If you only have 4 days but still want to visit the most famous parks of Tanzania (Serengeti and Ngorongoro, plus Manyara or Tarangire) this is the perfect tour for you. It only spends one night in Serengeti, which we usually think it’s too little, but if your time-frame is short and you really want to visit this amazing park, then it is the right choice for you.
Arusha City
2 Hours Before Flight Time
Pickup from your hotel at 8am and start a beautiful journey across the Great Rift Valley for a full day game drive. Although small in dimension (205 sq. miles), the park has breathtaking scenery and well famous for its lush acacia forest, giant figs and mahogany trees, as well as to a growing population of baboons and blue monkeys. Permanent residents of this park also include giraffes, elephants, impalas and a huge amount of buffaloes. The lake is also home to a large number of hippos. The landscapes of Lake Manyara are something that can not be described with words, and the game drives along the lake provide stunning photo opportunities of giraffes and buffaloes in the foreground and the lake in the background. Some possible extra tours are possible, including a bike tour or a boat excursion.
After an early breakfast, depart towards the most famous National park in the World, the Serengeti. The driving itself, although long, is spectacular. This will be an unforgettable moment for anyone seeing it for the first time. As you progress well into the Serengeti, you will see why the name means, in local language, “endless plains”. The park has 6,900 sq. mile (18,000 sq. km) and for most of it, the plains will stretch to the horizon defying your senses and perception of distances. It is the home of the Great Migration and to 2 million wildebeests, hundreds of thousands of zebras and all kinds of antelopes. As for Big Cats and large predators, it’s the place of choice to look out for lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, with many television scenes like the famous river crossings having been filmed in this park.
It is the migration of large mammals for which Serengeti is perhaps most famous. Over 1.5 million wildebeest and about 400,000 zebras take part in this migration which essentially involves three famous and important protected areas – Serengeti and Ngorongoro in Tanzania and the Masai Mara reserve in Kenya.
It is a clockwise migratory movement, during which sequence, the animals start arriving at the eastern Serengeti short grass plains in late November – December where calving of the wildebeests takes place. At the end of the long rains, the migration heads westwards and then turns north to arrive in Masai Mara reserve in late August –September. Lunch at the lodge. Afternoon transfer to Ngorongoro and game drive enrote.
The park supports many species of wildlife including Lion, African Leopard, African Elephant, cheetah, African Buffalo, Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelle, topi, eland, water buck, hyena, baboon, impala, African wild dog and giraffe.
We will start the day very early and descend into the crater floor for an incredible morning of wildlife in one of the most stunning places on Earth. After the game drive, there will be time for a picnic lunch near the beautiful hippo Lake. After lunch, we will have time for a short game drive and then ascend the crater and exit Ngorongoro Conservation Area towards Arusha. We expect to be back in Arusha around 5pm although we are flexible in case there is a flight to catch or another situation.