Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, and Serengeti – Wildebeest Migration
$3890 per person
This is a wildlife, 7 day safari, that will take you to visit 3 of the Northern parks of Tanzania – Tarangire Ational Park, Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area to experience the unforgettable wildebeest migration.
Every year (July – January), roughly two million wildebeest, 300,000 zebras and a vast assortment of impala, eland and Thomson’s gazelles, migrate from the south Serengeti in search of greener pastures. Following the rains, these amazing creatures move in a clockwise direction through the Serengeti National Park.
Ngorongoro Crater Safari – Crater was created as a result of an imploded volcano, establishing a unique caldera that stretches 20km in diameter, is home to its very own eco-system and is teeming with indigenous wildlife. Located right near the famous Serengeti National Park, it is ideally located for visitors to explore the variety of plant and animal life living within the crater walls.
This is one of the most magnificent tourist destinations in Africa unparalleled in its distinguished scenic beauty, wildlife and atmosphere.
Tarangire National Park – Located in Tanzania’s Manyara region Tarangire National Park is one of the prime safari attractions. Adding essence to northern Tanzania, the national park is full of natural wonder and untamed wildlife viewing. The national park is nearer to the Lake Manyara area which is a UNESCO world heritage site.
The national park got its name from the Tarangire River that flows inside the national park.
Serengeti National Park – Lying at the heart of the Tanzania safari experience, the Serengeti is rich in biodiversity, accessible to a wide range of travelers, and combines easily with many other destinations. Naturally, it is most famous for its role in hosting the Great Wildebeest Migration – find out here when to go for Africa’s greatest show. Best of all, if you can’t make it during the Migration, you’ll enjoy excellent wildlife viewing on Serengeti safaris at any time of year as well as great accommodation and top guiding.
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Destination
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Departure
Arusha -
Departure Time
morning from Arusha -
Return Time
afternoon to Arusha -
Dress Code
Comfortable casual, athletic and beach clothing, comfortable sneakers, shoes or sandals, hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. -
Included
Accommondation per Tour DescriptionAll meals during safari as per itineraryDestinations transfers (airport transfer)Drinking water one bottle of 1.5 ltr a day while on safariEmergency Evacuation by Flying DoctorGovernment Taxes, VAT and all relating service chargesKnowledgeable driver/guidePark FeesPrivate 4x4 custom built vehicleRescue Fees -
Not Included
BeveragesFlightsMeals not listedOptional ToursPersonal Expenses (i.e. laundry and communications)Tanzania VisaTips for guidesTrip & medical insurance
Arrival
Pick up at Kilimanjaro Airport at 7:30PM and transfer to the hotel in Arusha Mac-Elly’s hotel.
Day 1: Arusha – Tarangire – Karatu town
Start from the lodge with packed lunch start one hour driving to Tarangire National Park.
Tarangire National Park covers an area of 1360sq km (525sq miles) with scattered Baobab trees, alternating with open acacia woodland which caters for wildlife food, open bush plains, swamps and rivers like river Tarangire.
Wildlife like Elephants, Zebra, Giraffe, DikDik and Ostrich and different species of birds can be seen; then in the evening we will drive to Kitela Lodge in Karatu town.
Day 2: Ngorongoro/Oldvuai Gorge – Central Serengeti
Wake up at 0700hrs for morning breakfast then pack your packed lunch and drive to Olduvai Gorge with game drive on the way and stop at the museum which overlooks the spectacular gorge. Later in the afternoon drive to Central Serengeti national park for dinner and overnight at Serena hotel.
Day 3: Central Serengeti - Northern Serengeti
You will continue with game safari toward north of Serengeti till evening, dinner and overnight at Lemala Mara (full board).
Day 4&5: Northern Serengeti National Park
This is the land of most peoples’ safari dreams. Serengeti has an amazing abundance of animals.
In dry season (May – Oct), game is concentrated around water holes, making multiple species photo shots fairly easy to come by. In wet season (Jan – Mar), game is scattered all over the plains! June – Aug is the season of the Great Wildebeest Migration – a sight to be seen! Apr – May, be prepared for the babies. Most are born in Feb – Mar, and are out and about by this time.
No season is a bad season in the Serengeti.
Dinner and overnight at Lemala Mara (full board).
Day 6: North Serengeti - Ngorongoro Crater
Morning breakfast at 7:30 soon after breakfast start game drive with your packed lunch box till afternoon then bid farewell Serengeti, toward to Ngorongoro for overnight at Serena Hotel/Rhino Lodge
Day 7: Ngorongoro Crater Rim
This seven day safari is the ultimate itinerary for the best wildlife experience in Northern Tanzania. On this tour, we journey through the most famous national parks and conservation areas - Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire National Park.
Serengeti National Park
Serengeti National Park is undoubtedly the best-known wildlife sanctuary in the world, unequalled for its natural beauty and scientific value, it has the greatest concentration of plains game in Africa
The Serengeti National Park in Tanzania was established in 1952. It is home to the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth - the great migration of wildebeest and zebra. The resident population of lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, and birds is also impressive. There’s a wide variety of accommodation available, from luxury lodges to mobile camps. The park covers 5,700 sq miles, (14,763 sq km), it’s larger than Connecticut, with at most a couple hundred vehicles driving around.
The Park can be divided into 3 sections. The popular southern/central part (Seronera Valley), is what the Maasai called the “serengit”, the land of endless plains. It’s classic savannah, dotted with acacias and filled with wildlife. The western corridor is marked by the Grumeti River, and has more forests and dense bush. The north, Lobo area, meets up with Kenya’s Masai Mara Reserve, is the least visited section.
Two World Heritage Sites and two Biosphere Reserves have been established within the 30,000 km² region. It’s unique ecosystem has inspired writers from Ernest Hemingway to Peter Mattheissen, filmakers like Hugo von Lawick and Alan Root as well as numerous photographers and scientists - many of which have put their works at our disposal to create this website.
The Serengeti ecosystem is one of the oldest on earth. The essential features of climate, vegetation and fauna have barely changed in the past million years. Early man himself made an appearance in Olduvai Gorge about two million years ago. Some patterns of life, death, adaptation and migration are as old as the hills themselves.
It is the migration for which Serengeti is perhaps most famous. Over a million wildebeest and about 200,000 zebras flow south from the northern hills to the southern plains for the short rains every October and November, and then swirl west and north after the long rains in April, May and June. So strong is the ancient instinct to move that no drought, gorge or crocodile infested river can hold them back.
The Wildebeest travel through a variety of parks, reserves and protected areas and through a variety of habitat. Join us to explore the different forms of vegetation and landscapes of the Serengeti ecosystem and meet some of their most fascinating inhabitants.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area spans vast expanses of highland plains, savanna, savanna woodlands and forests. Established in 1959 as a multiple land use area, with wildlife coexisting with semi-nomadic Maasai pastoralists practicing traditional livestock grazing, it includes the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest caldera. The property has global importance for biodiversity conservation due to the presence of globally threatened species, the density of wildlife inhabiting the area, and the annual migration of wildebeest, zebra, gazelles and other animals into the northern plains. Extensive archaeological research has also yielded a long sequence of evidence of human evolution and human-environment dynamics, including early hominid footprints dating back 3.6 million years.
Tarangire National Park
Tarangire National Park has some of the highest population density of elephants as compared to anywhere in Tanzania, and its sparse vegetation, strewn with baobab and acacia trees, makes it a beautiful and distinctive location to visit.
Located just a few hours drive from the town of Arusha, Tarangire is a popular stop for people travelling through the northern safari circuit on their way to Ngorongoro and the Serengeti. The park extends into two game controlled areas and the wildlife is allowed to move freely throughout.
Before the rains, droves of gazelles, wildebeests, zebras, and giraffes migrate to Tarangire National Park’s scrub plains where the last grazing land still remains. Tarangire offers an unparalleled game viewing, and during the dry season elephants abound. Families of the pachyderms play around the ancient trunks of baobab trees and strip acacia bark from the thorn trees for their afternoon meal. Breathtaking views of the Maasai Steppe and the mountains in the south make a stopover at Tarangire a memorable experience.
Herds of up to 300 elephants scratch the dry river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. It’s the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem - a smorgasbord for predators – and the one place in Tanzania where dry-country antelope such as the stately fringe-eared oryx and peculiar long-necked gerenuk are regularly observed.
During the rainy season, the seasonal visitors scatter over a 20,000 sq km (12,500 sq miles) range until they exhaust the green plains and the river calls once more. But Tarangire’s mobs of elephant are easily encountered, wet or dry. The swamps, tinged green year round, are the focus for 550 bird varieties, the most breeding species in one habitat anywhere in the world.
On drier ground you find the Kori bustard, the heaviest flying bird; the stocking-thighed ostrich, the world’s largest bird; and small parties of ground hornbills blustering like turkeys.
More ardent bird-lovers might keep an eye open for screeching flocks of the dazzlingly colourful yellow-collared lovebird, and the somewhat drabber rufous-tailed weaver and ashy starling – all endemic to the dry savannah of north-central Tanzania.
Disused termite mounds are often frequented by colonies of the endearing dwarf mongoose, and pairs of red-and-yellow barbet, which draw attention to themselves by their loud, clockwork-like duetting.
Tarangire’s pythons climb trees, as do its lions and leopards, lounging in the branches where the fruit of the sausage tree disguises the twitch of a tail.
Group Size | Camping | Standard | Luxury |
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1 | 4,890$ | 6,415$ | |
2 | 3,890$ | 5,417$ | |
3 | 3,550$ | 5,080$ | |
4 | 3,380$ | 4,910$ | |
5 | 3,290$ | 4,810$ | |
6 | 3,220$ | 4,745$ | |
7 | 3,175$ | 4,700$ |