Compare Serengeti & Ngorongoro Safari by Intrepid Travel vs Cultural Tour And Wildlife Safari by Eco Africa Climbing

Day 1 Arusha / Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Welcome to Tanzania. This Short Break starts at the joining point hotel at 8am where you will be met and transferred to your lodge by a Intrepid representative. Alternatively you can be met at the airport if you arrive before 9am. This will allow enough time for you to transfer to Ngorongoro Crater (approximately 4-5 hours drive). You will enjoy an afternoon game drive when you arrive. Widely regarded as a microcosm of natural habitats in Africa and often touted as a veritable Garden of Eden. The ash from the volcano that collapsed here created fertile soil that encouraged rich savanna grasslands, which now support the largest herds of hoofed animals in the world. This of course attracts numerous predators and birdlife. Within the crater lies so many types of ecosystem, including riverine forests, open plains, freshwater and alkaline lakes. The scenery is spectacular as you descend almost 600 metres down to the crater floor. There is every chance you will see a considerable variety of wildlife in this compact area – hopefully you'll see some or all of the 'big five' creatures that rule here. Animals within the Ngorongoro Crater are less shy of people and safari vehicles, so it's easier to see them up close. The Masai are permitted to water their cattle at the permanent lake and can be seen leading their animals in and out of the crater. The most commonly seen animals are the lion, wildebeest, zebra, eland, bushbuck, cheetah, jackal, buffalo, Grant's gazelle and Thompson's gazelle. You may even catch a glimpse of the highly endangered black rhinoceros. Your lodge for the night is in a lush and quiet oasis in the small town of Karatu.

Day 2 Serengeti National Park

This morning you will leave the crater and drive to the Serengeti National Park. Enjoy a game drive on your way to your accommodation, watching the landscape change within the park from the vast treeless central plains to thick scrub and forest in the north. Linking these areas is the savanna, dotted with acacia trees and magnificent rock outcrops. You may visit the Simba Kopjes, an outcrop favoured by lion and cheetah as high perches and a place to hide their cubs, and they can often be seen basking in the morning sun on top. (Simba is Swahili for lion and kopje Afrikaans for ‘little head’). You’ll stop for a picnic lunch on the drive from Ngorongoro Conservation area to the Serengeti National Park. Enjoy the comfort of a tented camp within the national park.

Day 3 Serengeti National Park

The ‘Endless Plains’ of the Serengeti span some 14,700 square kilometres and capture the essence of Africa, with their main claim to fame the 3 million or so animals that make their home here. Massive numbers of grazing animals and various predators can be seen – wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, lion, cheetah, warthog, hyena, hippo and ostrich – and the interaction between the many species often provides some of the best wildlife viewing opportunities in the world. Today you will start around sunrise for a morning game drive and follow that up later on with an afternoon game drive, as the animals tend to be more active in the cooler hours of the day. You will usually return to camp during the hotter hours in the middle of the day, where you will enjoy a hearty meal, relax and maybe take a siesta. Depending on wildlife movements and opportunities for sightings, the drive may continue through lunch and last all day. In this case, you will return to the camp in the late afternoon. There's also the option of a balloon ride over the park today. If you have pre-booked this activity you will be picked up before dawn and driven to the launch site. After a safety briefing, you will glide through the dawn, sometimes at tree height, which provides amazing photo opportunities. Sometimes you will ascend, getting an overview of the enormity of the plains and the early morning movements of the teeming herds. After landing, you'll be treated to a five-star bush breakfast, then be returned to your camp.

Day 4 Arusha

Today we leave the Serengeti National Park and head back to Arusha (approximately 8 hours), where this safari short break comes to an end. Please do not book any international flights before 8pm.

Day 1: Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport

We meet and greet at the airport and we transfer you to Moshi.  Overnight at Kili wonders Hotel on bed & breakfast basis. (http://kiliwonders.com)

Day 2: Day trip to the base of Mt Kilimanjaro And Cultural Tour

Visit and learn the history of Marangu and its people. Marangu, at the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro, is a small town with a great amount of history and ancient traditions. Get carried away by the Chagga tribe, unique rainforest landscape and coffee growing insides. This full day tour has it all action, tradition and culinary. You will get a chance to visit on the base of mt Kilimanjaro, and view the mountain if you luck, overnight at Hotel in moshi. (http://kiliwonders.com)

Day 3: Moshi – Tarangire National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Ngorongoro Farm House, Oldeani Road, Karatu

Your safari begins after breakfast this morning. Our first stop is Arusha town, for any last minute purchases before we head off on an exciting safari experience! We will be in the Tarangire National Park for lunch and an afternoon game drive. Tarangire is well known for its huge elephant population and baobab trees. It forms the centre of the annual migratory cycle that includes up to 3000 elephant, 25,000 wildebeest and 30,000 zebra.

Day 4: Lake Manyara National Park – Lake Eyasi

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Lake Eyasi Safari lodge or similar

After coffee and breakfast, we head towards Lake Manyara National Park for an early morning game drive. This spectacular national park is located at the north-western corner of Lake Manyara, a shallow soda lake at the foot of the Great Rift Valley’s western escarpment. Lake Manyara is not only known for its large flocks of flamingos, but also for the elusive tree-climbing lions. After lunch and a short afternoon game drive, we head towards our lodge at Lake Eyasi.

Day 5: Lake Eyasi

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation:  Lake Eyasi Safari Camp or similar

Today’s activities are interacting with local Bushmen & Blacksmiths communities. The Hadzabe Tribe, live in groups hunting with bow and arrows and gathering roots, tubers and wild fruits, much as humankind lived in the Stone Age. We will obtain an in-depth look at how they continue to survive and adapt to their harsh environment and the challenges they face in continuing their nomadic existence. The Hadzabe have close relations with the Datoga tribe, blacksmiths who have developed their trade over centuries and still practice it very much the same way today. They produce the arrow heads for the Hadzabe and brass trinkets, some of which will be for sale by the maker himself.

Day 6: Lake Eyasi – Lake Ndutu- Serengeti

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Kati Kati Tented Camp or similar

This morning, we head through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area via Eyasi escarpment to Endulen, Ndutu open area towards the Serengeti National Park. We will stop at a Masai village, which is not a touristic Masai Boma, for a cultural encounter of a life time. The Masai people are semi-nomadic herders, who choose to live a traditional lifestyle and are known for their distinctive traditional attire. After lunch, we embark on a game drive within the park on our way to the lodge. 

Day 7: Serengeti National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Kati Kati Tented Camp or similar

Today our game drive will lead us towards the central part of Serengeti National Park. We look for large herds of wildebeests pounding the grasslands, while hungry predators such as lions, leopards and cheetahs prey upon the youngest and weakest members of the herds. The Serengeti’s endless plains provide an exceptional landscape for wildlife viewing throughout the year.

Day 8: Serengeti National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Kati Kati Tented Camp or similar

Enjoy a full day of game viewing in the Serengeti National Park. The Serengeti is renowned for its annual wildebeest migration and large predator population. From February to May, a herd of over a million wildebeest (gnu) migrate for the Western Corridor of the park, in search of greener pastures. The Serengeti’s other animal attractions include lion, leopard, zebra, Thompson gazelle, impala, Grant’s gazelle and buffalo. Most of the park is open swathes of grassland, broken by isolated granite kopjes (hills) and patches of acacias woodlands.

Day 9: Serengeti – Ngorongoro 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Ngorongoro Farm  House or Similar Lodge.

We take an early breakfast at camp and then head to the Ngorongoro Crater. On arrival we go through the registration process and descend to the floor of the world’s largest unbroken caldera for the most wonderful day of game viewing. We will have lunch at the Lerai picnic site at the side of the hippo pool and continue with a game drive up the crater rim.

Day 10: Ngorongoro  to Arusha or  Moshi

After breakfast we explore the colourful town of Mto-wa-Mbu for some last minute pictures and curio shopping. At Arusha you can be dropped at The Arusha Airport for a flight to Zanzibar or transferred to Kilimanjaro International Airport for departure. -We can arrange a flight for you to Zanzibar as well as the transfers and accommodation at the Island of Zanzibar."