Lake Manyara is one of the most underestimated national parks in Tanzania’s northern safari circuit. Everything you’ll see here is on a different scale, at once compact (this is one of the narrowest parks in Africa) and epic (the Rift Valley escarpment towers over Lake Manyara’s western boundary). You’ll see plenty of baboons and elephants in the park’s thick evergreen forest, and watch for the tree-climbing lions that have become famous throughout Africa. Thanks to the proximity of lake, forest and rock walls, the birdlife will also tease out your inner birder – don’t forget your binoculars.

Accommodation: Kudu Lodge

Welcome to the Unesco World Heritage–listed Serengeti, one of Africa’s top safari destinations. While you’re here, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll see leopards along the dry riverbanks, cheetahs out on the grasslands, and elephants, giraffes and all kinds of antelopes everywhere across the park. Watch also for the Serengeti’s famous lion prides. And that’s just the start. Some of the largest and most diverse wildlife populations on the planet roam the Serengeti, not to mention millions of wildebeest and zebras who migrate across the plains every year.

Accommodation: Embalakai Camp

Your first sight of Ngorongoro Crater is likely not one you’ll easily forget. As seen from the crater rim, this natural bowl, both vast and intimate, is one of Africa’s most beautiful natural features, stretching 19 green kilometers (12 miles) from one side to the other. Down in the crater itself, you’ll explore an astonishingly rich, self-contained ecosystem that is protected by high crater walls. Here, lions and hyenas hunt wildebeest and Grant’s gazelle within sight of elephants and black rhinos. Your day spent here will reveal a surprising variety of habitats, from the Lereal Forest and salty Lake Magadi to the plains that rise and fall gently all across the valley floor.

Accommodation:

Kudu Lodge

After breakfast, we head towards the far northern reach of the Serengeti National Park, also known as the Wagakuria. We will do a game drive en-route from the Lobo area to the Wagakuria area. As we head north, good sightings of giraffe, plain game, herds of buffalo and elephants can often be seen.

We arrive in time for lunch at the lodge and after lunch will we enjoy an afternoon game drive in the area. The wildebeest migration can normally be found in the Wagakuria area from August to October, depending on rainfall patterns. A long stretch of the Mara River runs through the northern Serengeti National Park and the Mara River provides the migration with its most difficult obstacle. Witnessing the frantic herds of wildebeest crossing the Mara River is amazing.

Meal: B,L,D
Accommodation: Serengeti Acacia Camp

Accommodation: Accommodation can be arranged for an extra cost.

Wherever you go in Tarangire National Park, you’ll come across the park’s famous and larger-than-life baobab trees and elephants. These are the twin elements that give this park so much personality. There is, of course, so much more. We don’t just mean the huge populations of wildebeest, giraffes, hippos, buffaloes, baboons, vervet monkeys and zebras. Or the rugged landscape of rocky hills and rivers, swamps and savannah plains. You also have an excellent chance of seeing lions here – Tarangire is a real lion stronghold – and keep an eye out for leopards and cheetahs as well.

All good things must come to an end, and your time with us on safari in Tanzania will now draw to a close. We're sure that you've had a wonderful time.

End of Trip