Classic Northern Tanzania (Group Tour)

Day 1 – Flying from the UK to Arusha, Tanzania

Fly from the UK to Arusha. Same day, evening arrival. Be met by our English-speaking representative  at Arusha airport and be transferred to your hotel at the edge of Lake Duluti amidst the woodland slopes of Mount Meru. Enjoy dinner and a restful night before the start of your adventure. Stay at Lake Duluti Lodge for 1 night on a half board basis.

Day 2 – Arusha to Lake Manyara National Park

After breakfast at your hotel, leave for Lake Manyara National Park arriving at your lodge in time for lunch. In the afternoon go for a game drive in search of the park’s wildlife. Best known for its elusive tree-climbing lions, Lake Manyara National Park is a small, scenic national park set at the base of the Rift Valley escarpment. Vegetation is diverse with savannah, evergreen forest and marshland, and in rainy season the alkaline Lake Manyara covers a third of the park and attracting millions of birds, including sizeable flocks of pink flamingos. The park provides a sanctuary to a host of animals and is ideal for seeing wallowing hippos, herds of African elephants, leopard and lion. There are also giraffe, impala, zebra, blue and vervet monkey and baboons. Stay at Lake Manyara Serena Lodge for 1 night on a full board basis.

Day 3 – Lake Manyara National Park to Ngorongoro Crater

After breakfast, leave for the UNESCO-listed Ngorongoro Crater and enjoy an afternoon of leisure on arrival at your lodge. Located on the edge of the crater fantastic views are ensured. Stay at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge for 2 nights on a full board basis.

Day 4 – Ngorongoro Crater

This morning descent 600m down to the crater floor for a full day safari exploring the woodlands, lakes and wide-open plains of the crater floor in search of the abundant wildlife. At around 20km across and nearly 300 square km in area, the Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest unflooded and unbroken caldera and this natural amphitheatre provides shelter to an estimated 30,000 animals. The open grassland of the crater floor is home to the rare black rhino, elephants, leopards, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, gazelles and it has the densest population of lions in the world and an abundance of pink flamingos can be seen at Lake Magadi.

Day 5 – Ngorongoro Crater to Serengeti National Park

After breakfast, drive to Serengeti National Park, a vast rolling plain whose sparse vegetation allows for some of the best wildlife viewing in the world. Settle into your award-winning lodge with its sweeping panoramic views across the vast, endless grasslands. Join a game drive in the afternoon. There is also an optional visit* to the Olduvai Gorge, the discovery site of some of the earliest human remains. Stay at Serengeti Serena Lodge. Breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

Day 6 – Serengeti National Park

A full day’s game drive awaits in the central Serengeti area in search of the park’s abundant wildlife. The annual migration of wildebeest and zebra is one of the park’s great attractions, but throughout the year the Serengeti is excellent for seeing predators such as lion, leopard and cheetah, along with elephant, giraffe, hyena, hippo, rhino, and many varieties of antelopes and birds. Visit hippo pools in the Seronera Valley, forests holding leopard and colobus monkeys, kopjes where lions laze in the shade and riversides where large animals congregate to drink. Return to your lodge and enjoy dinner and the facilities, swimming in the infinity pool or take in a Maasai cultural programme or a guided walk. An optional* early morning hot air balloon ride with champagne and a bush breakfast can be added to your safari at time of booking.

Day 7 – Serengeti National Park to Western Corridor

This morning you will set off for the Western Corridor of the Serengeti plain, and settle in to your exclusive, luxury tented safari camp, styled to replicate the elegant hunting camps of the early 1900s. Join a wildlife drive in the afternoon. The Western Corridor, or West Serengeti, is a more remote, less visited area of the national park and where thousands of wildebeest, zebra and antelope are forced to cross the crocodile-infested Grumeti River during the northward migration from late May to mid July. Resident wildlife in the area include giraffe, buffalo, impala, topi, Thomson’s gazelle and their predators, lion, leopard, hyena and cheetah.

Day 8 – Return to the UK

Wake early for a final game drive, returning to your lodge for breakfast. Transfer to the Grumeti airstrip for the flight to Arusha where you will have lunch before the transfer to Kilimanjaro airport for your return flight to the UK.