In this tour we will cover the 4 most popular destinations in Tanzania – Tarangire National Park (1 night), Central Serengeti (3 nights) Ngorongoro Crater (1 night) and Lake Manyara. 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 – Tarangire National Park (1 night), Central Serengeti (3 nights) Ngorongoro Crater (1 night) and Lake Manyara. Tour starts and ends at Arusha. With our experienced driver guides, it will be a trip of a lifetime!
Itinerary
Pick up at 8:30 AM from your hotel in Arusha and depart for Tarangire National Park with a picnic lunch for a full day game drive. Tanzania’s third largest 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. Post the game drive, you will head back to your camp/lodge where a delicious dinner awaits you.
After finishing up a good breakfast, you will head out towards the Serengeti National Park and travel in the midst of the never ending plain grasslands. The Serengeti is arguably the most impressive wildlife sanctuary in the world. You will have an afternoon game drive in the endless plains of the Serengeti for a chance to see the great herds of wildebeest, zebras and gazelles or a pride of lions lounging in the shade. A picnic lunch will be done during the day long game drive itself. The eventful day comes to an end with a heavy dinner and a good night’s rest in your accommodation.
You can either have a relaxed breakfast and depart for full day game drives around 9:00 AM with packed lunch and return back to lodge late afternoon around 6:00 PM. Or you can depart at 6:00 AM on an early morning game drive. Later return to accommodation for breakfast and relax for a bit and depart on an afternoon game drive with packed lunch. You will explore the central portion of the Serengeti National Park today. The legendary Serengeti National Park is the most renowned safari destination for its incredible population of lions and leopards. The central portion of the Serengeti - known as Seronera area is one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park. It features 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. During the off season of the migration, one must really look out for the many lion pride that thrive in this region. The interactions and survival of these lion pride provide an excellent game viewing experience all year round. Along with a picnic lunch during the full day game drive, the day will come to a close by around 5PM. The long day comes to an end with a heavy dinner and a good night’s rest in your accommodation.
You can either have a relaxed breakfast and depart for full day game drives around 9:00 AM with packed lunch and return back to lodge late afternoon around 6:00 PM. Or you can depart at 6:00 AM on an early morning game drive. Later return to accommodation for breakfast and relax for a bit and depart on an afternoon game drive with packed lunch. You will explore the central portion of the Serengeti National Park today. The legendary Serengeti National Park is the most renowned safari destination for its incredible population of lions and leopards. The central portion of the Serengeti - known as Seronera area is one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park. It features 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. During the off season of the migration, one must really look out for the many lion pride that thrive in this region. The interactions and survival of these lion pride provide an excellent game viewing experience all year round. Along with a picnic lunch during the full day game drive, the day will come to a close by around 5PM. The long day comes to an end with a heavy dinner and a good night’s rest in your accommodation.
After an early breakfast, we depart from Serengeti and drive towards Ngorongoro crater. This will take about 2.5 to 3 hours. Around mid morning, we descend to the crater floor for game drive(5 hours). You can expect to see lions, elephants, Zebras, Hippos, Flamingos, Jackals, Rhinos, Antelopes and many birds. The birds seen here include eagle, vulture, and flamingos in the Crater Lake, stork, bats, giant vulture, sacred ibis, kori bustard, blacksmith plover, long necked heron and the cattle eagle. We will have picnic lunch at the beautiful Hippo pool and continuing with game drives, you will begin a steep ascend to the top exit of the crater. With a 1.5 to 2hr drive left to your accommodation in Karatu, the day will come to a close. Freshly made delicious dinner is kept ready for you at your chosen accommodation. All these days of the safari, will have you quite tired and a good rest is essential. The next day you will begin the last leg of your safari.
We start at around 8:30 AM from hotel after breakfast and drive to Manyara National park with packed lunch boxes. Manyara gate will be about 30 min drive away. Once we reach the park, we start game drives here. 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 hotel in Arusha to reach before 6:00 PM. End of tour.
Optional add-on tours this day: Hiking at Rift valley for 1.5 hours in morning ($25 per client), Canoeing at Lake Manyara for about 2.5 hours ($74 per person). 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.
