8 Day Tanzania Affordable Big Five Safari

We stay at Arusha Masailand Safari Lodge, which is a beautiful lodge located on the lower slopes of Mount Meru and is a perfect place to prepare you for the adventure.
We will gather in the evening at 5:30 pm for a pre-safari briefing and an equipment check.
We will also confirm you have the appropriate mandatory medical coverage and travel insurance.

Today we drive to Tarangire National Park, for excellent game viewing. Tarangire is a small park that offers some excellent sights. Generally, in the dry seasons, Tarangire comes alive as the wildlife and birdlife congregate on the Tarangire River, which is a permanent source of water. We spend the night in our lodge beautifully set outside the park with stunning views and a unique atmosphere.

Today we drive to Lake Manyara National Park for a full day of game drives. This is one of Tanzania’s smaller parks but still offers a rewarding and diverse safari experience. The lakeshore at Manyara teems with birdlife, and while you are looking for the birds, you might spot one of the elusive tree-climbing lions. There are a surprising number of other large mammals and the striking cliffs on the Rift escarpment form a dramatic backdrop. In the late afternoon, we make a short journey from the park to our Lodge.

Breakfast in the lodge departs for Lake Eyasi safari to meet up the elusive Hadzabe tribe, whom you learn more about their fascinating culture. Picnic lunch then goes for the Datoga village tour then back in the evening for the overnight.

Start off early with your bushman guide to meet a group of resident Hadzabe people. Enjoy the Hadzabe Tour walking into the bush with the only hunter-gatherers remaining in the East African region. The Hadzabe speak a click-based language and move their encampments with the seasonal movements of the wildlife. Your guide is a member of the group and teaches you more about how they hunt, track wildlife, make fire, and even take honey from bee’s nests before introducing you to his people and explaining a little more about the customs and the way of life.
Then proceed to Serengeti National Park with an en-route game drive.

We have another full day in this wonderful park, rising early to make the most of our time. Our guides will choose the best spotting locations for the time of year; we can spend time at the Hippo pool watching these majestic animals laze about in the cool water happily living alongside the crocodiles, watch a big pride of lions, be in the middle of the migration, sometimes surrounded by wildebeest, sometimes by zebras, which travel with the wildebeest. We journey from the wide-open plains to the kopjes: these volcanic rocky outcrops provide protection and shelter for a wide variety of animals and from the top, we can look out across the vast grasslands of the Serengeti. This diverse and interesting landscape will provide us with the ultimate in game viewing, we will hopefully see all of the plain games; elephants, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, lions and if you are lucky the elusive leopard and cheetah, as well as huge amounts of the interesting birdlife, from the elegant secretary birds to the flightless ostrich. We return to our special tented camp for the night.

We start the day with an early morning game drive before heading to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Ngorongoro is a special place in that it is a Conservation Area, not a National Park; this means that the whole area is managed for both the animals and the local Masai people who graze their cattle alongside the indigenous wildlife. During the drive-in Ngorongoro, we have a chance to glimpse something of the Masai way of life. After stopping at the entrance gate, where there is a chance to learn more about this fascinating volcanic landscape, we will drive around the rim of the Crater itself, and from here we can look down and see the herd of wildebeest or buffalos. Finally, we descend into the crater. The crater walls provide a natural sanctuary for the animals, which means there is plenty to see: lions, elephants, buffalo, rhino, and leopard (if you are lucky). The only animal you won’t see here is a giraffe, whose long legs are unable to cope with the steeps sides of the crater. In the late afternoon, we travel back to Arusha via Karatu, drop off one person then proceed to Arusha.

Free morning to relax after your great northern safari or explore the Masai market in Arusha.
We will arrange a private transfer to Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) after the safari.