7 Days Tanzania Highlights

Pick up from your hotel for your 2-3 hour drive in your 4 x 4 safari vehicle to Lake Manyara National Park. Once checked in at the gate, you will continue on a leisurely game drive to Lake Manyara Tree lodge en-route stop in at some of the local villages, especially Mto Wa Mbu, to get an understanding for the agricultural practises and various tribes that have settled here. Enjoy a leisurely afternoon game drive, followed by sundowners on the picturesque lakeshore, where you can admire seasonal pink flocks of flamingos.

Lake Manyara National Park offers a wilderness experience in diverse habitats, from its Rift Valley soda lake to dense woodlands and steep mountainsides. Apart from a spectacular setting, the park is famous for its unusual tree-climbing lions and the vast elephant herds it was established to protect.

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, Masai giraffe and impala roam the lake shores and the forested valley slopes. A Lake Manyara safari is a fascinating experience, as the park also features a ground-water forest, acacia tortilis woodland and hot springs called Maji Moto. Troops of several hundred olive baboon appear alongside Sykes monkey and short-eared galago. Cape clawless otter, Egyptian mongoose, hippo and klipspringer are other park residents.

Take a game drive through Manyara Park and up the escarpment towards the misty Crater highlands. Enjoy the productive farming area you drive through and stop at a local vegetable farm if you would like to on route to the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge Discover breath-taking wildlife on the spectacular Crater floor game drive, the game viewing on the Crater floor is sensational, as this unique eco system supports an abundance of game – look out for the Big Five!

If you would like to stretch your legs or get in touch with the surrounds, there are a number of hikes and walks – Empakai walk is a full day, but startlingly beautiful and well worth it. An area of vast natural beauty, on clear days the Crater offers views of Ol Doinyo Lengai, Tanzania’s most recently active volcano. If you prefer a gentler stroll, wander along the crater rim to take in the spectacular views.

Book a Crater Floor Banquet to dine in style on the floor of this ancient place. This is the ultimate dining experience in the heart of the wild.

After breakfast you will safari landcruisers enroute to the famous Serengeti National Park on arrival you will check in at the Namiri Plains. The Serengeti National Park is undoubtedly one of the world's most celebrated wilderness areas and is an ongoing source of inspiration to writers, film makers and photographers. Tanzania's oldest game reserve, it is renowned for the part it plays in the annual Great Migration, when an estimated two million antelope migrate to Kenya's Maasai Mara. This epic, seasonal journey is a deeply moving experience.

Tanzania’s famed Serengeti National Park is the crown jewel of African safari. Not only is it home to one of the densest concentrations of wildlife in the world, but it’s also an arena for one of nature’s grandest spectacles – the Great Wildebeest Migration.

The Serengeti offers some of the best wildlife viewing in Africa. All the major safari animals occur in great numbers. Cheetah and four of the Big 5 are easily seen, but rhino sightings are rare, and only black rhino are present. Aside from the big cats, many other predators can be spotted including spotted hyena (especially in the morning), jackal and bat-eared fox.

After an early morning game drive and full breakfast, leave Serengeti National Park, head to Tarangire National Park. Upon arrival, check in at the Kuto Tarangire Camp. One of the lesser-known game reserves in Tanzania, Tarangire rivals the Serengeti in the great number and diversity of its wildlife. It is a good choice for travelers who wish to encounter more animals (particularly elephants as its renowned for frequent sightings) and less tourists while on safari. The Tarangire National Park is also known as a wonderful birding destination. During the dry season, the Tarangire River is the only source of water in the area, which offers excellent sightings as it attracts the reserves abundant wildlife. The landscape is a photographers dream too, due to the high number of scenic baobab trees and its extensive marshlands that turn swathes of the reserve.

Herds of up to 300 elephant can be found, looking for underground streams in the dry riverbeds, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. Abandoned termite mounds often house mongoose colonies. All the main predators are present, but because of thick vegetation, not spotted as often as in some of the other parks in northern Tanzania. The park's dominant feature is the Tarangire River. Although it gets very dry, the park is relatively thickly vegetated with acacia shrubs and mixed woodland. Most memorable are the huge baobab trees dotted around in big numbers. The south and east of the park has a big seasonal swamp network, which is an important water catchment area.

After breakfast go for a morning game viewing drive in Tarangire National Park. Return to lodge for lunch before you depart for Arusha..