7 DAYS 6 NIGHTS Explore Tanzania Safari

Itinerary

Day 1 Arrive Kilimanjaro International Airport - Arusha

1300hrs Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport ex ET815, where our driver-guide will transfer you to Arusha City. Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley, Arusha has a temperate and comfortable climate. The city is close to many of Tanzania’s greatest attractions and is a major international diplomatic hub. You will be given a briefing about your upcoming safari and your overnight stay will be at the Venus Hotel – BB Basis

Day 2 Arusha – Tarangire National Park

After breakfast you will depart at 0800hrs with your naturalist guide for Tarangire National Park. Tarangire is Tanzania's third largest national park and a sanctuary for an unusually large elephant population. Majestic baobab trees are another interesting feature of the park, dwarfing the animals that feed beneath them. Animals concentrate along the Tarangire River, which provides the only permanent water supply in the area. You may catch glimpses of lions, leopards and cheetahs. A bush walk and a cultural visit with the semi-nomadic tribes that live here is included.

Your dinner and overnight stay will be at the Sangaiwe Tented Lodge

Tarangire National Park

Tarangire National Park lies 120 km south of Arusha, along The Great North Road highway, and is very popular for day trips from the town. Tarangire offers a wide variety of wildlife in its area of 2,850 sq. km. As in all ecosystems, the vegetation and the types of animals you find are closely correlated. The principal features of the park are the flood plains and the grassland, mainly comprising of various types of acacia trees, and a few scattered baobabs, tamarind and the sausage trees.

The Tarangire River, after which the park is named, provides the only permanent water for wildlife in the area. When the Maasai Steppes dry up with the end of the long rains in June, migratory animals return to the Tarangire River, making Tarangire National Park second only to Ngorongoro in the concentration of wildlife. This period stretches between June and October and it is the best season for game viewing in Tarangire. The most common animals found in the park include zebras, wildebeest, lions, leopards, waterbucks, giraffe, elephants, gazelles, impala, gerenuk, lesser kudu and the beautiful fringe-eared oryx. You may be lucky to spot the tree-climbing python, for which the park is famous, or the greater kudu and the roan antelope which are rare species in Northern Tanzania. Over 550 bird species have been recorded in the Park.

Day 3 Tarangire National Park – Lake Manyara National Park - Karatu

Go on an early morning hike along the Sangaiwe hills and then depart at 0800s hrs for Lake Manyara National Park, which stretches from the base of the dramatic Rift Valley escarpment to its famous soda lake. It is truly one of the most beautiful places in Africa. As you enter the gate, the park is dramatically marked off by lush green vegetation consisting of tall trees emerging from the groundwater forest, which provides a home to troops of baboons and blue monkeys. Further down, the forest opens up into woodland, grassland and swamps. Further down lies the soda lake itself, where over 350 species of birds,

is a bird watcher’s paradise! Manyara is also known for its numerous buffalo, elephant, giraffe, impala, hippo, large variety of smaller animals, and of course: the very elusive tree-climbing lions. Proceed to Karatu area, Dinner & Overnight at Country Lodge.

LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK

The cleavage, known as the Great Rift Valley, can be identified from space as the most distinctive feature of the continent. The seam of this cleavage has developed a series of fascinating and beautiful lakes. Manyara is a fantastic big game park.

The variety of habitats parallels its exceptional scenery. Every imaginable East African animal is found here in abundance. There are great herds of buffalo, zebra, wildebeest and several varieties of gazelle. Mahogany, sausage tree and croton are alive with blue monkeys and velvet monkeys. Some of the most amazingly large pods of hippos congregate at the rivers emerging into the lake, and the birdlife are plentiful. Lake Manyara is also known for its tree-climbing´ lions.

Day 4           August 2018: Karatu – Serengeti National Park

After breakfast at the lodge, depart at 0800hrs for Serengeti National Park, driving through the Ngorongoro Highlands and stopping in the Naabi Gate area for a picnic lunch. Go on an afternoon game drive in the central part of the Serengeti, which is probably the greatest and most famous park on earth. It covers over 14 000 sq. km and offers, amongst many other things, the biggest concentration of big cats in the world (cheetahs, lions, leopards, etc). Many different landscapes can be found in the Serengeti: savannah with the big plains to the south, hills and woods to the west, the kopjes area to the east, and bush land to the north. Important rivers (Seronera, Banagi, and Grumeti) also run through the park. Many different species of mammals can be spotted during game drives, including elephant, buffalo, giraffes, antelope, hippo and crocodiles.

Your dinner and overnight stay will be at the Osinon Tented Camp.

Day 5 Full day in Serengeti National Park

Your day will be spent on morning and evening game drives through the Serengeti plains. These vast, seemingly unending plains are inhabited during the migration by enormous herds of wildebeest and zebra. There is a great diversity of wildlife here, including lion, leopard, cheetah, impala, buffalo, birds and up to ten thousand elephants.

Your dinner and overnight stay will be at the Osion Tented Camp

SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

The name 'Serengeti' comes from the Maasai language and appropriately means an 'extended place'. The National Park is as big as Northern Ireland, but its ecosystem, which includes the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Maswa Game Reserve and the Maasai Mara Game reserve (in Kenya), is roughly the size of Kuwait. It lies between the shores of Lake Victoria in the west, Lake Eyasi in the south, and the Great Rift Valley to the east. As such it offers the most complex and least disturbed ecosystem on earth. A unique combination of diverse habitats enables it to support more than 30species of large herbivores and nearly 500 species of birds. Its landscape, originally formed by volcanic activity, has been sculpted by the concerted action of wind, rain and sun. It now varies from open grass plains in the south, savanna with scattered acacia trees in the center, hilly, wooded grassland in north, to extensive woodland and black clay plains to the west. Small rivers, lakes and swamps are scattered throughout. Rising in the southeast, there are the great volcanic massifs and craters of the Ngorongoro Highlands.

Day 6 Serengeti National Park – Ngorongoro Crater.

After breakfast, with picnic lunches depart at 0730 hrs for the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and descend into the 100-square-mile Ngorongoro Crater. Here you will view game on the vast grasslands of the crater floor. The bottom of the crater is dotted with watering holes, shelters and almost 30,000 animals in an area naturally enclosed by the slopes of the volcano. You will also find the ‘Big Five’: lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard. The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest unbroken caldera in the world and is surrounded by very steep walls rising 610m from the floor. It is considered to be one of the natural wonders of the world and is an amazing haven for wildlife throughout the year due to the permanent availability of grass and water. Late afternoon proceeds to Manyara area

Dinner & Overnight at Ngorongoro Coffee Lodge

NGORONGORO CRATER

This is what has been compared to the Garden of Eden ± Ngorongoro Crater, an extinct collapsed volcano, rising 7,500 feet at the rim with the floor being 2,000 feet below. This is all that remains of a once-vast volcano that is a part of the Great Rift Valley, the longest continuous crack in the earth s crust. Ngorongoro s floor extends 102 square miles with alkaline Lake Magadi in the center. The crater is an island sanctuary, protected from the fluctuating weather conditions on the surrounding savanna. Stay on the craters rim for superb views from your quarters, where glass doors open to furnished verandas with breathtaking panoramas of Ngorongoro. The big five are here: lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo, plus many of the plain’s herbivores, such as wildebeest, Thomson s gazelle, zebra and reedbuck, along with thousands of flamingos.

Day 7 Karatu – Arusha

After breakfast at the lodge, drive to Mto wa Mbu for a cultural visit with the local women. Learn about their farming and financing groups. You will have local lunch with them and taste the local African food. After lunch, drive back to Arusha

Rates Include:

• Ground transport with 4x4 private tour
• All park fees and entry fees as per itinerary
• Meal and accommodation
• Professional driver guide
• 500 ml of water per day whilst on safari
• Drinking water during game drive
• Flying doctor insurance card for emergency – (evacuation only)

Rate Excludes:

• Items of personal nature
• Balloon safari ride
• Anything not mentioned above