Safari Quick Facts

See day 2 for Itinerary

Today you climb past Ngorongoro Crater to enter Serengeti National Park (three to four hours drive). En-route
you'll visit a 50 kilometer-long, 90 meter-deep gorge - Olduvai Gorge - where many fossils have been unearthed.
Successive layers of volcanic deposits were laid down over the millenia, providing a unique record of life in prehistoric
times. It was here that Mary Leakey discovered the famous jawbone that offered clues into the
development of early man some two million years ago. After a short visit to the site museum you'll continue to the
Serengeti and to your camp for the night – the same facilities and tents will be provided here as at Ngorongoro.
Your campsite is located in the Seronera area of the park, in the central Serengeti, one of the most picturesque
areas of the park and great for game viewing.

Serengeti is Tanzania's largest national park and, justifiably, the most famous. The plains extend over the border
into Kenya (Serengeti means ‘endless plains’) to become the Masai Mara National Park, thus creating a vast area that attracts large numbers of herbivores. Due to the varied terrain and concentration of wildlife, the Serengeti is a great place to spend a couple of days, to take advantage of the unparalleled opportunities to see animals from close range. In order to see as much wildlife as possible, you'll take morning and afternoon game drives. As well as wildebeest there are big herds of giraffe, large numbers of zebra, both Thomson's and Grant's gazelle, the ubiquitous impala, plus eland, klipspringer and warthog, and much more. As far as carnivores go, the Serengeti lions are extremely well-known - many have been equipped with radio collars so they can be tracked and studied. There are also leopards here, although these are more elusive, and cheetah. Lion and cheetah are regularly sighted. The Serengeti's birdlife is particularly rich, with a number of endemic species that are commonly seen including Fischer's lovebird, grey-rumped spurfowl and babbler-like rufous-tailed weaver. Depending on which time of year you travel, you may also be able to see the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth
– the fantastic wildebeest migration.
The migration sees 1.5 million white-bearded wildebeest and half a million zebra moving around the Serengeti
and Masai Mara in Kenya. During the rainy season (Dec-May), they are scattered throughout the southern
Serengeti. Once the rains stop the southern areas dry out quickly as there are few rivers and streams, so the
wildebeest congregate in immense herds in the remaining green areas, and eventually migrate in a northwesterly
direction across the border into Kenya in search of food. After spending the dry season (Jul-Oct) around
the Masai Mara area, they migrate back southwards into Tanzania in anticipation of December's rains.

Today, you continue to peaceful Lake Manyara National Park, a drive of approximately five hours.
The park lies between the lake from which it takes its name and the abrupt slope of the Rift Valley's western
escarpment. Because of the lake it's a good place to see hippo and it also has excellent birdlife. The habitat and
diversity is greater here - including pink flamingos that are attracted by the alkaline waters of the lake at certain
times of year, and blue and vervet monkeys which play around in the mahogany and sausage trees of the park.
You can also see elephants feeding off fallen fruit, plus bushbuck, baboons and leopards in the surrounding
forest. It’s most famous residents however, are the tree-climbing lions. It’s really something special to see the
lions, and the spectacular array of wildlife and birdlife in Lake Manyara National Park.
Your campsite is located just outside the park.

This morning you’ll enjoy a game drive in the park, before continuing to Arusha (a journey of approximately two
hours). There may be free time to take a peek at Arusha’s colourful markets, before continuing on to Kilimanjaro
airport for your return flight.