Safari in Tanzania December - April, the Serengeti migration

Photosafari in the Lake Manyara Park. Lake Manyara, under the Rift Valley escarpment, is home to extremely varied environments, despite its small size (330 square kilometers, of which 200 are occupied by the lake). They range from the dense forests fed by the resurgences that emerge at the foot of the Rift Valley, to the savannahs, to the marshy areas on the lake. Numerous animal species, including large colonies of baboons, vervet monkeys and other species of monkeys, elephants, giraffes and as many as 380 species of birds. Here, during the period from December to March, large flocks of pink flamingos settle, which then migrate towards Lake Natron between June and October. Among the predators are numerous leopards and lions; the latter, bothered by the humidity of the soil and insects, have acquired the habit (quite rare among these big cats and found only in a few other areas) of climbing on the branches of trees.

Fotosafari in the Ngorongoro Crater. The Ngorongoro Crater is a unique environment, without equal in the world. It is what remains of an ancient volcanic cone, whose summit collapsed about 2.5 million years ago, giving way to the current caldera: a truncated cone, which houses a "frying pan" with a diameter of 16 / 20 km, with raised edges of about 600 m with respect to the bottom, inside which a savannah has developed where more than 25,000 large animals live. All the typical species of the region, with the exception of the giraffes (which do not find nourishment here) live in the Ngorongoro Crater. The edge of the Crater reaches an altitude of 2300 meters above sea level and offers breathtaking views. The outer slopes of the walls are covered by a thick blanket of primary forest. In the evening we reach the central Serengeti.

Wildlife park in the Park which is the most famous in Tanzania and one of the most famous in the world. The Serengeti ecosystem is home to more than 1,500,000 wildebeests, about 300,000 zebras, 500,000 Thompson's gazelles, more than 2,700 lions, 1,000 leopards, 500 cheetahs, huge herds of elephants, elands, impalas, water antelopes, giraffes, ostriches, genette, and the streams are populated by crocodiles and hippos; there are more than 400 species of birds. The 15,000 square kilometers of the Serengeti National Park constitute only the largest portion of a larger ecosystem, which also includes the Ngorongoro Plains (the flat region northeast of the Ngorongoro Crater, which plays a very important role in the famous migration and is administered by the Ngorongoro Conservation Area) and the Maasai Mara (located further north, in Kenya). Here the orography, the composition of the soils and, consequently, the type of vegetation, allow sightings of animals without equal in Africa. The subsoil, constituted (above all in the southern part) by volcanic rocks, prevents in most of the Serengeti the growth of tall trees and the prairies prevail, therefore the open environment favors the sightings.

The wildebeest and zebras of the Serengeti, always looking for new pastures and water, are the actors of the largest migratory movement of wild animals in the world: it is the famous "Great Migration of the Serengeti", which between December and March concerns the portion central-southern part of the Park.

the Great Migration of the Serengeti, which between December and March involves the central-southern portion of the Park.

From Karatu go along the scenic road that descends winding along the Rift wall. Return to Arusha for lunch and transfer to the airport.