7-Day Tanzania Wildlife Safari through Serengeti and Ngorongoro

• Start from Arusha and head to your first destination.

• After lunch, head into Lake Manyara National Park, one of Tanzania's most dramatically located wildlife areas, consisting of a massive but shallow soda lake covering two-thirds of the park at the foot of the Great Rift Valley's western escarpment.

• Take note as the park's varied habitat attracts a wide variety of animals, including one of Africa's largest concentrations of elephants, Manyara's famous tree-climbing lions, as well as large flocks of flamingos attracted by the algae in the lake.

Dinner and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested/booked.

• After breakfast, head towards Serengeti National Park via the beautiful high-lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

• Leaving the highlands behind, descend into the heart of wild Africa - Serengeti National Park - with its endless plains rolling into the distance as far as the eye can see.

• Head to the central park area, known as the Seronera area, one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park, featuring the Seronera River. This river provides a valuable water source to the area and therefore attracts wildlife well representative of most of the Serengeti's species.

• Arrive in time for lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive in Serengeti National Park with your Tanzanian tour guide.

Dinner and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested/booked.

• Be one of only a few fortunate people to glide in a hot air balloon over the Serengeti Plains, available at supplementary cost by pre-arrangement. Float silently above the awakening bush while spotting wildlife and enjoying the amazing scenery of Africa, across rivers and over numerous small villages.

• After breakfast, embark on a game drive along the Sogore River Circuit, which loops into the plains south of the Seronera River and is good for possible lion, Thomson gazelle, topi, ostrich, and cheetah sightings.

• Enjoy a relaxed picnic lunch at the centre in the shade of the giant acacia trees.

• In the afternoon, follow the Kopjes Circuit, which goes anti-clockwise around the Maasai Kopjes, attracting a number of lions and some formidably large cobras. Kopjes are weathered granite outcrops scattered around the plains, providing shade and drinking water in pools left in the rock after the rains. This makes the kopjes particularly good for spotting wildlife in the dry seasons - including lions, which like to lie in wait for animals coming to drink.

Dinner and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested/booked.

• After breakfast at the lodge/campsite, depart with a lunch box for the Ngorongoro Conservation Area with your Tanzanian tour guide.

• With an optional stopover at Olduvai Gorge, discover a site boasting a history dating back to the dawn of time. It was here that the anthropologists Drs. Lois and Mary Leakey discovered the skulls of 'Nutcracker Man' and 'Handy Man', both very significant links in the chain of human evolution.

• Have lunch and then spend the afternoon at leisure.

Dinner and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested/booked on the crater rim; no accommodation is available inside the crater.

• Descend into the crater to view wildlife on a half-day safari.

• Witness a vast variety of animals, including herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo, and giant African elephants. Another big drawcard to this picturesque national park is its dense population of predators, including lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs, and the ever-elusive leopard, which sometimes requires a trained eye.

• Enjoy a picnic lunch on the crater floor.

Dinner and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested/booked on the crater rim; no accommodation is available inside the crater.

• After breakfast, head to Tarangire National Park for a morning game drive. The park runs along the line of the Tarangire River and is mainly made up of low-lying hills on the Great Rift Valley floor. Its natural vegetation mainly consists of acacia woodland and giant African baobab trees, with huge swamp areas in the south. Both the river and the swamps act like a magnet for wild animals during Tanzania's dry season. Note that the national park contains some of the largest elephant herds in Africa. This African national park is also home to three rare species of animals - the Greater Kudu, the Fringe-eared Oryx, as well as a few Ashy Starlings.

• Return to the lodge after lunch.

Dinner and overnight in the Tarangire National Park area, as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested/booked.

• Enjoy an early morning game drive in Tarangire National Park, followed by breakfast at the lodge.

• Head back to Arusha.

• Upon arrival in Arusha, have lunch and end the African safari adventure.