ZYB7A: Tarangire + Ngorongoro + Serengeti + Manyara

Day 1

You will be met at Kilimanjaro Airport and transferred to your hotel in Arusha.

Check in and relax in your wonderfully warm East African safari surroundings, under clear blue skies.

Day 2

This morning we travel 2.5-hours overland from Arusha to Tarangire National Park, in an open top game viewing vehicle with pop up roof for game viewing.

One of the least visited of Tanzania's northern game parks, this wonderful wildlife reserve is famous for its giant baobabs and migratory wildlife. After viewing the baobabs and surrounding wildlife, check into your lodge and enjoy the amazing spectacle of an East African sunset.

Day 3

This morning we depart Tarangire and travel overland to the famous Ngorongoro Crater.

Stretching across 8,300 sq km, the high altitude malaria-free Ngorongoro Conservation Area boasts a dramatic variety of volcanic landscapes, wildlife, people and archaeology. Its grasslands, waterfalls and mountain forests are home to an abundance of animals and also to the Maasai people, and has been declared a World Heritage site.

Check into your lodge and in the afternoon enjoy a tour into the basin of the Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest intact caldera forming a spectacular bowl of about 265 square kilometres with sides up to 2,000 feet (600m) deep. Although animals are free to move in and out of this contained environment, the rich volcanic soil, lush forests and spring lakes on the crater floor attract both grazers and predators all year round, with up to 30,00 animals living in the crater - including lions on the open savannah and elephants and monkeys in the forests. You may also see flamingos in the lake area.

Day 4

Today we transfer overland from Ngorongoro to the great Serengeti National Park.

We stop at Olduvai Gorge, where Louis and Mary Leakey famously discovered the remains of earliest man, before continuing to Serengeti (meaning "Endless Plains").

A World Heritage site, Serengeti National Park hosts the largest and longest wildlife overland migration in the world as around October each year, nearly 2 million animals travel 500 miles from the northern hills toward the southern plains - crossing the Mara River in pursuit of the rains. In April the animals return to the north, through the west, once again crossing the Mara River in their migration. Check into your lodge in this great wildlife area.

Days 5-6

Today is devoted to game viewing in the great Serengeti National Park.

This vast conservation area, which is larger than Northern Ireland, lies between Lake Victoria in the west, Lake Eyasi in the south and the Great Rift Valley in the east. The landscape varies from open grass plains in the south, savannah with scattered acacia trees in the centre, hilly wooded grasslands in the north and woodlands and clay pans in the west - with small rivers, lakes ands swamps scattered throughout.

With more than 70 large mammals and over 500 other animal species, including large prides of lions and great herds of wildebeest, zebras and gazelle, outstanding game viewing is guaranteed on a scale only seen in East Africa. Bird watching is also outstanding.

Day 7

After some final game viewing in the Serengeti, today we are travelling 3 hours to beautiful Lake Manyara.

In the late afternoon enjoy a game drive in Lake Manyara National Park which boasts a wide variety of wildlife including plains game, monkeys and the unique tree-climbing lion.  Also flamingos and large pods of hippos that congregate where rivers emerge into the lake. 

Check in to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 8

Transfer to Kilimanjaro Airport for your flight home.