Tanzania Northern Highlights

On arrival, check-in at either Lake Manyara Serena Lodge, Manyara Lake View Oasis, or Tloma Lodge for one night (please see full itinerary via "download itinerary" for overview of accommodation options).

This afternoon, after a late lunch at your lodge, embark on a game drive in Lake Manyara National Park.

Lake Manyara National Park
Stretching for 50km along the base of the 600-metre high Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyara is a scenic gem, of which Ernest Hemingway once remarked that it was “the loveliest [region] I had seen in Africa”. Its ground water forests, bush plains, baobab strewn cliffs, and hot springs offer incredible ecological variety in a small area that is rich in wildlife.

The soda lake is a habitat for a huge array of bird life that thrives on its brackish waters. Pink flamingo occur in their thousands, colourful specks against the grey of the lake shore, while yellow-billed storks, herons, geese, grebes, ibises and kingfishers are also commonly sighted. Even reluctant bird-watchers will find something to watch and marvel at within Manyara National Park.

Lake Manyara’s tree-climbing lions are another rare attraction. These lions make Manyara’s mahogany and acacia trees their home during the rainy season, where they are often sighted ambling gingerly among the branches, in imitation of the much more graceful leopard!

As well as its rich birdlife and unique tree-climbing lions, Lake Manyara National Park is legendary for its baboon troops (Manyara is thought to hold the largest concentration of baboons anywhere in the world). The large baboon families, and their interactions with one another, make for very interesting game-viewing! Much more shy but equally fascinating is the blue monkey, often sighted in the tree canopies of Manyara.

As you travel west, the beautiful Ngorongoro Highlands will gradually give way to the savannah grasslands of the Serengeti. You’ll catch sight of isolated plains game as you approach the perimeter of the park, but soon after the large herds for which the Serengeti is famous will come into view.

You can expect to arrive at your lodge/camp in the Serengeti late this afternoon - this will be either Serengeti Serena Lodge, Serengeti Zawadi Camp, or Kati Kati Camp (please see full itinerary via "download itinerary" for overview of accommodation options).

Evening at leisure.

Serengeti National Park
Simply teeming with game, the Serengeti is one of the largest and best game parks in all of Africa, unequalled for its natural beauty.

The name Serengeti is derived from the Maasai word “serengit”, meaning ‘endless plains’. It’s the perfect name for this magnificent area of over 6,000 square miles, where both the plains and the herds of game that populate them really can appear limitless.

These plains are the defining feature of an ecosystem that is among the oldest on earth; one in which the essential features of climate, flora and fauna have barely changed in the past million years.

Today, it is the migration for which the Serengeti is most famous. Over a million wildebeest and 200,000 zebras flow south from the northern hills to the southern plains for the short rains every October and November, and then swirl west and north after the long rains in April, May and June.

But it’s not just the wildebeest that use the Serengeti as a migratory pathway. The adjacent reserves of Maswa and Ikorongo, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and the Masai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya (all of which are unfenced) allow a multitude of species free range of movement to follow their seasonal migrations. Indeed, in the wake of the wildebeest and zebra migration, many of the less attention-grabbing features of the Serengeti are often overlooked.

Your game drive today will take you into the heart of the Serengeti, as you explore the central Seronera region in search of the best game sightings.

You can expect to arrive at your lodge in the highlands in time for a late lunch.

You stay tonight at either Ngorongoro Serena Lodge, Pembeni Rhotia, or Ngorongoro Farmhouse (please see full itinerary via "download itinerary" for overview of accommodation options).

Rest of the day at leisure to enjoy the views and acclimatise to the altitude.

Ngorongoro Crater
Often called the eighth wonder of the world, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area covers a diversity of landscapes, wildlife, people and archaeology that is unsurpassed in Africa.

Extending far beyond the crater itself, it is a huge area that encloses the archaeological site at Olduvai Gorge, huge expanses of highland plains, scrub bush, and forests that cover approximately 8300 square kilometres. As a protected area, only indigenous tribes such as the Maasai are allowed to live within its borders. Lake Ndutu and Masek, both alkaline soda lakes, are home to rich game populations, and surrounded by a series of peaks and volcanoes which create a stunning backdrop. Of course, the crater itself, actually a type of collapsed volcano called a caldera, is the main attraction.

After a dramatic descent down the crater rim, passing lush rainforest and thick vegetation, the flora opens to grassy plains that stretch across the crater floor. The game viewing is truly incredible, as is the topography and views of the surrounding Crater Highlands.

The Ngorongoro Crater and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area are without doubt some of the most beautiful parts of Tanzania, steeped in history and teeming with wildlife.

This afternoon, after lunch at the lodge, explore Tarangire National Park on a guided game drive, before returning to the lodge for dinner.

Tarangire National Park
Covering 2,600 sq km, Tarangire abounds with a wonderful diversity of game. Birding is particularly good here, with the Tarangire swamps, tinged green year-round, providing a habitat for approximately 550 bird species.

As for the bigger game, Tarangire is perhaps most notable for its elephant herds, who roam the park in huge stampedes. Large antelope, including oryx, kudu and eland (not commonly seen elsewhere in northern Tanzania) are also regularly spotted in Tarangire, while sightings of hyena, leopard and even python, who make a home of Tarangire's iconic baobab trees, are not uncommon.Tarangire is at its finest during the dry seasons (Jun - Oct and Dec - Mar), when the Tarangire River and the adjoining swamplands act as a magnet for thirsty wildlife from across the region, though game-viewing is good throughout the year.

Your tour ends in Arusha after lunch at a centrally-located hotel. Depending on the time of your international departure, we can arrange for a hotel day room or overnight stay in Arusha as necessary. Onward transfers and beach extensions may be booked through our office.