Northern Tanzanian Safari Circuit overview:

Northern Tanzania Safari Circuit experience:

A safari to Northern Tanzania will take you to some of the most popular and spectacular attractions in Tanzania. These include the vast Seregenti National Park, appropriately named 'endless plains' by the Maasai people, this park plays host to the most spectacular events in the natural world: the annual migration of wildebeest.

The world's largest intact volcanic caldera – Ngorongoro supports a year round resident population of a variety of wildlife. You will see lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and many species of plain animals: wildebeest, zebra, reedbuck, Thompson gazelle and many more.

The beautiful park – Lake Manyara National Park - is famous for its tree climbing lions and migratory flamingos which arrive in hundreds of thousands creating a spectacular sight over the soda lake.This extraordinary Northern Tanzania safari with take you through contrasting landscapes with excellent opportunities for game viewing and cultural interaction.

Day 1: Arusha to Lake Manyara National Park

Depart Arusha and arrive in time for a game drive and lunch in Lake Manyara National Park. Explore the Park in an open 4x4 safari vehicle in the company of your guide. Go in search of elephant, lion or the flocks of flamingo on the shores of the Lake or troops of blue monkey and olive baboon that forage through the tree canopies.

Lake Manyara Wildlife Lodge is perched on the edge of the escarpment overlooking Lake Manyara National Park and thus the views from this Tanzania safari lodge are spectacular. Watch the sun slowly sink over flocks of flamingo on the shores of Lake Manyara while you sip sundowners at the bar. Listen to a wildlife talk/ lecture on the heritage and traditions of the local tribes held each evening at the lodge. Enjoy a delicious meal before retiring to your comfortable bedroom.

Day 2: Lake Manyara National Park

Created to protect the elephant herds, Manyara National Park is equally famous for the unusual behaviour of its tree-climbing lions as for the flocks of pink flamingos that inhabit the lake. Large herds of buffalo, cheetah, leopard, Maasai giraffe and hippo can be seen. The park is also a birdwatcher’s paradise, with more than 400 species, particularly waterfowl and migrants seen.

Besides the popular game drives, Lake Manyara Wildlife Lodge also offers boat trips and canoeing safaris on the lake and bird walks, mountain biking and horse riding around the Lake and its ecosystems.

Day 3 - 4: Ngorongoro Conservation Area

After an early morning safari in Lake Manyara National Park, continue out of the park and into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. After approximately an hour you reach the Crater rim where you can stop to admire the stupendous views, before heading on to Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge. The only property on the eastern rim of this World Heritage Site, Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge has its own private road to the crater floor. This means that you can start your game-viewing on the opposite side of the floor of the Crater to most people, and enjoy a few hours with relatively few other vehicles around.

Your Tanzania safari lodge boasts 90 spacious double bedrooms with a glass fronted verandah, where you can enjoy the spectacular views of the Crater. Enjoy relaxing in the swimming pool which has a view right out over the Ngorongoro Crater.

Unmatched for its natural variety, there are few places on earth where such a tremendous diversity of landscapes exist inside a region this size. The NCA (Ngorongoro Conservation Area) is also of great archaeological importance, with the remains of some of mankind’s earliest ancestors discovered in the area.

A permanent population of more than 30 000 animals inhabit a 260 km² in the 600 m deep crater, making this one of the few places in Africa where you have a good chance of seeing the ‘Big Five’ during the course of a game drive.

Days 5 - 6: Serengeti National Park

After breakfast check out your Tanzania safari lodge and drive back around the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater; before descending from the highlands and down onto the vast flat plains of the Serengeti. Pass traditionally-dressed Maasai herding their cattle, and into the Serengeti National Park.

Seronera is known as the heart of the Serengeti National Park, where all wildlife game drives and hot air balloon safaris take place. Seronera Wildlife Lodge is artfully constructed around a rocky outcrop from glass and wood elements. This Tanzania safari lodge blends in beautifully with the surrounds and the lodge’s swimming pool overlooks the park. Seronera Wildlife Lodge has 75 spacious guestrooms, all of them with great views over the Serengeti plains. The rooms are decorated in authentic traditional African style and have en-suite bathrooms. A fully-equipped gymnasium, Internet café, library, satellite TV lounge are all available at Seronera Wildlife Lodge.

Seronera Lodge is only a few minutes from the departing point of the hot air balloon safaris, which offer a bird's-eye perspective of the vast plains of the Serengeti. The airstrip is also only a few minutes from the lodge, making trips to and from the Lodge easy and comfortable.

Several perennial rivers flow through the Seronera Valley enabling a multitude of mammals to flourish year round. The Seronera River is the largest and most well known of the four rivers that flow northwest from the plains through the valley. The Seronera River is lined with umbrella acacia, yellow barked acacia and sausage trees and with its seasonal swamps and deep pools of water, is ideal lion and leopard habitat. The leopard is mainly nocturnal but is commonly seen during the day in Seronera.

The Seronera River Valley is also well known for the largest resident lion prides in the Serengeti. Activities at this Tanzania safari lodge include: game drives, ornithological safaris, cultural visits, hot air balloon safari excursions and picnics.