Turaco

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 breakfast, you will set off for your next destination, the stunning Serengeti National Park, a distance of 166 km and a journey time of around 3 ½ hours. By late morning, you will reach Serengeti, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the country’s oldest and most celebrated national park and take a game drive. There are surely not many better places on earth to see such quantities and variety of wildlife. You will absorb the breath-taking scenery, fantastic changing light and – of course – spot the many animals choosing to make their home here. Your dedicated driver-guide will be delighted to share with you his knowledge of this incredible place and its flora and fauna. With thousands of predators – and their prey numbering in the hundreds of thousands – it is no surprise that there is always something fascinating happening amongst the wildlife populations. Your driver-guide may find you lion, leopard, elephant, zebra, cheetah and antelope on today’s safari… just some of the many species here. Snap off some memorable photos, but don’t forget to simply take a deep breath and enjoy nature in its real-time, raw beauty. After the game drive, you will be taken to your accommodation for some welcome rest, your evening meal and to spend the night.

Following breakfast, you will have a morning game drive in amazing Serengeti, marveling at its animal inhabitants. With its informative visitor centre, the Seronera area of Central Serengeti is the national park’s most popular area. And it is very popular with the wildlife, too. The Seronera river enjoys year-round waterflow, so there is always something of interest to observe. Several game drives can be undertaken here and might reveal lions in sizeable prides, hippo or herds of elephants - whose populations in the park have risen in recent times. Depending on other attractions, you may choose to call in at the Serengeti Visitor Centre, where there is an excellent explanation of the park’s eco-system and a chance to understand the history of conservation in this area. In particular, you will find out about the work of Bernhard Grzimek and the Frankfurt Zoological Society who had the foresighted vision of preserving the Serengeti’s eco-system.

Even at the center, you may well find wildlife: populations of hyrax and mongoose, as well as many small bird species. After lunch, you will head south-east towards Ngorongoro Conservation Area. If it has not already struck you with its vastness, Serengeti’s ‘endless plains’ will make a deep impression on you as you will take the long, straight road which passes Simba Kopjes (famous from ‘The Lion King’) to reach Naabi Hill Gate, close to the divide between Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Here you can gather information at the gate’s visitor center, clamber up the hill for superb views back over the plains, or look out for a colorful agama lizard among the rocks.

From your accommodation, you will set off after breakfast, a 6am departure to reach the rim and then descend into the vast 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.

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.