8 Days Northern Circuit Safari in Tanzania.
Overview.
This safari offers you maximum game viewing in 4 of Tanzania’s best national parks in the northern circuit. These include Tarangire National Park known for its large herds of elephants, Lake Manyara National Park known for its tree climbing lions, Serengeti National Park for big five and wildebeest migration and finally into the Ngorongoro crater best for black rhinos and African wild dogs.
You will begin and end in Arusha town which is 1 hour away from Kilimanjaro international airport.
Highlights of this tour.
- Wildebeest migration in Serengeti in December to February and June to July.
- Big five African mammals
- Black rhinos and African wild dogs in Ngorongoro crater
- Tree climbing lions in Lake Manyara national park
- Bird watching
- Masai village walk
Tour Itinerary.
Day 1: Arrival.
Arrival at Kilimanjaro international airport, meet and greet with your guide. Upon clearing all the immigration procedures, join our company representative who will transfer you to Arusha town.
You may or may not do any activity depending on the time of arrival. Dinner and overnight.
Day 2: Arusha – Tarangire National Park.
Following a hot African breakfast, you will transfer to Tarangire National Park about 2 hours’ drive from Arusha. On arrival, visitors will check in and settle for lunch. And after lunch, you will go on to do afternoon game drive.
Tarangire lies in the semi-arid part of the Great Rift Valley floor sprinkled by river Tarangire running along its eastern boundaries with shallow alkaline lakes and swamps, low-lying woodlands, huge acacia and baobab trees.
The park offers one of the best elephant watching in northern Tanzania rivaled only by Serengeti. You’re likely to spot rare animals such as Greater Kudu and fringed eared Oryx.
Day 3: Tarangire – Lake Manyara National Park.
Early morning final game drive followed by hot African breakfast into Tarangire. Thereafter, drive to Lake Manyara National Park for evening game drive. Arrive and check in for lunch and relaxation.
Evening game drive exploring the wildlife that inhabit Manyara National park covered in lush grasslands dotted by acacia and fig trees as well as hot springs and lakes. The wildlife found in this park include tree climbing lions which are not easy to spot but sightings of lions that don’t climb trees are common. Of course where lions, there are buffaloes too which act as their prey. Elephants, giraffes as well as antelopes such as impala are also present in the park.
Day 4: Lake Manyara – Serengeti National Park.
Early morning game drive and breakfast in Manyara and drive to Serengeti National Park - one of the best African parks, a UNESCO world heritage site and is a stretch “endless plains” covering 5,700 sq. miles and of great biodiversity.
Arrive early afternoon, check in and settle for lunch. Later in the evening go for game drive into Serengeti National Park, home to big 5 African mammals and the park’s striking feature is the great wildebeest migration. This migration features about 1.5 million wildebeests which move along with zebra, impala, and Thompson’s gazelle making it the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth. These animals arrive in Serengeti from Kenya’s Masai Mara reserve between December to January and July to September.
On your game drive, sightings of lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, Masai giraffe, zebra, topi, and hippo are common.
Day 5: Serengeti National Park - Full Day.
Starts at 6 o’clock with a cup of African tea, you will embark on early morning game drive and return to your lodge before lunch and then continue till evening.
Game viewing spectacular because of the relatively large numbers of wildebeests, the animals are easy to see at the right season. The big five mammals are also common including leopard, lion, elephant, buffalo and white rhino, the black rhino is present but hard to spot. But, Serengeti is also great for bird watching not rivaled by any in terms of savannah species of bird – over 500 species including the ostrich and Kori bustard, the largest flying bird.
You will be returning to your lodge late evening after such a long day of game drives.
Day 6: Serengeti – Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Visitors will decide to early morning game drive or do optional activities such as hot air balloon safari and Masai community visit. After any of these activities, you will return to the lodge for breakfast and thereafter transfer to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Expect to arrive early afternoon on time for lunch.
After lunch visitors will go for evening game drive into the crater. Ngorongoro crater covers about 256 km2 and as such a small area, it’s renowned for its dense concentration of wildlife about 30,000 animals recorded. It provides great game viewing opportunities with sightings of big 5 African mammals; lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino, African wild dog, cheetah, hippos, zebra, wildebeest, waterbucks and lots of birds.
Day 7: Ngorongoro Crater exploration.
Following hot African breakfast, visitors will enjoy a full day game viewing in the interior of the crater with hot lunch back at the lodge. Optional guided cultural walk to visit the local communities.
Day 8: Departure
Visitors will have the option to do a third game drive early morning or simply wake up for breakfast, depart for Arusha and transfer to Kilimanjaro airport for departure.
End of Tour.