Day 01: Arusha, Tanzania
Arrive Kilimanjaro International Airport, you are met and transferred to your hotel for dinner and overnight. Arusha Hotel (D)Day 02: Arusha - Lake Manyara National Park
Morning (2-hour) transfer to Lake Manyara National Park. Arrive at your lodge in time for lunch. Standing high on the edge of a towering ochre and terracotta-streaked cliff with panoramic views over the glittering alkaline waters of Lake Manyara and the volcano-studded floor of the Great Rift Valley, Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge offers a unique blend of tranquility, wildlife discovery, ornithological richness and high adventure sports action. Guests can also expect to glimpse not only the famous tree-climbing lions for which the Lake is justly famous, but also abundant flocks of coral and carmine flamingo and 'Water Wonderland' wildlife cast which includes all the members of the celebrated 'Big Five' (elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and rhino.) Enjoy an afternoon game drive in the park before returning to your lodge early evening. Serena Lodge (B,L,D)Day 03: Lake Manyara National Park
Enjoy morning and afternoon game drives in the park.
Although Lake Manyara National Park covers an area of only 318sq km, its terrain is so diverse that its mammal and bird lists are some of the most impressive in Tanzania. The Park includes not only a substantial portion of the lake and its shores but also large areas of ground-water forest with giant fig and mahogany trees alternating with acacia woodland and open swamplands. The park is bordered to the west by the dramatic western escarpment of the Rift Valley and to the east by the lake which spreads out in a shimmering heat haze backed by a narrow band of forest and the sheer red and brown cliffs of the escarpment. The name is derived from the Maasai word for the Euphorbia tirucalli bush which the tribesmen plant as a living stockade to keep their cattle from straying. As to wildlife, the park offers abundant sightings of; monkey, jackal, mongoose, hyena, hyrax, zebra, hippo, warthog, buffalo, Maasai giraffe, duiker, waterbuck and impala. Significant numbers of elephant are also resident in the Park whilst sightings of black rhino and leopard are not uncommon. Manyara is also especially noted for its wealth of bird life, being visited by many thousands of sugar-pink Lesser Flamingos, significant numbers of Greater Flamingos and a host of other woodland, plains and water birds. Lake Manyara Serena Active Program offers an exciting range of high-adventure sporting options (fees may apply): Canoeing safaris on the tranquil and beautiful waters of the lake, boating trips around the Lake and its ecosystem, visits to the villages of the Mbu Cultural Tourism Program offering village walks, bicycle tours and boating trips, mountain biking around the park and adjacent landscapes, morning nature and bird walks with our resident naturalist, spectacular ‘vanishing horizon’ swimming pool with panoramic Rift Valley vistas, wildlife talks, audio-visual presentations and lectures on the heritage and traditions of local tribes, visits to the lodge’s botanical garden and seedlings nursery. Serena Lodge (B,L,D)Day 04: Lake Manyara - Ngorongoro Crater
Morning transfer (2.5 hours) to the Ngorongoro Crater. As recently as 2.5 million years ago the young Ngorongoro Volcano became filled with molten rock that subsequently solidified into a crust or roof. As the lava chamber emptied, the solid dome collapsed and thus was formed the largest perfect caldera in the world (almost 20 km wide). Often referred to as ‘the eighth wonder of the world’ the Ngorongoro Crater is one of Africa’s best-known wildlife arenas. A World Heritage Site, it is also one of the largest volcanic craters in the world (almost 20 km wide, 610-760m deep and covering a total area of 264 sq km). Explanations as to how it derived its name vary; some say it commemorates an especially valiant group of Datoga warriors who defeated their Maasai enemies in a pitched battle on the crater floor some 150 years ago whilst others believe it relates to a long-forgotten Maasai age-set. Most evocative is the suggestion that it refers to an old Maasai warrior, named Ngorongoro, who lived in the crater and made cowbells for his beloved herds of wandering cattle. An utterly unique biosphere, the Crater harbors grasslands, swamps, forests, saltpans, a fresh water lake and a glorious variety of birdlife, all enclosed within its towering walls. Arrive at your lodge in time for lunch. Perched on the jagged rim of the crater, wreathed in morning mist, camouflaged in river-stone and cloaked in indigenous creepers, the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge is a triumph of ecological and architectural fusion. Sensitively constructed so as to take nothing from its environment whilst affording endless vistas over the heat-shimmering reaches of the crater below, the clustered boulder-built buildings of the Lodge hug the crater rim, linked by rope-lashed timber walkways that skirt the buttressed roots of ancient, liana-hung trees. Afternoon crater tour and return to the lodge early evening. Serena Lodge (B,L,D)
Day 05: Ngorongoro Crater
This morning you will descend into the Crater for another tour and picnic lunch. Due to its high concentration of wildlife, close-range viewing opportunities and striking scenery it is also Tanzania’s most visited destination. Quite apart from the ‘big five’ (lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo), all of whom can often be spotted in a morning, the Crater also hosts up to 25,000 large mammals. Most are grazers, of which zebra and wildebeest comprise almost half, the rest being gazelle, buffalo, eland, hartebeest and warthog. As a result of these extraordinarily large numbers of herbivores, the crater also numbers one of the densest predator populations in Africa, most of which are lion and spotted hyena. Finally, the crater supports a large elephant population, most of which are bulls due to the relative paucity of food for the breeding herds, whilst certain animals such as giraffe, topi and impala, are notable by their absence. Return to the lodge and enjoy the balance of your day at leisure. Optional activities (fees may apply) from the lodge include: morning wildlife walks around the lodge with our resident naturalist, selection of adventure hikes around the Ngorongoro Crater and the volcanoes of the nearby Crater Highlands, visits to authentic Maasai villages & traditional cattle markets and women’s handicraft groups, nightly wildlife and cultural talks, videos and film shows. Serena Lodge (B,L,D)Day 06: Ngorongoro Crater - Serengeti National Park
Morning (4-hour) transfer to the Serengeti National Park with visit to Olduvai Gorge en route. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) was established in 1959, most of it having previously belonged to the now contiguous Serengeti National Park. Many natural attractions that are contained within its vast boundaries (8,300 sq km), these include both dormant and active volcanoes, soaring mountains, archaeological treasures, rolling plains, rivers, forests, lakes and shifting sand dunes whilst almost half of the NCA is made up of vast tracts of open grassland, which swing in a vast arc stretching from the Serengeti in the northwest through the Gol Mountains to the Salei Plain in the northeast. Close to the centre of the NCA is Olduvai Gorge, the ‘Cradle of Mankind’, where the remains of our earliest ancestors, the hominids, were found. From Olduvai, continue to your lodge arriving in time for lunch and afternoon game drive. The Serengeti Ecosystem and the Wildebeests (white-bearded gnus) and Burchell's Zebras. The wildebeest calve on the Serengeti Plains from January to March. They generally depart the Serengeti in May, where they head east and north for Lake Victoria and the Maasai Mara, crossing the Mara River around July. They leave the Mara in October-December. Animals migrating within game drive are Zebra, Wildebeest, Buffalo, Gazelle. Carnivores such as the Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Hyena follow closely behind. Serena Lodge (B,L,D)Day 07: Serengeti National Park
Enjoy morning and afternoon game drives in the park.The Serengeti National Park. The vast and sensational Serengeti, covering 14,763 sq km of endlessly rolling savannah plains, is Tanzania’s first-established, largest and most famous park wherein tens of thousands of hoofed animals roam in a constant and unremitting search for the fresh grasslands upon which their survival depends. The million-plus wildebeest are the predominant herbivore and also the main prey of a huge cast of large carnivores, principally lion and hyena. Whilst the annual migration is the Serengeti’s most famous attraction, the Park is also renowned for its lion, many of which have been fitted with radio-transmitter collars so that their movements may be tracked, and additionally for its wealth of cheetah, zebra, giraffe, Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelle, eland, impala, klipspringer, hippo and warthog.
Finally, the Serengeti, whose Maasai name ‘Siringet’ translates as ‘the endless plains’, offers unparalleled ornithological opportunities and an unrivalled natural arena wherein the glory and harmony of nature can be appreciated as nowhere else on earth. Optional activities (fees may apply) from the lodge; morning wildlife walks around the lodge with our resident naturalist, safari breakfast, cooked in the bush, ‘Bush Barbecue’ lunch, evocatively staged on a bluff overlooking the Mbingwe Valley, wherein is enacted the world-famous wildebeest migration, traditional displays of dance, music and cultural performance, nightly wildlife and cultural talks, videos and film shows Relaxing ‘après active’ massages, Balloon safaris over the plains followed by a champagne breakfast at the bush-landing site. Serena Lodge (B,L,D)Day 08: Serengeti - Arusha - Depart
Morning transfer to the Seronera Airstrip for your scheduled flight to Arusha Airport. (B)
