Embark on a captivating 8-day safari through Tanzania’s Northern Circuit, featuring visits to Lake Manyara, Lake Eyasi, Ngorongoro Crater, and the iconic Serengeti National Park. This adventure offers game drives across the Serengeti, renowned for its wildlife diversity, including the Big Five and the incredible Great Migration. You’ll also visit a Maasai market and a local village, enriching your journey with cultural insights. Experience unforgettable landscapes, from acacia-dotted plains to rivers teeming with life.
Day 1: Arusha – Lake Manyara National Park
Non-game-viewing travel time: 2½ hours
Distance: 130 km
You will meet our professional driver and tour guide at your hotel, who will provide a brief overview of the safari. After breakfast, we will drive to Lake Manyara National Park for an exciting game drive. This stunning national park is one of Tanzania’s most dramatically situated wildlife areas, featuring a vast but shallow soda lake that covers two-thirds of the park, located at the foot of the Great Rift Valley’s western escarpment.
The park’s diverse habitats attract a wide variety of wildlife, including one of Africa’s largest concentrations of elephants. Lake Manyara is particularly famous for its tree-climbing lions and large flocks of flamingos drawn to the algae in the lake. In the late afternoon, we will drive to your lodge, tented camp, basic campsite, or luxury accommodation for dinner and an overnight stay.
Day 2: Lake Eyasi – Bushmen/Hadzabe:
Distance from Lake Manyara to Lake Eyasi –
Approximately60 kilometers
1.5 to 2 hours, depending on road conditions and traffic.
After breakfast, we will drive to the shores of Lake Eyasi, arriving in time for lunch at the lodge or campsite. Lake Eyasi is a scenic soda lake located on the southern border of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This lesser-visited lake lies at the base of the Eyasi escarpment on the western Rift Valley wall. In the afternoon, you will meet the extraordinary Hadzabe people, an indigenous tribe known as hunter-gatherer Bushmen. This tribe inhabits the shores of Lake Eyasi alongside the Nilotic-speaking Datoga tribe. You will visit their homesteads, learning about their way of life, animal tracking, medicinal plants, and much more. During walks around the lake, you may also spot some wildlife and a wide range of bird species. Return for dinner and overnight at a tented camp, lodge, or basic campsite.
Day 3: Lake Eyasi – Ngorongoro:
Approximately 70 kilometers
2 to 2.5 hours, depending on road conditions and traffic.
Early in the morning, we depart for a local hunting experience with the Hadzabe and Datoga tribes. This is not merely a performance; the Bushmen rely on these techniques for survival. You will need to be attentive and quiet as they demonstrate their use of locally made poisons to incapacitate the animals on which they depend.
Afterward, we return to the lodge or camp for a late breakfast (brunch). We then drive to Karatu, near the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. In the late afternoon, we will visit a Maasai village, where you’ll meet village elders, gain insight into the Maasai way of life, tour the bomas, learn about their prized cattle, and visit the local school. Return to the lodge, luxury tented camp, or basic campsite for the night.
Day 4: Ngorongoro Crater Tour:
After breakfast, we depart for Ngorongoro Crater, descending over 600 meters into the crater for a full day of wildlife viewing. Ngorongoro Crater supports a vast array of animals, including herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo, and giant African elephants. One of the major attractions of this picturesque crater is its dense population of predators, which includes lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs, and the elusive leopard. We will visit Lake Magadi, a large but shallow alkaline lake in the southwestern corner of the crater, which is one of its main features. A variety of flamingos, hippos, and other water birds can usually be seen here. In the late evening, we will drive to our lodge or campsite for dinner and overnight accommodations. Both the campsite and the lodge offer stunning views of Ngorongoro and the surrounding highlands.
Day 5: Serengeti National Park:
After breakfast, we depart and drive to the Serengeti via the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, arriving on the magnificent Serengeti plains for a spectacular wildlife viewing experience. Along the way, you will have the option to pass by Olduvai Gorge, one of the world’s greatest prehistoric archaeological sites.
Continuing through the scrublands, we will reach the Naabi Hill Gate, the official entrance to the Serengeti, which leads into the park’s signature wide-open plains. This stretch embodies the meaning of the word “Serengeti,” which derives from the Maasai word “Siringet,” artistically translated as “the land that flows on forever.”
Serengeti National Park covers 6,000 square miles of pristine land, offering not only expansive vistas but also the largest migration of mammals on earth, including 1.5 million wildebeest. Dinner and overnight accommodations will be at a lodge, luxury tented camp, or basic campsite in the central Serengeti.
Day 6: Serengeti National Park:
After breakfast, you will enjoy a full day of game viewing in Serengeti National Park. As Tanzania’s second-largest national park, the Serengeti covers nearly 6,000 square miles of grassland plains, savannah, kopjes, hills, woodlands, and riverine forests. The Grumeti, Mbalageti, and Mara river systems serve as critical water sources and are often excellent spots for wildlife viewing.
Beyond the famous migration of wildebeest and zebra, the Serengeti is renowned for its big predators, including cheetahs and leopards, as well as large pride of lions and clans of hyenas. Other commonly seen animals include gazelles, buffalo, giraffes, topis, hartebeests, ostriches, and jackals. However, it is the full diversity of wildlife and habitats that will truly amaze you. The greater Serengeti ecosystem encompasses the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Masai Mara in Kenya, and numerous surrounding wildlife-protected lands, totaling almost 17,000 square miles—larger than the combined areas of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Dinner and overnight accommodations will be at a lodge, luxury tented camp, or basic campsite in the central Serengeti.
Day 7: Serengeti National Park – Lake Manyara:
Our day begins with a morning game drive in the central Serengeti. This is an active time for wildlife, as it’s not too hot yet, providing plenty of opportunities for animal sightings until around 11:30 AM. We will then return to the camp or lodge for brunch. On our way back, we have the option to stop at Olduvai Gorge, a fascinating archaeological site that offers insights into history and the Maasai tribes, should you be interested. Dinner and overnight accommodations will be at a lodge, luxury tented camp, or basic campsite at Lake Manyara.
Day 8: Mto Wa Mbu Market & Village Visit:
After breakfast, we will visit the local market at Mto Wa Mbu and explore the surrounding villages near Lake Manyara. This is an opportunity to experience life in a local village setting, meet residents, and learn about their culture, agriculture, and the history of the area. We will return to the lodge or camp for lunch before transferring back to Arusha, where we will conclude our African safari adventure.
Price Includes:
– All park entry fees
– Concession fees
– Flying Doctor Service for emergency evacuation
– All park camping fees
– Airport pickup
– Ngorongoro Crater service fees
– Accommodation at hotels, lodges, tented camps, or campsites as per the safari program
– Chef services
– Meals as per the itinerary
– English-speaking driver/guide
– Transport in a 4×4 Toyota Land Cruiser with a pop-up roof
– Bottled drinking water (1.5 liters per person per day during the safari)
– One-night complimentary hotel accommodation in Arusha upon arrival, including breakfast
– Camping equipment, including tents, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, pillows, chairs and tables
Price Does Not Include:
– International and domestic flights
– Fees for passports, visas, immunizations, and insurance
– Tips for staff, including driver-guides, chefs, and porters
– Personal expenses such as souvenirs
“Please note that these are sample itineraries. We will tailor your safari according to your preferences.”
“Book your trip today and experience an unforgettable safari adventure”
