Tour Overview

This 8-day itinerary visits the most popular parks in Tanzania, namely Ngorongoro crater, Tarangire Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Parks. This unique safari program allows the chance to see the "Big 5" (Elephants, Lions, Buffalo, Rhino and Leopards). You will enjoy the beautiful Great Rift Valley wilderness and its wildlife; visit the garden of God– Ngorongoro Crater, the endless plain of Serengeti, watching the Great Wildebeest migration pass near your camera lance. This is an awe-exciting and Extraordinary Safari. You will have the best chance to see other animals, including cheetahs, zebras, impalas, towers of giraffes and many more.

Additionally, you will visit Lake Eyasi, the homeland of the Hadza; a modern hunter-gatherer people considered one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa. Moreover, seeing Tatoga Trible people who are regarded as one of the most talented blacksmiths. Our experienced driver guide is knowledgeable in wildlife and culture and will deliberately ensure that your wildlife encounters and cultural experience are beyond your imagination.

Tour Summary

• This tour starts and ends in Arusha.
• You'll visit Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Serengeti National Parks, Ngorongoro Crater & Lake Eyasi.
• Activities: Game drives, Visit Bushman and blacksmiths
• Game drives: Pop-roof 4×4 vehicle

Tour Features

• Private tour - This tour will be organised privately for you and won't be shared with others.
• Can start any day - If availability permits, this tour can start on any day.
• Can be customised - You can request changes to this tour.
• Suitable for solo travellers - Solo travellers can book this private tour.

Tour Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival Day: Kilimanjaro International Airport to Arusha

Upon arrival at Kilimanjaro airport, you will be warmly welcomed by our professional and personal driver guide. You will be transferred to your hotel in Arusha for overnight relaxation and preparation in keenness of the coming safari adventure. Arusha is the pounding heart of the wild – the last port of civilisation before heading out into dense jungles and rich savannah plains. It is located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the east branch of the Great Rift Valley. The town’s temperate and calm climate is exciting. It is close to the infamous Tanzania National Park, which lures visitors to explore the fantastic Maasai culture and unique flora and fauna.

Today you can relax in Arusha, enjoy a quick briefing about your upcoming safari, recover from your journey, and soak up the vibrant atmosphere of Africa.

Day 2: Arusha to Tarangire National Park

After breakfast, at 7 am, you will be picked up from the hotel by your safari guide and depart to Tarangire National Park for a full-day game drive. During noontime, you will have a stop for a picnic lunch; the picnic area is fascinating, boasting an observatory with amazing views of the Tarangire river and wildlife; sometimes, there’s a good chance of seeing a hunt while having your picnic. Continue with a game viewing until sunset, then drive back to your accommodation for dinner and overnight.

Tarangire is excellent and has a diverse ecosystem, boasting one of the largest concentrations of elephants in East Africa. The park is almost 3000 sq km in size and is best known for its vast numbers of elephants and baobab trees. The park’s name comes from the Tarangire River, which crosses through the park. The park is remarkable during the dry season (June - November) as wildlife concentrations rival the Serengeti National Park. This is because enormous populations of elephants and other animals are drawn to the Tarangire River as their only water source.

Day 3: Tarangire to Ngorongoro Crater

After breakfast, your unforgettable journey continues heading to the famous Ngorongoro conservation Area. You will then descend into the crater floor for an incredible wildlife viewing in one of the most splendid places. After exploring the crater, enjoy a lunch picnic in the crater’s heart near the beautiful Hippo Lake. Proceed with some more game viewing and, late, drive up the steep road out of the crater, heading for relaxation, dinner and overnight in your accommodation in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a pioneering experiment where people (the Maasai), livestock, and wildlife co-exist and share the same protected habitat. The stunning spectacle of the Ngorongoro Crater, its steep walls falling some 610 meters to the floor, is undoubtedly one of the highlights of a safari tour in Tanzania.

The crater floor is home to thousands of everyday animals, including the rare black rhinos, zebras, wildebeests, gazelles, hippos, elands, elephants, and a large predator population of lions, hyenas, and jackals. It's also famous for its giant elephants globally and has massive tusks.

Day 4: Ngorongoro to Central Serengeti

After a relaxed and delicious breakfast, depart heading to the most renowned national park in the World, the Serengeti. Drive toward the Serengeti National Park is an extraordinary moment for anyone seeing it for the first time. As you progress well into the Serengeti, you will realise why the name means, in the local language, "endless plains". You will enjoy a picnic lunch, then an afternoon game viewing in Central Serengeti, and later in the evening, drive to your accommodation for relaxation, dinner, and overnight.

The park has 14,763 sq. km, and more than 4 million large mammals live in total wilderness freedom. The park is undoubtedly one of the best-known wildlife sanctuaries globally. It is famed for its annual wildebeest migration of 2 million wildebeests, hundreds of thousands of zebras, and antelopes. As for the big cats and large predators, it's the place to look out for lions, cheetahs, leopards, and hyenas, with many television scenes like the famous River Crossings filmed in this park.

Day 5: On Safari Serengeti National Park

Waking up in the Serengeti is something astonishing. Africa's sights, sounds, and smells are all around us, and a full day of exploration in the world's most famous national park is ahead. You will enjoy full days in the Serengeti National Park. We are entirely flexible with your preferences, and these days will be prearranged according to your desires. Your guide will discuss the best timings on every safari day, including the game drives and the wake-up time. For instance, on this day, you could do a morning game drive, return for lunch and relaxation and finish with an afternoon game drive. Alternatively, you could do a full-day game drive with a picnic lunch.

The Central Serengeti offers superb game viewing all year round due to its richness of resident animals. Specifically, the Seronera River Valley in Central Serengeti is a ‘must see’ on every safari, notwithstanding the specific month of travel. Game watching in Central Serengeti is at its best during the dry season (June - November), as animals are more concentrated in the immediate area due to the lack of water on the plains. Resident animals include impalas, buffaloes, hippos, warthogs, topi, hartebeests, giraffes, lions, zebras, cheetahs, elephants and leopards.

Day 6: Serengeti to Lake Eyasi - Datoga Tribe Visit

After breakfast, you will enjoy a morning game drive and return t for brunch. After lunch, say farewell as you depart, heading to Lake Eyasi, situated southwest of the Ngorongoro Highlands, to visit the Datoga people. They are pastoralists dependent on their livestock (resemble the Maasai in culture) and are talented blacksmiths. You will spend time with them discovering the Datoga totality way of life. They collect metal, brass, copper or aluminium scrap, which they ingeniously process into spears, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, arrowheads, and knives. They trade these products with Hadzabe and other people for honey and food. Moreover, the occasion to visit their huts, where you can experience women grinding maize with Stones to make flour, which they later use to cook typical food known as porridge and Ugali. Today’s adventure ends by driving back to your accommodation for relaxation, dinner and overnight.

Day 7: Lake Eyasi – Visit to Hadza (Bushman) – Lake Manyara National Park

Today will be a delightful and different day. You will wake up early, just before sunrise, and follow your guide until he finds the Hadza people, one of Africa's last genuinely remaining tribespeople who still live understated cultural life, the Hadzabe people, famous as Bushman.

The Hadza are modern hunter-gatherers living southwest of the Ngorongoro Highlands area of Tanzania. They are considered one of the last hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa, with approximately 1,300 tribe members. Their native homeland includes the Eyasi Valley and nearby hills. Start with a food-collecting expedition trip to learn their hunting techniques. The Hadza survive by hunting their food with hand-made bows and arrows and foraging for edible plants. Despite that, the Hadza diet is primarily plant-based; however, they depend on meat, fat, and honey.

Additionally, you will visit their artisan house, which temporarily created shelters of dried grass and branches. After finishing the activities with the Hadza people, you will visit the beautiful Lake Eyasi, a seasonal shallow Salt Lake on the floor of the Great Rift Valley, followed by a return for lunch and heading to the next destination Lake Manyara National Park.

Day 8: Lake Manyara to Kilimanjaro International Airport

After breakfast, drive to Lake Manyara for game viewing. The park is one of the Rift Valley's most renowned lakes and is home to impressive concentrations of birds and large mammals. Even though the park is small, 325 sq. kilometres, it has awe-inspiring scenery and is well-known for its growing population of baboons, tree-climbing lions and elephants. The game drives along the lake provide spectacular photo chances of giraffes and buffaloes in the foreground and the lake and its flamingos in the background. Moreover, the park is a bird watcher’s paradise where over 350 species of birds, including the lively flamingo, pelican, sacred ibis, grebe, and stork, can be spotted.

Around Noontime, you will have a stop for a picnic lunch, followed by an en-route drive exiting the park heading to Arusha or the airport for drop-off.

Inclusions:

• Pick up and drop off at Arusha/Kilimanjaro International Airport
• English-speaking driver-guide
• Park fees
• All activities as specified in the itinerary
• Evacuation insurance (AMREF - Flying Doctors)
• All accommodation - (Unless listed as upgrade)
• All transportation - (Unless labelled as optional)
• 4x4 Customized safari vehicle
• All meals
• Water in the car
• Taxes

Exclusions:

• International flights - (From/to home)
• Additional accommodation before and at the end of the tour
• Tips - (Highly recommended)
• Personal items - (Souvenirs, travel insurance, visa fees, etc.)
• Government-imposed increase of taxes and park fees
• Meals not specified
• Hot air balloon safari US$ 599 per person
• Drinks and beverages
• Laundry services