4-Day Lake Manyara & Ngorongoro Safari

Day-by-day itinerary

Route: Arusha → Lake Manyara National Park → Ngorongoro Highlands → Ngorongoro Crater → Arusha

1. Day 1

   Arusha to Lake Manyara

   You leave Arusha after breakfast and head for Lake Manyara, driving west from Arusha past Maasai settlements and the escarpment wall. Arrival is followed by check-in and a first drive into groundwater forest, open floodplain and an alkaline lake beneath the Rift Valley escarpment. Look for elephant, baboon troops, hippo, giraffe and large numbers of waterbirds including flamingo as the light softens through the afternoon. Manyara is known for its groundwater forest fed by springs at the base of the escarpment, and for lions that are sometimes seen resting in trees. Transport and game drives are shared with other travellers on this joining departure. You return for dinner and an overnight stay at Lake Manyara.

2. Day 2

   Lake Manyara National Park to Ngorongoro Highlands

   The morning starts in Lake Manyara National Park, from where you continue overland to Ngorongoro Highlands, climbing the forested crater highlands to the rim viewpoint. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into a collapsed volcanic caldera roughly six hundred metres deep, with grassland, soda lake and fever-tree forest on its floor. There is the possibility of seeing lion, elephant, buffalo, flamingo and one of the few remaining populations where black rhino may be seen, depending on movement and conditions on the day. The crater floor holds a resident concentration of wildlife year-round because the caldera walls create a largely self-contained ecosystem. The evening is spent at your Ngorongoro Highlands accommodation, with dinner and overnight there.

3. Day 3

   Ngorongoro Highlands to Ngorongoro Crater

   Breakfast is taken before you set out from Ngorongoro Highlands for the drive to Ngorongoro Crater, climbing the forested crater highlands to the rim viewpoint. Lunch and check-in come first, then an afternoon drive through a collapsed volcanic caldera roughly six hundred metres deep, with grassland, soda lake and fever-tree forest on its floor. Wildlife commonly associated with this area includes lion, elephant, buffalo, flamingo and one of the few remaining populations where black rhino may be seen. The crater floor holds a resident concentration of wildlife year-round because the caldera walls create a largely self-contained ecosystem. Dinner is served at your Ngorongoro Crater camp or lodge, where you spend the night.

4. Day 4

   Ngorongoro to Arusha

   You leave Ngorongoro after breakfast and head for Arusha, continuing through the farmland and Maasai country below Mount Meru. Arrival is followed by check-in and a first drive into northern Tanzania's safari gateway town below the slopes of Mount Meru. Arusha is the staging point for the northern Tanzania circuit and where most safari briefings take place. The day ends with a drop-off in Nairobi at your hotel or the airport.