7 Days Serengeti, Tarangire National Park and Ngorongoro crater

Welcome to Tanzania! You will be picked up from the airport by a Explore Green Africa Safaris representative and driven to your accommodation in Arusha. Depending on your arrival time, you will hopefully have time to relax and prepare for the adventure of a lifetime! Busy Arusha is an essential part of safari life here in northern Tanzania and most travelers pass through at some stage.

Your Explore Green Africa Safaris guide will collect you from your accommodation after breakfast. This morning, you will drive to Tarangire National Park. The transit drive is approximately two and a half hours on good tarmac roads. The Park is named after the Tarangire River which runs through it. This ‘river of warthogs’ is the only source of water for wildlife in the region during the dry season. The Park is well known for its elephant families, which can often be seen congregating by the river. You may also see giraffe, bushbuck, and hartebeest. These animals are closely followed by a range of predators, including lions and leopards. There are more breeding species of birds found in Tarangire than anywhere else on the planet! The huge and ancient Baobab trees can be seen here. Some of them are said to have lived for more than a thousand years. Lunch will be at a picnic site inside the Park. After your game drive, you will transit to your accommodation near the Park.

After breakfast, you will drive to Lake Manyara National Park, a small but diverse park. Everything you’ll see here is on a different scale. It is both compact (this is one of the narrowest parks in Africa) and epic (the Great Rift Escarpment towers over Lake Manyara’s western boundary). The park’s namesake is a shallow, Salt Lake. It covers a large area of the park, flooding and drying with the seasons and is home to thousands of wading birds (including flamingos and over 500 other bird species). You may see baboon and elephant in the park’s thick evergreen forest, and watch for the tree-climbing lions that have become famous throughout Africa. After a full day inside the Park you will make the short drive to your accommodation in Karatu.

After breakfast, you will drive up into the cooler regions of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. There will be a chance to stop and see the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater. You will then transit through Ngorongoro Conservation Area to the Serengeti, entering at the South of the Park. The Serengeti is truly spectacular. It is famous for its vast open grasslands which allow for excellent sightings of wildlife. Whilst it boasts abundant wildlife, it is perhaps best known for the annual Great Migration. Vast numbers of wildebeest; zebra and antelope move in an annual pattern, constantly seeking fresh grazing. The migration can be found during any given month; you just need to know where to look!

This entire day is set aside for game drives in the Serengeti. The Serengeti boasts an abundance of wildlife such as impala, buffalo, crocodile, and hippo. In addition to the iconic landscapes, you have a good chance of encountering predators and you may see lion, cheetah and leopard. Depending on the location of the Great Migration, you may venture away from the Central region to experience this natural wonder. It is a truly life-changing experience.

After breakfast, you will drive from Serengeti National Park to the Ngorongoro Crater. When you first see Ngorongoro Crater, it looks like a forgotten world. Concealed by the steep volcanic walls is a pristine wilderness including sweeping savannah, pockets of acacia woodland, and glistening lakes and swamps. The crater was created when a large volcano exploded and collapsed in on itself two to three million years ago. The drive down into the crater is an adventure in itself and when you reach the crater floor, you quickly find yourself amongst large numbers of wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, and more than 500 bird species. The crater provides you with the best chance of seeing the endangered black rhino, which can sometimes be spotted in the open grasslands. After a full afternoon inside the crater, you will head to your accommodation for dinner and an overnight stay in a luxury accommodation at Karatu.

Today, you will be driven to your final destination maybe Arusha Town, Arusha Airport or Kilimanjaro Airport. Timings are dependent on your onward travel plans. We hope you have enjoyed your adventure with Explore Green Africa safaris!