5 DAY CAMPING SAFARI

Day 1 – Arusha – Lake Manyara

Non-game-viewing travel time: 2½ hours
Distance: 130 km
Pick up from Arusha ready for 5 Day Budget Safari and transfer to Lake Manyara national park.
We arrive in time for lunch at the lodge and after lunch, we head into the Lake Manyara National Park for an afternoon game drive. This national park is one of Tanzania’s most dramatically located wildlife areas, consisting of a massive but shallow soda lake (covering two-thirds of the park), located at the foot of the Great Rift Valley’s western escarpment. The park’s varied habitat attracts a wide variety of animals, including one of Africa’s largest concentrations of elephants, Lake Manyara’s unique tree-climbing lions, as well as large flocks of flamingos attracted by the algae in the lake.

Dinner and overnight at Migombani camping  Full board included

Day 2 – Lake Manyara – Serengeti Plains

Non-game-viewing travel time: 6 hours
Distance: 205 km
After breakfast, we head towards the Serengeti National Park, via the beautiful high-lying farmland of Karatu and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Leaving the highlands behind, we descend into the heart of wild Africa – the Serengeti National Park – with its endless plains, rolling into the distance as far as the eye can see. We head to the central park area, known as the Seronera area, one of the richest wildlife habitats in the park, featuring the Seronera River, which provides a valuable water source to this area and therefore attracts wildlife well representative of most of the Serengeti’s species.
We arrive in time for lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive in the Serengeti national park.
Dinner and overnight at Serengeti Campsite

Day 3 – Serengeti Plains

We do an after-breakfast game viewing drive along the Sogore River Circuit, which loops into the plains south of the Seronera River, and which is good for possible Lion, Thomson gazelle, topi, ostrich and cheetah sightings. The Visitor Centre close to the Serengeti Seronera Lodge and public campsites is well worth a visit after the morning’s game drive. This nicely designed centre offers some interesting wildlife displays as well as a gift shop selling information leaflets and maps of the area. The centre also has a shop where cold drinks and snacks can be purchased, as well as a picnic area and information trail up and around a nearby kopje. We will enjoy a relaxed picnic lunch at the centre in the shade of the giant acacia trees.

In the afternoon we will follow the Kopjes Circuit, which goes anti-clockwise around the Maasai Kopjes, which usually attract a number of lions and some formidably giant cobras. Kopjes are weathered granite outcrops, scattered around the plains, most of which are miniature ecosystems, providing shade and drinking water in pools left in the rock after the rains. This makes the kopjes particularly good for spotting wildlife in the dry seasons – including lions, which like to lie in wait for animals coming to drink!

Dinner and overnight at Serengeti Campsite

Day 4 – Serengeti Plains – Ngorongoro crater

Non-game-viewing travel time: 4 hours
Distance: 145 km
After breakfast at the lodge, we depart to the Ngorongoro Conservation area. We will stop over at Olduvai Gorge, boasting a history dating back to the dawn. It was here, that the anthropologist Drs. Lois

We arrive in time for lunch at the lodge and after lunch, we will descend over 600 meters into the crater to view wildlife for a half day’s safari tour. Supported by a year-round water supply and fodder, the Ngorongoro National Park supports a vast variety of animals, which include herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo, and giant African elephants. Another big draw card to this picturesque national park is its dense population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs, and the ever-elusive leopard, which sometimes requires a trained eye to spot. We will visit Lake Magadi, a large but shallow alkaline lake in the southwestern corner, which is one of the main features of the crater. A large number of flamingos, hippos, and other water birds can usually be seen here.
Dinner and overnight at Simba campsite full board included.

Day 5 – Ngorongoro crater – Arusha

Non-game-viewing travel time: 4 hours
Distance: 190 km
Enjoy breakfast, after which we will transfer back to Arusha. Upon arrival in Arusha will we have lunch and then we will end our African safari adventure. The group should tip the guide around $20 a day. You will be taken to your hotel, which ends our safari services.