Day 1: Your safari driver/guide will pick you up to begin your safari in the morning. You may request to stop at a supermarket in Arusha to buy snacks and bottled water for your safari. From Arusha, we will drive 2-3 hours to the Manyara region of Tanzania where we will visit our first park: either Tarangire or Lake Manyara National Park. We will enjoy a game drive today, getting our first view of animals, birds and interesting plant life. Throughout the safari you will be provided with box lunches which allows us to picnic right in the parks and maximize valuable wildlife time. After our game drive we will drive to the Karatu area where you will have dinner, discuss your plans for tomorrow and stay overnight.

 

Day 2: Today, you will wake up, enjoy breakfast at your accommodation and then head out to drive to Serengeti National Park. This drive will take us through Ngorongoro Conservation Area and around the rim of the crater where there is a breathtaking view. We will continue through the Ngorongoro highlands where we can take in the scenery and wildlife along the way. We will also see the Maasai people and their livestock living side by side with wild animals. If you choose, you may visit a Maasai boma for a cultural experience (entrance fee not included). After stopping for a picnic lunch at the entrance gate to the Serengeti, we will continue on into the Serengeti for an afternoon game drive before arriving at our accommodation for the night.

 

Day 3: We may choose to start our game drive early because morning is a great time to see animals in action. We will have a full day to explore the Serengeti today. The time of year and the migration cycle will determine which part of the Serengeti we explore. The park is huge, bordering Kenya in the North, Ngorongoro Conservation Area in the Southeast and spanning all the way to Lake Victoria in the far West. There is no way we can see it all! After our full day game drive, we will head back to our camp in the central Serengeti for another night.

 

Day 4: Today, we will drive back toward Ngorongoro Conservation Area watching for wildlife on our way. We will descend down into the crater for a game drive today. The volcanic caldera referred to as Ngorongoro Crater creates a unique enclosure and protection for the animals, allowing many to forgo migration and stay in the crater their entire lives. The crater also hosts one of the densest populations of lions in the world. This world heritage site is the perfect place to admire the spectacular geography and watch the “Big Five” in their natural habitat. After our game drive, we will continue on to Karatu where we will stay overnight.

 

Day 5: After breakfast, we will head back toward Arusha. Depending on your schedule, we may stop in some little towns, where we can observe the local culture and you can shop if you would like to.