Day 1 Arrival in Arusha

You will be picked up from the airport by a Done Adventures representative and conveyed to your accommodation in Arusha where you will overnight, relax, and prepare in anticipation of the adventures to come.

Accommodation

Luxury: Grand Melia Lodge / Mount Meru Hotel / Arusha Coffee Lodge

Mid-range: Ilboru Safari Lodge / Arusha Planet Lodge/ Airport Planet Lodge

Budget: Outpost Lodge / Tulia Boutique Hotel  / Green Mountain Hotel

Day: 2 Tarangire National Park

After our breakfast we depart for Tarangire National Park for our full day game drive in on her diverse landscapes. Tarangire, with her nine vegetation zones, is peppered with ancient baobab trees, the largest trees in Africa, dotting the landscape, dwarfing the animals that feed beneath them. The Tarangire River, meandering through the park, attracts an abundance of wildlife, from elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, antelope, to a myriad variety of colourful birds. The park is most famed for having the greatest elephant population in Tanzania and, during a safari here, we will have the opportunity to quietly observe many families of elephant interacting. With a stop for a picnic lunch in an observatory inside the park where we may view animals imbibing the refreshing waters of the river, with oft times lions attacking a thirsty zebra or wildebeest. We rove on on our safari til evening begins to fall when we shall return to our lodge for dinner and well deserved rest.

Accommodation

Luxury: Kitela Lodge / Lake Manyara Kilima Moja / The Retreat at Ngorongoro

Mid-range: Eileen’s Tree Inn / Endoro Lodge / Karatu Simba Lodge

Budget Camping: Lilac Campsite/ Panorama Campsite

Day: 3 Serengeti National Park

On this, our second day, we set out for the world renowned Serengeti, home of the Great Migration and one of the seven wonders of Africa. Our drive today is spectacular as we drive up onto the highlands, and the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater. Spread out before us as far as the eye can see is the vast Serengeti, a 6,900 sq. mile park inhabited by more than three million large animals including more than 1.5 million wildebeest, 250,000 zebra, and a 500,000 Thomson’s gazelle. Large predators including lion, cheetah, and hyena, are drawn to the area by this abundance of prey. Many smaller animals like rock hyrax, bat eared fox, mongoose, honey badger, monkey, baboon, and African hare, also here inhabit along with nearly 500 species of birds

After lunch we continue with the game drive en-route to the Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp where we dine in comfort, take a drink by the outdoor fire with hyena slinking past, and recall our day beneath the endless African sky before finally turning in.

Accommodation

Luxury: Kubu Kubu Tented Camp / Melia Serengeti Lodge / Four Season Serengeti

Mid-range: Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp / Embalakai Camp / Acacia Central Camp

Budget Camping: Nyani Campsite

Day 4: Serengeti National Park Central

This whole day we will spend on a game drive in the Serengeti National Park. During the short rainy season in November and December the herds move from the hills in the north to the plains in the south while during the longer rainy season from April to June they return back up north. This circle of life is determined by the rainfalls and locations of the herds might vary from year to year but our guide will know where to find the animals and where best to view them. A visit to the Serengeti Visitor Centre is also possible. Here we can learn more about the history of the park and the research that is being done by the Frankfurt Zoological Society.

Accommodation

Luxury: Kubu Kubu Tented Camp / Melia Serengeti Lodge / Four Season Serengeti

Mid-range: Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp / Embalakai Camp / Acacia Central Camp

Budget Camping: Nyani Campsite

DAY 5: Serengeti National Park > Following the Migration

On these days our fifth and sixth, we will rumble our way across the Serengeti’s vast plains in search of the migration. The location of the migration depends on the time of the year and could be as far as the remote North of the Serengeti near the border with Kenya, or alternatively, in the South, the Ndutu Region.

Accommodation

From May to June

Central Serengeti Luxury: Kubu Kubu Tented Camp / Melia Serengeti Lodge / Four Season Serengeti

Central Serengeti Mid-range: Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp / Embalakai Camp / Acacia Central Camp

Budget Camping: Nyani Campsite

From August to October

North Serengeti Luxury: Mara Mara Tented Lodge / Mara Under Canvas

North Serengeti Mid-range: Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp(Mara) / Acacia-migration-camp

From January to April

South Serengeti (Ndutu) Luxury: Lake Masek Tented Lodge / Lake Ndutu Luxury Tented Lodge

South Serengeti (Ndutu) Midrange: Serengeti Heritage Ndutu / Ang’ata Ndutu Camp

From June to July

WesternSerengeti (Ndutu) Luxury: LAhia Tented Lodge/ Kirawira Serena Camp

Western Serengeti (Western Corridor) Midrange: Mbalageti/ Tukaone Tented Camp

serengeti-migration

After our hearty breakfast a full day exploring The Serengeti National Park lies ahead of us with both morning and afternoon game drives. We will traverse the Serengeti’s vast plains in search of the migration. We will spend a full day taking in with all our senses this incredible Earthly paradise, exploring the park, its animals, and incredible landscapes.

Day 6: Serengeti National Park

After our hearty breakfast a full day exploring The Serengeti National Park lies ahead of us with both morning and afternoon game drives. We will traverse the Serengeti’s vast plains in search of the migration. We will spend a full day taking in with all our senses this incredible Earthly paradise, exploring the park, its animals, and incredible landscapes.

Accommodation

Luxury: Kubu Kubu Tented Camp / Melia Serengeti Lodge / Four Season Serengeti

Mid-range: Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp / Embalakai Camp / Acacia Central Camp

Budget Camping: Nyani Campsite

Day 7: Serengeti to Ngorongoro

After breakfast we enjoy yet another game drive in the Serengeti National Park and we may well spot animals not yet encountered over the last two days. The Serengeti is also home to the “Big Five” – lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino, and leopard and, today, we might have the opportunity to tick off all the members of this group. After our lunch at a picnic site we drive in the direction of the Ngorongoro Crater and, as soon as we have reached the rim of the crater, the caldera opens up before us. This approximate 20 km wide crater is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to over 25,000 animals, is the best place of all to see these creatures in their true state, natural and wild. We will drive to Lodge from whence we may witness the sun setting over the stunning calderal vista.

Accommodation

Luxury: Ngorongoro Serena Lodge / Sanctuary Ngorongoro Crater Camp

Mid-range: Rhino Lodge / Angata Ngorongoro Camp

Budget Camping: Nyani Campsite

DAY 8: ngorongoro crater

Very early on this, our last morning, we descend down onto the crater floor for a day of wildlife viewing in one of the most incredible places on Earth. One of the seven wonders of Africa, the Caldera was formed about three million years ago with the massive explosion of a volcano that rivalled Kilimanjaro in height. The Caldera, 610 m deep and covering roughly 260 square kilometres, is an enclosed ecosystem. Ngorongoro, coming from the Maasai for the bell their cows wear, onomatopoeic in its mirroring of the sound that fills the valley as their herds graze, is one of the premier places in Africa to view the big five in their element, in the wild, as well as wildebeest, gazelle, reedbuck, a plethora of others, along with about 500 bird species

After a stop for our delectable picnic lunch near the hippo lake and more wildlife viewing in the afternoon, we ascend, surely sated, up the steep road out of the crater for our return to Arusha and the inevitable end of our adventure.

Ngorongoro-highlands

Accommodation

Luxury: Kitela Lodge / Lake Manyara Kilima Moja / The Retreat at Ngorongoro

Mid-range: Eileen’s Tree Inn / Endoro Lodge / Karatu Simba Lodge

Budget Camping: Lilac Campsite/ Panorama Campsite

Day: 9 Lake Manyara National Park

After breakfast we drive to our final destination on this epic safari – Lake Manyara National Park. This relatively small but diverse park, 120km west of Arusha, is so named for the shallow salt lake which covers a good seventy percent of the parks surface area. Flooding and drying with the seasons the soda lake is home to thousands of flamingo as well as over 500 other bird species. On our exploration of the park we will see monkey, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, elephant and, with some luck, lions lounging in the trees. The park is known for its diverse landscapes; not only open grassy plains, but also primate-filled woodlands and baobab dotted cliffs. After another memorable game drive we, with our adventure at an end, return to Arusha in the late afternoon, replete with images of the African wilds to last a lifetime.