Extraordinary 10 Days Tanzania Safari – Big Five and Hiking

Your arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport, just outside Arusha, commences your 10 Days Tanzania Safari – Big Five and Hiking. Your safari driver will be waiting as you clear customs and then transfer to your hotel in Moshi. On a clear day, from your hotel, you’ll view the breath-taking beauty of Mount Kilimanjaro. You can just relax in your accommodation as you prepare for the real adventure.

• Accommodation & meals: Salinero Millie Hotel.
• Bed&Breakfast.

On this beautiful day, enjoy a sumptuous early breakfast and set out for the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro. Meanwhile, don’t forget to pack your lunch, as it’s going to be an adventurous day.

Mt. Kilimanjaro is an awe-inspiring landmark of Tanzania, but you don’t need to climb it to experience its full beauty and the captivating terrain that surrounds it. This glimpse of the Peak Hike is a Kilimanjaro day trip that allows you to scramble up the first leg of the famed Marangu Route through the rainforest, which twitters with bird life and chattering, curious blue monkeys. Enjoy the hike and later return to your hotel at around 1700 hours.

• Accommodation & meals: Salinero Hotel in Moshi.
• Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.  

After an early breakfast at the lodge, you will drive north to Tarangire National Park. Enjoy a delectable picnic lunch upon arrival and drive to Maramboi Tented Camp. Maramboi is located just outside Tarangire, and it is where you’ll have a full view of the expansive Lake Manyara in the distance. Grazing wildebeests are known to frequently wander nearby.

Enjoy the full afternoon of intense game drives ahead of you. Tarangire is famed for its large and most conspicuous elephant populations in Africa. Between the Tarangire River and the southern swamps, there is abundant water supply year-round to support the growth of pasture for these enormous beasts.

You’re guaranteed to view large herds and gain up-close contact with matriarchs, babies, teenagers, and bulls. Spend several exhilarating hours surrounded by the herds, and you cannot help but get a sense of their wisdom and deep emotional bond.

• Accommodation & meals: Maramboi Tented Camp.
• Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

After a quick breakfast, you will take a short drive to Lake Manyara National Park. Manyara’s evergreen groundwater forest is set against the steep escarpment of the Rift Valley. While it may look like a rain forest, this spectacular gem actually receives very little rainfall.

Instead, the evergreen vegetation is sustained by mineral springs seeping through porous volcanic soil. Besides, the park also comprises a variety of ecosystems, such as acacia woodland, grassy plains, a swampy fan delta, and, of course, the expansive lake, which attracts a varied range of bird and wildlife species.

Manyara offers excellent bird-watching opportunities, with over 380 bird species recorded. Flocks of flamingos are usually attracted to the large amounts of algae in the lake’s soda environment, while the forest areas attract large flocks of pelicans, herons, storks, ibis, and egrets.

Lake Manyara National Park is home to the rare tree-climbing lions, an unusual adaptation for these big cats. Blue monkeys, vervet monkeys, and very active baboon troops are also notable here. Buffalo, giraffe, bushbuck, impala, hippos, waterbuck, and lots of elephants roam near the lake. Sightings of klipspringers are also notable on the rocky escarpments on the southern side of the rift wall.

• Accommodation & meals: Manyara Kilimamoja Lodge.
• Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

After breakfast, embark on another scenic road trip to Serengeti National Park. You will have a picnic lunch at Olduvai Gorge as you stop to visit the famous Leakey digs. This landmark was home to early humans, and the Leakey family successfully excavated some of the oldest humanoid skeletons ever discovered. It is believed that Olduvai is the birthplace of humanity.

Once you enter the Serengeti, you will begin game viewing as you cover the distance to Mawe Tented Camp in the Seronera area. The word “Serengeti” is derived from the Masai language, meaning “endless plain.” This vast savanna grassland extends from northern Tanzania to the Masai Mara in Kenya for over twelve thousand square miles, forming one of the world’s largest wildlife refuges.

The annual wildebeest migration is what makes the Serengeti famous, where more than a million herds of wildebeests, accompanied by over 400,000 Thomson’s gazelles, 300,000 zebras, and about 12,000 elands, ponder its endless plains. They ultimately cross to the Masai Mara in Kenya in search of fresh pasture and water.

• Accommodation & meals: Mawe Tented Camp. 
• Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

Enjoy two full days of game viewing on the plains as scheduled by your guide. Although wildlife populations double during the migration season, they remain some of the densest on the African continent year-round. They comprise substantial populations of plains game like buffalo, giraffe, and warthog and a wide range of antelope species such as dik dik, bushbuck, waterbuck, eland, impala, and topi, and so many predators available all year round that manage smaller territories.

Spotting big cats such as lions, leopards, and cheetahs is superb in this region, with about twelve different lion prides living within driving distance of the river. Smaller cats, such as caracals, servals, and African wild cats, also announce their presence here. Seronera is derived from the term “siron,” which means bat-eared fox in the local tongue. So, it’s no surprise to see these small predators crossing your path in the valley.

The Serengeti is generally a prime cheetah country and is accepted as the best place on earth to view these predators. Cheetahs do not live in pride, being much more solitary in nature, although you could still see brothers hunting together or a mother training her cubs how to hunt. There have been many cheetah births in the last few years. A cheetah mother usually has between 3 and 5 cubs, with only 2 or 3 reaching maturity.

Enjoy an early breakfast with your bags packed up and embark on a scenic drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Apparently, your game viewing continues as you leave the Serengeti before pausing for a picnic lunch amidst the rolling savanna lands. As you delve into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, you will begin to view Masai enkangs (“homesteads”).

The Masai enjoy special land use in the conservation area, which allows them to live their traditional pastoral lifestyle while coexisting with wildlife. Young herders are often seen with their cattle roaming the area in the morning and evening hours. You will definitely have a mixture of cultural views and wildlife observations since there is substantial wildlife in the conservation area.

Note the change in vegetation as you ascend the slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater. The savannas disappear into lush, tropical-like plants, including sprawling coffee plantations. Ngorongoro Conservation Area begins on the Crater Rim, and the vast exploded caldera is at the bottom of the crater.

• Accommodation & meals: Rhino Lodge.
• Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. 

After a sumptuous breakfast at your lodge, spend the whole day exploring the wildlife in Ngorongoro Crater. Ascend the steep crater slopes, reaching the crater rim at an elevation of 7,500 feet, and enjoy the thrilling views of a lifetime.

You will stretch below the crater floor, which comprises five different ecosystems such as a soda lake, grasslands, pools, marshes, and a forest. This is what makes the crater such a captivating spot for many nature lovers, as there is tremendous species diversity. Many of these creatures live their lives at the bottom of this intact caldera.

Excellent views are guaranteed here, as a vast expanse of the crater is made up of grasslands. Wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle mingle together, while herds of buffalo graze the long grass areas. Bush elephants and rhinos are often seen feeding in green marshes, and plenty of hyenas are also notable here.

Hippos lounge in the water holes, and it is quite uncommon to miss sightings of lions here. Flamingos settle on the soda lake at certain times of the day, while rhinos—the African continent’s most endangered animals also find refuge here.

• Accommodation & meals: Tloma Lodge.
• Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

After breakfast, you may lazily pack up your baggage and start a scenic drive back to Arusha. You’ll have time to stop at the Shanga Project, a cooperative of disabled Tanzanians who make high-quality crafts using recycled materials. You will transfer to Kilimanjaro Airport for your departure flight back home.

• No accommodation.
• Meals: Breakfast & Lunch.

End of the extraordinary 10 Days Tanzania Safari – Big Five and Hiking.