Tanzania Group Departure - 7 days

Join a group of other travelers on this set departure journey.  Enjoy traveling with other like-minded wildlife enthusiasts on this affordable safari to three spectacular parks in Tanzania. Visit Lake Manyara’s forests, swamps, and beautiful lakeshore.  Descend 2000ft. into Ngorongoro Crater, home to 30,000 animals. Explore the vast plains of Serengeti National park, arguably one the best wildlife parks in the world.  At the end of the day, head off to your comfy room to relax, and then join your new friends for dinner to chat about the amazing encounters you had each day. 

DAY 1: 

Arrival in Arusha  Kilimanjaro Airport - Arusha
Arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport.  Transfer to Impala Hotel.

DAY 2
Arusha - Ngorongoro
Meet in Arusha. After lunch, drive through the Ngorongoro Highlands to your lodge situated on the rim of the crater. The crater covers over 100 square miles of land and is the home of the rare black rhino, prides of lion, elephant, cheetah and great herds of buffalo, antelope and wildebeest.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight :Ngorongoro Sopa

Ngorongoro Crater
Ngorongoro Crater is the largest Caldera in the world that has its walls intact. The sight of the Crater is simply stunning. “There is nothing with which to compare. It is one of the wonders of the world….”,  wrote Professor Bernard Grzimek. The floor of the Crater is a sheer drop of 2000 ft. below the crater rim.  It home to tens of thousands of plains animals, including wildebeest, zebra, gazelles, elands, and a large predator population of lions, hyena and jackal which can all be viewed at close range. The rare black rhino can also be found here.

A UNESCO protected World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a pioneering experiment in multi-purpose land use where people (the Maasai), their livestock and wildlife coexist and share the same protected habitat. The craters of Ngorongoro and Empakai are reserved exclusively for wildlife, while the rest of the Conservation Area is shared by wildlife, people and livestock. The Maasai, the main residents of Ngorongoro, are pastoralists who move widely with their herds of cattle, sheep, goat and donkeys in search of pasture and water. In recent years the Maasai have been encouraged to work on the land and supplement their traditional diet of milk and meat.

DAY 3:
Ngorongoro
Today you will descend over 2000 feet to the floor of the crater for a day of game drives. Explore the forest areas that are inhabited by monkey and elephant, the lake area, where you may see the flamingoes and the open savannah where lions hunt a meal.  Picnic lunches will be served in the crater.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Ngorongoro Sopa

DAY 4:
Ngorongoro - Serengeti
After breakfast, drive to Oldupai Gorge, the site of Louis and Mary Leakey’s renowned archaeological discoveries. Their findings include some of man’s earliest known ancestral remains.  Then, continue to Serengeti National Park in time for lunch.  This enormous park supports an incredible variety and abundance of animals - from large predators such as lion, leopard and cheetah to the smaller herbivores they prey on. Enjoy an afternoon game drive.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Serengeti Sopa.

Serengeti National Park
The Serengeti provides sanctuary to the highest concentration of plains animals in the world.  A World Heritage Site and recently proclaimed a World Wide Wonder, Serengeti National Park is undoubtedly one of the most famous wildlife sanctuaries in the world.  It is enormous - covering a total area of 6000 sq. miles. Aptly named “endless plains” by the Maasai people, you immediately experience this vastness as you enter the southeastern plains of the park from Ngorongoro.

The principal features of the Serengeti are the short and long grass plains in the south and east, the acacia Savannah in the central areas, the hilly and densely wooded areas in the north and the extensive woodland in the west. There is a variety of scenery, which includes the plains, lakes, hills and the rock outcrops called kopjes. The main game drive areas in the Serengeti are the Seronera Valley, the Western Corridor, and northern Serengeti. The Seronera valley, in central Serengeti, endowed with permanent surface water, attracts a large concentration of wildlife throughout the year. Common animals that can be seen here are lions, buffaloes, impalas, hippos, waterbucks, elephants, cheetahs, and leopard.  It is also the location for the Great Migration, when 1.5 million wildebeest, as well as zebra and gazelle move in mass across the plains, providing a feast for the resident predators.

DAY 5:
Serengeti
Today you spend the whole day on game drives in the park.  To maximize game viewing you will carry a picnic lunch with you and spend a full day searching for wildlife.
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Serengeti Sopa

DAY 6:

Serengeti - Manyara 
After breakfast at your lodge, drive to Lake Manyara, a soda lake lying in the Great Rift Valley.  After lunch you will take a game drive in the park.  Travel through the many varied landscapes including jungle, swamp and savannah, and enjoy the large variety of animals that reside here, including giraffe, zebra, elephant, gazelle, hippos, monkeys and about 400 different species of birds. 
Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Overnight: Lake Manyara Serena.

Lake Manyaya National park
Located at the foot of the wall of the Great Rift Valley, Lake Manyara National Park is one of the oldest and most popular sanctuaries in East Africa. The park has a large variety of habitats, making it possible to support a wealth of wildlife in its small area. The main habitats include the shallow soda lake itself which occupies 77% of the National Park, the ground water forest, open grassland, acacia woodland and the rift wall. The most famous spectacle in the park is the tree-climbing lions, which are occasionally seen along branches of acacia trees. Other animals found in the park include buffalo, elephants, leopards, baboons, impala, giraffes, zebra, wildebeest, ostrich and hippos. Popularly referred to as an ornithologist's paradise, Lake Manyara National Park contains over 400 bird species, including pelicans, spoonbills, Egyptian geese and the migratory flamingoes, which arrive in the hundreds of thousands, creating a beautiful sight on the soda lake.

DAY 7:

Lake Manyay- Arusha
After breakfast, drive to Arusha.  Lunch in a restaurant.  After lunch, you will be transferred to the airport for your international flight home.