Day 1: Lake Manyara Park

We will depart after breakfast and transfer to E Unoto Retreat luxury lodge for lunch then proceed to Lake Manyara for an afternoon game drive.

Overnight: E Unoto Retreat Resort. FB

Lake Manyara national park is a beautiful park located 130 km from Arusha town at the base of the Great Rift Valley escarpment and was established as a national park in 1960.

Lake Manyara National Park is a small but beautiful reserve of some 330sq km of which 220sq km is covered by the lake while the remaining area is taken by forest, woodland and grassland.

The land area of the park is located west of the lake, hemmed in on the other side by the Great Rift wall. Three quarters of its area is the lake itself, a shallow alkaline lake and the flood plains that surround it. It also has giant fig and mahogany trees and areas of acacia forest. The area is well supplied with underground springs bringing water from the lands above the Manyara basin, giving lush grazing that attracts plenty of game.

Lake Manyara have pretty of wildlife including elephant, buffalo, hippo, giraffe, impala, zebra, waterbuck, warthog, leopard and the famous tree climbing lions. Due to its dense vegetation it’s an idle natural play ground for baboons and monkeys.

It is one of the most scenic lakes in Africa surrounded by forests and with the Rift Valley walls beyond, this small park offers a different landscape to other Tanzania parks and offers the chance to see the famous tree-climbing lions.

The park’s amazing variety of birds makes it an ornithologists’ paradise and a perfect destination for bird watching safaris. There are over 350 species which include pelicans, storks, flamingo and cormorants

Day 2: Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Leaving after breakfast, drive to the Ngorongoro for a visit of the Olduvai Gorge followed by a tour of the Ngorongoro crater floor.

Overnight: Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge. FB

The Ngorongoro Crater is one of the most famous safari destinations on earth- no Tanzania safari would be complete without a visit. Covering 265sq km, it is the world’s largest known intact caldera, with a drop from the top of the sides.

With between 25,000-30,000 animals calling it home, it has one of the highest densities of wildlife of any area on earth. Not only this, its floor offers a good variety of terrain and landscape. With grasslands, swamp and areas of acacia forest, it provides habitats for a good variety of different animal and even a small soda lake. With springs feeding the fertile soil, the grazing is good which encourages the animals to stay put rather than migrate in search of new pastures. This in turn keeps the carnivores happy! It is also a haven for the endangered Black Rhino, attracted by the lush grazing and thick forest in which to live. Access to the crater is restricted to between 7 am and 4 pm in an attempt to control the volume of traffic that enters. As it is a comparatively small area, it is busier that the wide open spaces of the Serengeti, but still offers a unique safari experience. The crater itself is but a small area of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a protected zone that covers some 8,300sq km. Only the indigenous people, the Masai, are allowed to live within it and they grant concessions to the lodges to operate on their lands. Soda lakes, volcanic peaks, rich forest all add to the diversity of the area and you can add to the list the world-famous Olduvai Gorge. It was here that the Anthropologist family, the Leakeys discovered some of the oldest remains of early man, dating from some 1.8 mission years ago. Subsequent excavation have increased these discoveries and include footprints dating back an estimated 3.7 million years. The Crater and conservation areas offer some of the most beautiful landscapes in the whole of Tanzania.

Day 3: Ngorongoro – Arusha

After breakfast, drive back to Arusha via Meserani Snake park arriving at lunchtime. Proceed with onward travel in the afternoon.