Day One: Tarangire National Park (B, L, D)
After breakfast you will drive to the Tarangire National Park for a full day game drive. Tarangire is one of Africa’s little-known gems and should be on the itinerary of all lovers of wilderness and solitude. Its name originates from the Tarangire River that crosses through the park and is the only source of water during the dry season.
Tarangire’s landscape is incredibly diverse with a mix that is not found anywhere else on the northern safari circuit. It is dotted with ancient baobab trees, which the Maasai people believe are the first tree in creation, and large termite mounds. The dry season sees the harsh sun suck the moisture from the landscape, baking the earth a dusty red while the wet season brings dense bush and luscious high grasses.
Famous for its large elephant population, it is also home to zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, waterbuck, baboons, dwarf mongoose, impala, buffalo, antelope and fringe-eared Oryx. Predators include lion, cheetah and leopard. The swamps are shared by flocks of birds; green wood hoopoes, lovebirds, tallish herons, white bellied go-away birds and giant kingfishers. On drier ground you will find the kori bustard and the heaviest of the flying birds.
Overnight – Eileen’s Trees Inn- Karatu
Or Full Service camping – Panorama Camp- Karatu
Day Two:Ngorongoro Crater
Today you will be woken up for an early morning tea or coffee around 6:00am. Then you will head out with your guide who should be waiting for you at the lounge area. As you are bumping along the wilderness in semi-darkness, you will see the sun creeping up, about to light up the amazing land. You start seeing things clearly. The wildebeests, the hidden elephant, the birds, the flowers, all ready to be captured in your soul. For photographers both professional and amateur these are the moments that will become your memory makers.
This is generally the best time to spot the wildlife, as the temperature is cool and the animals are still very active, including the big cats, which will be returning from a night of hunting.
You will be rewarded with a full day game drive in the stunning Ngorongoro Crater which became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979 and is one of the only places on earth where mankind and wild animals co-exist is harmony. The Ngorongoro Crater is famous for Africa’s best game viewing as there is an ever present abundance of wildlife due to the permanent water supply on the crater floor.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a caldera, a sunken or collapsed cone of a volcano. It is the largest inactive and unbroken caldera in the world. Before Ngorongoro collapsed about 2.5 million years ago, it may have rivaled Mount Kilimanjaro in size.
The Ngorongoro Crater is a world heritage site, the world's largest intact volcanic caldera and is commonly referred to as the 8th wonder of the world. The 2,000 feet high walls of the approximately 10-mile-wide crater create a natural amphitheatre for the densest populations of large animals anywhere. The rich soil sand abundant, year-round water provide an ideal habitat for a variety of approximately 22,000 large animals. Herbivores that you will likely encounter include elephant, black rhino, hippo, buffalo, eland, zebra, wildebeest, hartebeest, waterbuck, warthog, Grant's gazelle and Thomson's gazelle. Primates include baboons and velvet monkeys. Carnivores that you will likely encounter include lion, cheetah, hyena and jackal. Leopards, serval, bat eared foxes and rattles are also resident within the Crater but are much more elusive.
Take a break for a delicious bush lunch at Ngoitokitok Springs where you can stretch your safari legs, listen to the grunts of the local hippos and admire the profusion of bird life.
In Late afternoon you will ascend the Crater wall and start driving back to the hotel/camp in karatu which will take driving about 1hour to the hotel/camp and get a hot shower and then after some cold/warm drink.
Day Three: Manyara National Park
After breakfast, today's destinations Lake Manyara, we’ll enter the park through the remote southern gate for a crowd free game drive. Manyara Park offers a wilderness experience in diverse habitats, from its Rift Valley soda lake to dense woodlands and steep mountainsides. Apart from a spectacular rift valley setting, the park is famous for its tree-climbing lions and the vast elephant herds. The shores of the lake, encrusted with pink flamingo, attract more than 400 species of birds, many of them waterfowl or migrants. Large herds of buffalo, cheetah, Maasai giraffe and impala roam the lake shores and the forested valley slopes. Unique features include underground water forest and hot springs.
Late in afternoon we'll drive to your accommodation for dinner over night to Arusha.
