5-Day Northern Tanzania Safari with Big Five Game Drives

• Departure: Morning departure from Arusha to Lake Manyara National Park.

• Game drive: Enjoy a game drive in the park with a picnic lunch.

This is one of the most diverse of Tanzania's national parks, a tiny (325km2) combination of Rift Valley lake, dense woodlands, and steep mountainside. Manyara is a birding paradise, with more than 380 species, especially waterfowl and migrants, and the forests are one of the best places around to see leopards. Lions hunt on the grassy shores of the lake. Most visitors tailor a visit to Manyara to fit in with a trip to one of the Big Three parks: Serengeti, Tarangire, and Ngorongoro.

• Overnight: Karatu

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

• Hotel/Camp name: Eileen Trees Inn

• Meals: After breakfast, collect a picnic lunch and drive to Serengeti National Park.

• Game drive: Afternoon game drive in Serengeti National Park.

This park is renowned as the location of the Great Wildlife Migration, which involves over two million wildebeests, zebras, and antelopes. It is also an extremely large and wild game park, and home to the Big Five of Africa.

• Overnight: Serengeti National Park

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

• Hotel/Camp name: Tukaone Hembe/Mbuni Tented Camp

• Meals: After breakfast, collect a packed lunch and depart for a morning 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.

• Drive: Mid-day drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

• Overnight: Ngorongoro Crater Rim

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

• Hotel/Camp name: Ngorongoro Tortilis/Ngorongoro Wild Camp

• Crater tour: After breakfast, embark on a morning crater tour with a picnic lunch.

• Crater descent: Descend 2000 feet (over 600 meters) to the floor of the crater for a half-day crater tour.

• Explore: Explore the forest areas, which are inhabited by monkeys and elephants, the lake area, where you may see flamingos, and the open savannah where lions hunt for food.

• Drive: Afternoon drive to Karatu.

• Overnight: Karatu

• Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

• Hotel/Camp name: Eileen Trees Inn/Marera Valley

• Game drive: After breakfast, embark on a morning game drive in the park with a picnic lunch.

Tarangire National Park (2,600km2) has an unrivalled landscape of open plains dotted with thousands of baobabs. It is located about 120kms south of Arusha. Tarangire is known for its lions and very big herds of buffalo. This is one of Africa's little-known gems and should be on the itinerary of all lovers of wilderness and solitude. The animals include zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, elephant, Maasai giraffe, and fringe-eared oryx (gemsbok). Predators include lion, cheetah, and leopard. Birders will want to look out for the endemic ashy starling, rufous-tailed weaver, and black-collared lovebird.

• Return: After lunch, drive back to Arusha and drop-off at your hotel at around 17:00hrs.

• End: End of our services.