Tanzania Highlights of the Northern Safari Circuit

An 11-Day Safari Circuit that sets you on an unforgettable journey across the Serengeti, beginning with private game drives that bring you close to lions, leopards, and other iconic predators in their natural habitat. This region offers some of the best opportunities to spot elusive wildlife, including over 500 bird species, many of which are found only in Africa. As your adventure draws to a close, take to the skies in a hot air balloon and witness the breathtaking beauty and vastness of the Serengeti plains from above. It’s an experience you’ll never forget.

 

“Designed Differently. Explored Sustainably.”

Find A Travel Advisor

COUNTRIES VISITED

Tanzania including Zanzibar

STARTING AT..

Price starts at 1500 Land per person, per day, double occupancy.

TOUR LENGTH

11

Tour Highlights/Full Description

Call for Rates

  • Enjoy private game drives to observe the vast wildlife on the plains
  • Have a picnic lunch by the hippo pool in the Ngorongoro crater
  • Observe the wildebeest migration in all its majesty on the Serengeti
  • Take a hot air balloon trip along the Mara River and over the vast plains as the sun rises

Welcome to Tanzania!

 

Day 1: Kilimanjaro, Tanzania / Arusha
Upon arriving in Kilimanjaro in the evening, proceed through Immigration, collect your baggage, and then go through Customs.  After exiting the Customs & Immigration Hall, please look out for a uniformed Big Five Tours & Expeditions Driver / Guide holding a Big Five Tours sign with your name or tour name on it.  Our guide will assist you with your luggage and transfer you to your lodge in Arusha, where you will overnight.
Arusha Coffee Lodge – Plantation Room

Day 2: Arusha / Tarangire National Park
This morning, you are met by our private guide and vehicle and head overland to Tarangire Park.  High upon a ridge above the Tarangire valley, Lemala Mpingo Ridge offers peace, comfort, and excellent service. The lofty location of Lemala Mpingo Ridge means a commanding view over Tarangire National Park. Cooling breezes blow up from the savannah by day, whilst the haunting call of the hyena echoes out at night. One of the few lodges where space, comfort, attention to detail, and delicious fare combine to tear you away from Tarangire’s rich wildlife to just savour the experience. Float at the edge of the infinity pool and survey the scene below, linger over a delicious meal, luxuriate in the bath on your private deck, curl up with a holiday read on your sunken sofa or work out the knots with a massage in the spa atop a rocky outcrop, All good reasons to stay an extra day!

And yet, the real magic lies just beyond the lodge. A spectacular array of wildlife is ours to observe and photograph at leisure. Our afternoon game drive may bring us eyeball-to-eyeball with the tallest, strongest, and fastest of African game. For the ornithologist, the variety is equally diverse; this untamed wilderness is graced by a myriad of exotic birds.
Lemala Mpingo Ridge – Tented Suite (B, L, D)

Day 3: Tarangire National Park
Tarangire National Park is a 1,000 square mile park and has nine distinct zones of vegetation, including a spectacular baobab woodland in the north.  It is home to large herds of elephants, the fringed-eared oryx, and the lesser kudu.  Tarangire is Tanzania’s third-largest park with the highest recorded number of breeding bird species of any habitat in the world.  During our early morning and late afternoon game drives, we may see waterbuck, buffalo, lion, elephant, and more.
Lemala – Mpingo Ridge – Tented suite (B, L, D)

Day 4: Tarangire National Park / Lake Manyara / Ngorongoro Highlands
Today, you head into Lake Manyara National Park for a full-day game drive with picnic lunch. Located beneath the cliffs of the Manyara Escarpment, on the edge of the Rift Valley, Lake Manyara National Park offers a diverse range of ecosystems, an incredible array of birdlife, and breathtaking views. Located on the way to Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, Lake Manyara National Park is well worth a stop in its own right. Its groundwater forests, bush plains, baobob-strewn cliffs, and algae-streaked hot springs offer an incredible ecological variety in a small area, rich in wildlife and featuring incredible numbers of birds.

The alkaline soda of Lake Manyara is home to an incredible array of bird life that thrives on its brackish waters. Pink flamingos stoop and graze by the thousands, colorful specks against the grey minerals of the lake shore. Yellow-billed storks swoop and corkscrew on thermal winds rising from the escarpment, and herons flap their wings against the sun-drenched sky. Even reluctant birdwatchers will find something to watch and marvel at within the national park. Lake Manyara’s famous tree-climbing lions are another reason to visit this park. The only kind of their species in the world, they make ancient mahogany and elegant acacias their homes during the rainy season, and are a well-known but rare feature of the northern park. In addition to the lions, the national park is also home to the largest concentration of baboons anywhere in the world, a fact that makes for interesting game viewing of large families of the primates. Afterwards, we settle in at our lodge in the highlands for the night.
Neptune Lodge – Cottage (B, L, D)

Day 5: Ngorongoro Highlands / Ngorongoro Crater
Early this morning, you head into the Ngorongoro Crater and enjoy a full day game drive on the floor. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is inhabited by 30,000 animals, all protected within the confines of the crater walls. Resident zebra, wildebeest, Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelle are predator’s dreams. Tanzania’s few remaining black rhinos are protected and regularly sighted in the crater, as are large herds of buffalo. Huge, tusked elephants, black-manned lions, cheetahs, and spotted hyenas are also found, as well as thousands of lesser and greater flamingoes in the soda lake. Enjoy a thrilling day in the crater; this is perhaps the best place in East Africa to get close to rhinos, lions, and other predators among the hundreds of animals. Picnic lunch by the hippo pool. This afternoon, return to your accommodations in the highlands for overnight.
Neptune Lodge – Cottage (B, L, D)

Day 6: Ngorongoro Highlands / Serengeti National Park
Today, we enter the Stone Age and witness the origin of mankind at Olduvai Gorge. Under the direction of Louis and Mary Leakey, this area has yielded abundant fossil material dating back over two million years. Then we continue to the Serengeti Plains. Africa’s most famous park is unequaled in its primitive natural beauty and fantastic abundance of plains game. Throughout the ages, naturalists and writers have singled out this very special sanctuary in their paeans of praise. And with good reason! Here, since time immemorial, the world’s most astonishing annual migration takes place. Herds of plains game numbering more than a million stretch to the horizon in long, slender lines. Naturally, some hosts of predators follow along. No words can adequately describe this stronghold of wildlife.  Game drives with safari luncheons, lantern-lit bush suppers, and unforgettable conversations are what make the Serengeti a prime location for the best game
viewing.
Four Seasons Safari Lodge – Horizon Room (B, L, D)

Day 7: Central Serengeti National Park
During our game drives, we’re sure to spot a variety of plains game, ostriches, and giraffes. Hyenas and jackals wait patiently near feasting predators. Elephants trundle through the woodland, and the cheetah is sighted more often than not. The Serengeti has some of the world’s best birdwatching, with more than 500 species identified. During his famous study of the Serengeti lion, George Schaller counted no less than 3,000. We’ll also travel the leopard circuit. The chances of sighting this animal are greater here than anywhere else in Africa.
Four Seasons Safari Lodge – Horizon Room (B, L, D)

Day 8: Central Serengeti / North Serengeti National Park
Flight Transfer
After breakfast, we are transferred to Seronera airstrip from where we fly to the northern plains to catch up with the wildebeest migration. Africa’s most famous park is unmatched in its primitive natural beauty, liberating open spaces, and fantastic abundance of plains game.  During migration, vast numbers of animals stretch to the horizon in long, slender columns.  They face fierce obstacles from voracious predators to treacherous river crossings.  As the great migration makes its way across the expansive Serengeti plains, Hundreds of thousands of mostly wildebeest and zebra move in columns snaking to the horizon, and predators are always nearby.
Your camp rests at the heart of prime wildlife theaters on the Serengeti, where game viewing is good year-round.  Game drives and ranger-led bush walks combine with safari luncheons, lantern-lit bush suppers, and unforgettable conversations.
Serengeti Bushtops – Luxury Tent (B,L,D )

Days 9 & 10: North Serengeti National Park
*Optional Balloon Safari

On one of the mornings, at dawn, you will climb aboard a hot air balloon and fly along the course of the Mara River and over the vast plains as the sun rises. This is a unique and incredible opportunity to witness the majesty of the African bush. Suspended in a basket beneath the balloon’s canopy, you will have the chance to view wildlife from an entirely different perspective. As you float over the plains and above the forest alongside the Mara River, you will see Hippos, Crocodiles, and Elephants from above. The flight time is generally in the region of one (1) hour and ends with breakfast in the open grassland within the reserve.

Few things equal the thrill of sharing these wide, open spaces with antelopes, giraffes, wildebeest, cheetahs, elephants, leopards, buffalo, zebras, warthogs, hippos, and crocodiles. Watch the extraordinary interplay between species, such as hyenas hovering just out of reach of lions. Birdwatching enthusiasts can spot some of the 500 species here. After awakening in the heart of the wilderness in your luxurious tent, surrounded by Edwardian-era accents that evoke the classic safari camps of a century ago. Your safari guide shares fascinating insights about the African bush on your early morning game drive, as you observe the struggle of species to survive in the “circle of life” within the Serengeti National Park.

Later, after lunch and another game drive, as the setting sun streaks the Tanzanian sky, a classic African safari doesn’t get any better than this!
Serengeti Bushtops – Luxury Tent (B, L, D – daily)

Day 11: Serengeti National Park / Arusha / Depart
The final morning game drive concludes at the local airstrip, where a short flight returns you to Arusha. Arriving around midday, transfer to the welcoming Arusha Coffee Lodge. Time permitting, enjoy a visit to the nearby Cultural Heritage Center, an ideal place for meaningful last minute shopping. Upon arrival, settle in at the lodge and take the remainder of the day to relax and reflect at leisure.

Then it’s kwaheri (a Swahili “goodbye”) as we are transferred to Kilimanjaro Airport for our evening flight home.
Arusha Coffee Lodge – Plantation Room (B, L)

 

Included In the Tour Cost:
* Internal Air: Seronera-Kogatende-Arusha
* Daily accommodation as shown in the itinerary & all taxes and service charges
* Meals as indicated (B-Breakfast, L-Lunch, D-Dinner)
* All hotel /airport transfers as indicated
* All entrance fees to places of interest as specified
* Membership in the Flying Doctors Society
* Comprehensive assortment of pre-tour planning materials and amenities* Big Five’s 24-hour White Glove Service® guest assistance

Not Included in the Tour Cost:
Any airfares unless specified under inclusions. Any airport taxes (All taxes are government-imposed and subject to change without notice). Passport and Visa fees. Travel insurance. Excess baggage or shipping charges. Items of a personal nature, such as gratuities, telephone/fax/internet charges, laundry, beverages, balloon safari, meals, and services not specified in the itinerary.

Notes:
* A Visa is required to enter Tanzania; you will obtain your Visa on arrival at the airport for USD$ 100.00 in cash, in new, printed currency
* Baggage restrictions on internal flights are 32 lbs. per person. Please limit luggage to one (1) per person while on safari. 32 lbs., plus reasonable carry-on Camera equipment
* Please pack accordingly

Not found.
It seems that there is no information for this tour.
go back

TOUR INQUIRY FORM

Request more information now! We will be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding our tours. ***Checked boxes mean "yes" and an unchecked box means "no".

First Steps

Request your book now! This book will guide you through our process and how to inquire about this tour. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding our tours.

  • Book

    FILL OUT THE FORM TO GET YOUR BOOK

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.