Ngorongoro Crator Safaris.
10days/9Nights:Arusha/Kilimanjaro-Arusha/Tarangire/Ngorongoro/Serengeti/Manyara.
Day 1: Arusha - Kilimanjaro
We will pick you up from your hotel and drive to a private game reserve at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa and one of the continent’s magnificent sights. You will have the opportunity for a nature walk or horse ride. If you decide for the horse ride, you will be assigned to horses that match your size and skill. Anyone is welcome, from complete beginners to experienced riders of any age. You will go on a ride following the boundary of the farm through grass and bush land which is used for grazing horses and cattle. Plenty of wild animals inhabit the area. These include Sykes monkeys, yellow baboons, duikers, bushbucks, reedbucks and bush pigs as well as nocturnal animals like aardvarks, porcupines and jackals.
Dinner and overnight in lodge.
Day 2: Kilimanjaro – Arusha National Park
Drive to the Arusha National Park. The park is an incredibly beautiful and topographically varied area, with forest around Ngurdoto Crater, serene lakes, and spectacular views of Mt.Meru, Tanzania’s second highest peak. In the afternoon take a game drive.
Dinner and overnight in lodge.
Day 3: Arusha NP – Tarangire
In the morning you will walk in the forest with an armed ranger to observe the abundant animal life, which includes zebra, waterbuck, buffalo, elephant and warthog. After lunch drive to Tarangire for late afternoon game drive. Tarangire is Tanzania’s third largest national park, and is known for the majestic baobab trees that dot the landscape, dwarfing the animals that feed beneath them. The park supports a great diversity of wildlife, especially during in the dry season of July to November, when the Tarangire River provides the only permanent water supply in the area. During this season wildlife, including up as many as 6,000 elephants, concentrate along the river.
Dinner and overnight in lodge.
Optional: night game drive.
Day 4: Tarangire – Ngorongoro
You will spend another morning game driving, to explore this beautiful area.
In the afternoon we will drive to Ngorongoro conservation area, the "eighth wonder of the world", the largest unbroken volcanic crater on earth. We will check in at the campsite or lodge, from where you will have a stunning view of the crater.
Dinner and overnight in lodge.
Day 5: Ngorongoro
At sunrise you will start descending the crater's unbroken caldera which shelters one of the largest concentrations of wildlife in the world. The floor of this collapsed volcano spreads for 102 square miles and the walls are 600 metres high - a truly awesome sight. The crater floor is a virtual "Noah's Ark", inhabited by almost every species of wildlife indigenous to East Africa, including the endangered black rhino. The crater contains a river, several swamps, a soda lake complete with flamingos, a forest and open plains.
Around 9am you will have a stop at the crater picnic site near the hippo pool for breakfast. Then you will continue with game viewing till around 1pm when you will start to ascend the crater. Lunch, dinner and overnight at the lodge .
Day 6: Ngorongoro – Serengeti
Go on a morning nature walk along the crater.
In the afternoon we drive to Serengeti, possibly the most famous wildlife sanctuary in the world.
Dinner and overnight in lodge. |
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Day 7: Serengeti
You will spend today game driving. The vast Serengeti plains cover an area of over 14,763 square kilometres and during the months of the migration is the habitat of huge numbers of wildebeest, zebra and Thomson’s gazelle. From December to March they concentrate at the Ndutu and Salei plains where the calving season takes place, attracting the attention of predators like lion, cheetah and hyena. In June and July they move into the western corridor and in October and November the herds can usually be found in the northern Serengeti. The Serengeti "Kopjes", massive boulder islands of granite standing in a sea of grass, provide shelter to a wide variety of plants and animals, from the elusive leopard to the tiny dik dik.
Dinner and overnight in lodge.
Optional balloon safari
Day 8: Serengeti
Spend today exploring this incredible area further on a full day game drive.
Dinner and overnight in lodge.
Optional balloon safari
Day 9: Serengeti – Manyara
Arise early for a morning game drive, after which you will drive to Oldovai Gorge for an optional visit to the museum on prehistoric traces of humans. Oldovai is the famous archaeological site where the Leakeys discovered remains of Australopithecus, Homo Habilis and Homo Erectus, bringing crucial understanding to the study of the evolution of the human species.
Later drive to Manyara for a short late afternoon game drive.
Dinner and overnight in lodge.
Day 10: Manyara – Arusha
Drive to Manyara for lunch and short game drive. This beautiful park with its lush vegetation and tropical forests of giant fig and mahogany trees takes its name from the Maasai word for "euphorbia tirucalli", a bush which is used to make a thorny hedge to protect their cattle. Elephant, giraffe, buffalo, zebra and a variety of antelope inhabit the park, together with a variety of monkeys and a large population of hippos. If you are lucky you may see the Manyara lions, well known for their tree climbing habits, lazily resting on the branches of an "Acacia tortilis" tree. The birdlife is also abundant, with flamingos, pelicans, hornbills and plenty of forest species. You will also have the opportunity to visit the villages around Lake Manyara, interact with the locals at the markets, visit the Masai museum or snake centre or go to a Masai village to learn about their way of life.
In the afternoon drive back to Arusha.
Book this tour
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