7-Day Tanzania Safari: Northern Highlights Adventure

Drive from Arusha to either Lake Manyara National Park (best December to May) or Tarangire National Park (best June to November) with picnic lunch enroute and an afternoon game drive. Both parks are outstanding with many photography opportunities. On this 7-day safari, you have the built-in opportunity to see both reserves no matter what time of year you go.

Lake Manyara National Park, rimmed by the scenic 600-meter cliffs of the Rift Valley escarpment, protects a large alkaline lake and is home to a wildlife-rich savannah-forest mix. It makes an outstanding introduction to Africa's wildlife, with elephants, wildebeest, giraffes, buffalo, zebra, impala, waterbuck, and waterbuck roaming the park in healthy numbers while lions are also present.

Tarangire National Park is famous for its huge herds of elephant and baobab trees. Throughout the dry season, thirsty antelope and elephant trek hundreds of kilometres to drink at the Tarangire River.

Today explore more of the area, either on a full day game drive with your safari guide into either Tarangire or Lake Manyara, or try an active or cultural half-day activity.

Local activities include a Zipline, cultural hike, biking to the the Lake Manyara shoreline, Mto wa Mbu village tour, Tinga Tinga painting class, or a coffee tour. Ideally, these are done as a half-day morning tour with a relaxing afternoon.

Drive 3-4 hours to the Serengeti. Once through the park gate, begin your afternoon game drive. Enjoy a picnic lunch at the Visitor's Center. See all the great wildlife that makes the Serengeti so understandably famous, then arrive at your safari lodge in time to freshen up, relax a little and have dinner.

Arguably Africa's greatest national park, the Serengeti (meaning "endless plains") is a massive park and home to a yearly migration of more than a million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson's gazelle undertaking their long trek to new grazing grounds. In return, a wealth of predators including lions, leopards, cheetah and hyena also inhabit the region.

Today enjoy a full-day game drive in the Serengeti or a morning and afternoon game drive with a break and rest in between back at your safari lodge. You also have the option of a scenic hot air balloon safari early this morning at extra cost.

The fabulous Serengeti is a singular safari destination in Africa. The oldest and largest intact land-based ecosystem in the world, the Serengeti is celebrated for its wealth of leopard and lion. Serengeti, meaning 'endless plains,' is home to the largest annual overland migration of mammals in the world, with over a million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson's gazelles along with a range of other antelope species gradually undergoing an over 800-km long trek seeking new grazing grounds.

Today explore more of this famous wildlife reserve with your safari guide. The Serengeti provides incredible wildlife viewing year-round with the "great migration".

The crucial characteristics of the Serengeti ecosystem have changed little in over a million years. Serengeti's boundless plains are sprinkled with wooded hills, towering termite mounds, rocky kopjes and rivers lined with acacia trees. Big cats and a huge host of grazing animals roam freely, but here you also can see other unique species like mongoose, hyrax, warthog, bat-eared fox, jackals, bushbabies, monkeys, baboons, and much more.

This morning, drive from the Serengeti to the Ngorongoro highlands, enjoying wildlife viewing within the Serengeti National Park as you gradually make your exit. Departing the park, you have several optional visits available at extra cost, either to the Olduvai Gorge or a Maasai village (or both). Continue onwards to your lodge tonight situated near the Crater or on the Crater rim itself.

The Olduvai Gorge delivers substantial evidence of the earliest signs of humankind, with rare hominid footprints preserved in solid rock from 3,600,000 years ago.

There are many authentic Masaai villages in the area to visit. Here you have a chance to get to know authentic Maasai families and see how real life is like for the locals. You can visit homes, watch traditional dances, and purchase homemade jewelry.

or Airport (BL)

Wake early and join your guide for a sunrise game drive in the Ngorongoro Crater. Due to official park regulations, game drives are limited to about 6 hours, but this gives us plenty of time to take in the sweeping scenery and impressive wildlife found here.

The Ngorongoro Crater is akin to a fishbowl of classic African wildlife, with herds of giraffe, zebra, buffalo, wildebeest, and a variety of antelopes calling the Crater floor home. Huge elephants dot the distance while endangered black rhino still graze freely here. We suggest enjoying a picnic lunch inside the Crater, while overlooking the hippo pool, where we also usually find a great variety of interesting wetland birds too.

From here, drive to your choice of Arusha or the Kilimanjaro Airport in time for your evening international departure. Farewell Tanzania!