9 Days/ 8 Night Best of Northern Tanzania Safari

Whatever your arrival time at Kilimanjaro International Airport, Fit4Masafa Travel driver-guide will be waiting for you with a warm welcoming smile. Kick back and relax in your comfortable vehicle as he takes you to your hotel in Arusha, Tanzania’s self-styled ‘safari capital.’ On your journey to the hotel, you will get a brief impression of this large, bustling, commercial city. Depending on your arrival time, you may have your pre-safari briefing today; if not, it will take place early tomorrow morning.

Unless your arrival time yesterday allowed time for your safari briefing, then this will take place after breakfast. We will provide you with all the essential information, before we set off westwards to our first safari destination, Lake Manyara National Park. Along the tour, you will stop at Mto wa Mbu for morning cultural tour which will be accompanied with hot local lunch, and the afternoon game drives into Lake Manyara NP. The park with its shallow alkaline lake is known for its over 400 bird species, primate-filled forests (look out for the long-tailed Guenon monkeys) and grassy plains. A large area of the park is covered by the alkaline Lake Manyara which is home to colonies of flamingos and other water birds. Apart from elephants, you might also spot giraffes, hippos, wildebeests and impalas while the forests near the lake are teeming with noisy groups of monkeys and baboons. From the pop-up roof of the safari vehicle you will be able to absorb the sights and sounds of nature. In the late evening you will leave the Lake Manyara National Park and head to Pamoja Africa Lodges in Karatu where you will spend the night.

After breakfast, your safari continues towards Serengeti NP, via the beautiful high lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA). Leaving the highlands behind, you will travel into the heart of wild Africa You will arrive in time for picnic lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive into the park.

After breakfast, game viewing drive along the Sogore River Circuit, which loops into the plains south of the Seronera River, and which is good for possible Lion, Thomson gazelle, topi, ostrich and cheetah sightings. The Visitor Centre close to the Serengeti Seronera Lodge and public campsites is well worth a visit after the morning’s game drive.

In the afternoon, you will follow the Kopjes Circuit, which goes anti-clockwise around the Masai Kopjes, which usually attract a number of lion and some formidably large cobras. Kopjes are weathered granite outcrops, scattered around the plains, most of which are miniature ecosystems, providing shade and drinking water in pools left in the rock after the rains. This makes the kopjes particularly good for spotting wildlife in the dry seasons – including lions, which like to lie in wait for animals coming to drink.

On this day will offer you an ideal opportunity to do an optional but unforgettable Hot Air Balloon flight, followed by a delightful champagne breakfast (available at a supplementary cost, but can be booked in advance). After breakfast you will be heading to the south-eastern side of the park, visiting the Barafu Kopjes and the Ngare Nanyuki River area, for your morning and afternoon game drives. Apart from the lion prides you find in the area, the Barafu Kopjes is the place to visit for possible cheetah sightings. The Ngare Nanyuki River area is also well known for being packed with game.

Today is your last day in the park, and once again you will visit some kopjes on your way out of the park and you will do a morning game drive in the Simba Kopjes area. The kopjes are named after the lions, which frequently use these kopjes to just lie and bath in the sun. You may also see baboon, giraffe and some interesting birds in this area.

From there you will be heading to Lake Ndutu, which is alkaline, like most of the other Rift lakes, however still drinkable and used by a wide array of local wildlife. You will do an afternoon game drive in the lake area, which offers quite a change from the vast open plains of the Serengeti. The area is usually heavily populated with elephant and birds as well as resident plains game.

You will depart after breakfast from Ndutu Area with picnic lunch for a morning game drive in the Naabi Hill area before heading towards the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority via the famed Olduvai Gorge, also known as “the cradle of mankind”. The Gorge lies on the site of an ancient lake, covered by thick layers of volcanic ash, which carefully preserved the world’s earliest records of mankind and which was unearthed by the dedicated Leakey family. The museum displays some of these fascinating discoveries and remarkable finds. From there you will be heading for the magnificent NCAA, one of the most densely crowded game areas in the world, which is home to an estimated 30,000 animals, you will arrive in time for leisure.

After an early breakfast, you will descend 600m into this stunning crater to view wildlife for a fullday crater tour. You will witness an unforgettable spectacle of African wildlife – a world teeming with animals. Supported by year-round water supply and fodder, the area supports a vast variety of animals, which include herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo, giant elephants and a small population of black rhino. Another big draw to this picturesque conservation area is its dense population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs and the ever-elusive leopard, which sometimes requires a trained eye to spot.

Enjoy breakfast, you will descend over 600 meters into the crater to view wildlife for a full day crater tour with picnic lunch down into the crater, This is the world’s largest caldera, a feature formed by the collapse of land after a volcanic eruption. It is approximately 18 km in diameter and home to about 25,000 mammals. In this relatively small area you can find almost all the mammals of East Africa ranging from Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles to mountain reedbucks in the forests on the slopes. You might also see spotted hyenas, rare wild dogs and some of the more than 500 bird species of the area. It is also possible to spot the Big Five – lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard – in the few hours spent in the crater. Later on, drive back to Arusha arriving in time for drop off at the end of your African safari adventure at Arusha Airport or any other place in Arusha.