5 Day Wildlife Safari

Day 1 – Arusha – Lake Manyara National park

Pick up from Arusha and transfer to Lake Manyara national park. Aarrive in time for lunch at the lodge and after lunch, head into the Lake Manyara National Park for an afternoon game drive. This national park is one of Tanzania’s most dramatically located wildlife areas, consisting of a massive but shallow soda lake (covering two-thirds of the park), located at the foot of the Great Rift Valley’s western escarpment. The park’s varied habitat attracts a wide variety of animals, including one of Africa’s largest concentrations of elephants, Lake Manyara’s unique tree-climbing lions, as well as large flocks of flamingos attracted by the algae in the lake.

Dinner and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.

Day 2 – Lake Manyara – Serengeti Plains

After breakfast head towards the Serengeti National Park, via the beautiful high lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Leaving the highlands behind, descend into the heart of wild Africa – the Serengeti National Park – with its endless plains, rolling into the distance as far as the eye can see. drive to the central park area, known as the Seronera area, 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.
Arrive in time for lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive in the Serengeti national park.

Dinner and overnight in the Central Serengeti Area, as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.

Day 3 – Serengeti Plains.

Morning Game drive followed by breakfast at the lodge/camp or after-breakfast game drive in the Central Area and along the Sogore River Circuit, which loops into the plains south of the Seronera River, and which is good for possible Lion, Thomson gazelle, topi, ostrich and cheetah sightings. Full game drive in the Park (optional depart with lunch boxes for full game drive or return to the camp/Lodge for hot lunch and later afternoon game drive) picnic lunch at the the Visitor Centre is well worth a visit after the morning’s game drive. This nicely designed center offers some interesting wildlife displays as well as a gift shop selling information leaflets and maps of the area. The center also has a shop where cold drinks and snacks can be purchased, as well as a picnic area and information trail up and around a nearby kopje. Enjoy relaxed picnic lunch at the center in the shade of the giant acacia trees.

Afternoon game drive around the Maasai Kopjes, which usually attract a number of lion and some formidably large cobras. Kopjes are weathered granite outcrops, scattered around the plains, most of which are miniature ecosystems, providing shade and drinking water in pools left in the rock after the rains. This makes the kopjes particularly good for spotting wildlife in the dry seasons – including lions, which like to lie in wait for animals coming to drink!

Dinner and overnight in the Seronera area, as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.

 Day 4 – Serengeti Plains – Ngorongoro crater

After breakfast at the lodge, check out and depart to Ngorongoro Conservation area. stopover at Olduvai Gorge, boasting with a history dating back to the dawn of time. It was here, that the anthropologists Drs. Lois and Mary Leakey discovered the skulls of ‘Nutcracker Man’ and ‘Handy Man’, both very significant links in the chain of human evolution. Arrive the lodge in time for lunch at the lodge and after lunch descend over 600 meters into the crater to view wildlife for a half day’s safari tour. Supported by a year-round water supply and fodder, the Ngorongoro National Park supports a vast variety of animals, which include herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo, and giant African elephants. Another big draw card to this picturesque national park, is its dense population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs and the ever-elusive leopard, which sometimes requires a trained eye to spot. visit Lake Magadi, a large but shallow alkaline lake in the southwestern corner, which is one of the main features of the crater. A large number of flamingos, hippos and other water birds can usually be seen here. Dinner and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.

Day 5 – Ngorongoro crater – Arusha

Non game-viewing travel time: 4 hours
Distance: 190 km

Breakfast at the lodge/Camp after drive to Arusha. Lunch at the Hotel, later transfer to JRO for your onwards flight.