7-Day Tanzania Wildlife Safari with Serengeti and Ngorongoro

• On arrival, be greeted by your professional guide.

• Thereafter, take a 1-hour drive to your beautiful Hodi Hotel or Ilboru Safari Lodge, situated on the slopes of Mount Meru on the outskirts of Arusha town.

Overnight stay and dinner at the hotel or lodge.

• Today after breakfast, depart from Arusha for Tarangire National Park. This park offers wide panoramas of open acacia woodland and grass savanna, where huge herds of elephants, often two hundred strong, and other unique residents such as fringe-eared oryx and lesser kudu roam free.

Dinner and overnight stay at a tented camp.

• After an early breakfast, enter Lake Manyara National Park, one of the most popular and attractive national parks.

• Although relatively small in size, it contains a variety of habitats and diverse animals and birds. Lake Manyara is also famous for its tree-climbing lions and numerous migratory birds. Enjoy game viewing in the northern part of the park.

Dinner and overnight at a tented camp.

• Continuing the adventure, today after breakfast, drive to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

• From here, the route follows along the Great Rift Valley through the beautiful high-lying farmlands of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and crater rim, passing the Malanja Depression toward Olduvai Gorge, where you will visit the museum. This desert-like gorge lies at the foot of the Ngorongoro Highlands and is world-renowned as a repository for the remains of a vast number of animals that roamed these plains years ago. The museum features the famous Zinj skull of Zinjanthropus man, 1.8 million years old, whose remains were found here by Dr. Leakey.

• After a picnic lunch, enter Serengeti National Park in the afternoon and drive toward the Seronera River Valley.

Dinner and overnight at a tented camp.

• After breakfast, enjoy a full-day game drive in Serengeti National Park with a picnic lunch.

• Spot different types of animals, including the Big Five: rhino, leopard, buffalo, lion, and elephant.

• In the afternoon, drive along the Kopjes Circuit, which goes anti-clockwise around the Maasai Kopjes and usually attracts a number of lions and some formidably large cobras. Kopjes are weathered granite outcrops scattered across the plains, many of which are miniature ecosystems that provide shade and drinking water in the pools left in the rock after the rain. This makes the kopjes particularly good for spotting wildlife in the dry season, including lions, which like to lie in wait for animals coming to drink.

• Spend the full day in Serengeti, with both morning and afternoon game drives.

Dinner and overnight stay at a tented camp.

• Enjoy breakfast and a morning game drive in Serengeti.

• Head to the conservation area en route via Simba Kopjes and Naabi Hill Gate.

• Stop at a Masai Village before proceeding to the crater rim to enjoy the stupendous view of the crater from above. Pause on the crater rim for what promises to be one of the most memorable picnic lunches of your life.

Dinner and overnight stay at a campsite or farmhouse.

• After an early morning breakfast, descend to the crater floor with picnic lunches for a full-day crater tour.

• With a year-round water supply and fodder, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area supports a vast variety of animals, including herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo, and giant African elephants. A major drawcard of this picturesque national park is its dense population of predators, including hyenas, jackals, cheetahs, lions, and the ever-elusive leopard.

• You will visit Lake Magadi, a large but shallow alkaline lake in the southwestern corner, which is one of the main features of the Ngorongoro Crater. A huge number of hippos, flamingos, and water birds can be spotted around this area.

• In the evening, drive back to Arusha town for your accommodation at the lodge.

End of the tour.