4-Day Tanzania Wildlife Safari with Serengeti and Maasai Boma

• Location: South East of Lake Manyara, Northern Tanzania.
• Climate: Hot and wet; best to visit from July to January.
• Typical landscape: Hilly, with long elephant grass and swamps.
• After breakfast, early in the morning, you depart for Tarangire National Park. Arrive in time for lunch at the Tarangire lunch area while enjoying the view of the Tarangire River. Thousands of animals migrate from dry areas to the Tarangire River in search of water.
• After lunch, relax for a short while and later go for an afternoon game drive. Covering 2,850 sq. miles, Tarangire is the sixth-largest national park in Tanzania. This well-watered park is famous for its diversity of wildlife, large herds of elephants wandering - it is popularly known as the Home of Elephants - tree-climbing lions, giant baobab trees, and tree-climbing pythons often spotted in the branches of its massive iconic baobabs. This park is worth a visit to experience the perfect diversity of East Africa and Tanzania between July and December, when large numbers of animals migrate from Lake Manyara. It is famous for its dense wildlife population, which is most spectacular in the dry season between June and September. During this period, thousands of animals - wildebeest, zebra, eland, hartebeest, buffalo, and oryx - migrate from the dry Maasai steppe to the Tarangire River in search of water. Predators such as lion, leopard, and others, as is the custom in the savanna, follow closely, and birds are also abundant here, with over 350 species recorded.

Dinner and overnight at the Hotel Octagon Lodge around the ridge of Ngorongoro Highlands in Karatu Town.

• After breakfast, drive to Serengeti National Park, passing via Olduvai Gorge. Olduvai Gorge is the prehistoric site where Dr Louis Leakey discovered the remains of Homo habilis ("Handy man"), regarded as mankind's first step in human evolution. This Olduvai Gorge visit may be added to your day at an additional cost of 75$ per person.
• You will arrive in Serengeti National Park by lunchtime and have your hot lunch at the lunch area in Serengeti, followed by a short rest. Later in the day, enjoy an afternoon game drive in the park. The Serengeti is probably the most famous wildlife sanctuary in the world. Within its 14,763-km2 area, it hosts 3 million large mammals. More than 35 species of plains animals - zebra, wildebeest, eland, giraffe, and others - are found here, along with the African Big Five: elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard, and rhino. The park is famous for one of the most spectacular events in the natural world, the annual migration of wildebeest. This begins around June, when over one million wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle head for the Maasai Mara in Kenya and the Ngorongoro Highlands in search of fresh grass and water. Other popular wild animals include wild dogs, jackals, and hyenas. Serengeti also hosts over 350 species of birds, both migratory and resident.

In the evening, you will have dinner and overnight at Tukaone Serengeti Camps.

• Early in the morning, depart for an early morning game drive. After waking up early at your lodge, you will engage in a morning game drive as you look out for various wildlife species, including predators such as lions, leopards, and cheetahs hunting. If you are lucky enough, you may witness a kill, where predators like lions go on an early morning search for food, and you may spot lions killing antelopes, wildebeests, or giraffe, as well as cheetah or leopard hunts. You may also see other wild animals such as caracals, giraffes, hyenas, antelopes, zebra, wildebeests, elephants, buffalos, and others when they are active in the morning and ready to search for pasture.
• Then you will return for breakfast at your lodge, collect a picnic lunch, and proceed for a full day of game viewing in Serengeti. You will have a picnic lunch during the day. Later in the evening, you will be driven back to your lodge in Serengeti for the night.

You will have a shower and dinner at Tukaone Serengeti Camps overnight.

• Location: Crater Highlands, Northern Tanzania.
• Climate: Lower temperatures on the highlands and at night; rainy during April, May, and November.
• Typical landscape: Soda lake with fig tree and acacia forests, and flat mud plains during the dry season.
• Early in the morning, depart for an early morning game drive. There is no return for breakfast, so you will take your breakfast before signing out and leaving the lodge. Your guide will collect a picnic lunch and proceed for a morning game drive in Serengeti while en route out of Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater for game viewing in the Ngorongoro Crater and Conservation Area.
• You will have a picnic lunch during the day while enjoying lunch by the hippo's pool. After a short rest break, proceed for an afternoon tour of the crater. The drive begins with a 600 m descent to the crater floor. Covering 260 sq/km, the crater is an attraction in its own right and is one of the wonders of the natural world. The crater supports a year-round resident population of a variety of wildlife and birdlife. You will have no trouble spotting lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo, and many species of plains animals - wildebeest, zebra, reedbuck, Thomson's gazelle, and many more.
• The Ngorongoro Crater and Conservation Area are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to approximately 25,000 large mammals and a huge variety of smaller species, making it a target for discerning safari-goers. Packed full of game due to the plentiful water and food available on the crater floor throughout the year, this large unflooded volcanic caldera, together with vast escarpments, flat grassy plains, yellow-barked acacia trees, wetlands, and lakes, attracts massive flamingo migrations and over 300 species of birds, making this park an awe-inspiring sight and one of the natural wonders of the world.
• Note: After Ngorongoro, this tour combines a visit to a Maasai Boma in the afternoon or evening. Tanzania has over 120 tribes, each with its own culture. The Maasai in northern Tanzania are among the most popular ethnic groups in the area, a proud people fervently attached to their cultural values. Ngorongoro is home to the pastoral Maasai, who have been allowed to live in the conservation area - a pioneering experiment in multi-purpose land use where people, their livestock, and wildlife coexist and share the same protected habitat. The Maasai move widely with their herds of cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys in search of pasture and water. In recent years, the Maasai have been encouraged to work on the land to supplement their traditional staple food of milk and meat. While in Ngorongoro, most guests on safari love to include a visit to a Maasai Boma (homestead).
• The Seneto Maasai Boma on the western slopes of the Ngorongoro Highlands, about two hundred meters off the main road to Serengeti, is one of the famous cultural visitor points for guests. Another popular Maasai village is Irkeepus, located in the Ngorongoro Highlands, and this visit can be combined with a trek of Olmoti or Empakaai Crater. Here you will be shown around the Maasai Boma and are welcomed to explore the huts where Maasai families live and learn a few things about their way of life. The huts, normally built by women, are made of wood, mud, and cow dung.
• The visit lasts about 30 to 45 minutes and, at the end, the villagers will show and try to sell their colorful beadwork and other handcrafted wares. If time allows, the Maasai warriors may challenge men to engage in a spear-throwing match or perform a tribal dance, and women may choose to participate in beadwork. This offers a brief introduction to Maasai culture and enriches the experience with authentic African encounters. Around late afternoon, you will be driven out of the park back to Moshi town.

Dinner and overnight at Lush Garden Hotel in Arusha - B&B in Arusha Town.