Itinerary
Day 1: Tarangire National Park
- Time: 2 hours
- Distance: 118 kilometers
This is a superb national park to visit all year round. However, visiting between June to September gives you to access to a huge variety of animals. The weather is usually clear blue, cloudless sky with a hot sun that bakes the earth into a dusty red and withers the grass to a shade of pale yellow.
The Tarangire River and its surrounding area is home to huge array of exciting wildlife because it offers an excellent watering-hole to quench the animals’ thirst. You will see amazing herd of animals including elephants, migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelles, hartebeest, and eland. It is the greatest concentration of wildlife existing outside of the Serengeti National Park. This area is the only place in Tanzania where you’ll see the fringe-eared oryx and long-necked gerenuk (a member of dry-country antelope family) as they gather to drink water from the Tarangire River. Other animals include the Dwarf Mongoose, Red and Yellow Barbet and Tarangire’s Python.
This national park is also a good sitting area for lions and leopards who prowl the savannah looking for prey. The swampland in Tarangire is home to 550 bird varieties and is heaven on earth for avid bird watchers; it is the largest habitat for breeding species in the whole world.
Day 2: Ngorongoro Conservation area authority
- Time: 3 hours
- Distance: 157 kilometers
The crater is stupendous natural wonder of the world and sits right in the middle of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The bottom of the crater is renowned for incredible opportunities to see games, you could view some extremely rare animals (e.g. black rhino) as well as many different herds of animals.
Originally, the Ngorongoro crater was Volcanic and was formed approximately 20 million years ago as a part of the Rift valley. The rim of the crater is high, standing at 2,220 meters (1.4 miles) so take a jacket or sweater as it can get chilly. The steep walls at the side of the crater rise over 600 meters from the floor and it is the most magical area in the conservation area guaranteed to enthrall every person who visits.
Day 3: Lake Manyara National Park - Arusha
- Time: 1 hour
- Distance: 60 kilometers
Lake Manyara is one of Tanzania’s most dazzling jewels and must be seen! It stretches for over 50 kilometers (31 miles) along the Rift Valley. Explore the lush green jungle and see the hundreds of strong baboons roam territorially, across the expanse of land. Watch the blue monkeys swiftly dash between the giant Mahogany trees and marvel at the dainty bushbuck who warily creep in the shadows.
When you leave the forest, you enter the grassy plains with its incredible views. Head East, across the lake and you’ll come across the Maasai Steppes which is home to the Baobab Trees and Acacia Trees. It’s a semi-dry land and home to large buffalo, wildebeest, and zebra who congregate together with the graceful giraffes. Further inland, there is a narrow strip of land where more Acacia trees stand. Large tusked elephants also like to roam this area along with banded mongoose and dik-dik’s who forage, looking for food. Klipspringers (antelope) travel in pairs and often watch, warily, on the rocks close to the boiling hot springs which steam up and bubble next to the shores of the lake, south-side of the national park.