5-Day Tanzania Safari with Hadzabe Visit and Big Game Parks

• 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 baobab trees. 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. It is during this period that thousands of animals - wildebeest, zebra, eland, hartebeest, buffalo, and oryx - migrate from the dry Maasai steppe to the Tarangire River in search of water. The predators - lion, leopard, and others - as is the custom in the savanna, followed closely by birds, are also abundant here, and over 350 species have been recorded.

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

• 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.
• After breakfast, we will depart for Ngorongoro Crater and Conservation Area. You will have lunch boxes in the Ngorongoro Crater lunch area, where you will enjoy lunch by the hippos' pool.
• After a short break, proceed for an afternoon tour of the crater. The drive commences with the 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. In the late afternoon, you will ascend the crater for dinner and overnight at Simba Campsite. 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 the vast escarpments, flat grassy plains, yellow-barked acacia trees, wetlands, and lakes attracting massive flamingo migrations, plus over 300 species of birds, makes this park an awe-inspiring sight and one of the natural wonders of the world.

• 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, as well as the African Big Five: elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard, and rhino. The park is famous for its spectacular events in the natural world, especially the annual wildebeest migration. This commences 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 inhabits 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. Return for breakfast, collect picnic lunch, and proceed for a full day of game viewing in Serengeti. You will have a picnic lunch in the course of the day.
• Later in the afternoon, we will be driven to Ngorongoro Highlands. You will have lunch at Gibbs Farm, formerly a working coffee farm. Then proceed for an evening visit to the waterfalls en route to Lake Eyasi and arrive in time for a hot shower, dinner, and overnight in the small town of Karatu, which lies on the outer edge of the Ngorongoro Crater. Here you will stay overnight in a simple but cosy lodge. You should go to bed early because you leave for Lake Eyasi shortly after sunrise.

• Early in the morning, after breakfast (around 6:30 am), depart for Lake Eyasi; the journey takes just over an hour. The Hadzabe Bushmen are the last true hunter-gatherers in East Africa. Around the lake live about 700-800 tribesmen in small groups. The Hadzabe live almost the same way as our own ancestors in the Stone Age. They hunt animals with bows and arrows and collect fruits, roots, and honey from the baobab trees.
• After a welcome and an insight into village life, it goes with some men on a common hunt. The hunt takes place at a fairly fast pace, especially when an animal is spotted. The Hadzabe hunt antelopes and gazelles, but also smaller animals such as birds or mongooses. In the late afternoon, you will then visit the Datoga Tribe. These pastoralists are also skilled blacksmiths. They collect metal scrap, which they cleverly process into bracelets, arrowheads, and knives.
• You also have the opportunity to visit one of the huts in the village. Here you can watch the women grind flour from corn, from which bread is later baked. In the late evening, you will have an evening village visit drive as you make your way back to Arusha, ready for your overnight at your hotel and holiday stay in Arusha for the next day, before leaving to Moshi for Kilimanjaro climbing on the next date.