Northern Tanzania Wildlife Safari: Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire, Arusha & Lake Manyara Park - 9 Days

Day 1:  Arrival at Kilimanjaro and onward transfer to Arusha.

Upon arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport, you will be picked up with our representative driver, having a short briefing, and then transferred to the hotel in Arusha for your dinner and overnight.

Day 2:  Walking-safari & game drive in Arusha N.P.

In the morning, we will collect you from your hotel in Arusha and take you to the Arusha National Park. The park has an incredible variety of fauna and flora, which cannot fail to impress. Hollywood also chose this region to film the movie “Hatari” in which Hardy Kruger starred alongside the legendary John Wayne.

Your day trip will include a visit to the Ngurdo Crater. Buffaloes, waterbucks, giraffes, warthogs, zebras, and baboons can be seen all year round as well as many different bird species. At the Momella Gate, an armed ranger will be waiting for you to accompany you on the walking safari that will give you the chance to experience the wildlife up-close. Only a few other national parks in Tanzania give you such an opportunity and it is something that should not be missed.

Lunch will be taken at a picnic place and in the afternoon, you will continue your tour in the safari vehicle through the Arusha National Park. After plenty of time allocated for you to observe the wildlife, we will take you back to Arusha.

Overnight a Ilboru Safari Lodge 

Day 3:  Game drives in Tarangire N.P.

Have breakfast at the lodge and depart with boxed lunch for Tarangire National Park. Tarangire is an excellent reserve for elephant viewing and the famous baobab trees. The landscape and vegetation are incredibly diverse with a mix that is not found anywhere else in the northern safari circuit. Elephants gathering at the Tarangire River to drink make for a perfect panoramic picture! You can also spot many different animals like leopard, zebra, impala, warthog, eland, buffalo, waterbuck, and lion. Also, the birders will have so much to see; more than 500 different bird species are present.

This park hosts the biggest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti. Also, it is the only place in Tanzania where the oryx and gerenuk are regularly spotted. Lions are common throughout Tarangire, as are leopards, while cheetah seems to favour the more open areas of the south. Spotted hyenas are always around, and while wild dogs do sometimes pass through, sightings of them are rare.

Overnight at Sangaiwe Tented Lodge

Day 4:  Game drive in Tarangire National Park, village walk in ‘Mto wa Mbu’ afternoon game drive in Lake Manyara National Park

After an early breakfast, you do a game drive out of the park and travel to ‘Mto wa Mbu’. The bustling farming community of Mto Wa Mbu is home to around 18,000 people. On this walk, you’ll discover a side of Tanzania many visitors miss out on. A melting pot of cultures; Mto Wa Mbu is thought to be one of the only places in Tanzania where there are representatives from all 120 tribes living happily side by side. During your visit, you’ll get a good feel for the social side of the village – the farms and the milling machines, the schools, markets, and churches. You’ll likely visit the village banana plantation as well as a youth art project, and a wood workshop where you can watch skilled Makonde tribe members carve intricate figurines, masks, and household objects.

Maybe you also like to visit a local ‘bar’ so you can try mbege. This is the traditional banana and millet beer that is brewed and drunk mainly by the Chagga tribe. Of course, you also visit the bustling local market to wander around stalls selling fruit and vegetable stalls, spices, and meat. A treat for the senses! Your guide is from the village, so you have the opportunity to see the community through his eyes and ask many questions. The length of the tour is very flexible but generally, lasts around 2–3 hours. After the walk, you eat a delicious local Swahili meal which you (can) prepare together with the highly respected Miss Bibi.

Lake Manyara National Park is known for the flamingos that inhabit the lake. During the wet season, they inhabit the edges of the lake in flocks of thousands, but they are not so present during the dry season.

 Overnight at Manyara Wildlife Camp

Day 5: Lake Manyara National Park - Serengeti National Park

Enjoy your breakfast at the lodge before a game drive in Lake Manyara National Park. The Park is famous for its tree-climbing lions abut also a very diverse animal population due to its varied habitat. There are large herds of buffalo and zebra as well as blue monkeys and baboons.

After lunch you shall leave Lake Manyara behind you and depart for Serengeti National Park - the heart of wild Africa – with its endless plains, rolling into the distance as far as the eye can see. One of the richest wildlife habitats in the park, featuring the Seronera River, which provides a valuable water source to this area and therefore attracts wildlife well representative of most of the Serengeti’s species.

Dinner and overnight at the Lodge/camp

The seemingly endless grasslands of the Serengeti are also the stage for the famous wildebeest migration. On the annual migration, 1.5 million wildebeest and other game, such as zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, impala, and topi move on mass between Kenya’s Masai Mara, then into Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti. This mass movement is driven by the rains and the herds’ endless search for water and good grazing.

Day 6: Serengeti National Park

Breakfast at the lodge then you will proceed with a game drive in southern of Serengeti National Park, Ndutu area for two days. A striking characteristic of this area is the stunning acacia woodland, which is immediately surrounded by the short grass plains. Within this wooded area is Lake Ndutu – one of the Rift Valley’s soda lakes. At the height of the wildebeest migration, and when heavy rains have fallen, often lines of wildebeest can be seen crossing the lake. Accompanying the wildebeest are large numbers of zebra and Thomson gazelles. Dinner and overnight at the Lodge/camp

Optional activity: Hot Air Balloon Safari Serengeti

This optional activity costs US$650 per person.

Float in a hot air balloon over the famous Serengeti National Park with its enchanting scenery. This may be the most beautiful area in the world for a balloon flight. There are no power lines, fences, and few roads. Your Balloon Safari adventure starts early morning when you depart your lodge or camp. It is still dark, and you may be fortunate to see nocturnal animals on the way to the launch site. When you arrive, you meet your pilot and witness your balloon being inflated and prepared. The capacity is limited making this experience a special and exclusive one. The balloon safari takes approximately 1 hour depending on the weather conditions. You will end this excursion in style with a champagne bush breakfast in the middle of the park!

Day 7: Serengeti to Ngorongoro

This morning after having breakfast continue with a game drive. In the afternoon you drive en route (optional stopover at Olduvai) to the rim of Ngorongoro Crater. Dinner and overnight at the Lodge/camp

The property has global importance for biodiversity conservation due to the presence of globally threatened species, the density of wildlife inhabiting the area, and the annual migration of wildebeest, zebra, gazelles, and other animals into the northern plains. Extensive archaeological research has also yielded a long sequence of evidence of human evolution and human-environment dynamics, including early hominid footprints dating back 3.6 million years. Several animal and bird species are found here. Lions, Elephants, Buffalos, Black Rhinos, Cheetahs, spotted hyenas, Impalas, Gazelles, and others may be spotted here.

Day 8: Ngorongoro Conservation Area

After breakfast, we descend into this magnificent crater. The Ngorongoro crater is the world’s biggest whole volcanic caldera. It is frequently described as one of the wonders of the world, not only because of its geological magnificence but also because it serves as an extraordinary natural sanctuary for some of Africa’s largest populations of large mammals. Another big draw card to this picturesque park is the dense population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs, and the ever-elusive leopard, which sometimes requires a trained eye to spot. You will enjoy a picnic lunch in the crater then you will continue with the game drive. Dinner and overnight at the Lodge/camp.

Day 9: Transfer to Kilimanjaro for departure

Today is, unfortunately, the last day of your trip with Gorillas and Wildlife Safaris!

Your driver/guide will take care of your transfer to Kilimanjaro Airport. If you are not ready to go home, you can continue your holiday in Rwanda, or Uganda with Gorillas and Wildlife Safaris.