Overview
Nine days of safari in luxury, journey commences on arrival with two nights in Arusha, visit the Arusha National Park, a night in Tarangire National Park, known as a great birding destination, a night in Lake Manyara National Park famous for its tree-climbing lions and baobab trees.
Two nights in the Serengeti is well known for the largest annual animal migration in the world of over 1.5 million blue wildebeest and 250,000 zebras and other smaller herds of Thomson Gazelles, Elands and the largest population of lions in Africa.
A safari in Tanzania would not be the same without a visit to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a caldera approximately two and a half million years ago and one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world – Olduvai Gorge. This safari ends in Arusha, before your outbound flight.
Trip Highlights
- Arusha National Park: Home to the world's largest population of giraffe.
- Arusha National Park: One of the few parks where you can go on walking safaris.
- Arusha National Park: The home to the Tanzania's second highest mountain, Mount Meru.
- Tarangire National Park: Wildlife views
- Tarangire National Park: Abundant elephant
- Tarangire National Park: Baobab trees
- Tarangire National Park: Bird watching with over 550 species
- Lake Manyara National Park: Tree climbing lions
- Lake Manyara National Park: Day & Night game drives
- Lake Manyara National Park: Abundant elephant
- Lake Manyara National Park: Boat rides & canoeing
- Lake Manyara National Park: Lake Manyara Tree walkway
- Lake Manyara National Park: Bird watching
- Serengeti National Park: The great migration
- Serengeti National Park: Hot air-balloon safari
- Serengeti National Park: Grumeti Game Reserve
- Serengeti National Park: Cultural visit
- Serengeti National Park: Wildlife in abundance
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area: Olmoti Crater guided walk
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area: Trip to Lake Ndutu
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area: Hike the Empakaai Crater
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area: Visit Olduvai Gorge and Shifting Sands.
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area: Ngorongoro Crater Safari drive
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area: Ngorongoro Crater Rim walk
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area: Safari Blue - Tour of Fumba Island
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area: Safari Blue - Tour of Fumba Island
Itinerary
Met on arrival by our Tanzanian partner’s driver guide at Kilimanjaro international Airport or Namanga border before your transfer to Legendary lodge located on a working coffee plantation set in the foothills of Mount Meru, on the outskirts of the vibrant town of Arusha, an ideal location to start your northern Tanzanian circuit.
This lodge has 10 private cottages and two generously spaced family cottages. Check-in, lunch followed by a siesta, you may choose to relax by the pool, coffee tour or a sundowner before dinner.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch or dinner (subject to flight times). Overnight at Legendary Lodge.
After breakfast at the lodge, 1 hr 49 min (75.7 km/47 mi) drive to Arusha National Park with picnic lunch to the host of a wide variety of landscapes, rainforest through to acacia woodlands, up to alpine vegetation on the higher reaches of Mount Meru.
Drive to Momella lakes, these are seven shallow lakes located within the park namely: Big Momela, Small Momela, El Kekhotoito, Kusare, Rishateni, Lekandiro and Tulusia. Here you can do some bird watching, picnics and canoeing.
Back on your game drive, the park offers great wildlife densities, being the home to the world's largest population of giraffe. Cape buffalo, elephants, hippos, zebra are found here in abundance, and the occasional lion and leopard can also be sighted on a game drive, guided walking safari with an armed ranger, canoeing, hiking Mount Meru visit Ngurdoto crater before return to the lodge to freshen-up and dinner.
Meals: lunch, dinner and overnight at Legendary House.
After breakfast at the lodge, check-out for a 3 hr 17min(90.7mi) to Tarangire National Park and onto Oliver’s Camp in this protected area of colossal baobabs, grassy plains and over 300-strong herds of elephant, big groups of buffalo, a healthy population of lion and leopard, making this the highest concentration of mammals in the country.
Game drive enroute to the Camp for check-in and lunch and siesta. A late afternoon game drive in the park, a chance to see the wild dogs and rare antelopes like the gerenuk and over 500 species of birds to spot throughout the year. Return to the Camp for dinner.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight at Oliver’s Camp.
Breakfast in the Camp, check-out on a 2 hr 12 min (79.9km/18.6mi) to Chem Chem lodge, a five-star 8 suites lodge. Check-in for lunch and afternoon relaxation by the pool. The lodge is set between watering holes, savannah grasslands and a vast salt pan.
Spend the late afternoon touring the park on a game drive in a truly stunning western wall of the Rift Valley escarpment which provides a backdrop for the park’s phenomenal birdlife, hippos, and the tree-climbing lions, sundowner on the shores of Lake Manyara before the return to the lodge, freshen up and dinner.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight at Chem Chem Lodge.
After breakfast, check-out and a drive of 3 hr 13mins bring you to Olduvai Gorge, an archeological site that holds the earliest evidence of the ‘existence of human ancestors.’ Paleoanthropologists have found hundreds of fossilized bones and stone tools in the area dating back millions of years, leading them to conclude that humans evolved in Africa.
The Gorge was formed about 30,000 years ago, the result of aggressive geological activity and streams. It has a museum was founded by Mary Leakey, as a museum dedicated to the appreciation an understanding of the Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli fossil sites now run by the Tanzanian Government’s Department of Cultural Antiquities.
A 39min (21.1 mi) drive to the entrance of Serengeti National Park on the acacia-spotted savannah of the plains, enjoy the multitude of animals and birdlife along the way to the place where time stands still, despite the thousands of animals constantly on the move.
Arrive at Singita Sasakwa Lodge in time for lunch, this lodge offers panoramic views, a sense of immense freedom, and stillness providing you with a front-row seat to the prolific wildlife in 350,000 -acre Singita Grumeti Reserve within Serengeti.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight at Sasakwa Lodge.
Option of pre-dawn tea/coffee, before your drive at dawn to the Hot Air-Balloon departure. (Weather permitting, and reasonably mobile and fit guests can take this trip. Children over the age of 7 years) an hour’s ride.
Return to the lodge with game viewing enroute from the balloon ride for breakfast, before embarking on your mid-morning game viewing drive, with option of picnic lunch if you so desire to have a full day game drive, in one of the first sites listed as a World Heritage Site by United Nations delegates meeting in Stockholm in 1981.
Or go on an early morning game drive after tea/coffee, returning for breakfast and thereafter depart for a mid-morning game drive option carry a picnic lunch and stay rest of the day in the park.
The park has one of the largest concentrations of predators in the world, herds of about 7,500 hyenas, 3,000 lions and 250 cheetahs, chance to witness the wildebeest, zebras, gazelles and elands on a trek to quench their thirst for water and eat fresh grass other animals on the plains like Hyenas.
Golden jackals, Bat-eared foxes on the plains around Seronera, while black-backed jackals are fairly common for the thicker vegetation towards Lobo. Elephants are seen over the plains into the woodlands.
Night game drives offers the chance to see predators like Civet, African wildcat, and Serval. Over 500 bird species include the grey throated spurfowl, Schalow's wheatear, red throated tit, rufous-tailed weaver, grey-crested helmet shrike, and Schalow's turaco. Return to the lodge for dinner.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight at Sasakwa lodge
After breakfast, check-out and depart for Ngorongoro Conservation Area a 4 hr 9min drive (135 mi) to Ngorongoro Crater lodge with a game drive enroute, arrive and check-in, freshen-up followed by lunch and a siesta.
After lunch, depart for a half-day of game viewing in Ngorongoro National Park, the most impressive geological feature in Africa and a remarkable sunken caldera, 20 km in diameter and 600m deep. This is home to a wide range of ecosystems and Big 5. Return to the Lodge, freshen up for dinner.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight at Ngorongoro Crater Lodge
After breakfast, with picnic lunch, drive back to the Ngorongoro Crater drive down to the crater floor. You will view a high concentration of wildlife hosted in this universally acclaimed natural wonders of the world. Your driver guide will select a location set for picnics.
The best place to see the Big Five Elephants, Rhino, Leopard, Lion and Buffalo, particularly the black maned lion. The Hyena, Wildebeest, Gazelles are seen in the woodlands and the lake has over 500 species recorded with birdlife in the highland forest seen are white-eyed slaty flycatcher and Livingstone turaco.
A number of specialized grassland birds are resident in the crater. Most noticeable are Ostrich, Kori bustard, Crowned Crane and the secretary bird to mention a few. Return for dinner at the Lodge.
Meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner. Overnight at Ngorongoro Crater Lodge.
Breakfast at the lodge, check-out for a 4 hr 11 min drive to Arusha, day room check-in at the Airport Planet Lodge for lunch and relaxation before our partner’s driver transfers you for your out bound flight home.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch at Airport Planet Lodge and day room (subject to your outbound flight)
Accommodations
Arusha:
- Mount Meru Game Lodge
- Rivertrees Country Inn
- Ngare Sero Mountain Lodge
- Arusha Villa
- Arumeru Lodge
- Siringit Villa.
Tarangire National Park:
- Tarangire Treetops
- Swala Safari Camp
- Maramboi Tented Camp
- Balloon Camp Tarangire
- Lake Ndutu Luxury Tented Lodge
- Tarangire Kuro Treetops Lodge
- Mbali Mbali Tarangire River Camp
- Forest Chem Chem Lodge
- Mbingo Ridge.
Lake Manyara National Park:
- Maramboi Tented Lodge
- Lake Manyara Tree Lodge
- Kirurumu Tented Lodge
- Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge
- Escarpment Luxury Lodge
- Lake Manyara Kilimamoja Lodge
- Mawemawe Manyara Lodge.
Serengeti National Park:
- Serengeti Pumzika Luxury Safari Camp
- Sasakwa Lodge
- Serengeti House
- Sabora Tented Camp
- Faru Faru Lodge
- Grumeti Serengeti River Lodge
- Serengeti Migration Camp
- Singita Explore
- Mkombe’s House Lamai
- Ole Serai Luxury Camp
- Ole Serai (Kogatende)
- Nanyukie Lodge
- Songa Tented Camp
- Mwiba Lodge
- Mila Tented Camp.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area:
- Ngorongoro Pakulala Luxury Safari Camp
- The Manor at Ngorongoro
- Nomad Enatamanu Camp
- Entamanu Private
- The Highlands Lodge
- Gibbs Farm
- Neptune Ngorongoro Luxury Lodge.
Arusha City Airport Hotel:
- Moyoni Airport Lodge
- Airport Planet Lodge
- Golf Safari House
- Kaliwa Lodge.
Activities
- Game viewing drives in all Parks.
- Arusha National Park: Hiking on Mount Meru, visit to Momella Lakes, birdwatching, Ngurdoto Crater, visit the water falls which are six in number.
- Tarangire National Park: Birdwatching, views of the swamps and Sambu Mountains, visit Maasai Village, guided bush walks with armed guard, Night game drives, hot air-balloon, Poacher’s Hide.
- Lake Manyara National Park: Guided wildlife walks, cultural visits, sunrise hill climb, Helicopter transfers, kids’ program, Spa, Bush breakfast, sundowner on the shores of the Lake, visit to local schools, night game drives, meet Chief Choroko, listen to stories, scenic helicopter trips,
- Serengeti National Park: Cultural visits, walks and hikes, private dining, interact with Kopelion Conservation Team, Wild child program.
- Ngorongoro National Park: Olduvai Gorge Museum, Photographic Safaris, picnics, nature walks, birding, visiting the Maasai villages, hot air ballooning, a tour of Olduvai Gorge, visiting the Empakaai Crater, hiking to the summit of the Gol Mountains and Oldoinyo Lengai.
Trip Inclusions / Exclusions
Trip Includes
- Services of meet and greet by our representatives from the Kilimanjaro International Airport, by our partners as per itinerary.
- Transfers on arrival and departure at JRO Kilimanjaro as per above itinerary.
- Transportation & shared basis of our custom safari built 4 x 4 vehicle throughout your safari except when requested for private use for 4x4 vehicle.
- Team of trained drivers’ members of member of the Tanzanian Professional Safari Guide with proficiency in various foreign languages.
- Services of an experienced, English-speaking Driver / Guide from our partners in the Reserves, Conservancies and Parks.
- Unlimited game drives as per itinerary and as per itinerary
- Park entrance fees for game parks and conservancies as per itinerary.
- 2 nights on bed & breakfast accommodation at Legendary Lodge.
- 1 night on full board basis at Oliver’s Camp, Tarangire National Park
- 1 nights on full board basis at Chem Chem Lodge, Lake Manyara National Park.
- 2 nights on full board basis at Sasakwa Lodge, Serengeti National Park
- 2 nights on full board basis at Ngorongoro Crater lodge, Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
- Departure day, lunch at the Airport Planet Lodge in Arusha, and transfer to International Airport.
- Amref Flying Doctors cover whilst on this safari aimed at providing quality and affordable Air and Ground Ambulance evacuation services.
Trip Excludes
- International flight ticket, Travel documents, Visa
- Comprehensive Travel Insurance from your insurer back at home.
- Specific excursions and services not indicated on the ‘included’ incurs additional charge when booked.
- All personal expenses, telephone calls, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks not indicated by lodge/camp as included, laundry charge may be extra in some or our partners properties.
- Tips and gratuities for staff and driver/guide at our partner properties.
- Any additional items not included on this itinerary.
- Some activities may incur extra costs example Hot air-balloon safari, entrance fees on some visits, please check with us at the point of reservation.
- Day room charges may or may not be included subject to your departure flight.
Map
Arusha Airport, TGT Road, Arusha Municipal, Arusha, Northern Zone, 23210, Tanzania
Arusha, Northern Zone, Tanzania
Arusha National Park, Meru, Arusha, Northern Zone, Tanzania
Tarangire National Park, Babati, Manyara Region, Northern Zone, Tanzania
Lake Manyara National Park South Gate, Babati, Manyara Region, Northern Zone, Tanzania
Serengeti National Park, Ikoma, Serengeti, Lake Zone, Tanzania
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Arusha, Northern Zone, Tanzania
Arusha Airport, TGT Road, Arusha Municipal, Arusha, Northern Zone, 23210, Tanzania