Day 1: Arusha
Arrival in Arusha where your driver-guide will meet you and transfer you to the hotel in Arusha, so you can rest from the flight to start your trip the next day without accumulated fatigue.
Day 2: Tarangire National Park
We headed to Tarangire National Park, in our opinion an essential and must visit park known as the garden of baobabs, those huge and old silent witnesses of the passage of time and history that offer us the African landscape par excellence. This impressive framing together with the ecosystem marked by the Tarangire River makes this great variety of genuinely African landscape and an atmosphere and flavor that other sites lack. The Tarangire hosts during the dry season the highest concentration of animals outside the Serengeti ecosystem. If anything stands out in Tarangire National Park it is the large herds of elephants, so seeing a large group of elephants cooling off in the river will be an everyday scene on your safaris. The gentle wooded plains lead to more abundant vegetation on the banks of the Tarangire, being very characteristic the combination of palm trees and baobabs to spot wildlife. In addition, being lowlands and therefore warmer, it is possible to see lions resting in the branches of the trees, something that is not frequent in most of Africa, as well as giraffes, buffaloes, leopards, cheetahs, impalas, zebras and other species not so common as the lesser kudu, the oryx or even the sable antelope.
Day 3: Lake Manyara National Park
After enjoying this majestic park, we continue through Maasai lands dotted with nomadic pastoral tribes. The Maasai have inhabited these lands since ancient times and continue to cling to their traditions in the 21st century. We direct our steps towards one of the most unique jewels of Tanzania, Lake Manyara National Park. A small park of only 330 square kilometers of which 200 occupies the lake when it has its flow at maximum levels. Lake Manyara extends over 50 kilometers and undergoes dramatic transformations throughout the year. Its physiognomy changes completely from the rainy season to the dry season. Its biodiversity speaks of large mammals (giraffes, leopards, lions, hippos) and more than 400 species of birds including a huge population of flamingos in the lake. During the dry season, from June to December, the lake level drops significantly and the large mammals have to come closer for water. Then it is more frequent to see the masters of the place: elephants, lions and leopards prowling the buffaloes and giraffes that come to drink at the lake. A good time to go hunting.
Note: The safari in Manyara can be done in the afternoon of day 3 or in the morning of day 4.
Day 4: Serengeti National Park
We said goodbye to Lake Manyara after a sunrise safari and continued on to the mythical Serengeti NP in Tanzania, a natural extension of the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. There are no borders of both countries in the reserves so they are ignored by animals in search of fresh pastures, crossing each year between July and October about a million and a half wildebeest, 250,000 zebras and half a million gazelles, followed in short by lions and hyenas pleased with such a concentration of meat. These are the famous Migrations that dispatch one of the most breathtaking spectacles of nature. Our tented staff will heat the water so that it is ready for you in your tent, with private bath and shower, on your return from safari and you can relax before a wonderful dinner by the light of the stars, all in the purest Memories of Africa style.
Day 5: Serengeti National Park
Second day at our Special Tented Camp in the middle of Seronera (Serengeti NP). The best safaris, or at least the best chance of witnessing hunting scenes, take place at dawn, when the savannah wakes up and the nocturnal animals are still active, and at dusk. We will dedicate these moments to meet the "big five": lions, buffaloes, elephants, rhinoceroses and leopards. In addition to these undisputed protagonists, large herds of herbivores are present throughout the year, always alert to the entry into action of a cheetah or a pride of lionesses. We will sleep in the middle of one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries on the planet, we will sleep in the "endless plain". Its landscapes correspond to the mythical image of Africa: wide open spaces, deep blue skies dotted with clouds, cool sunrises and fiery sunsets, and at night, a unique display of stars. Optionally we can take a balloon safari over the Serengeti.
Day 6: Ngorongoro Conservation Area
We will dedicate the last morning in Serengeti to track the wildlife that we will surely have listened closely the night before, walking carefully through another singularity, the kopjes, islands of rocks in a sea of grass where lions or leopards love to rest. Shortly before leaving the endless plain behind, we will start to meet again Maasai shepherds with their herds and colorful "shuka" or Maasai blankets, grazing near the Olduvai Gorge, one of the cradles of Humanity, where many fossils and artifacts of the first hominids have been found: we are already in the NGORONGORO CONSERVATION AREA. We will visit a Maasai Boma or Maasai village to experience first hand their ancestral traditions and way of life in the Ngorongoro area, our next destination for tonight. Our camp will provide you with spectacular views of the Ngorongoro Crater (we are the only Tented Camp that enjoys these views) and an authentic Maasai experience. Being able to enjoy a chat and a glass of wine around the fire with our Maasai who guard the camp will surely become a memory forever.
Day 7:
With the first rays of the sun we descend in 4x4 vehicles into the interior of the Ngorongoro Caldera for our game drive. No reserve offers a spectacle as grandiose as the Ngorongoro Crater. A volcanic caldera 600 meters deep and more than 20 kilometers in diameter, it contains the largest "permanent" concentration of wildlife in Africa. The Ngorongoro crater, a giant volcano that in its time was perhaps higher than Kilimanjaro itself, is home to thousands of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, gazelles, lions, rhinoceros... which, unlike the Serengeti, practically do not migrate, due to the continuous presence of water in the area, which ensures their permanent sustenance. The crater gives its name to the conservation area in which it is located: a spectacular landscape, inhabited by more than 40,000 Maasai pastoralists, dominated by the Rift Valley and the nine volcanoes of Ngorongoro that arose more than 4 million years ago. The only one that is currently active is Ol Doinyo Lengai, the mountain of god for the Maasai.
The crater gives its name to the conservation area in which it is located: a spectacular landscape, inhabited by more than 40,000 Maasai pastoralists, dominated by the Rift Valley and the nine Ngorongoro volcanoes that arose more than 4 million years ago. The only one that is currently active is Ol Doinyo Lengai, the mountain of god for the Maasai.
After our unique and exclusive experience inside the caldera of the so-called "volcano of Eden", we will head to Arusha. Arrival and transfer to the airport (flight must be after 7:00 p.m.).
Note: If this is not possible, an extra night will have to be added at the end of the program. For flights after 1:00 p.m., clients must contract the day use of the hotel room.
