AM head to Tarangire National Park

Game drive & picnic lunch

PM game drive in Tarangire

After breakfast drive towards the Tarangire National Park. Indeed, the park has a diversity of landscapes including grass, acacia woodlands and forests. Notably the park is especially popular for its huge elephant herds and animals gathering at the river and swamps. To point out animals range from swarms of yellow breasted lovebirds to kudus, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras and impalas. Moreover, predators include lions, leopards and hyenas, while wild dogs are rare. Lately afternoon you will leave the park to your lodge.

OVERNIGHT STAY: ESCARPMENT LUXURY LODGE

   AM departure to Manyara NP

Full day game drive with picnic lunch under the acacias

Then head to Karatu area

Lake Manyara National Park: This small park is sandwiched between the Rift Valley escarpment and the large soda lake from which the park takes its name. Indeed, it is a pretty location, with a good range of game. Notably giraffe, elephant, baboon and the rarely seen tree-climbing lion. However, these days the park suffers both from encroachment of the fast growing settlement. Additionally, from heavy drive-by safari traffic in its northern sector throughout the day and in the central sector during the middle part of the day. Moreover, the remote southern sector remains a decent area for safari.

OVERNIGHT STAY: ESCARPMENT LUXURY LODGE

AM head to Serengeti NP through Ngorongoro NCA

Game drive & Picnic lunch en route

PM game drive in Serengeti

Serengeti: Without doubt the mother of all the parks of East Africa, the Serengeti rarely fails to live up to its top billing any time of year. Notably the great wildebeest and zebra migration is such a huge spectacle that it tends to become somewhat of a pre-occupation for many visitors. In fact, the Serengeti has much more to offer besides. Even without the migration this would still be a great park and remains the primary focus of best safaris into the region.

In recent years the Serengeti has gained a reputation for being too busy. This is simply not the case. Whilst visitor numbers here are similar to that of the Maasai Mara (the portion of the park on the other side of the Kenyan border), it should be noted that the Serengeti is over six times the size. Indeed, visitor numbers are very much concentrated into a few specific areas, but if it is the wide open spaces these busy areas can be avoided. And if you really want the place to yourself, try coming off season, May and November are particularly good. Plan carefully and trip to the Serengeti remains to this day one of the greatest highlights of safari in Africa

OVERNIGHT STAY: MELIA SERENGETI

Full day game drive in Serengeti with picnic lunch or lunch at camp.

Geographically the Serengeti area is not fully encompassed by the national park of the same name, with a huge portion of the classic plains landscape actually lying inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Serengeti should be considered to start at the foot of the Ngorongoro Massif, a good 60km south the park entrance. Ironically therefore, some of the best “Serengeti” experiences are to be had inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

OVERNIGHT STAY: MELIA SERENGETI

AM Departure to Ngorongoro crater for game drive with picnic lunch

PM drive back to Arusha

Ngorongoro Crater: With a diameter of over 20km, Ngorongoro is the world’s largest unflooded caldera and an amazing sight. Actually created two million years ago by the collapse of an enormous volcano, reckoned to be larger than Kilimanjaro. Indeed, today the crater contains a microcosm of East Africa, with plains, soda lakes, forests, swamps and springs. Notably most of the larger mammal species are present. In fact, including elephant, black rhino, buffalo, hippo, lion and leopard. Truly the only notable absentees are giraffe, which find the precipitous slopes of the crater rim too steep to negotiate. Thus game-viewing here is about as easy as it gets.

The only downside is that visitor numbers can get very high during peak season. Markedly with vehicles clustering around major animal sightings and picnic spots. Notably the crater remains a spectacular sight throughout the year and not to be miss worthy of a half to one-day visit on most safaris.

OVERNIGHT STAY: MOUNT MERU HOTEL

Morning breakfast at leisure at the Lodge

At this final day of your tour, on this very morning keep enjoying the sunshine before we pick you direct to the airport where you will be let off to pursue your schedule.

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