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Tanzania · Safari
The journey
Explore Tanzania's iconic northern safari circuit on a 5-day camping adventure through Lake Manyara, Serengeti National Park, and Ngorongoro Crater. Discover the Serengeti, famed for its annual migration, when some six million hooves pound the open plains as more than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson's gazelle join the wildebeest's trek for fresh grazing grounds. Tour Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera, while Lake Manyara provides the perfect introduction to Tanzania's birdlife.
Tour Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera, while Lake Manyara provides the perfect introduction to Tanzania's birdlife.
From the itinerary
At a glance
Day by day
After breakfast, meet your tour guide in Arusha and proceed to Lake Manyara.
Enjoy a full-day game drive in beautiful Manyara National Park. See buffalo, giraffe, zebra, and many more species, all set against the stunning backdrop of the Great Rift Wall.
Dinner and overnight at ALSAMO MANYARA CAMPSITE.
Set out for the endless open plains and stunning skies of Serengeti National Park. Enjoy a scenic four-hour drive, a full-day game drive, and a late-evening game drive.
Dinner and overnight at SERONERA CAMPSITE.
Go on an early morning game drive in Serengeti National Park. Return to the camp for breakfast and relaxation.
Proceed for a full-day game drive with picnic lunches.
Dinner and overnight at SERONERA CAMPSITE.
After a relaxing morning and an early lunch, proceed to Ngorongoro Crater, where the night will be spent on the Crater Rim.
Dinner and overnight at NGORONGORO SIMBA CAMPSITE.
After an early breakfast, proceed directly to the Crater floor for a full-day crater tour with picnic lunches.
Proceed to Arusha in the evening.
The route
The fine print
4 nights camping accommodation
Meals: Full board - breakfast, hot lunch or picnic lunch, and dinner while on safari
All transfers and transport
Park fees
Camping accommodation
Game viewing activities as stated in the tour/safari description
Services of a safari driver/guide and safari cook
Personal items (e.g. cameras, visa, travel insurance)
Alcoholic drinks
Tips for your guide and cook. Industry recommendations are $15 a day to the cook and $20 a day to your guide, divided by everyone in the vehicle.
Pre/post-accommodation and airport transfers (booking is available upon request)
Serengeti National Park
A million wildebeest... each one driven by the same ancient rhythm, fulfilling its instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life: a frenzied three-week bout of territorial conquests and mating; survival of the fittest as 40 km (25 miles) long columns plunge through crocodile-infested waters on the annual exodus north; replenishing the species in a brief population explosion that produces more than 8,000 calves daily before the 1,000 km (600 miles) pilgrimage begins again.
Tanzania's oldest and most famous national park, also a World Heritage Site and recently proclaimed a 7th worldwide wonder.
Popular though the Serengeti may be, it remains so vast that you may be the only human audience when a pride of lions masterminds a siege, focused unswervingly on its next meal.
Size: 14,763 sq km (5,700 sq miles).
Location: 335 km (208 miles) from Arusha, stretching north to Kenya and bordering Lake Victoria to the west.
Getting there
Scheduled and charter flights from Arusha, Lake Manyara, and Mwanza.
Drive from Arusha, Lake Manyara, Tarangire, or Ngorongoro Crater.
What to do
Hot air balloon safaris, walking safaris, picnicking, game drives, and bush lunch or dinner can be arranged with hotels or tour operators. Maasai rock paintings and musical rocks.
Visit neighbouring Ngorongoro Crater, Olduvai Gorge, Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano, and Lake Natron's flamingos.
When to go
To follow the wildebeest migration, December-July. To see predators, June-October.
Ngorongoro Crater
The crater, which formed when a large volcano exploded and collapsed on itself two to three million years ago, is 610 metres (2,000 feet) deep and its floor covers 260 square kilometres (100 square miles). Estimates of the original volcano height range from 4,500 to 5,800 metres (14,800 to 19,000 feet) high. The elevation of the crater floor is 1,800 metres (5,900 feet) above sea level. Seven Natural Wonders voted the Crater as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa in Arusha, Tanzania, in February 2013.
Approximately 25,000 large animals, mostly ungulates, live in the crater.
Lake Manyara National Park
Stretching for 50 km along the base of the rusty gold 600-metre-high Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyara is a scenic gem, with a setting extolled by Ernest Hemingway as "the loveliest I had seen in Africa".
From the entrance gate, the road winds through an expanse of lush, jungle-like underground water forest where hundred-strong baboon troops lounge nonchalantly along the roadside, blue monkeys scamper nimbly between the ancient mahogany trees, dainty bushbuck tread warily through the shadows, and outsized forest hornbills honk cacophonously in the high canopy.
More than 400 species have been recorded, and even a first-time visitor to Africa might reasonably expect to observe 100 of these in one day. Highlights include thousands of pink-hued flamingos on their perpetual migration, as well as other large waterbirds such as pelicans, cormorants, and storks.
Logistics
Your 5 days finish where they began, in Tanzania.
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