5-Day Tanzania Northern Circuit Safari with Serengeti and Ngorongoro

• Pick up from your hotel at 8:00 a.m. and begin a beautiful journey across the Great Rift Valley for a full-day game drive. Although small in size at 205 sq. miles, the park offers breathtaking scenery and is well known for its lush acacia forest, giant figs, and mahogany trees, as well as a growing population of baboons and blue monkeys. Permanent residents of this park also include giraffes, elephants, impalas, and huge numbers of buffaloes. The lake is also home to a large number of hippos. The landscapes of Lake Manyara are hard to describe in words, and the game drives along the lake provide stunning photo opportunities of giraffes and buffaloes in the foreground with the lake in the background. Some possible extra tours are also available, including a bike tour or a boat excursion.
• Return to the camp for dinner.

• After an early breakfast, depart towards the most famous national park in the world, the Serengeti. The drive itself, although long, is spectacular and will be an unforgettable moment for anyone seeing it for the first time. As you travel deeper into the Serengeti, you will understand why its name means, in the local language, "endless plains." The park covers 6,900 sq. miles (18,000 sq. km), and across much of it, the plains stretch to the horizon, defying your senses and perception of distance. It is home to the Great Migration, with 2 million wildebeests, hundreds of thousands of zebras, and all kinds of antelopes. For big cats and large predators, it is one of the best places to look out for lions, cheetahs, leopards, and hyenas, and many television scenes, including the famous river crossings, have been filmed here.

• Depart to see the Great Migration in Serengeti National Park. Resident wildlife numbers are exceptionally high in the Wagakuria area, with prides of lions up to 30 strong. However, the area becomes a true wildlife paradise from August to October. The key feature here is the Mara River, and it is not uncommon to see the herds cross the river north one day and then return south a few days later.

Please note that finding a crossing is difficult and is sometimes a matter of luck.

• On this day, we suggest a very early wake-up for an early morning game drive, when the animals are more active, and to see one of the best sunrises you will ever witness.
• After the game drive, return to the camp for a rewarding brunch, then proceed to Ngorongoro, the 8th Wonder of the Natural World. The crater covers 102 sq. miles and has 2,000 ft-high walls, making it virtually Noah's Ark and home to almost every species of wildlife indigenous to East Africa. It is one of the very rare places on the continent where you can witness the Black Rhino. The crater also contains a river, several swamps, a soda lake with a great concentration of flamingos, a forest, and open plains. It is also famous for its elephants, which are the largest in the world and have huge tusks. Ngorongoro Crater is truly a Wonder of the Natural World.
• You will reach Ngorongoro in time for a sundowner.

There is a possibility to upgrade your accommodation level.

• You will start the day very early and descend to the crater floor for an incredible morning of wildlife viewing in one of the most stunning places on Earth. After the game drive, there will be time for a picnic lunch near beautiful Hippo Lake. After lunch, enjoy time for a short game drive before ascending the crater and leaving the Ngorongoro Conservation Area for Arusha. You can expect to be back in Arusha around 5:45 p.m., although we are flexible if there is a flight to catch or another situation.