Day 1 - Arrive at Kilimanjaro Airport - Arusha

Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport & overnight in Arusha.

Overnight: Gold: Arusha Coffee Lodge | Silver: Lake Duluti Serena | Bronze: Mt Meru Hotel

Day 2 - Drive to Ngorongoro Crater

Drive to Karatu—below the Ngorongoro Crater (approx. two hour and a half hours) and arrive in time for lunch and a village visit.  The Masai are semi nomadic people and one of the most recognizable tribes in East Africa with their red shukas and elaborate beading. Visit a Masai Boma and meet with the village elder who will introduce you to the traditional Masai lifestyle and culture that has been maintained successfully for centuries and still continues to thrive in our ever changing world.

Overnight: Gold: The Manor at Ngorongoro | Silver: Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge | Bronze: Ngorongoro Farm House

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 3 - Full day game drive in the Ngorongoro Crater

Your game drive today will be like no other as you visit one of the most dramatic safari destinations in Africa, the Ngorongoro Crater. Descend to the crater floor in search of the big 5 with the back drop of the forest covered crater walls surrounding you, creating stunning back drops for all of your wildlife photographs. Travel through the Lerai Forest looking for leopard and onto the plains where the wildebeest and zebra graze whilst cheetah and lion lay and watch. Old elephants pass your vehicle whilst further afield rhino wander and hippos hide in the pools. A picnic lunch is provided so you can maximize your day in the crater.

Ngorongoro Crater is a deep, volcanic crater and the largest unbroken caldera in the world. About 20kms across, 600 meters deep and 300 sq kms in area, the Ngorongoro Crater is a breathtaking natural wonder. Within the crater rim large herds of zebra and wildebeest graze nearby while sleeping lions laze in the sun. At dawn, the endangered black rhino returns to the thick cover of the crater forests after grazing on dew-laden grass in the morning mist. Just outside the crater's ridge, tall Maasai herd their cattle and goats over green pastures living alongside the wildlife as they have for centuries.

Overnight: Gold: The Manor at Ngorongoro | Silver: Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge | Bronze: Ngorongoro Farm House

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 4 - Drive to Serengeti National Park

Leave your lodge and drive along the crater rim before descending the outer slopes of the Ngorongoro crater and onto the vast plains of the Serengeti. Arrive at your lodge approx. 4-5 hours later.

Lunch is at the lodge.

This afternoon, venture out into the Serengeti’s game filled savannah for an afternoon game drive. Driving through the Serengeti in late afternoon light provides the perfect opportunity to capture some magical wildlife photographs. As the light fades return to your lodge for dinner.

The Serengeti is not only famous for the great Wildebeest Migration that moves around the park from October – July every year but also for the vast number of species that reside in the park year round. The concentration of predators in the Serengeti is high with large prides of lion, numerous hyena clans and regular sightings of both cheetah and Leopard. Elephant, buffalo, giraffe and antelope can be found feeding on the rich plains as well as some of the lesser known species such as aardwolf, mongoose, caracal, servals and hyrax.

One of the world's last great wildlife refuges, the Serengeti, stretches between the Ngorongoro Highlands and Lake Victoria. The name comes from the Maasai word siringet, meaning "endless plains". The Serengeti's 14,763 square kms contains about three million large animals, many of them taking part in seasonal migrations, unparalleled in nature.

Overnight: Gold: Serengeti Pioneer Camp | Silver: Serengeti Sopa Lodge | Bronze: Serengeti Kati Kati Tented Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 5 - Morning and afternoon game drives in the Serengeti

Spend your day exploring the extensive plains of the Serengeti in search of the ‘Big 5’. If you would like to maximize your time game viewing you can take a picnic lunch out into the park and enjoy a meal out in the vast savannah before returning to your lodge later in the day.

Every year, triggered by the rains, 1.3 million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson's gazelle gather to undertake the long trek to new grazing lands. The migration of the herbivores roughly defines the boundaries of Serengeti National Park, which is the central zone of the Serengeti ecosystem, an area that also takes in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Maswa Game Reserve in the west.

Overnight: Gold: Serengeti Pioneer Camp | Silver: Serengeti Sopa Lodge | Bronze: Serengeti Kati Kati Tented Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 6 - Drive to Lake Manyara National Park

Leaving your lodge, drive through the crater highlands, down the Rift Valley escarpment and onto Lake Manyara. A drive around Lake Manyara will take you through the underwater forests thick with monkeys, warthogs, wildebeest and buffalo before arriving at a clearing that looks out over the lake.

As you approach Lake Manyara National Park, your first view is spectacular. Lake Manyara National Park has a wide variety of habitats attracting a host of different animals: monkeys leap between the trees of the ground water forest, on the slope of the escarpment elephants stand in the shade of the baobab. In the pools along the lakeshore, hippos wallow and in the acacia woodland lions rest in the trees. The birdlife is fascinating, with pelicans, storks, geese, herons and cormorants sharing the water with migrant flamingoes that turn the crystalline edges of the lake a bright pink.

Lunch is at the lodge.

A game drive in Lake Manyara this afternoon will bring a different game drive experience as you drive through the thick forest watching for blue monkey’s, baboons, vervet monkey’s and impala. Drive further toward the lake edge to spot buffalo, elephant, wildebeest and hippo before continuing to your lodge for dinner.

Overnight: Gold: Escarpment Luxury Lodge | Silver: Kirurumu Manyara Lodge | Bronze: Tloma Lodge

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 7 - Drive to Tarangire National Park

From your lodge at Manyara drive approximately 1 hour 30 minutes to Tarangire famous for its large elephant herds and its picturesque landscape dotted with baobab trees.

Lunch is at the lodge.

Your afternoon is spent exploring Tarangire’s valleys and riverbeds looking for herds of impala, eland, kudu and buffalo that wander the parks vast swamps and river. The park is also a birdlover’s paradise with over 550 bird species and flocks of migratory birds from January to March. Return to your lodge just before sunset to freshen up before dinner.
Tarangire National Park is one of the finest parks in Tanzania. Centered on the Tarangire River, this park has expansive views with wide panoramas of wooded savannah stretching in every direction. The most outstanding feature is the Tarangire River, which is permanent, and the only reliable dry-season source of water available to wildlife in a vast stretch of Tanzania's Rift Valley, attracting tremendous concentrations of animals.

Overnight: Gold: Tarangire Treetops | Silvier: Tarangire Sopa Lodge | Bronze: Maramboi Tented Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 8 - Drive to Arusha - Kilimanjaro Airport

Drive back to Arusha (approx. two hours) for lunch then drive to Kilimanjaro International Airport (approx. one hour) to catch your flight home.

Meal Plan: B