Itinerary

1. Day 1: Arusha/Lake Manayara

   • Get picked up from Arusha and drive to Mto wa Mbu for a morning cultural tour with hot local lunch and then, in the afternoon, a game drive into Lake Manyara National Park. The park’s varied habitat attracts a wide variety of animals, including one of Africa’s largest concentrations of elephants, Lake Manyara’s unique tree-climbing lions, and large flocks of flamingos attracted by the algae in the lake. 

2. Day 2: Lake Manyara/ Serengeti

   • After breakfast, drive towards the Serengeti National Park via the beautiful high lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
   • Leaving the highlands behind, you will proceed into the heart of wild Africa. You will drive into the central park area known as the Seronera area, one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park, featuring the Seronera River, which provides a valuable water source to this area and therefore attracts wildlife well representative of most of the Serengeti’s species.
   • Arrive in time for a picnic lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive in the Serengeti National Park.

3. Day 3: Full Day Serengeti National Park

   • After breakfast, enjoy a game-viewing 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. The Visitor Centre, close to the Serengeti Seronera Lodge and public campsites, is well worth visiting after the morning game drive.
   • In the afternoon, you will follow the Kopjes Circuit, which goes anti-clockwise around the Maasai Kopjes, which usually attract several lions and some formidably large cobras. Kopjes are weathered granite outcrops scattered around the plains; most are miniature ecosystems, 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. 

4. Day 4: Serengeti National Park/Ngorongoro Crater

   • After breakfast at the lodge early, you will have a morning game drive in the park while heading to Ngorongoro Conservation Area with packed lunch and game drive en route.
   • Stopover at Olduvai Gorge, boasting a history dating back to the dawn. It was here that the anthropologists Drs. Lois and Mary Leakey discovered the skulls of ‘Nutcracker Man’ and ‘Handy Man’, both significant links in human evolution.
   • Arrive in time for leisure.

5. Day 5: Ngorongoro/Arusha

   • After your breakfast, you will descend over 600 meters into the crater to view wildlife for a full-day crater tour with a picnic lunch down into the crater. Supported by year-round water supply and fodder, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) supports a wide variety of animals, which include herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo, and giant African elephants.
   • Visit Lake Magadi, a large but shallow alkaline lake in the southwestern corner, which is one of the main features of the crater. Many flamingos, hippos and other water birds can usually be seen there.
   • Later, drive back to Arusha, arriving in time for drop-off at the end of your African safari adventure at Arusha Airport or any other place in Arusha/Moshi.