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Experience a classic Tanzania safari, exploring the premier game parks of Africa.
This nine-day safari takes you to the iconic national parks you have been dreaming of, with impressive year-round game viewing and migratory activity. Get ready to enjoy extensive game drives spotting an amazing array of wildlife in their natural habitat against the backdrop of breathtaking landscapes.
The Tarangire National Park boasts a great diversity of wildlife and is known for vast herds of elephants, and large numbers of ancient baobab trees.
With a spectacular setting, Lake Manyara National Park is famous for its unusual tree-climbing lions, large elephant herds and more than 400 species of birds.
Ngorongoro Conservation area and the vast, volcanic Ngorongoro Crater boasts the densest wildlife populations on earth and is home to the big five.
Entering the Serengeti National Park, a World Heritage Site, and home to the great migration, you will find the area teeming with wildlife; it is truly an incredibly special place.
Ndutu is famed for its short grass plains; the grasses are particularly rich in nutrients and provide migratory animals with the nourishment they need whilst calving. The Ndutu region is part of Ngorongoro Conservation area and stretches to the southern Serengeti.
You’ll arrive in Tanzania today, landing at Kilimanjaro International Airport.
After clearing immigration and collecting your luggage, a Fortes Safaris representative will meet you at the arrival hall and transfer you to your hotel.
You’ll depart after breakfast with picnic boxes for a 120 km (2-3 hr) scenic drive through Maasai grassland to Tanzania’s fourth largest national park.
Upon arrival, head out on a game drive in the park, home to magnificent giant elephants and equally grand baobab trees set among typical African scrubland.
During the dry season, many animals gather in the park because it is one of the few year-round water sources in the area.
Set out in the morning with picnic lunch boxes for a day in the unique groundwater forest of Lake Manyara National Park.
Lake Manyara National Park is famous for tree-climbing lions, where you can spot acacia, sausage trees, and colonies of flamingos on the alkaline lakeshore.
As you approach the lake, small savannahs are populated by giraffes, warthogs, wildebeest, zebra, and buffalo. The shore of the lake, set in a flat expanse of land, is home to many hippos who rest all day immersed in water among marsh and reed beds. The lake also hosts hundreds of colorful migratory birds, such as pelicans, flamingos, herons, ibis, and ducks.
Drive up the Rift Valley escarpment to your lodge for the evening.
After breakfast, depart for Ngorongoro through the rural highland, stopping at the top of the rim, offering a first glimpse of the famous Ngorongoro Crater, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Wildlife has mainly remained isolated in this massive volcanic caldera due to the steep walls in which wildlife moves in and out. The encircling forested slopes of the crater and its lakes and swampy grassland are reputed to host 30,000 animals and varied birdlife, one of Africa’s highest concentrations of game.
Descend into the crater to spend the day roaming the many game-viewing trails on the floor.
In addition to the high possibility, the Big Five sightings will be ready for the many other animals the crater is home to, including elephant, hippo, wildebeest, warthog, zebra, cheetah, hyena, jackal, gazelle, eland, waterbuck, and more.
The Maasai people live around the Ngorongoro highlands, and you may have an opportunity to visit a Maasai boma and interact with the Maasai. You will learn more about their way of life and culture and perhaps enjoy a traditional dance performance.
After breakfast, depart for Serengeti National Park.
You can stop for a picnic lunch at the famed Olduvai Gorge, an important archaeological site for human evolution.
Continue to the Serengeti via Nabi Gate. The drive from the crater to your lodge is the beginning of your exploration of the Serengeti.
After an early breakfast, begin a full day of game viewing on the vast plains of the Serengeti, stopping for a picnic lunch, possibly by a hippo pool or one of the many animal watering holes.
Regarding sheer volume and variety of game, the Serengeti is tough to beat. Host to the wildebeest migration, Serengeti’s varied landscapes offer much more. An early start makes for the best chance of seeing big predators such as leopards, lions, and perhaps even cheetahs trailing the herds of plains wildlife (wildebeest, zebra, antelope, etc).
Serengeti National Park is a World Heritage Site teeming with wildlife across its endless plains. You will experience the unspoiled natural splendor of the best of Tanzania and exhilarating game sightings.
Depending on the season you will be traveling, we will aim to get as close to the Great Migration as possible.
The short rains begin around early November. A little after this, in late November and December, the herds of the wildebeest migration arrive on the short-grass plains of the Serengeti. These are south and east of Seronera, around Ndutu, and include the north of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
Dispersed across these plains, wildebeest and zebra fill the landscape, feeding on the fresh, nutritious grasses. They stay here through January, February, and March, with most wildebeest calves born in a short window around February. Gradually, they spread west across these plains and started their great migration north around April.
Staying close to where the wildlife will be when you travel, you’ll continue exploring Serengeti National Park.
Relax in the changing landscapes, from vast plains, woodlands, and kopjes to rivers and watering holes.
Enjoy a full day of game drive wandering through this African treasure at your heart’s content before returning to the lodge by dusk.
Return to the lodge for breakfast after an early morning game drive in the Ndutu area. Check out and continue game driving through Ngorongoro en route to Arusha and continue with your onward travel plans.
Depending on your flight schedule, there may be time for lunch and shopping in Arusha. Fortes can make arrangements for an optional lunch or a day room to relax at a hotel if required.
