4 Days Big Five Camping Safari in Northern Tanzania

Day 1: Arusha - Lake Manyara

Leave Arusha in the morning around 8:00 a.m. and drive through the Masai land entering the Rift Valley where the Lake Manyara National Park is located. After registration at the main gate, you embark on your first game drives which starts right at the gate in the lush green forests that are fed by underground water ensuring the forest is evergreen even during the dry months.

Lunch will be taken at one of the many picnic sites, then game drives will continue for the rest of the afternoon including a visit to the lake. Overnight will be at Lake Manyara's small town. Lunch box and dinner are included.

Day 2: Lake Manyara - Serengeti

After breakfast at the lodge/camp, you will check out and head up to the Loduare Gate, where you will have a brief stop for registration and another short stop at the Ngorongoro Crater viewpoint at the rim of the crater. You will then drive further to Naabi Hill Gate and enter Serengeti National Park for afternoon game drives. All meals are included.

Day 3: Full day at Serengeti

Spend a full day at Serengeti National park. Plenty of animals and birds species can be spotted at Serengeti and depending on the time of visit, you will be able to see the wildebeest's migration herds. Picnic lunch will be served. Overnight is at a public camp. All meals are included.

Day 4: Ngorongoro Crater - Arusha - end of the safari

Morning breakfast then check out and drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area via Naabi Hill gate. Enter Ngorongoro Crater by midday and spend the whole day at the crater floor. Picnic at the hippo poolside picnic site. Later in the afternoon, drive up the crater rim back to Arusha.

Lake Manyara National Park

Located 125 kilometers west of Arusha town, nestling by the wall of the Great Rift Valley, Lake Manyara National Park is one of the oldest and most popular sanctuaries in East Africa. The park has a large variety of habitats, making it possible to support a wealth of wildlife in its small area.

The main habitats include the shallow soda lake itself which occupies 77% of the National Park total area of 330 square kilometers, the groundwater forest, open grassland, acacia woodland, and the rift wall.

The most famous spectacle in the park is the tree-climbing lions, which are occasionally seen along branches of acacia trees. Other animals found in the park include buffalo, elephants, leopards, baboons, impala, giraffes, zebra, wildebeest, ostrich and hippos.

Popularly referred to as an ornithologist’s paradise, Lake Manyara National Park contains over 400 bird species found in most savanna and river habitats in East Africa. Common water birds to be seen here are pelicans, spoonbills, Egyptian geese, hammerkops and the migratory flamingoes, which arrive in hundreds of thousands creating one of Africa’s great natural sights over the soda lake.

Serengeti National Park

Covering an area of 14,763 square kilometers, Serengeti National Park is the second-largest national park in Tanzania after Ruaha. The park is located some 320 kilometers to the northwest of Arusha, lying in a high plateau between the Ngorongoro highlands and the Kenya / Tanzania border, and extending almost to Lake Victoria to the west.

Aptly named “endless plains” by the Maasai people, you immediately experience this vastness as you enter the southeastern plains of the park from Ngorongoro.

Declared a protected area in 1921 and gazetted as a National park in 1951, Serengeti is the oldest national park in Tanzania and undoubtedly one of the most famous wildlife sanctuaries in the world.

The principal features of the Serengeti are the short and long grass plains in the south and east, the acacia savannah in the central areas, the hilly and densely wooded areas in the north and the extensive woodland in the west.

There is a variety of scenery, which includes the plains, lakes, hills and the rock outcrops called kopjes. The main game drive areas in the Serengeti are the Seronera Valley, the Western Corridor, and Lobo or northern Serengeti.

The Seronera Valley in central Serengeti endowed with permanent surface water attracts a large concentration of wildlife throughout the year. Common animals that can be seen here are lions, buffaloes, impalas, hippos, waterbucks, elephants, cheetahs, and the leopard.

From December, when the long rains start, to May, eastern Serengeti plains provide the best opportunities for game viewing as hundreds of thousands of the migratory animals are concentrated in this part attracted by the short palatable grass.

Between May and July, when drought sets in, Serengeti is the site of one of the most breathtaking events in the animal kingdom – the migration of thousands of wildebeest heading southwest, north or west in search of water and greener pastures.

The Lobo area remains rich in wildlife during the dry months of August to November when most of the game has moved from the grass plains in the south. This is also true of the Western Corridor towards Lake Victoria when the migration usually lingers in the area between June and July.

Serengeti provides sanctuary to the highest concentration of plains animals in the world. Survey estimates indicate an animal population of over 4 million including 3,000 lions, 1,600,000 wildebeest, 300,000 Thomson‘s and Grant‘s gazelle, 500,000 zebras. There are over 400 species of birds in the Serengeti.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

A UNESCO protected World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is situated some 190 kilometers west of Arusha, between Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Parks. Covering approximately 8,292 square kilometers, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area consists of the Ngorongoro Crater itself, the Olduvai Gorge and Ndutu, the Empakai Crater and the Oldonyo Lengai Mountain.

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a pioneering experiment in multi-purpose land use where people (the Maasai), their livestock and wildlife coexist and share the same protected habitat.

Wild animals are protected as in the national parks. The craters of Ngorongoro and Empakai are reserved exclusively for wildlife, while the rest of the Conservation Area is shared by wildlife, people and livestock.

The Maasai, the main residents of Ngorongoro, are pastoralists who move widely with their herds of cattle, sheep, goat, and donkeys in search of pasture and water. In recent years the Maasai have been encouraged to work on the land and supplement their traditional diet of milk and meat.

The Ngorongoro Crater, which is the central attraction in the area, is the largest caldera in the world that has its walls intact. The Ngorongoro Crater floor, a sheer drop of 610 meters below the crater rim, has an area of 304 square kilometers, with a diameter of 19 kilometers.

The sight of the Ngorongoro Crater is simply stunning. "It is impossible to give a fair description of the size and beauty of the Crater, for there is nothing with which one can compare it. It is one of the Wonders of the World," once wrote Professor Bernhard Grzimek.

The crater floor is home to tens of thousands of plains animals, including wildebeest, zebra, gazelles, elands, and a large predator population of lions, hyena, and jackal which can all be viewed at close quarters. The rare black rhino can be viewed here, and if you are lucky you can see cheetah and leopard.

The rainy season is between November and May. The altitude at the crater rim is about 2286 meters above sea level, and temperatures can get quite chilly in the evening, especially between May to September.

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You will be served three meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).

• Baloon Safari available on Booking at an extra cost 580 USD
• Cultural tour at or visiting Maasai boma and photo-taking 100 USD

• Mineral water
• All national park fees
• English-speaking guide
• All the mentioned activities
• Overnight stays in safari tents
• Meals according to the itinerary
• Transportation in a 4×4 safari vehicle
• Camping safari according to the itinerary
• Professional, English-speaking safari cook
• Camping equipment (tents, sleeping mats, chairs, tables, etc.)

• Tips
• Flights
• Visa fees
• Sleeping bag
• Travel insurance
• Airport round Trip
• Optional activities
• Alcoholic and soft drinks
• Personal spending money for souvenirs etc.

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• A reservation requires a deposit of 14% of the total price.
• The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
• The rest of the payment should be paid on arrival.