9 Days Safari - Walk on the Wild Side

Tarangire National park - Ngorongoro Highlands - Ngorongoro Crater -
Serengeti National park - Lake Manyara National park

Highlights

Actively experience Tanzania’s wilderness from a different perspective.
Immerse yourself in the realm of wild animals on game drives in Tanzania’s best-known national parks. Get even closer to the bush dwellers on night game drives and walking safaris in the African bush.
Overnight stays are in rustic African tents, which offer unexpected comfort in the middle of the wilderness.
 

ITINERARY

Karibu sana! Warmly welcome to Tanzania!
Individual arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport, where you will be met by our Afrimine Tours Guide. Transfer to your accommodation in Arusha, where you have the rest of the day at leisure.
 
Accommodation: Lodge in Arusha 
Meals: 1x dinner
Off you go on an active safari through the national parks in northern Tanzania. Your first destination is Tarangire National Park, which is known for its herds of elephants and giant baobab trees.
Once you arrive at the entrance gate to the national park, you will go on an extensive game drive in Tarangire.
The Tarangire River, which carries water all year round, attracts countless animals and you can enjoy wonderful game viewing here.
The park has one of the highest elephant densities in Tanzania and herds of more than 30 animals are not uncommon. Over 100 mammal species live in Tarangire, including giraffe, impala, lion, Cape buffalo, zebra, hartebeest, eland, dik-dik and kudu, as well as over 500 bird species, including the largest bird in the world, the Maasai ostrich.
Mighty baobabs and magnificent umbrella acacias form a unique backdrop for an exciting day on safari.
Look forward to a real bush feeling!
In the evening, you will experience an exciting night game drive, during which you can also observe the shy animals that hide during the day. This activity takes place outside, but on the edge of Tarangire National Park.
The night game drive is conducted by an experienced guide in a 4×4 Landcruiser equipped with powerful headlights to ensure good visibility even in the dark.
The game drive starts after dinner. Due to the location of the lodge on the edge of Tarangire National Park and on the banks of the Tarangire River, there is a good chance of spotting a variety of wildlife.
 
Accommodation: Lodge outside the park
Meals: 1x breakfast, 1x packed lunch, 1x dinner
You spend this day with various activities in Tarangire National Park and get to know this diverse protected area intensively.
In the morning, you will go on a walking safari in the national park. You will roam the wilderness of Tarangire National Park on foot, accompanied by a trained and experienced local ranger. The guide will show you how to recognize and follow the various tracks of the wild animals. Look forward to rare close encounters with zebras, waterbucks, impalas, ostriches and even the giant African elephant. The ranger will give you information about the animals, their behavior and tracks and explain the plants in the surrounding bushveld. It is an exciting experience to get up close and personal with the wild animals and get an authentic feel for life in the bush.
After the two-hour walk, you return to your accommodation. In the afternoon, you will go on another game drive in a safari vehicle through the varied landscape of the game reserve.
 
Accommodation: Lodge outside the park
Meals: 1x breakfast, 1x packed lunch, 1x dinner
In the morning, you will once again set off on a nature walk, this time on the edge of Tarangire National Park in the Wildlife Management Area. Together with a local ranger, you will set off on a one-and-a-half-hour walk focusing on plants, tracking and nature.
You then continue into the Ngorongoro Highlands. Your accommodation is located right on the edge of the Ngorongoro forest and you will immediately feel at home in the cool, green surroundings.
In the afternoon, you can explore the adjacent forest on the edge of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area on a short hike (optional, organized locally via the accommodation). Or enjoy the unique view over the wooded hilly landscape of the Ngorongoro highlands from the lodge.
 
Accommodation: Lodge in the Highlands
Meals: 1x breakfast, 1x packed lunch, 1x dinner
In our safari jeep landcruiser we head to explore the famous Ngorongoro Crater. First enjoy the fantastic view from the crater rim over the huge caldera from a vantage point before descending to the crater floor via a steep slope.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a unique animal paradise and is one of the seven natural wonders of Africa.
On a safari here, you can observe almost all of Africa’s major animals in just a few hours. In addition to lions, wildebeests, zebras, buffaloes, elephants and gazelles, there is also a good chance of seeing the rare black rhino. Over 20.000 large animals live in the crater itself. They can leave or enter the crater freely. Most of them stay here permanently, as there is no shortage of water or food.
A true natural wonder that can only be found in Africa.
After the game drive in Ngorongoro, you leave the crater and drive on to the Serengeti, the oldest and probably most famous national park in Tanzania. You cross the huge protected area and pass through the endless savannah landscape of the Serengeti Plains.
On the way, you can observe a wide variety of animals and, with a bit of luck, hunting scenes.
Your accommodation is located in the western central Serengeti, just outside the national park. The camp is ideally situated for observing the seasonal herds of wildebeest, zebra and antelope. As the camp is located outside the actual game reserve, night safaris are also possible here. This increases the chance of spotting leopards or other nocturnal wild animals such as porcupines, aardvarks or genet. As soon as dusk sets in, you set off on an extremely exciting night game drive just outside the Serengeti, as no drives are permitted after dark within the protected area. However, animals know no boundaries and therefore the sightings are no less spectacular – especially in the cover of darkness the impressions are particularly thrilling.
Of course, the camp is also an ideal starting point for game drives in the central Serengeti or the western corridor. Your safari guide will select the most suitable region for you at your time of travel. The lodge’s rangers are specialists in bush walks at dawn or dusk, which are always a very special experience. One such walking safari awaits you tomorrow.
 
Accommodation: Tented Camp
Meals: 1x breakfast, 1x packed lunch, 1x dinner
Early in the morning, you set off on a bush walk with an experienced ranger. Discover the bushland around the camp at sunrise and, with a bit of luck, spot gazelles, antelopes, zebras, wildebeests, giraffes, elephants, hyenas and buffaloes.
You then set off on a full-day game drive with extensive game drives in the Serengeti. Your safari guide will do everything possible to show you as many animals as possible.
 
The Serengeti National Park is considered by many to be the jewel in Tanzania’s safari crown and is home to one of the largest concentrations of game on the entire continent. The park is of course best known for the great wildebeest migration, where a thundering mass of two million ungulates meander through the golden savannah in search of the lush grazing grounds left behind by the rainy season. Although the chance to witness the great migration is what draws most visitors to the Serengeti, it should not be forgotten that the Serengeti is one of the most impressive wildlife viewing locations in Africa regardless of the spectacle.
The park is home to the Big Five all year round and has a particularly dense population of lions. Whole prides can often be seen resting on a hill or a single male in the branches of a tree. The grassland of the savannah is also an ideal territory for cheetahs, as it offers these fast predators ideal conditions for undisturbed hunting. Giraffes, impalas and eland use the grasslands to graze while trying to escape the leopards that pursue them.
 
Accommodation: Tented Camp
Meals: 1x breakfast, 1x packed lunch, 1x dinner
Today it’s time to say goodbye to the unique Serengeti, but the morning drive through the park towards Lake Manyara offers another good opportunity for wildlife observation. Most animals are very active in the morning and you can make very special observations at this time of day.
In the afternoon you will reach your accommodation in Mto wa Mbu at Lake Manyara National Park.
 
Accommodation: Tented Camp
Meals: 1x breakfast, 1x packed lunch, 1x dinner
In Mto wa Mbu, take a morning guided walk through the village. Explore this vibrant village with a local guide and gain insight into this multicultural community. This village is unique in Tanzania as over 120 different tribes live here. This cultural melting pot with its exotic mix of languages and customs offers you interesting insights. On the tour you will see, among other things, a number of farms, schools, churches and a flour mill.
 
Afterwards, you will go on another exciting game drive and discover Lake Manyara National Park with its lush groundwater forests, open grasslands and pristine lakeshores. Surrounded by the African Rift Valley, this relatively small national park offers a diversity of habitats that is second to none thanks to its varied landscape. Two thirds of the park is occupied by the alkaline lake, which is populated by tens of thousands of flamingos in the rainy season. There is a remarkable wealth of animals in a small area. The park is famous for its tree lions, which, with a bit of luck, can be seen resting casually on a fork of a branch. Countless elephants, giraffes, zebras, baboons, impalas, water buffalo and wildebeest are easier to observe.
Lake Manyara is also a bird paradise – over 400 species are represented here.
In the afternoon you will return to Arusha.
 
Accommodation: Lodge in Arusha
Meals: 1x breakfast, 1x packed lunch, 1x dinner
Transfer to the airport (depending on departure time). Individual return journey or follow-up program.
 
Meals: 1x breakfast
 
The night game drives take place outside the national parks in the neighboring regions or in private conservation reserves. The national parks are not fenced, so many animals stay outside the parks on the adjacent pastures. These game drives take place in the evening hours just after sunset. The guide uses a spotlight to try to track down nocturnal animals such as cirque cats, genet cats, porcupines, lions and leopards.
A sighting can never be guaranteed as the animals are rather shy and reserved, especially at night. However, the trip is still an experience for the senses, where you can listen to the sounds of the night under the breathtaking African starry sky.
If you can’t get enough of animals, you can then fly to the south of Tanzania and explore the lesser-known national parks there.
For those seeking relaxation, an extension to the Tanzanian islands in the Indian Ocean is an option: Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia.
 

WHAT'S INCLUDED

  • Safari according to the program
  • Experienced English speaking safari guide/driver, local guides and rangers on activities
  • Transport in a special 4×4 safari jeep landcruiser with an opening roof 
  • Entrance fees to Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Parks
  • Entrance and national park fee Ngorongoro Crater
  • Game drives in all national parks
  • Night game drive outside Tarangire Park
  • Walking safari with an experienced ranger within Tarangire National Park
  • Morning bushwalk on the edge of Tarangire Park
  • Night game drive in the Ikoma region
  • Guided bushwalk in the Ikoma region of the Serengeti
  • Village walk in Mto wa Mbu
  • All meals as in program, Lunch served on the way in the form of a picnic with lunch boxes. 
  • 1 bottle (1.5 liters) of mineral water per person/day 

NOT INCLUDED

  • Meals and drinks not mentioned
  • Optional excursions and activities
  • Personal expenses, tips

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