5 Days Tanzania Big 5 Safari

In the morning you will be picked up at your hotel to start your African Big five safari to the Lake Manyara National Park. Established in 1960, the small Lake Manyara National Park is home to tree climbing lions, elephants and large troops of baboons and monkeys. The park is dominated by the shallow, alkaline lake and boasts with diverse habitats like grassy plains, escarpment and forest. Here hundreds of bird species gather most notable, thousands of pink flamingos. In addition to the striking scenery you have the chance to see giraffes, buffaloes, hippos, wildebeests and the comical warthog. The safari vehicle has an open roof and is the ideal viewing platform to appreciate the nature and animals of this park. In the late afternoon you will leave the park and travel to the lodge, where you will spend the night.

Take an early drive towards the fertile crater highlands immediately after your breakfast and get mesmerise with the beauty of the crop fields that grow wheat, corn and coffee. At midday, you will reach the plains of the Serengeti National Park, the largest park in Tanzania. The Serengeti has a diversity of landscapes including short grass plains, savanna, thick bush, swamps and lakes, and it is famous for the yearly migration when a hundred thousand wildebeest and zebras trek to find fresh grass and water. On your way to your accommodation you will understand, where the word Serengeti (plains in the language of the Masai) comes from. In the early evening you will reach the lodge, where you will spend the night.

The whole day will be spent on a game drive in the Serengeti National Park. During the short rainy season in November and December the herds move from the hills in the north to the plains in the south while during the longer rainy season from April to June they return up north. This circle of life is determined by the rainfalls and locations of the herds might vary from year to year, but your guide will know where to find the animals and where to see them best. A visit to the Serengeti Visitor Centre is also possible. Here you can learn more about the history of the park and the research that is being done by the Frankfurter Zoological Society. You will spend another night at the lodge.

After breakfast, you will continue your African Big five safari in the Serengeti National Park. In the Seronera Valley you might be lucky to see predators hunt as animals gather at the waters during the dry season. After lunch at a picnic spot you will slowly drive in the direction of the Ngorongoro Crater. As soon as you have reached the crater you will have a superb view of the caldera. This approximate 20 km wide crater is part of an UNESCO World Heritage Site and is home to over 20,000 animals. You will stay at the lodge possibly on the crater rim from where you will be able to enjoy an incredible sunset.

Rise and shine! Take our breakfast and drive down in the steep path of world’s greatest caldera” Ngorongoro Crater” the largest, unbroken and unfolded caldera in the world. The crater is not only scenically beautiful, rather it houses an unbelievable diversity of wildlife such as the Zebras, the rare black rhino and other members of the “Big Five” – lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard. The crater is also home to other animals such as hyenas, waterbucks, bushbucks, eland and more than 500 bird species. After an extensive game drive and a picnic lunch you will leave the caldera in the early afternoon and drive back to Moshi/Arusha, where you will arrive in the early evening.