8 Days Safari (Lake Manyara / Serengeti Plains / Ngorogoro Crater /Tarangire
8 days tour overview
All our 8-day Africa wildlife safaris and tours, have been designed to give you more time in the Serengeti National Park and specifically include the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the world famous Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. This specific Africa safari and travel itinerary has been designed for visitors with more time on hand for a longer safari or tours. It specifically includes the Tarangire National Park and have been designed to offer you a total Tanzanian northern circuit safari experience, while attempting to keep your non game-viewing travel time to a minimum.
This unforgettable Africa safari packages will take you to the Lake Manyara National Park, one of Tanzania’s most dramatically located wildlife areas, consisting of a shallow but huge soda lake, located at the foot of the Great Rift Valley’s western escarpment. The size of the park makes it perfect for a one-day game drive and is notably famous for it’s tree-climbing lions. This safari will also take you to the Serengeti National Park, a massive wilderness of 14500 square km, where every day brings a new landscape and a new adventure. It will also take you to the Ngorongoro Crater and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania, featuring one of the highest concentrations of game and arguably the densest population of predators and carnivores in Africa. Here you will witness an amazing spectacle of African wildlife – inside a self-contained world teeming with animals. Finally, your safari will also take you to the Tarangire National Park, which once again features some of the greatest concentration of game in Tanzania – second only to the Ngorongoro Crater – but less crowded and unspoiled – possessing a wild and unkempt beauty.
The travel itinerary below, is a suggested or sample safari itinerary – it can be adapted to suite your own personal needs and preferences or to any seasonal changes and migratory animal movements. As with all our Tanzanian safaris, we have offered you a variety of accommodation options – directly impacting on the total safari costs – in order to offer you – the widest possible tour budget options. Please do not hesitate to contact one of our travel consultants directly, should you require any further assistance or more detailed information.
Day 1 – Arusha – Lake Manyara
Non game-viewing travel time: 2½ hours
Distance: 130 km
Distance: 130 km
Pick up from Arusha and transfer to Lake Manyara National Park. We arrive in time for lunch at the lodge and after lunch we 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 (rare), 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 National Park – Serengeti Plains
Non game-viewing travel time: 6 hours
Distance: 205 km
Distance: 205 km
After breakfast we head towards the Serengeti National Park, via the beautiful high lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Leaving the highlands behind, we 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. We head 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. We arrive in time for lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive in the Serengeti National Park.
Dinner and overnight in the Seronera area, as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.
Day 3 – Serengeti Plains
Be one of only a few fortunate people to glide in a Hot Air Balloon over the Serengeti Plains (available at supplementary cost by pre-arrangement). Floating silently above the awakening bush, while spotting wildlife and enjoying the amazing scenery of Africa, across rivers and over numerous small villages.
We do an after breakfast full day game drive with lunch at the lodge. We will follow the Kopjes Circuit, which goes anti-clockwise 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
After breakfast we enjoy a full day game drive with lunch at the lodge, 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. The visitor’s centre not far from the Serengeti Seronera Lodge and public campsites, is well worth a visit after the morning’s game drive. This nicely designed centre, offers some interesting wildlife displays as well as a gift shop selling information leaflets and maps of the area. The centre 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. We will enjoy a relaxed picnic lunch at the centre in the shade of the giant acacia trees.
Dinner and overnight in the Seronera area, as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.
Day 5 – Serengeti Plains – Ngorongoro Crater
Non game-viewing travel time: 4 hours
Distance: 145 km
Distance: 145 km
After breakfast at the lodge do we depart to Ngorongoro Conservation area. We will 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 the’Nutcracker Man’ and ‘Handy Man’, both very significant links in the chain of human evolution.
We arrive in time for lunch at the lodge and spend the afternoon at leisure.
Dinner and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested on the crater rim, no accommodation available inside the crater.
Day 6 – Ngorongoro Crater
After breakfast we descend 600m into this magnificent crater for a full-day game drive. The Ngorongoro Crater is one of the most densely crowded African wildlife areas in the world and is home to an estimated 30,000 animals including some of Tanzania’s last remaining black rhino. 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 huge population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs and the ever-elusive leopard. We will enjoy a picnic lunch on the crater floor.
Dinner and overnight as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested on the crater rim, no accommodation available inside the crater.
Day 7 – Ngorongoro Crater – Tarangire National Park
Non game-viewing travel time: 3½ hours
Distance: 155 km
Distance: 155 km
After breakfast we depart for the Tarangire National Park. The park runs along the line of the Tarangire River and is mainly made up of low-lying hills on the Great Rift Valley floor. Its natural vegetation mainly consists of Acacia woodland and giant African Baobab trees, with huge swamp areas in the south. Both the river and the swamps act like a magnet for wild animals, during Tanzania’s dry season. The Tarangire National Park is reputed to contain some of the largest elephant herds in Africa. This African National Park is also home to three rare species of animals – the Greater Kudu, the Fringed-eared Oryx, as well as a few Ashy Starlings. After a picnic lunch we do an afternoon game drive.
Dinner and overnight in the Tarangire National Park area, as per the standard and type of accommodation option requested.
Day 8 – Tarangire National Park – Arusha
Non game-viewing travel time: 2 hours
Distance: 120 km
Distance: 120 km
We enjoy an early morning game drive in the Tarangire National Park, followed by breakfast at the lodge. We will then transfer back to Arusha. Upon arrival in Arusha will we have lunch and then we will end our African safari adventure. The group should tip the guide around $20 a day. You will be taken to your hotel, which ends our safari services.
DEPARTURE DATES
The departure dates for all our safaris and tours are totally flexible according to your own personal needs. Please contact us for further and more detailed info.
Safari Include:
- Full board accommodation whilst on safari in the above mentioned en suite tented camps and lodges
- Private safari guide
- Private 4 x 4 safari jeep with pop up roof for game viewing
- Transfers in both directions between the International Airport
- Park fees
- Crater fees
- Airport Arrival/Departure Meet and Greets at the airport
- On safari – Vehicles equipped with ice chest with mineral water, wildlife guidebook, karibuni welcome packet with useful information for all guests
- Government taxes, VAT and service charges relating to accommodation and included meals
Safari Exclude:
- Tanzania Visa: $50 per person on arrival, USA and CANADA passport holders USD.100
- Personal Expenses (e.g. laundry, telephone, beverages, etc.)
- Meals not listed above
- Optional Tours (balloon rides USD. 500 per person etc)
- Tips and any items of personal nature.