Best of Tanzania Safari – 9 Days

Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport. You will be received by an Essenia Safari representative and transferred to your hotel for briefing and overnight stay. Overnight will be at the Arusha Safari Lodge. Meal Plan: Half Board Accommodation: Moivaro Coffee Plantation Lodge

After Breakfast, your Tanzania Safari heads to Tarangire National park. Your safari takes you through the Baobab vegetation on the several water bodies introducing herds of Elephant, Gnus, Zebra, Wildebeest and the colorful bird life as you arrive at your lodge in time for lunch and a well-deserved afternoon rest. Later, in the late afternoon, you will be treated to a game viewing safari returning at your safari lodge at sunset. Overnight will be at Tarangire. Meal Plan: Full Board Accommodation: Tarangire Sopa Lodge

After breakfast, depart Tarangire national park for the Serengeti National Park. You will have a stop over at the Oldupai Gorge. It was here, that the anthropologists Dr. Louis and Dr. Mary Leakey discovered the skulls of 'Nutcracker Man' and 'Handy Man', both very significant links in the chain of human evolution. Leaving the highlands behind, you will descend into the heart of wild Africa - the Serengeti National Park - with its endless plains, rolling into the distance as far as the eye can see. We head to the central park area, known as the Seronera area, one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park, featuring the Seronera River, which provides a valuable water source to this area therefore attracting most wildlife found in the Serengeti Eco-system. Arrive at your lodge in time for lunch and afternoon game drive. Meal Plan: Full Board Accommodation: Serengeti Safari Lodge / similar

Full day game drives in Serengeti National Park. Although Serengeti is world famous for the annual wildebeest and other ungulates’ migration, the park is well known for its healthy stock of other resident wildlife, particularly the "Big Five", named for the five most prized trophies taken by game hunters. Natural habitats in Serengeti include savannah grass lands dotted with acacia trees, magnificent rock outcroppings called kopjes, swamps, dense bush as well as streams and rivers. They provide different opportunities for tracking different animal’s species. Return to the lodge late evening after a whole day in the African jungle. Meal Plan: Full Board Accommodation: Serengeti Safari Lodge / similar

Early breakfast and depart Serengeti with an en route morning game drive, proceed to Ngorongoro Crater rim. The Ngorongoro Crater is an amazingly incredible formation of nature. It is part of the larger Ngorongoro Conservation Area which covers more than 8,300 square kilometres. The Crater, an "eighth wonder of the natural world," not official is an International Biosphere with over 20,000 animals thriving in its near perfect conditions. Meal Plan: Full Board Accommodation: Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge / similar

After breakfast descend to the Ngorongoro Crater floor for game drive. Supported by a year-round water supply and fodder, the Ngorongoro National Park supports a vast variety of animals, which include herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo, and African elephants. Another big draw card to this picturesque national park is its dense population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs and the ever-elusive leopard, which sometimes requires a trained eye to spot. We will visit Lake Magadi, a large but shallow alkaline lake in the southwestern corner, which is one of the main features of the crater. A large number of flamingos, hippos and other water birds can usually be seen here. You will ascend the crater late afternoon returning to your lodge at the crater rim for dinner and overnight stay. Meal Plan: Full Board Accommodation: Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge / similar

Today we depart Ngorongoro Crater for Lake Eyasi with picnic lunches. After breakfast we will drive across the floor of the Great Rift Valley through Mto wa Mbu. After the village of Karatu, we will take a rough road to Lake which is still inhabited by a small group of Bushmen: The Hadzabe or Watindiga, who still lives in bands, hunting with bows and arrows; gathering roots, tubers and wild fruits, just as they did thousands of years ago. Lake Eyasi is a very scenic soda lake found on the southern border of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This less visited lake lies at the base of the Eyasi escarpment on the western rift valley wall. This afternoon you will be introduced to the extraordinary people who belong to an indigenous tribe known as the 'Hadzabe' (hunter-gatherer Bushmen). The tribe inhabits the shores of Lake Eyasi as do the Nilotic-speaking Datoga tribe. You will visit these tribes, which will include a visit to their homesteads, learn about their way of life, animal tracking, medicinal plants, and much more. Some wildlife and a wide range of bird species can be viewed during walks around the lake, which can be arranged. We will overnight in the area at Tindiga Tented Camp. Meal Plan: Full Board Accommodation: Tindiga Tented Camp / similar.

After breakfast, depart Lake Eyasi heading for Lake Manyara. Arrive in time for lunch at your lodge and after lunch, head into the Lake Manyara National Park for an afternoon game drive. This national park is one of Tanzania's most dramatically located wildlife areas, consisting of a massive but shallow soda lake covering two-thirds of the park, located at the foot of the Great Rift Valley's western escarpment. The park's varied habitat attracts a wide variety of animals, including one of Africa's largest concentrations of elephants, as well as large flocks of flamingos attracted by the algae in the lake. Meal Plan: Full Board Accommodation: Lake Manyara Wildlife Camp / similar

After breakfast, check out by latest 1000 hrs and drive back to Arusha. Arrive at Arusha town mid-day where your Best of Tanzania safari ends. END OF BEST OF TANZANIA SAFARI