Great Northern Circuit Safari Tanzania - 13 days

Day 1 ARRIVAL
You will be met at the airport in Arusha (JRO) by your Driver/Guide and our representative. We will take you to the Mount Meru Game Lodge (or similar) at Arusha for a free day, with your Safari starting tomorrow. Dinner.

Day 2 Lake Manyara
The driver/guide will pick you up at 9am, then you’ll drive across the floor of the Great Rift Valley to Lake Manyara National Park for a game drive. This beautiful park with it’s lush vegetation and tropical forests of giant fig and mahogany trees, takes its name from the Maasai word for “euphorbia tirucalli”, a bush which is used to make a thorny hedge to protect their cattle. Elephant, giraffe, buffalo, zebra and a variety of antelope inhabit the park as well as a variety of monkeys and a large population of hippo’s. If you are lucky you may see the Manyara lions, well known for their tree climbing habits, lazily resting on the branches of an “Acacia tortilis” tree. The birdlife is also abundant, with flamingoes, pelicans, hornbills and plenty of forest species.
Overnight at Motto Cottages Lodge. All meals included.

Day 3 Lake Natron
In the morning drive to Lake Natron, passing the active volcano Oldonyo Lengai! At Lake Natron check in in the Lake Natron Tented Camp, then we’ll visit the lake with its flamingoes. All meals included.

Day 4 Serengeti
After breakfast you start on your way to Serengeti National Park, crossing Loliondo Game Reserve. Overnight at Serengeti Osupuko Camp in the Serengeti. All meals included.

Day 5 Lake Victoria
Game-drive to Lake Victoria. In the afternoon drive into the nearby hills to take a look at rural Africa, passing through the small villages of the Sakuma people, who grow cotton, ground nuts, sorghum and cassava as well as keeping livestock. Life carries on simply as it has done for centuries, but with a few poignant reminders of the 20th Century! See the local school and take a stroll to the top of a small kopje.
Overnight at Speke Bay. All meals included.

Day 6 Serengeti
In the morning walking tour, then return to the Serengeti, to another full day game drive close to the migration. Overnight at our  Serengeti Osupuko Camp in the Serengeti. All meals included.

Day 7 + 8 Serengeti
Two full day of game drives around Serengeti. Depending on the time of year and the migration of the herds you can expect to see wildebeest, lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, baboons, hippos, rhinos, antelopes and many birds and other species. Your Driver/Guide will be in contact with other safari drivers and will amaze you with his skill at locating the hidden animals.
Overnight at Serengeti Osupuko Camp in the Serengeti. All meals included.

Day 9 Ngorongoro
After breakfast we depart for Ngorongoro. On the way you will stop at the Olduvai Gorge where anthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey made many significant discoveries, contributing to the theory that human life originated in Africa.
A fternoon game drive in the crater. As very few animals migrate in and out of the crater with its 2000 ft. high walls, you can expect to see lions, elephants, zebras, hippos, flamingos, jackals, rhinos, antelopes, many birds and other species. Overnight at a lodge at Ngorongoro/Karatu, Ngorongoro Farmhouse. All meals included.

Day 10 – 11 Tarangire
After breakfast we depart for Tarangire, Tanzania’s third largest national park and sanctuary for an unusually large elephant population. Majestic baobab trees are an interesting feature of the park, dwarfing the animals that feed beneath them. Animals concentrate along the Tarangire River, which provides the only permanent water supply in the area. There is a great diversity of wildlife including lion, leopard, cheetah and up to six thousand elephant.
Overnight two nights at Tarangire Osupuko Lodge. All meals included.

Day 12 Arusha
One final morning game drive before leaving. In the afternoon we will reach Arusha, were we overnight at the Mount Meru Game Lodge. All meals included.

Day 13 Departure
In the morning departure to the airport for your flight back home (or Zanzibar extension). Breakfast.

Optional we can also organise a stay at Lake Eyasi, where you can meet with the Hadzabe, hunter gatherers!