NORTH TANZANIA LUXURY SAFARI – TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK, LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK AND NGORONGORO CRATER

Our driver/guide will pick you up from the Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO). From here you will be transferred to Gran Meliá Hotel Arusha and briefed on your forthcoming safari. After briefing you will enjoy a restful night before beginning your adventure

Meal Plan: Dinner

Accommodation: Gran Meliá Arusha

You'll depart from Arusha after breakfast for the approximately two-hour journey to Tarangire National Park. Along the way, your eyes will be opened to all the colors and character of Tanzania: perhaps some Maasai herdsmen driving their flocks of goats to new pastures. Once we've entered Tarangire, we'll begin game drive across a rich vista of endless golden savannah that surrounds the Tarangire River. As we stand at the park gate and look south, it stretches as far as the eye can see. Known as the ‘Elephant Playground,’ this spectacular park contains largest population of these mighty mammals. Tarangire is also home to buffalo, lion, gnu, zebra and gazelle and the park can rival Serengeti for sheer animal densities. What might you see today! Perhaps a solitary male lion stretched out beneath a tree, perhaps a trio of male cheetah enjoying some lazy bonding-time in the sun. Maybe some graceful Grant’s gazelle or zebras bound away from the road or a couple of giraffes munching happily from the choicest acacia branches.

The park is also famous for its noble baobab trees, rolling savannah and acacia woodland. It can be dusty – wear a scarf over your mouth - but this is a minor inconvenience for sighting wildlife in such abundance. After an extensive game drive, we will head to your accommodation for some relaxation, maybe a drink, dinner and your all-important night’s rest.

Meal Plan: Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner

Accommodation: Lemala Mpingo Ridge Lodge

You will enjoy breakfast before leaving Tarangire National Park to continue our journey to Lake Manyara National Park, with a travel time of around 2 hours. Stretches along the Rift Valley Escarpment, and characterized by its shimmering lake, Manyara is rich in vegetation and the wildlife that thrives here. Enjoy the tranquility as majestic pink flamingoes wade elegantly, picking out a meal of algae from the shallow, alkaline waters. Bird-lovers are in for a treat as over 400 species have been recorded here – everything from bee-eaters to hornbills and everything in-between. And if you visit between February and June, watch out for yellow-billed stork and pink-backed pelicans, two more avian highlights. On land, Manyara’s terrain is compact, yet boasts differing environments such as diverse forests fed by waters seeping from the nearby escarpment. Monkeys are abundant, but look out too for the lions, giraffe, warthog, and grumpy Cape buffalo who all proudly call this park their home. Hold your nose when you reach the hippo pool, because these big semi-aquatic mammals smell! After an extensive game drive, and, of course, lunch – we will continue onwards to Ngorongoro Conservation Area where we will spend the night.

Meal Plan: Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner

Accommodation: Ngorongoro Lion’s Paw

After an early breakfast we will drive down the steep and narrow road that takes us into the crater floor. At one side there’s the Lerai Forest, classic mountain forest landscape with almost tropical characteristics. This is good elephant country, so keep your eyes peeled. By the side of the nearby swampland is what is sometimes called the ‘elephant graveyard’ as the mighty male tuskers at the end of their lives come to chew on the soft, swampland grasses once their teeth have failed them.

The crater has a population of around 120 lions, with well-defined territories; 15,000 gnu, 9,000 zebra, 400 hyenas, and around 50 black rhino. Many gnu and other herd animals are resident, benefiting from the many sources of year-round waters and are boosted by some migrators in season. Buffalo, serval, jackal, Thomson’s gazelle and eland are also present in numbers. Hippos can be found in pools and swampland and highland birdlife is colorful and plentiful around the waters. Flamingos can often be seen in Lake Magadi, which occupies part of the crater floor. After a morning dedicated to game viewing and a picnic lunch, we will have a 3 ½ hour journey, covering the 192 km back to Arusha