The Great Wildebeest Migration Safari 

Safari (Game Drive) in Lake Manyara National Park
After our lunch, we jump in our vehicle to cover the highlights of this park. Set against the rugged Rift Valley escarpment, and characterised by its shimmering lake, Manyara is rich in vegetation and the wildlife that thrives here. Enjoy the tranquillity as majestic pink flamingos wade elegantly, picking out a meal of algae from the shallow, alkaline waters. On land, Manyara’s terrain is compact, yet boasts differing environments such as diverse forests fed by waters seeping from the nearby escarpment. Monkeys are abundant, but look out too for the lions, giraffe, warthog and grumpy Cape buffalo who all call this park ‘home’. Hold your nose when we reach the hippo pool, because these big lumps smell!

Safari in Serengeti National Park
At last! Serengeti, the incomparable wonder of Tanzania, will be the stage for the natural animal theatrics which will undoubtedly be performed during your visit. Your afternoon game drive here combines the known with the unknown, the certainty that you will be amazed with the uncertainty of exactly what you will see and when. Changing light, a changing cast of animal actors, ensuring that at every turn there is a new experience. Snap off some memorable photos, but don’t forget to simply take a deep breath and enjoy nature in its real-time, raw beauty.

Your driver-guide can choose from a number of ‘loops’ when searching out wildlife opportunities for you: these depart from and reconnect to the main road, visiting different types of vegetation and exploring varied habitats. Two important rivers cross this region, and the permanent pools created by the Grumeti and Mbalageti ensure that animals can be seen all year-round. Populations of elephant and giraffe, wildebeest, baboons and lions are all resident here, but the Migration time sets a different scene entirely. Huge crocodiles lurk in anticipation of the river crossing, looking to pick off a wildebeest or two as their herds plunge into the waters for the other side. Safety in numbers? Not always, so perhaps you will see not only a crossing, but a kill as well. Patience will bring its rewards – for crocodiles and for you, the visitor, poised with your camera!

A local speciality here is the lowland species of the black and white colobus monkey, different from the ones you may see in other parts of Tanzania. The Mbalageti area also hosts the highest density of topi in Tanzania, so keep your eyes peeled. A rare and treasured sighting would be of an African wild dog; rare, but they are definitely here… somewhere!

Afternoon Game Drive in Western Serengeti
Whether it’s the best place to catch a wildebeest river crossing, the best time to watch a lumbering hippo leave its pool to feast on vegetation for its evening meal, or simply to find the highest vantage point from which to watch the sun set over the plains, your driver-guide will draw on his incredible knowledge and experience to give you wildlife encounters beyond your imagination. This afternoon we will, once again, we will explore this Western Corridor of the Serengeti, admiring its grasslands and bushlands and the itinerant and resident wildlife. Here, ponder that perhaps this is how the world once was, long, long ago, with animals in the ascendant and few humans to be seen. Simply incredible, and thought-provoking, too.

Safari in Central Serengeti
Before leaving the Western Serengeti, we take the opportunity this morning to enjoy another game drive in this incredible location. This allows us further time to wonder at the migratory herds and the dangers and challenges they face each year in their battle for survival. As well as the herd animals, you can look to the skies, perhaps finding a majestic martial eagle or one of the other birds that populate this area. As well as the thousands of migrating animals, this area also has a good population of resident wildlife, so you will never be disappointed. In the afternoon, we take the short drive to the central part of Serengeti, where after lunch a game-drive will introduce you to this wildlife ‘hub. Finally, you will go to your chosen accommodation for relaxation and your evening meal.

Journey: Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Conservation Area
After a morning game drive and lunch, this afternoon we will head south-east towards Ngorongoro, a distance of 145km which will take us around 3 ½ hours.

Day’s Highlight
Today, we will get our first sight of the spectacular, incomparable Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera and the heart of the Conservation Area of the same name. But before that, we have another morning game drive in amazing Serengeti, marveling at its animal inhabitants. Another day of adventure, another day to enjoy the wildlife

Safari in Central Serengeti National Park
After our morning game drive, perhaps trying to find any animal that has – until now – been elusive enough to evade your eagle-eyed driver-guide, we head south-east towards Ngorongoro. If it has not already struck you with its vastness, Serengeti’s ‘endless plains’ will certainly now make a deep impression on you as we take the long, straight road which passes Simba Kopjes (famous from ‘The Lion King’) to reach Naabi Hill Gate, close to the divide between Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Here you can gather information at the gate’s visitor center, clamber up the hill for superb views back over the plains, or look out for a colorful agama lizard among the rocks.

This is good elephant country, so keep your eyes peeled. By the side of the nearby swampland is what is sometimes called the ‘elephant graveyard’ as the mighty male tuskers at the end of their lives come to chew on the soft, swampland grasses once their teeth have failed them.The crater has a population of around 120 lions, with well-defined territories; 15,000 wildebeest, 9,000 zebra, 400 hyenas, and around 50 black rhino. Many wildebeest and other herd animals are resident, benefiting from the many sources of year-round waters and are boosted by some migrators in season. Buffalo, Thomson’s gazelle and eland are also present in numbers. Hippos can be found in pools and swampland and highland birdlife is colourful and plentiful around the waters. Flamingos can often be seen in Lake Magadi, which occupies part of the crater floor.

But Tarangire is also home to buffalo, lion, wildebeest, zebra and gazelle and the park can rival Serengeti for sheer animal densities. What might you see today? Perhaps a solitary male lion stretched out beneath a tree, perhaps a trio of male cheetah enjoying some lazy bonding-time in the sun. Maybe some graceful Grant’s gazelle or zebra bounding away from the road or a couple of giraffe munching happily from the choicest acacia branches. For Tarangire specialities, look out for kudu and oryx.Here as in other parks, it pays not to ignore the small animals. It’s so easy to be mesmerized by the power and majesty of an elephant or the elegance of the giraffe.

Ask your guide to find you an agama lizard, especially a male one who changes colour in front of you according to the temperature! Or a hyrax, known as pimpi, an insignificant-looking creature of around 30cm in length…who astonishingly is related to elephant!Not many trees will pass you by without something of avian interest catching your eye. A memorable flash of colour might be a lilac-breasted roller or blue-eared starling. Ostrich are plentiful and it’s hard not to chuckle at the sighting of the well-named, studious-looking secretary bird as it awkwardly pads across the grasslands.The park is also famous for its splendid baobab trees, rolling savannah and acacia woodland. It can be dusty – wear a scarf over your mouth – but this is a minor inconvenience for sighting wildlife in such abundance.

Meal Plan
Breakfast is served at Tarangire Sopa Lodge. Lunch will be a nutritious and balanced meal, also provided by the Lodge for you to take out on safari and enjoyed after your morning game-drive, before we return you to the airport for your flight home. As today is your departure day, please note that dinner tonight is not included in the tour.

Departure Instructions
Please note that this The Great Wildebeest Migration Safari – 9 Days tour ends at Kilimanjaro International Airport at 17.30 hours. Your departure can only take place today if you have pre-booked a domestic flight which leaves from Kilimanjaro International Airport at 19.40 hours or after, or an international flight which leaves at 21.00 hours or after.

Post Tour Extension
After your exhilarating time on safari, you may want to extend your Tanzanian holiday with time on Zanzibar’s wonderful beaches. Please contact us for details.