Tanzania: Serengeti Safari Adventure

Note: this schedule is subject to change slightly, based on the current migration patterns, availability of lodges, and group size. 

DAY 1

We change gears as we put away our trekking clothing and personas and take on the role of safari explorer.  Get your cameras ready! We depart Arusha early in the morning with picnic lunch boxes for the approximately 3-hour drive to the Tarangire National Park and our first game drive. Our vehicles are small, six-person or eight-person in size, and have a pop-top that allows us to stand up and get an open-air view of the wildlife.  Tarangire is a 50-kilometer long gem lying at the base of the Great Rift escarpment. The park is renowned for its large elephant population. We spend our afternoon observing them, as well as looking for baboon and the local tree-climbing lions before checking into our thatch-roofed tents at the beautiful Tarangire Safari Lodge. The safari tents provide the perfect opportunity to connect with nature.
Accommodation: Tarangire Safari Lodge, Tarangire National Park

DAY 2

Be sure to look both ways before leaving your tent for breakfast this morning — elephant herds are often wandering the grounds!  After breakfast (which offers breathtaking scenery and game-viewing right from the terrace), we enjoy another game drive in Tarangire. June to October is the dry season, and there are unimaginable herds of animals like zebra that are attracted to the Tarangire River.  The elephant numbers at this time are amazing and the Baobab trees make for a unique backdrop. Later in the day we’ll make the approximately two-hour drive to our lodge at Ngorongoro. Because it is located at the top of a crater at over 7,000 feet in altitude, it gets chilly at night –  you’ll appreciate the warm fire at dinner and hot water bottles you can fill up and take to bed with you!
Accommodation: Ngorongoro Rhino Lodge, Ngorongoro Conservation Area

DAY 3

We’ll get up early today and descend a steep road down into the short-grass plains and floor of the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater.  This extinct volcano has year-round water flow, thus is a haven for many types of animals. The 100 square miles of crater is alive with lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, hyena, hippo and more.  It is an incredible concentration of wildlife! We then make the long (three or more hours) shuttle on somewhat rough dirt roads to the Serengeti, home to the Great Migration (which ranges in a large loop through East Africa).  Trust us, the drive will be worth it! With luck, on our afternoon game drive we’ll see many of the 1.5 million animals that engage in the annual trek. That afternoon we arrive at our mobile tented camp for a two-night stay and we eat all meals here, with excellent local cooks preparing fantastic dishes you would not expect in the bush.
Accommodation: Serengeti Savannah Camp or similar, Serengeti National Park

DAY 4

The Serengeti is Tanzania’s oldest national park and remains the flagship of the country’s tourism industry.  The park is comprised of 5,700 square miles of grassland plains, savanna, riverine forest, and woodlands. Predator and prey interactions are the pinnacle of game viewing but there is much more to see in the park. We do two game drives today, in search of large predators and the gentle herbivores on which they feed. While the sun is at its peak and the animals seek cool shade, we will have time to lounge around our camp.
Accommodation: Serengeti Savannah Camp or similar, Serengeti National Park

DAY 5

This morning we’ll have a final game drive, likely seeing the ubiquitous Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles, warthogs, and perhaps a giraffe or two, with an eye open for crocodile, honey badger, mongoose, and some of the over 500 bird species in the park.  It is an absolute paradise for animal viewing. We will arrive at the main airstrip of the Serengeti — Seronera — for a morning flight that arrives in Arusha an hour later. You’ll be met upon arrival and transferred to our hotel in Arusha where a day room will be reserved for you to freshen up. Later you’ll be transferred to Kilimanjaro airport and catch your flight back home. Dinner is on your own tonight.