The Wildebeest Migration Safari

Tour Briefing
Unless your arrival time yesterday allowed time for your safari briefing, then this will take place after breakfast. We will provide you with all the essential information, before we set off to our first safari destination, the wonderful Lake Manyara National Park, where we will enjoy lunch, take an afternoon game drive and spend the night.

Journey: Arusha to Lake Manyara National Park
Our two-hour (130km) journey takes us westwards from Arusha. Along the route, your eyes will be opened to all the colours and character of Tanzania: perhaps some Maasai herdsmen driving their flocks of goats to new pastures. You’ll get to know your driver-guide, amazed at his depth of knowledge as he effortlessly answers all your questions.

Day’s Highlight
Your game drive in wonderful Lake Manyara, with the Rift Valley escarpment and the lake itself as the wonderful, natural backdrops.

Journey: Lake Manyara National Park – Ndutu
With Ndutu as our destination, we leave Lake Manyara, travelling north and west to reach the Ndutu region, which straddles the border between the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti National Park. Our journey today should take us around 3 hour (150km). On arrival, we take lunch before embarking on our afternoon game-drive.

Day’s Highlight
Your game drive in Ndutu this afternoon will demonstrate the importance of this area with its nitrogen-rich grasses which are much-loved by the animal population. Resident and migratory wildlife are both to be found here during this season.

Safari (Game Drive) in Ndutu
Ndutu is a real hotspot for wildlife during these rainy months. Wildebeest and their accompanying zebra, often in their tens of thousands, choose Ndutu as part of their Great Migration.

Day’s Highlight
With a full day to explore this diverse area, your driver-guide will have plenty of opportunity to show you some excellent wildlife and explain the fragile, fascinating eco-system of this region.

Full Day Game Drive in Ndutu
Ndutu can be considered in many respects as a continuation of the endless plains of the southern Serengeti. But as it actually lies in part within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, there is the possibility – ground conditions permitting – to go ‘off-road’ which is permissible here. A characteristic feature of this area is the collection of small, salty, lakes, whose water allows wildlife to exist here throughout the year. Among the most important of the water courses are Lake Masek, which is comparatively deep and thus remains more or less unchanged throughout the year.

Journey: Ndutu to Central Serengeti
After breakfast, and a final morning game-drive in Ndutu, we set off for our next destination, the Central Serengeti, a journey of around 80km with a journey time of 2-hour. On arrival, we take lunch and have our first game-drive in Central Serengeti.

Day’s Highlight
As you drive, the sheer vastness of the Serengeti plains will overwhelm you – as will the seemingly countless herds of wildlife who cross the landscape on their annual trek.

Safari in Central Serengeti
In the afternoon, after our relatively short drive to the central part of Serengeti, after lunch a game-drive will introduce you to this wildlife ‘hub. The distinctive rocky outcrops, or kopjes, will soon become familiar to you: don’t ignore these as the animals certainly don’t.

Day’s Highlight
Wildlife is abundant: sometimes you may think it has come to find you, rather than the other way around. Today’s highlight is unknown, as the animals don’t publish their schedule (!) What we see also depends on the season, but we may find some ‘big cats,’ on the prowl and looking for prey. Cheetah, leopard and lions are all possibilities!

Safari in Serengeti National Park
Today is a full day of discovery, a chance to enjoy the varied landscapes of the Central Serengeti. The Seronera River weaves its way through the Serengeti, providing waters for all species of wildlife. You will also see the distinctive rocky outcrops, the famous kopjes which characterize the Serengeti landscape.

Today our adventure takes us out of the Serengeti National Park and leads us to another of Tanzania’s true wonders, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. With its wildlife-filled crater, Ngorongoro may be difficult to pronounce, but with its wildlife-filled volcanic crater it is easy to admire. Unsurprisingly, this is yet another of our country’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Journey: Serengeti National Park – 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.

Journey: Ngorongoro Crater – Kilimanjaro International Airport
After our morning visit to the incomparable crater – see below – and then lunch, we will have a 5-hour journey, covering the 250km back to Kilimanjaro International Airport.

Day’s Highlight
Like nothing else on Earth, the stunning crater of Ngorongoro is a unique home for many, many species of Tanzania’s wildlife. With some luck, you may even see a black rhino here.

Safari in Ngorongoro Crater
From our accommodation, we set off after breakfast, a 6am departure to reach the rim and then descend into the vast crater itself. At one side there’s the Lerai Forest, classic mountain forest landscape with almost tropical characteristics.