9 Days Tanzania Tarangire Ngorongoro Serengeti Safari

You leave River trees after breakfast with a picnic lunch packed safely away. The Rift Valley landscape drifts past as your guide heads for Tarangire National Park, the least visited reserve on the itinerary but one capable of delivering fantastic game viewing. Home to Tanzania’s biggest elephant population, Tarangire supports large numbers of buffalo, giraffe, zebra and many antelope species, most evident during the dry season when concentrations of animals at the life-giving Tarangire River are at their peak. Your accommodation – Kuro Tarangire – lies at the heart of it all. A small and intimate camp of just six tents, solar-powered Kuro Tarangire offers game drives by day and night as well as the chance to lace up your boots and explore on foot with your guide.

Leaving Tarangire, you gain altitude as you are driven north and into the Ngorongoro Highlands. A packed lunch sustains you on the way, and before long you check into Entamanu Ngorongoro, an eco-friendly tented camp that sits on the edge of the greatest of Rift Valley features: The Ngorongoro Crater. Enjoying a secluded north-western setting away from the rim’s larger lodges, Entamanu Ngorongoro maintains this safari’s intimate and exclusive theme: there are only six suites at camp, each with marvelously uninterrupted views from its private outdoor deck. The next day you sit back on a full day drive in the crater itself, on the lookout for Ngorongoro’s famous Big 5 as well as other animals ranging from hippos to hyenas. Back at camp you gather around a blazing log fire to ward off the highland chill and exchange safari stories as a delicious supper is prepared, served most usually under starlight.

The day begins with an early morning transfer to Lake Manyara airstrip and a flight to the Serengeti National Park and your accommodation: Lamai Serengeti. Enjoying an elevated setting on the Kogakuria Kopjes in the far north of the Serengeti, this luxurious retreat looks over the Mara River Valley and Lamai Wedge, both famously game-rich throughout the year. There is time to settle in and relax – the camp has a pool and sundeck – before you begin exploring the savannah. And with two full days here, you have plenty of time to take it all in. The area is home to abundant resident wildlife and its many predators – lion, cheetah, leopard, wild dog and crocodile – as well as excellent bird life. During migration season, the camp could not be in a better position. Lying directly on the migration path, the camp offers its guests sensational sightings of river crossings and predator/prey interactions, viewed from the safety of your specially-adapted 4X4 safari vehicle.

After breakfast at Lamai Serengeti you are transferred to the local airstrip for the flight back to Arusha’s Kilimanjaro International Airport where this safari ends and your onward connections commence.