Lake Manyara/Ngorongoro/ Serengeti & Zanzibar: 9 days and 8 nights
AREAS VISITED: Lake Manyara / Ngorongoro Crater / Serengeti National Park / Zanzibar Island
Activities: Wildlife viewing, cultural interaction
Activity Level: Easy
Today you will drive to Lake Manyara and visit Lake Manyara National Park. Lake Manyara National Park has the Great Rift Valley escarpment with a dramatic drop. Two-thirds of the park is covered by alkaline and the park is known for climbing tree lions. Despite being a relative small park it has distinct vegetation zones and remarkable diversity of wildlife. After the game drive and then head to Lake Manyara Serena Lodge over looking Lake Manyara for overnight. Here you will enjoy spectacular views of the lake as you relax by the pool.
Today you drive to Ngorongoro Crater one of the world’s largest calderas with an amazing balance of wildlife, wilderness and the culture that has lived here for centuries. After a 2 – 3 hour drive, we shall stop at Lake Manyara Serena Lodge for lunch and then proceed 1 – 2 hours to the rim of Ngorongoro crater where our hotel is located. In the evening you will enjoy traditional entertainers at the hotel.
Today you will take a packed lunch and descend with a 4-wheel vehicle to the bottom of the Ngorongoro caldera for an all day game drive. The crater is a self-contained wildlife haven packed with nearly every mammal species to be found in East Africa. We will eat our picnic lunch in the park by a beautiful lake situated in the crater with hippos and many different types of birds. We will ascend from the crater for a hot dinner at the lodge while watching various traditional dances.
Today you will 2 hours to Olduvai Gorge where we will spend the morning exploring the treasures and then continue to Serengeti National Park. The Olduvai Gorge area is believed to be the birthplace of mankind and is where Leakeys have worked for over two decades. It is this site where Mary Leakey found fragments of teeth and skulls, which were part of a male hominid, called Zinjanthropus or Nutcracker Man because of his huge teeth.
Today You shall spend a full day on the plains of Serengeti . There will be two game drives, early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Serenget National Park is one of the Tanzania largest and most famous park. The Park is famous for for its huge lion population and one of the best places in Africa to see the big cats.
After breakfast, You will take a flight back to Arusha and then depart to Zanzibar. Zanzibar is a beautiful island, where history stands still. It is located on the Indian Ocean, 25 minutes from the mainland . During your stay in Zanzibar we do not have anything planned. We have found in the past that guest like to take time to relax, walk on the beach, and plan outings that they find of interest to them.
Leave Zanzibar and fly back to Arusha/Kilimanjaro airport and then fly back back home in the late evening.