary
You’ll need to organize their own flights to Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO). From JRO we will arrange a private transfer to your hotel in Arusha. That night or early the next morning you will meet your local ZAFS representative and have a full briefing.
You will be met by your private guide and vehicle and driven to Lake Manyara, arriving with plenty of time for an afternoon game-drive. Located beneath the cliffs of the Manyara Escarpment, on the edge of the Rift Valley, Lake Manyara National Park is famous for its large alkaline soda lake which is home to the pink flamingo, yellow-billed stork and heron. If you are lucky you may get chance to see the tree climbing lions, which are unique to this national park. Watch out for some fun antics from the local baboon population; Lake Manyara is believed to have the largest number of these primates in the World!
After breakfast, you will take a picnic lunch with you as you continue to the Serengeti, a drive of around 4 ½ hours through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Your journey will take you to the Olduvai Gorge (Optional activity), where the Leakey’s discovered the hominoid remains of a 1.8 million year old skeleton of Australopithecus boisei, one of the distinct links of the human evolutionary chain. In a small canyon just north of the Ngorongoro Crater, the Leakeys and their team of international archaeologists unearthed the ruins of at least three distinct hominoid species, and also came upon a complete series of hominoid footprints estimated to be over 3.7 million years old. Evacuated fossils show that the area is one of the oldest sites of hominoid habitation in the world. You will then continue into the Serengeti, with game viewing en-route.
After breakfast you will set out with a picnic lunch for a full day game drive. Serengeti National Park is one of the world’s greatest game parks. Meaning “endless plains” in the Maasai language, it is Tanzania’s oldest game reserve and is world-famous for the role it plays in the annual Great Migration, when an estimated two million herbivores – mostly wildebeest and zebra – migrate from the Serengeti to Kenya’s Maasai Mara Game Reserve.
You will leave the safari camp at your leisure for another full day game viewing in the Serengeti National Park. During June, the migrating herds will be collecting in the western corridor, preparing to cross the Grumeti River. Even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers some of the most exciting game viewing – great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, as well as thousands of elands, topi, hartebeest, impala and Grant’s gazelle.
After an early breakfast, you will drive to the fascinating wildlife arena of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The crater, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is over 260km2 (100 miles2) and was formed when a massive volcano exploded and collapsed on itself 2 – 3 million years ago. It is now the largest intact volcanic caldera in the world and often referred to as “Africa’s Eden”. Home to more than 25,000 large mammals – it is not unusual to see all of the ‘Big Five’ (buffalo, elephant, rhino, lion and leopard) in a single day. Driving through the Ngorongoro Highlands, you will arrive at the crater rim and then descend down 610m (2000 feet) onto its floor to start your safari extravaganza.
The Tarangire River runs through the park attracting a huge number of elephants, buffalo, giraffe and antelope, particularly in the dry season between June and October. It is not uncommon to see large herds of elephants roaming through Tarangire savannah grasses or taking shade under the odd looking “upside down trees” (baobab) that are dotted around the park. This park is also a “must see” for avid birdwatchers, boasting over 550 different bird species, the most diverse in Africa, including the Kori Bustard, the heaviest flying bird in the World! Following a morning game-drive you will start your journey back to Kilimanjaro Airport/Arusha. With an incredible experience and loads of memories to cherish, this is the time you bid goodbye to your team.
Includes & Excludes
This Trip Cost Includes:
- 1 night hotel accommodation in Arusha on arrival on bed and breakfast basis
- Return airport transfers from/to Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO)
- Full board accommodation at safari as per itinerary
- Exclusive use of 4WD safari vehicle and English speaking driver guide
- All Park fees and Crater fees
- Complimentary lunch on day 1
- Game drives as indicated in the itinerary
- Bottled mineral water while on game drives
- Prices are based on 2 people sharing a room/tent on the itinerary
The Trip Cost Excludes
- Drinks of choice on the Itinerary
- Extra excursions / services available at safari lodges
- Items of a personal nature, such as laundry, phone calls & snacks
- Deviation from the safari itinerary provided
- Tips and gratuities for guide and lodge staff
- Hotel accommodation in Arusha at the end of your safari; can be booked on request