6-Day Serengeti Safari from Arusha with Ngorongoro Crater

• Meet your local guide and leave Arusha town.
• Travel along the Dodoma Highway, a scenic road that passes through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Stop by a supermarket for any last-minute shopping.
• Arrive in Serengeti in the late afternoon.
• Explore Serengeti National Park, where endless plains roll into the distance as far as the eye can see.
• Proceed to the Lobo area, located just north of the Seronera area in central Serengeti National Park. The wildebeest migration normally passes through the Lobo area around July/August en route to Kenya's Masai Mara Game Reserve and again in late October/November on its way back to the southern Serengeti National Park.

Dinner and overnight stay at a camp or lodge in Serengeti. All meals included.

• Enjoy a full-day game drive in the park and explore the area around Lobo and the Grumeti River, which has good resident game throughout the year.
• Spot non-migrating animals such as elephants, buffaloes, gazelles, zebras, lions, leopards, and cheetahs. The game viewing is excellent, and you can follow the wildlife for long periods without seeing other vehicles - truly one of the forgotten corners of the Serengeti Plains.
• Marvel at the magnificent riverine trees found along the river lines, and look out for bird species such as kingfishers and fish eagles.

Overnight stay in Central Serengeti. Meals included are breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

• Head towards the far northern reach of Serengeti National Park, also known as Wagakuria, and enjoy a game drive en route from the Lobo area to the Wagakuria area.
• Travel north and enjoy good sightings of giraffes, plains game, herds of buffalo, and elephants.
• Arrive in time for lunch at the lodge, and after lunch, enjoy an afternoon game drive in the area.
• Witness the wildebeest migration, which can normally be found in the Wagakuria area from mid-July to October, depending on rainfall patterns.

• Enjoy another full-day game drive in the Wagakuria area. Resident wildlife numbers are exceptionally high in this part of the park, with prides of lions numbering up to 30. From mid-July to October, the area turns into a wildlife paradise. This is a stunning region with kopjes, woodland, riverine vegetation, and open plains, similar to Kenya's Masai Mara Game Reserve.
• Take the chance to go on a hot air balloon ride in this area. Get a bird's-eye view of the park as you ride alongside the sun. The balloon ride lasts about an hour, after which passengers gather around a table surrounded by the park's lush plains for an "Out of Africa" English-style breakfast.

• Proceed with morning and afternoon game drives in the Serengeti, with a lunch and leisure break at the lodge in the mid-afternoon. The term Serengeti means "endless plains" in the Masai language. In the central plains, there are carnivores such as leopard, lion, hyena, and cheetah.
• Continue game viewing in Serengeti as you head to the park gate to check out of Serengeti National Park. From there, proceed with game viewing en route to the Ngorongoro Crater.

Dinner and overnight at a camp or lodge on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. Get a chance to enjoy a balloon ride.

• Descend into the crater with a lunch box and enjoy a game drive for more than 7 hours. Millions of years ago, a volcano the size of Mount Kilimanjaro rose from the highlands of northern Tanzania. Its eruption formed the largest unflooded caldera in the world, the Ngorongoro Crater. Now inactive and filled with wildlife, the crater is a playground where you can enjoy game drives in search of the Big Five.
• Explore the natural protection of the crater's 600 m (1,968 ft) high walls. Ngorongoro Crater is one of the most densely populated African wildlife areas in the world. It is home to an estimated 30,000 animals, and this is the best place in Tanzania to see critically endangered black rhinos.
• Go for another game drive and then drive back to Arusha/Moshi for an overnight stay.