Tanzania Explorer

In the morning you will travel from Arusha to the small Lake Manyara National Park. The park 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. After lots of game viewing, you will leave the park in the afternoon and travel to a campsite in Mto wa Mbu. Here you can relax at the pool or the bar, before supper is served. You will spend the night in a tent.

After breakfast you will drive towards the fertile highlands where the Iraqw people grow wheat, corn and coffee. At midday you will reach the plains of the Serengeti National Park, one of the largest parks in Tanzania and a highlight on your 5-day Tanzania camping safari. The Serengeti has a diversity of habitats and landscapes including short grass plains, savannah, thick bush, swamps, mountains and lakes. Depending on the season you will witness the migration of thousands of animals for which the park is famous for. You will arrive at your campsite in the Seronera area in the central Serengeti in the late afternoon.

The entire day is dedicated to game viewing in the Serengeti National Park. The areas that you will visit depend upon where the migrating herds are (predators usually follow closely behind the trekking animals). During the short rainy season in November and December the herds move from the hills in the north to the plains in the south. During the longer rainy season from April to June they return up north. This circle of life is determined by the rainfalls and the locations of the herds might vary from year to year. Your guide will know where to find the herds and where to see them best. Apart from wildebeests and zebras you might also spot predators such as lions, leopards and cheetahs. You will spend another night at a campsite in the Seronera area.

The morning will be spent on another game drive in the Serengeti and you might spot animals you haven’t seen yet.  You will stop for a picnic lunch and then continue towards the Ngorongoro Crater. Once you reach the crater rim you will have fantastic views of this 600 m deep collapsed volcano. Your campsite for the night will be on the crater’s edge and you will be able to enjoy this once in a lifetime view as the sun sets over the crater.

After an early breakfast you will drive down into the crater on a steep and narrow road. The slopes are forested but soon the landscape changes to savannah dotted with the occasional acacia tree. Here the wildlife is just breath-taking and with a little luck you might see the “Big Five” – lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard. You should also see warthogs, wildebeests, zebras, hippos and some of the more than 500 bird species of the area. After an entire morning of game viewing and a picnic lunch in the crater you will slowly make your way back to Arusha, where you will arrive in the early evening.