6-Day Tanzania Group Safari with Two Nights in Serengeti

After breakfast, we leave Arusha and drive to Tarangire National Park for a full-day game drive. The park runs along the road of the Tarangire River and is made of low-lying hills on the valley floor. Its natural vegetation mainly consists of acacia woodland and giant African baobab trees with huge swamp areas within the south. Both the river and the swamps act as a sort of magnet for wild animals. Watch as the lions stalk their prey along the river banks as the herbivores come to drink water.

The Tarangire National Park is reputed to contain a number of the largest elephant herds in Africa. This African park is also home to 3 rare species of animals; the greater kudu, the fringe-eared oryx, and the ashy starling. Later, we drive to the camp for dinner and our overnight stay at Panorama Campsite.

Have an early breakfast at around 7 am. After breakfast, we leave the camp with a packed lunch and proceed to Serengeti National Park via the Ngorongoro Crater rim, viewing game en-route. Serengeti National Park is a vast, treeless plain with thousands, even millions, of animals searching for fresh grasslands. As the largest national park in Tanzania, the Serengeti attracts thousands of tourists each year. The best months for wildlife viewing are between December and June. The wet season is from March to May, with the coldest period from June to October.

The annual migration of millions of zebra and wildebeest takes place in May or early June. This migration is one of the most impressive natural events and the primary draw for many tourists. We pitch tents and have dinner at Serengeti Seronera Campsite.

Go on a full-day game drive with a packed lunch in Serengeti National Park until late evening. We then return to camp for dinner and overnight.

When it comes to wildlife viewing, the Serengeti does not disappoint. Millions of animals migrate annually from the center of Serengeti to Kenya’s Masai Mara and back in a spectacular show from May to December. Even in the "off-season", enormous herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle, as well as elephant, giraffe, and buffalo, wander here. Watch as lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, and jackals pursue their prey.

Go on an early morning game drive in Serengeti National Park and return to the lodge for breakfast. We leave the camp with a packed lunch and proceed to the Ngorongoro Crater rim with an en-route game drive.

Located between the Serengeti and Lake Manyara, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is home to the famous volcanic Ngorongoro Crater and one of Tanzania’s most popular wildlife-viewing areas. This huge volcanic crater has a permanent supply of water which draws all kinds of animals who stay in this area rather than migrate. Visitors come here primarily for viewing large game and bird watching, but also of interest in the conservation area is the Olduvai Gorge.

This important archeological site has revealed ancient skull and bone fragments that have delivered critical information about early mankind.

After an early breakfast, we descend to the crater floor for a game drive with a picnic lunch. The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest intact ancient caldera in the world, nearly 3 million years old. The Ngorongoro volcano was one of the world’s tallest mountains before it exploded and collapsed.

Thousands of wild game can be seen on the crater floor, including lions, elephants, rhinos, Thomson’s gazelles, and buffaloes. Wildebeests and zebras account for over half of the animals that call the Ngorongoro Crater home. The bird watching here is superb, especially around Lake Magadi which attracts flocks of flamingoes to the shallows. Hippos are content to submerge themselves during the day and then graze in the nearby grass in the evening.

After exploring the crater, we have lunch at the picnic site in the crater at the Ngoitoktok Swamp (a hippo pool). We continue with game viewing while ascending the crater and then drive back to the Panorama Campsite.

Lake Manyara National Park, located at the base of the Great Rift Valley escarpment, offers magnificent and varied landscapes. In this gorgeous park, we’ll enjoy a picnic lunch.

The ecosystem is supported by a variety of habitats, including rainforests, a soda lake, and the savannah. The reserve is a birdwatcher’s paradise with over 400 kinds of birds, some of which are migratory. The famed tree-climbing lions, as well as buffalos, elephants, giraffes, impalas, and hippos, may be seen at Lake Manyara. In the late hour of the day, we will drive back to Arusha for your drop-off at Arusha Airport.