8 Days Northern Luxury Tanzania Safari

Welcome to Tanzania! Upon your arrival into Kilimanjaro Airport and after clearing customs andimmigration, you will be met by your Great view Adventure representative who willtransfer you to the PALACE HOTEL in Arusha

After breakfast, we will drive to Lake Manyara National Park for a game drive and have a picniclunch. While Manyara is one of the smallest parks, it is one of the most interesting. Much of thenorthern part of the park is fed by underground water from theNgorongoro Highlands and as aresult is covered in dense forest vegetation, giving the appearance of a tropical jungle. This forest isideal habitat for elephant, bushbuck, blue monkey, and huge troops of olive baboon. Some parts aredry bush land attracting zebra, impala and giraffe, while the lakeshore provides another habitat,perfect for flamingos and other shore birds. Our game drive will take us slowly south through thepark and later in the afternoon proceed to Tloma Mountain Lodge. We will have dinner and stay thenight at the lodge.Overnight at KITELA LODGE.

Today we will leave very early in the morning (after a very early breakfast) and drive to the floor ofthe Ngorongoro Crater. There we will havea full day game drive, as we will be carrying our picniclunch with us. The Crater is wonderful place–you descend more than 2,000 feet on steep tracks cutinto the crater wall to reach the open plains of the Crater floor. The Ngorongoro Crater isundoubtedly the best place in Tanzania to view black rhino as well as large prides of lion that includemagnificent black-manned males. It is also home to huge herds of wildebeest and zebra and manyother plains game. An alkaline lake in the floor of the Craterprovides a habitat for colorful flamingoand a variety of other water birds. Massive bull elephants feed in the swamps, some adorned withenormous tusks. We will have our picnic lunch at the hippo pool and later in the afternoon drive backto the Lodge fordinner and overnightOvernight at Ngorongoro SERENA LODGE

After breakfast at the lodge, you will drive to the Serengeti. The main route to the Serengeti (a lovely dirt road) passes alongsidethe Crater rim for our first view down to the Crater floor. From a good viewpoint overlooking thisecosystem 2000 feet below, a small speck is perhaps an elephant and the pink hue on the alkalinelake most certainly flamingos. We then cross over from the highlands down to the short grass plains.From there, we drive slowly over the Serengeti plains to Olduvai Gorge on the eastern boundary ofthe Serengeti Ecological Unit. Here the Leakey’s found the hominid remainsAustralopithecus, Homohabilis and Homo erectus, plus many other fossils exhibited in the excellent, small museum atOlduvai. Then we are off across the Serengeti plains to Central Serengeti. There will be manychances to spot the resident mammals and birds of the area. We may find spotted hyenas, goldenand silver-backed jackals, kori bustards, and gazelles.At the end of the journey across the plains, we arrive at the Serengeti Savannah Camp–your homefor the next 4 days. The camp is located in an areaof the bush where you can experience living inthe wild of Africa. This is not camping in tents and sleeping bags and eating canned food. This is aluxurious tented camp. The spacious verandah in front of your room is furnished with comfortablesafari chairs and tables–the perfect retreat for a relaxing moment watching a weaver bird buildingits nest in a nearby Acacia tree, a herd of impala grazing quietly only meters away, or simply relaxingand listening to the sounds of the African bush. Your bathroom is complete with a dressing table andis fully plumbed with washbasin, lavatory and showers–a new and often surprising interpretation of‘camping’. Hot water is available throughout the day and evening. Your butler will see that yourlaundry is done, your morning tea is waiting, and the water for your shower is ready.Each day we will head for the plains at dawn taking hot, coffee, tea and muffins to have forbreakfast later in the morning on the Serengeti plains. We’ll search for bat-eared fox and cheetah outhunting and possibly honey badger still foraging. As the mornings are very cool at this season thenocturnal mammals are sometimes still active. We may even spot African wild cat, though it isextremely shy. The Serengeti is an excellent area for cheetah, which feed mainly on gazelles andhares. Grant’s gazelles stay year around while Thomson’s gazelle is the last in the migration. Duringthis time of the year we will see a lot of wildebeest and zebra as they all congregate where the grassis very nutritional.SERENGETI SERENA SAFARI LODGE

Leave after breakfast head to the Southern end of Serengeti around Ndutu area arrive in time forlunch and afternoon will be spent exploring the grassy plains and woodlands in the area, tracking theresident animals such as lion, cheetah and hyena on the hunt. The area also teems with otherwildlife, including elephants, eland, various gazelle species, Kirk’s dik-dik, giraffe and, if we’re lucky,the elusive leopard as well.Dinner and overnight atNDUTU LODGE.