Day notes
On arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport, you will be met by your driver who will transfer you to Arumeru River Lodge for your overnight stay. Located just outside of Arusha, Arumeru RiverLodge offers the ideal location from which to start your safari adventure. Freshen up after your journey to Tanzania and unwind in the lush gardens before enjoying a delicious meal. The garden is home to many Dikdiks, the smallest antelopes in Africa. These cute little animals can be observed at close range. Enjoy your first “wildlife encounter” by just walking in the tropical garden.
Get an early nights rest before your safari itinerary kicks off in the morning!
Transfer from Kilimanjaro International Airport [JRO] to Arumeru River Lodge
Transfer
Kilimanjaro International Airport [JRO]
Arumeru River Lodge
Check-in to Arumeru River Lodge
Day notes
After breakfast depart Arumeru River Lodge for Maramboi Tented camp situated on the outskirts of Tarangire National Park, overlooking the waters of Lake Manyara.Tarangire National Park is unfairly often overlooked in the shadow of the Serengeti, but it is an amazing, wildlife-rich national park, and minutes after entering the park, you will start seeing different wildlife like Thompson gazelles, buffaloes or giraffes. The main attraction of TarangireNational Park remains the large herds of elephant scattered amongst the horizon of green grasslands. You will be spending the next two nights at the beautiful Maramboi Tented Camp. This is a unique opportunity to experience and explore the Tarangire and Manyara ecosystem. Maramboi TentedCamp offers permanent camp facilities and endless vistas of open land and palm-lined desert between Tarangire and Manyara Lake. A visit to the area is essential for anyone interested in evolution and the origins of Mankind and an explanation of the Rift Valley and Africa's big picture. Itis a complete semi-desert experience focusing on game drives An impressive landscape from the Rift Valley gives you an amazing natural welcome to an are extraordinarily rich in wildlife. The camp offers stunning views of the Manyara National Park, the RiftValley, and Ngorongoro highlands and, on clear days, even Oldonyo Lengai – a sacred mountain to the Maasai – is visible. The Manyara and Tarangire Pans fill with water which attracts huge flocks of flamingos and other wading birds. The area also hosts its own annual migration as thousands of wildebeest and zebra gravitates towards the permanent water supplies in the dry season.
Check-out from Arumeru River Lodge
Transfer from Arumeru River Lodge to Maramboi Tented Lodge
Transfer
Arumeru River Lodge
Maramboi Tented Lodge
Check-in to Maramboi Tented Lodge
Day notes
Wake up to an early breakfast before you head out for an exciting morning of game drives,depending on game viewing you will return to camp either mid or late morning. You can enjoy a scrumptious lunch in camp before enjoying an afternoon at your leisure where you can choose to partake in any of the exciting activities on offer. Your days can be structured to suit your needs. Activities include, game drives, bird watching on the shores of the not too distant Lake Manyara and cultural interaction with Datoga and Maasai tribes, whose bomas populate the adjacent land. The camp also features a refreshing pool where you can relax and soak up the African sun. In the evening you can enjoy a sun downer game drive before a hearty dinner is served.
Day notes
This morning you will have an early start as you head off towards Lake Masek Tented Camp on the border between the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. You will also be taking a drive through Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The road follows the western side of the crater before dropping away in a north-westerly direction towards the vast plains of theNgorongoro Conservation Area. During the months between December and March, these plains are usually filled with teeming herds of wildebeest and zebra. Here, on the nutrient rich grasses they give birth to the next generation of the Great Migration. You will arrive at the exclusive Lake Masek Luxury Tented Camp situated in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area overlooking Lake Masek. This unique location is witness to the wildebeest migration which takes place from December to April each year. There is resident Big 5 game all year round in the area.
Check-out from Maramboi Tented Lodge
Transfer from Maramboi Tented Lodge to Lake Masek Tented Lodge
Transfer
Maramboi Tented Lodge
Lake Masek Tented Lodge
Check-in to Lake Masek Tented Lodge
Day notes
There are a few ways in which you can structure your day, this area is rich and plentiful in wildlife and should be taken full advantage of. Morning game drives followed by a delicious lunch and an afternoon of relaxation is often the best way to experience this area. This area is dominated by the vast and seemingly endless short grass plains, between NgorongoroConservation Area and Serengeti National Park. This whole area comes alive as millions of wildebeest move onto the plains in search of the fresh green grass after the first rains.These areas are abundant in the phosphorous-rich grasses the wildebeest are after, but after the rains, there are few if any sources of permanent water so the grasses rapidly dry out forcing the wildebeest to move on. It’s on these surrounding plains that the wildebeest cows will congregate to give birth, in an extraordinarily effective coordinated bout of calving for a period of a month or around early February. The intention is to overwhelm the predators by sheer numbers when the young calves are at their most vulnerable so, as you'd expect, there is a lot of lion, hyena and cheetah action during this time and always plenty to see.The lakes are always sublime and in complete contrast to any other part of the Serengeti, drawing large numbers of flamingos. There is always good bird life around the lakes and in the woodland, it is superb, often to people's surprise, even in the dry season.
Day notes
Enjoy an early breakfast before you set off for the world famous Serengeti National Park. TheSerengeti is best known for its abundance of wildlife and beautiful landscapes. Tanzania's oldest and most popular national park, it is also a world heritage site and was recently proclaimed a 7th wonder of the world. The Serengeti is famed for its annual migration, when some six million hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebras and 300,000 Thomson's gazelle join the wildebeest trek for fresh grazing. Yet even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers arguably the most scintillating game-viewing in Africa.Deep within the northern Serengeti's prime wildlife area, Mara Under Canvas offers perfect luxury from which to witness the Great Migration and to explore the most remote corners of Tanzania’soldest and most famous National Park. Peaking between June and November, guests can observe an annual wildlife spectacle quite unlike any other, as over a million wildebeest, zebra and other ungulates move into the northern Serengeti in search of fresh grazing and water.This lavish camp has 10 spacious safari tents each with a double bed and en suite bathroom. A team of friendly and attentive staff ensures that guests enjoy absolute comfort while experiencing the sights, sounds and smells of the African bush.
Check-out from Lake Masek Tented Lodge
Transfer from Lake Masek Tented Lodge to Mara Under Canvas
Transfer
Lake Masek Tented Lodge
Mara Under Canvas
Check-in to Mara Under Canvas
Day notes
Depending on your preference, there are a couple of options with regards to how your day is structured. One option is to break early and head out with a picnic breakfast, returning to the lodge in time for lunch. Alternatively, you can eat breakfast at the lodge and head out with a picnic lunch, returning in the mid afternoon. The beauty of having your own vehicle is that you can choose how you wish to structure your day and are not confined by the restrictions of scheduled game drives.
Day notes
This morning you depart from camp with a picnic lunch to enjoy en route as you head back into the Ngorongoro Conservancy, up the crater wall and around the rim before descending towards Karatu. Just outside the entrance to the reserve, you will find the Ngorongoro Farmhouse – your home for the next 2 nights. Ngorongoro Farm House is a perfect stopover within any safari in the Northern Circuit of Tanzania and a privileged base from which to visit the Crater or enjoy a range of activities: Like a walking safari to the adjacent forest leading to the Oldeani Volcano or an excursion to the nearby Lake Eyasi in the Rift Valley, still inhabited by a tribe of hunter-gatherers, the Hadzabe.
Check-out from Mara Under Canvas
Transfer from Mara Under Canvas to Ngorongoro Farm House
Transfer
Mara Under Canvas
Ngorongoro Farm House
Check-in to Ngorongoro Farm House
Day notes
Ngorongoro is a fascinating and unusual Conservation Area which includes the phenomena of theNgorongoro Crater at its center, and then extends through the Crater Highlands, in which local tribes are permitted to maintain their traditional lifestyles in as natural environment as possible. This extraordinary volcanic landscape is rich and fertile, with stunning craters and lakes, and the high altitude creates a malaria-free micro climate. The Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest intact caldera in an exceptional geographical position, forming a spectacular bowl of about 265 square kilometres with sides up to 600m deep, forming the stalking ground of around 20,000 to 30,000 wild animals at any one time.The crater floor consists of a number of ecological environments that include grassland, swamps, forests and Lake Makat, a central soda lake filled by the Munge River. All these diverse habitats attract a variety of wildlife to the area. Although animals are free to move in and out of this contained environment, the rich volcanic soil, lush forests and spring source lakes on the crater floor tend to incline both grazers and predators to remain here throughout the year.
Day notes
You will break camp early this morning and make your way back to Arusha. Here you will enjoy lunch at Arusha Coffee Lodge. The lodge offers a delicious daily 4-course luncheon buffet. After lunch you will head to Kia Lodge where a day room will be booked for your convenience, while you wait for your international flight home. You can also choose to relax at the hilltop swimming pool with view of Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Meru, the Blue Mountains and the Maasai plains. Depending on flight times you will be transferred to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your flight home.
Check-out from Ngorongoro Farm House
Transfer from Ngorongoro Farm House to Kilimanjaro International Airport [JRO]
Transfer
Ngorongoro Farm House
Kilimanjaro International Airport [JRO]
