Serengeti Wildlife Experience

Join the group in Arusha, a small town at the foot of Mount Meru. Depending on your arrival time you may wish to take a taxi into the town or to relax by the pool after the long journey before meeting your Explore Leader this evening.

This morning we head south-west to Lake Manyara National Park for our first game drive. This drive takes us through villages and towns, where busy markets and locals in traditional, bright dress line the route. On arrival at our lodge we will have lunch and a short while to take in the view over the floodplains below, before heading out on our first game drive.

Lake Manyara is nestled at the bottom of the Great Rift Valley and for a national park only 330 sq km, it is the perfect introduction to a variety of habitats, ecosystems and wildlife. The various habitats of lush forests, acacia woodlands, grassy floodplain and volcanic peaks are home to prey and predators, as well as over 400 species of birds! After our game drive, we return to our lodge to enjoy a sundowner and watch the changing lights on the plains below.

Please note that drones are not permitted in any Tanzania National Park without a permit, please refer to the equipment section of the trip notes for more information.

Today we have a long but rewarding journey into the world famous Serengeti National Park. The scenery and views are spectacular as we travel around the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater and transit through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We pass several Masai homesteads before arriving at Olduvai Gorge, where in 1959, anthropologists Dr and Mrs Leakey discovered the remains of an almost intact human skull named 'Nutcracker Man'. It was here at this important prehistoric site, together with other startling discoveries, that have contributed to the furthering understanding of early human development. Olduvai Gorge and the fossils that it contains give a unique insight into the role this part of the world played in human evolution. We'll enjoy a packed lunch in the courtyard of the Olduvai Gorge visitor centre, before walking around the interactive, timeline museum to learn more of this fascinating place. A local guide will then talk us through the ages of the gorge whilst we look out over the valley below.

Later today we will enter the Serengeti at Naabi Hill Gate. Serengeti is a Masai name that means the 'endless grass plains' and it is through these plains interspersed with granite outcrops that we travel to our lodge. Once in the Serengeti we'll move slowly through the park, keeping a close eye out for game as we head to the central Seronera area. Our Serengeti camp provides a warm welcome and a true sense of adventure. Sleeping under canvas, the sounds of nature filter through ensuring a true Serengeti experience.

The Serengeti covers almost 15,000 square km in area and is Tanzania's oldest, and arguably, greatest park. Famed for the awe-inspiring spectacle of the annual migration, it offers some of the best game viewing in Africa. We will travel through various different habitats from dry, dusty savannahs to long grasses and mud pools. Prey and predator can be found in the park, including lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, giraffe and buffalo, as well as over 500 species of bird. This day is guaranteed to be exciting, and binoculars and cameras need to be at the ready! We'll take a packed lunch with us but timings and location will depend on the wildlife movements for the day. We'll return to our accommodation this evening in time for 'Bush TV', also known as a bonfire and the opportunity to enjoy a local beer whilst watching the sun go down. The sheer vastness of space, under a starry sky, generates a liberating feeling of being in the wild that would be difficult to find anywhere else.

We'll make one last early morning game drive as we retrace our route back to Naabi Hill Gate and back into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We will pass various settlements en route and the Masai can often be seen herding their livestock or working the land in the surrounding fields.

In the late morning, we'll arrive into Karatu where our accommodation is located. The central farmhouse remains a working farm and coffee plantation, built in colonial style and is set amongst beautiful gardens. This afternoon will be free to enjoy the pool or take the late afternoon walking tour of the planation with a local villager to learn more about their life and produce grown on the grounds.

This morning we will have a very early start to make our way to the crater where we will we descend from the upper rim, driving down a steep track that drops a staggering 600m to the grassy plain, lake and marshes of the basin floor below. The crater provides a unique wildlife spotting experience and is home to the Big Five. Among the animals to watch out for are elephant, lion, cheetah, buffalo and rhino. The perennial marshes teem with birdlife.

The crater itself, technically classed as a caldera, owes its existence to the violent fracturing of the Rift Valley over a period of some 15 million years. At one time a volcano occupied this spot that then became extinct and collapsed into the empty magma chamber beneath it leaving only the gigantic natural basin which is now considered a veritable 'Garden of Eden'. After our half day game drive in the crater today, we return to the farmhouse in time for lunch and the afternoon will be at leisure to relax after the early start.

Today we leave Karatu and continue our journey to Tarangire National Park. One of the most striking features of the park are the majestic old baobab trees with massive silvery trunks and gourd-like fruit that dominate the skyline. Tarangire has the greatest concentration of wildlife outside of the Serengeti ecosystem and is part of a larger ecosystem that extends further south into the Masai steppes. The permanent water sources in the park result in Tarangire being home to the largest elephant populations in Tanzania, where during the dry season over 300 elephants can be seen digging for water in the riverbeds. The park is also home to the shy fringed eared oryx and the gerenuk antelope that are not seen in other parks.

Today we will enjoy an afternoon game drive, before travelling to our camp perched on the edge of Lake Burunge. The evening will be spent relaxing in spectacular location and enjoying a traditional evening meal.

This morning we make our way back to Arusha where the tour ends.