In this tour we will cover the 4 most popular destinations in Tanzania – Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, and Ngorongoro Crater. Tour starts and ends at Arusha. With our experienced driver guides, it will be a trip of a lifetime!
Overview
In this tour we will cover the 4 most popular destinations in Tanzania – Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, and Ngorongoro Crater. Tour starts and ends at Arusha. With our experienced driver guides, it will be a trip of a lifetime!
Itinerary
Today our safari begins! Your guide will pick you up from your hotel in or around Arusha between 8 to 8:30 AM and take you to Arusha National Park. This is a scenic park with a decent number of animals. The park is at the base of Mount Meru and has a range of habitats including forest – home to the black-and-white colobus monkey – and is excellent for birding. Lakes here often host flocks of flamingo. The park's appeal is mainly its scenery. After short game drives, we explore the park on foot where you might come across giraffes, buffalos and other animals from a distance. Post the game drive, you will head back to your camp/lodge where a delicious dinner awaits you.
We start at around 7:00 AM from Arusha and drive to Tarangire National park with packed lunch boxes. Tarangire gate will be about 2.5 hours drive away. Once we reach the park, we start game drives here. Tarangire National park is known for its majestic baobab trees that dot the landscape, dwarfing the animals that feed beneath them. The Tarangire River is the centerpiece of this park which is famous for some of the largest herds of elephants in Africa. Here you may see lion, leopard, cheetah, lesser kudu, buffalo, Oryx, eland, giraffe and zebra. We will have a lunch break at a picnic scenic picnic spot. Post lunch, we will continue with game drives till around 5:00 PM or so. Dinner and overnight at lodge.
After a good nights's rest, finish your breakfast and get ready by around 8:30 AM. Depart to Lake Manyara National Park with a picnic lunch for a full day game drive. As you enter the national park, lush forests of Acacia and Mahogany trees begin to set the mood for what is waiting ahead. The game drive will go on till around 5:00 PM or so with a small break for picnic lunch. During the game drive watch out for buffaloes, giraffes, impalas, baboons and the blue monkeys. Another spectacle of Lake Manyara National park is the tree climbing lions, however spotting them is a game of luck. In the right season, you can see the shoreline turning pink with millions of flamingos flocking there. Post the game drive, you will head back to your lodge to reach before 6:00 PM where a delicious dinner awaits you.
Optional add-on tours this day: Canoeing at Lake Manyara for about 2.5 hours ($74 per person ), Night game drives ($114 per person).
After an early breakfast, descend to the crater floor for game drive(5 hours). You can expect to see lions, elephants, zebras, hippos, hyenas, Jackals, rhinos and many birds. The birds seen here include eagle, vulture, flamingos in the Crater Lake, storks, giant vulture,and many more. Post the picnic lunch at the beautiful Hippo pool, you will begin a steep ascend to the top exit of the crater. With a 3.5 hr drive left to your accommodation in Arusha, the day will come to a close. This is also the last day of our tour! Bid goodbye to your guide with lots of good memories. Hotel in Arusha can be arranged at extra cost.
Price includes:
- Park Fees (for Non-Residents).
- Concession/ Camping Fees.
- Daily game drives while on Safari.
- A professional driver/ guide.
- 4x4 Land Cruiser.
- All Taxes and VAT.
- Meals as per itinerary.
- Drinking water while on safari (2 litres per person per day).
Price excludes
- International flights.
- Airport Transfers (Unless mentioned otherwise).
- Additional accommodation before and at the end of the tour (Unless mentioned otherwise).
- Tips.
- Personal Items (Souvenirs, Travel Insurance, Visa Fees, etc.).
- Government imposed increase of Taxes and or Park Fees.
- Any activities not mentioned in the itinerary.
You will require a passport valid for at least six months after your date of entry. If you are arriving from a country in which Yellow Fever is endemic (such as Kenya), you will require an immunization certificate or health card.
Citizens of the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and most countries in the EU, need a tourist visa to enter Tanzania. Application details and forms can be found on Tanzanian Embassy web sites.
As with all visa matters — contact your local Tanzanian Embassy for the latest information
High-end lodges and restaurants will clean their produce in antiseptic solution, but to be on the safe side, fruit and vegetables should always be washed and peeled. Try to avoid eating in empty restaurants – the food may have been sitting out for some time – and order your meat well done. On the coast, seafood and fish are usually fresh, but make sure everything is well-cooked.
Also, much of the accommodations are tented camps. These tents tend to be tightly sealed and zipped tight avoiding the need for mosquito netting. Furthermore, at most camps/lodges, while you enjoy dinner, housekeeping will complete a turndown service and spray the rooms with mosquito repellent. Regardless of mosquito netting, you should always bring insect repellent with DEET, trousers/slacks, sports/long sleeved shirt and/or blouse and dress/skirt for ladies.
It is often warm on the plains and at lower altitudes but cold in the hilly and mountainous areas; a rain jacket, fleece and good quality walking shoes/boots are essential.
With close to 1,150 species of birds, of which 23 species are endemic and 36 species globally threatened, Tanzania ranks as one of the top birding destinations in Africa, and the second most varied avifauna of any country on the African continent.