$3,264 pp (USD)
2 travelers on Start dateArrival
Arrival
Day 1
Arrival & Transfer to Hotel
Arrival & Transfer to Hotel
Our driver will meet you at the airport and transfer you to your lodge. Standard check-in time is 2 pm.
If you require early check-in, please request it in advance through your travel expert, and we will be happy to assist, subject to availability.
If you need a different pick-up location, please let us know at the time of booking, and we’ll be glad to suggest alternative arrangements.
- Main Destination:
- Arusha (City)
- Accommodation:
- Olerai Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 2
Walk with Locals in Mto wa Mbu Village - Banana Plantations, Souvenir Shops, Local Village
Walk with Locals in Mto wa Mbu Village - Banana Plantations, Souvenir Shops, Local Village
Your morning is spent in Mto wa Mbu, a market town at the foot of the Rift Valley escarpment with an unusually rich cultural texture – more than 120 tribal communities have settled here over generations, and that mix shows in the market, the food, and the crafts.
On foot with your guide, you'll move through the village at an easy pace – past traditional homesteads, through the local market, and into a banana plantation where the variety of what grows here, and the ingenuity of how it's used, tends to catch people off guard. Local artists will walk you through their painting traditions, and woodcarvers will explain the significance behind the forms they work with – the kind of detail that's easy to miss without someone to translate it.
Before leaving, you may be offered mbege, the traditional banana and millet beer. Worth trying.
You'll be at your next lodge by lunch, with the afternoon to yourself.
- Main Destination:
- Mto Wa Mbu (Town)
- Accommodation:
- Tloma Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 3
Game Drive in Ngorongoro Crater
Game Drive in Ngorongoro Crater
An early start gets you into the crater before the morning light fades. The descent takes around 30 minutes through forest, with a viewpoint stop at the rim before the caldera floor opens up below. The crater holds one of the highest concentrations of wildlife per square kilometre on the continent – elephant, buffalo, zebra, lion and a small resident population of black rhino, all within a single enclosed landscape. Cheetah are present too, though less predictable. The permanent water and grazing keep most animals here year-round, which gives the day a particular reliability. A mid-morning stop at Lake Magadi is worth the pause – hippos surface near the shore, and yellow-billed kites tend to take an interest in any food left unattended. The crater has held UNESCO World Heritage status since 1979.
- Main Destination:
- Ngorongoro Crater
- Accommodation:
- Narudi Tented Camp
Wildlife in Ngorongoro Crater
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 4
Exploring Seronera and Kogatende in Serengeti
Exploring Seronera and Kogatende in Serengeti
Few places in Africa concentrate this much wildlife in one landscape. Seronera sits at the heart of the Serengeti, where the river of the same name runs year-round and the grass stays green long after the surrounding plains have turned dry. Resident lions live here in numbers that anchor the largest population on the continent. Leopards are seen regularly in the yellow-barked acacias along the riverbank, drowsing through the heat of the day in the high branches. Beyond the river, the open plains stretch in every direction: wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, and the predators that follow them. UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981 – a designation that, in this case, feels like an understatement. There's a reason this landscape has held people's attention for a century, and it tends to make itself clear within the first hour.
- Main Destination:
- Serengeti National Park
- Accommodation:
- Mara Kati Kati Tented Lodge
Wildlife in Serengeti NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 5
Game Drive to River Crossing at Mara River
Game Drive to River Crossing at Mara River
The drive into the Serengeti marks a shift in the landscape and the pace. Lion, elephant, giraffe, buffalo and zebra are all present from the start; cheetah are regularly seen in the open sections.
Today also involves a transfer from the central Serengeti to the north – a drive of around two and a half to three hours. There are two ways to approach it: a full morning game drive through Seronera before heading north in the afternoon, or an earlier departure that gives more time at the Mara River, where the Great Migration crossings happen. Your guide will help you read the conditions and decide which makes more sense on the day.
The northern Serengeti and the Mara River are where the migration concentrates at its most dramatic – the following days are built around that.
- Main Destination:
- Northern Serengeti National Park
- Accommodation:
- Narudi Tented Camp
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 6
Final Day in Serengeti Plains
Final Day in Serengeti Plains
Your final morning in the central Serengeti. The kopjes – granite outcrops rising from the plain – are worth time today: lion and leopard use them as resting points and vantage spots, and the light on the rock in the early hours is good for photography.
The drive back to Arusha takes around six hours, so the morning game drive wraps up before midday. The route passes through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area – Maasai villages along the road, and giraffe or zebra occasionally visible in the distance. You'll be back in Arusha by dinner.
- Main Destination:
- Serengeti National Park
- Accommodation:
- Olerai Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 7
Departure Day and Transfer to Airport
Departure Day and Transfer to Airport
Our driver will pick you up from your hotel and transfer you to the airport in time for your flight. Standard hotel check-out time is 10:00 AM.
If you require a late check-out, please let us know at the time of booking – we will be happy to request it in advance (subject to availability and possible extra charges).
If you are not flying out on this day and have other plans, please inform us when booking. We can customize your program according to your schedule.
- Main Destination:
- No major destination visited
- Accommodation:
- No accommodation (End of tour)
- Meals & Drinks:
