Ngare Sero

A staff member of Jerry Tanzania Tours will pick you up from the Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO). From here you will be driven to Gran Meliá Arusha in Arusha. Enjoy a restful night before beginning your adventure tomorrow!

Note: The hotel cost only includes breakfast. Check-in starts at 2:00 pm.

You'll depart from Gran Meliá Arusha after breakfast for the approximately two-hour journey to Tarangire National Park. Along the way, your eyes will be opened to all the colours and character of Tanzania: perhaps some Maasai herdsmen driving their flocks of goats to new pastures. You’ll get to know your driver-guide, amazed at his depth of knowledge as he effortlessly answers all your questions. Once you've entered Tarangire, you'll begin your game drive across a rich vista of endless golden savannah that surrounds the Tarangire River. Tarangire is huge. As you stand at the park gate and look south, it stretches as far as the eye can see. Known as the ‘Elephant Playground,’ this spectacular park contains largest population of these mighty mammals. But Tarangire is also home to buffalo, lion, gnu, zebra and gazelle and the park can rival Serengeti for sheer animal densities. What might you see today? Perhaps a solitary male lion stretched out beneath a tree, perhaps a trio of male cheetah enjoying some lazy bonding-time in the sun. Maybe some graceful Grant’s gazelle or zebra bounding away from the road or a couple of giraffes munching happily from the choicest acacia branches. For Tarangire specialties, look out for kudu and oryx.

Here as in other parks, it pays not to ignore the small animals. It is so easy to be mesmerized by the power and majesty of an elephant or the elegance of the giraffe. Ask your guide to find you an agama lizard, especially a male one who changes colour in front of you according to the temperature! Or a hyrax, known as pimbi, an insignificant-looking creature of around 30 cm in length…who astonishingly is related to elephant!

Not many trees will pass you by without something of avian interest catching your eye. A memorable flash of colour might be a lilac-breasted roller or superb starling. Ostrich are plentiful and it is hard not to chuckle at the sighting of the well-named, studious-looking secretary bird as it awkwardly pads across the grasslands.

The park is also famous for its noble baobab trees, rolling savannah and acacia woodland. It can be dusty – wear a scarf over your mouth - but this is a minor inconvenience for sighting wildlife in such abundance. After an extensive game drive and a picnic lunch, you will leave the park to make your way to the hotel.

After a hearty breakfast you will head out on another game drive in the Tarangire National Park. The varied terrain in itself could be considered a wonder, with riverine woodlands and grasslands, acacia and baobab. Tarangire is a true dry season refuge for the region’s wildlife. Amazingly, some 550 species of birds have been recorded here, and it won’t be long before an air-bound blaze of colour alerts you to something interesting. You might recognize an ostrich or a stork, but if you can’t identify the smaller species, there’s no need to worry – that is what your expert driver-guide is here for!

The birds are exotic and so are the names: what about the ‘white-bellied go-away bird’ or the ‘olive bee-eater’ for example? But of course, you will also see plenty more large mammals today. In the late afternoon, you will leave the Tarangire behind. Passing through the small multi-cultural town of Mto wa Mbu, the higher lands are soon reached and wonderful views of the Maasai Plains and the Lake Manyara open up before you. After the obligatory photo stop, you will make your way to the hotel. Today’s destination is Mawe Mawe Manyara Lodge set at the rugged Rift Valley escarpment.

Your journey today will take you northwards, skirting the side of the Great Rift Valley to Lake Natron, with an expected time of 3 hours (117km).

The scenery today, as you head north past volcanic landscapes, will be stunning, but after a long journey, your chance to escape from the heat of Lake Natron with a dip in cool, fresh water might prove to be the highlight.

Only a short distance from Lake Natron itself, you follow a narrow gorge that carves its way through the escarpment wall, crossing and re-crossing the rushing stream that carries waters down into the valley. At times, you will have to wade across. Such is the incline that at times, waterfalls cascade down. Your reward comes after about 45 minutes, when you have the chance to cool off (and yes, it really is cold, despite the high air temperatures!) and swim in a pool beneath one of the falls. From above, you may be observed by a mountain goat or two, precariously perched on the seemingly inaccessible rocks! Delightful!

This morning, accompanied by a guide, you take the opportunity to walk along the lakeshore of Natron. To the north of this shallow lake lies Kenya, while away to the south is the brooding shape of Ol Doinyo Lengai, a still-active volcano. The heat here is hostile, but there’s still wildlife to be found! The highlight has to be the lesser flamingos, with their distinctive pinkish hue – caused, of course, by the pigment of the algae on which they feed. Other migrant water birds can be seen, mainly during the winter months. Nearby, you might catch sight of a zebra, gazelle or wildebeest, though the densities of large mammals cannot compete with the national parks.

You will have an early cooked lunch before leaving Lake Natron, and on reaching Lake Manyara Area set against the rugged Rift Valley escarpment.

After breakfast at daybreak, you will set off towards Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera and the heart of the Conservation Area of the same name. On arrival at the entry into the conservation area, you will sign in and then begin the winding descent into the crater itself. At one side there’s the Lerai Forest, classic mountain forest landscape with almost tropical characteristics. This is good elephant country, so keep your eyes peeled. By the side of the nearby swampland is what is sometimes called the ‘elephant graveyard’ as the mighty male tuskers at the end of their lives come to chew on the soft, swampland grasses once their teeth have failed them.

The crater has a population of around 120 lions, with well-defined territories; 15,000 gnu, 9,000 zebra, 400 hyenas, and around 50 black rhino. Many gnu and other herd animals are resident, benefiting from the many sources of year-round waters and are boosted by some migrators in season. Buffalo, Serval, Jackal, Thomson’s gazelle and eland are also present in numbers. Hippos can be found in pools and swampland and highland birdlife is colourful and plentiful around the waters. Flamingos can often be seen in Lake Magadi, which occupies part of the crater floor. After your morning game drive in this stunning crater and then lunch, you will have a 3 ½ hour journey, covering the 192 km back to Arusha.

Meal Plan: Breakfast is served at the Mawe Mawe Manyara Lodge. Lunch will be a nutritious and balanced meal, also provided by the lodge for you to take out on safari and enjoyed after your morning game-drive, before you return to Arusha. As today is the end of safari, please note that dinner tonight is not included in the tour.

On this day, you will have a leisure breakfast at the Gran Meliá Arusha and depending on your departure flight back home, you will be transferred to the Kilimanjaro International Airport.

Note: Hotel check-out is at 12:00 pm. In case you need a late check-out because of an evening flight, you have the option to extend your hotel stay till 6:00 pm for an extra fee.