Serengeti Wildlife Experience
From CAD $6,480 Was CAD $6,870
Guarantee
Small Group
Easy
Rating
(10 reviews)
Experience Overview
Capturing the very essence of Africa, our Tanzania adventure offers some of the best game-viewing opportunities on the continent. Visit world-famous national parks, including the Serengeti, in search of the Big Five and more. End each day watching the sun go down over the plains and sleeping under canvas in the bush.
Serengeti - Spot the Big Five in Africa's most iconic national park.
Ngorongoro Crater - Visit the world's largest complete caldera, home to rhinos, leopards and giraffes.
Tarangire - Look out for herds of elephants and tree-climbing lions in the baobab-dotted plains.
Highlights
Landscapes, lakes & craters of the Great Rift Valley|Incredible game-viewing in world-famous reserves|Comfortable camps in the heart of the parks
Trip Details
Product Code: 20326
Tour Type: Small Group
Accommodation: Moderate
Transport: 4WD
Guide Language: English
Tour Operator:
Explore Worldwide
Supplier Code: TL
Starts: Tanzania
Finishes: Tanzania
Duration: 8 days
Departures: Guaranteed
Physical Rating:
Easy
Includes
Explore Tour LeaderAccommodation
- Forest Hill Hotel
- Manyara Tortilis Camp
- Serengeti Tortilis Camp
- NgorongoroTortilis Camp
- TarangireTortilis Camp
Price
Price per person: (Double Occupancy) CAD $6,480 ($810 /day)
Itinerary
Our trip begins today in Arusha.
For those arriving in time, our tour leader plans to meet you in the hotel reception at 4pm for a welcome meeting and for those that wish, there is the chance to go out for dinner. There are no other activities planned today, so you're free to arrive in Arusha at any time. If you'd like an airport transfer today, you'll need to arrive into Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), which is around a 75-minute drive from our hotel. Should you miss the welcome meeting, our tour leader will inform you of any essential information as soon as you catch up. Food is served at the lodge throughout the day until 11pm, for those that miss the group meal.
If you arrive early today, you might like to explore Arusha - the small Tanzanian city has plenty to offer, including local food, craft markets and a natural history museum. You can easily reach Arusha from the lodge by taxi or local minibus, just ask at reception for help. Alternatively, you could relax by the pool or find a shady spot in the gardens after your long journey.
Accommodation:
- Type - Hotel
- Accommodation Name - Forest Hill Hotel
- Grade - Comfortable
- All Inclusive - No
- Any Meal Provided - No
- Breakfast Provided - No
- Dinner Provided - No
- Lunch Provided - No
- Meal Name - Meals Provided: None
This morning, we'll head southwest to Lake Manyara National Park where we'll head out on our first game drive this afternoon. Our drive will take us through villages and towns, where we'll see the bustle of local markets and daily life. On arrival at our lodge, we'll have lunch and a bit of time to take in the view over the floodplains below before we head out on our first drive.
Lake Manyara is nestled at the bottom of the Great Rift Valley and, as a relatively small park, it's the perfect introduction to a variety of habitats, ecosystems and wildlife. The various habitats of lush forests, acacia woodlands, grassy floodplains and volcanic peaks are home to prey and predators, as well as over 400 species of birds. After our game drive, we'll return to our lodge to enjoy a sundowner and watch the changing lights on the plains below.
Please note, drones are not permitted in any Tanzania national park without a permit, please refer to the equipment section of the trip notes for more information.
Accommodation:
- Type - Tented Camp
- Accommodation Name - Manyara Tortilis Camp
- Grade - Comfortable
- All Inclusive - No
- Any Meal Provided - Yes
- Breakfast Provided - Yes
- Dinner Provided - Yes
- Lunch Provided - Yes
- Meal Name - Meals Provided: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
We have a long journey ahead of us today as we head to the world-famous Serengeti National Park.
The scenery is spectacular as we travel around the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater and transit through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We'll pass several Masai homesteads before arriving at Olduvai Gorge, where in 1959, anthropologists Dr and Mrs Leakey discovered the remains of an almost intact human skull named 'Nutcracker Man'. It was this, together with other discoveries, that contributed to the further understanding of early human development. Olduvai Gorge and the fossils that it contains give a unique insight into the role this part of the world played in human evolution.
We'll have a packed lunch in the courtyard of the Olduvai Gorge visitor centre, before walking around the museum. A local guide will then talk us through the ages of the gorge while we look out over the valley below.
Later today, we'll enter the Serengeti at Naabi Hill Gate. Serengeti is a Masai name that means the 'endless grass plains' and it's through these plains interspersed with granite outcrops that we'll travel to our lodge. Once in the Serengeti, we'll move slowly through the park, keeping a close eye out for game as we head to the central Seronera area.
We'll have a warm welcome at our Serengeti camp as we settle in to our canvas tents, surrounded by the sounds of nature.
Accommodation:
- Type - Tented Camp
- Accommodation Name - Serengeti Tortilis Camp
- Grade - Comfortable
- All Inclusive - No
- Any Meal Provided - Yes
- Breakfast Provided - Yes
- Dinner Provided - Yes
- Lunch Provided - Yes
- Meal Name - Meals Provided: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
The Serengeti covers almost 15,000 square kilometres/5,791 square miles in area and is Tanzania's oldest, and arguably, greatest park. Famed for the awe-inspiring spectacle of the annual migration, it offers some of the best game viewing in Africa.
We'll travel through different habitats from dry, dusty savannahs to long grasses and mud pools. Prey and predators can be found in the park, including lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes and buffalo, as well as over 500 species of bird - have your binoculars and cameras at the ready! We'll take a packed lunch with us but timings and location will depend on the wildlife movements for the day.
We'll return to our accommodation this evening in time for 'Bush TV' - a local beer around the bonfire as the sun goes down.
Accommodation:
- Type - Tented Camp
- Accommodation Name - Serengeti Tortilis Camp
- Grade - Comfortable
- All Inclusive - No
- Any Meal Provided - Yes
- Breakfast Provided - Yes
- Dinner Provided - Yes
- Lunch Provided - Yes
- Meal Name - Meals Provided: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
We'll make one last early morning game drive as we retrace our route back to Naabi Hill Gate and back into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We'll pass various settlements en route and the Masaai can often be seen herding their livestock or working the land in the surrounding fields.
In the late morning, we'll arrive at our accommodation. The central farmhouse remains a working farm and coffee plantation, built in colonial style and is set amongst beautiful gardens. This afternoon will be free to enjoy the lodge or take the late afternoon walking tour of the plantation with a local villager to learn more about their life and the produce grown on the grounds.
Accommodation:
- Type - Tented Camp
- Accommodation Name - NgorongoroTortilis Camp
- Grade - Comfortable
- All Inclusive - No
- Any Meal Provided - Yes
- Breakfast Provided - Yes
- Dinner Provided - Yes
- Lunch Provided - Yes
- Meal Name - Meals Provided: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
This morning, we'll have a very early start to make our way to the crater where we'll descend from the upper rim, driving down a steep track that drops a staggering 600 metres/1,968 feet to the grassy plain, lake and marshes of the basin floor below. The crater provides a unique wildlife spotting experience and is home to the Big Five. Among the animals to watch out for are elephants, lions, cheetahs, buffalo and rhinos. The perennial marshes also teem with birdlife.
The crater itself, technically classed as a caldera, owes its existence to the violent fracturing of the Rift Valley over 15 million years. At one time a volcano occupied this spot that then became extinct and collapsed into the empty magma chamber beneath it leaving only the gigantic natural basin which is now considered a veritable 'Garden of Eden'.
After our half-day game drive in the crater today, we'll return to the farmhouse in time for lunch and the afternoon will be at leisure to relax after our early start.
Accommodation:
- Type - Tented Camp
- Accommodation Name - NgorongoroTortilis Camp
- Grade - Comfortable
- All Inclusive - No
- Any Meal Provided - Yes
- Breakfast Provided - Yes
- Dinner Provided - Yes
- Lunch Provided - Yes
- Meal Name - Meals Provided: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Today we'll leave our accommodation and continue our journey further into Tarangire National Park. One of the most striking features of the park is the majestic old baobab trees with massive silvery trunks and gourd-like fruit that dominate the skyline. Tarangire has the greatest concentration of wildlife outside of the Serengeti ecosystem and is part of a larger ecosystem that extends further south into the Masai steppes. The permanent water sources in the park result in Tarangire being home to the largest elephant populations in Tanzania, where during the dry season over 300 elephants can be seen digging for water in the riverbeds. The park is also home to the shy fringed-eared oryx and the gerenuk antelope that are not seen in other parks.
We'll head out for an afternoon game drive, before travelling to our camp. The evening will be spent relaxing in this spectacular location and enjoying a traditional evening meal.
Accommodation:
- Type - Tented Camp
- Accommodation Name - TarangireTortilis Camp
- Grade - Comfortable
- All Inclusive - No
- Any Meal Provided - Yes
- Breakfast Provided - Yes
- Dinner Provided - Yes
- Lunch Provided - Yes
- Meal Name - Meals Provided: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Departing Tarangire this morning, we'll drive for four hours to Arusha where we'll stop for a lunch break before departing Kilimanjaro International Airport, this is where our trip ends. The earliest your flight can depart is 5pm.
If you're joining our Zanzibar Island extension trip, your flight will depart either Arusha Airport or Kilimanjaro Airport and you'll be dropped off at Arusha Airport before the group stop for lunch or in the afternoon if departing from Kilimanjaro Airport. The earliest your flight to Zanzibar can depart is 12.45pm from Arusha or 5pm from Kilimanjaro Airport. Please speak to our reservations team for assistance booking flights.
Accommodation:
- Type -
- Accommodation Name -
- Grade -
- All Inclusive - No
- Any Meal Provided - Yes
- Breakfast Provided - Yes
- Dinner Provided - No
- Lunch Provided - Yes
- Meal Name - Meals Provided: Breakfast & Lunch
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Tour Operator
Explore Worldwide
A prominent adventure travel company with over four decades of experience, this business that offers a comprehensive array of unique and thrilling experiences worldwide. Catering to various interests, they provide small group journeys, walking and cycling trips, solo holidays, and family adventures.
In Business Since 1981
Reviews
Anonymous - Traveled, July 2024
An interesting trip, maybe more worthwhile to take during the migration season. Accommodation was very good, but the food, vegetarian lunch boxes in particular, was mediocre.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 07/22/2024
Stana - Traveled, June 2024
The trip was fabulous in terms of locations and accommodation. The in particular Serengeti is breath-taking with its vastness and plentiful animals. I felt that the itinerary was a bit too crammed. we were constantly driving and arriving at our accommodation just before dinner. I would have preferred to have a couple of days where we had 2-3 hours "relax" time at our accommodation, to take in the environment and just enjoy being there. The tour leader was very experienced and knowledgeable and it showed - we saw so much thanks to him.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 06/18/2024
Claire - Traveled, June 2023
Well-planned itinerary allowing us to experience a wide range of wildlife. We had an excellent guide / driver and surprisingly good accommodation.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 06/16/2023
Louise - Traveled, June 2023
Excellent guide. Professional and knowledgeable. Brilliant! Please thank Hassan for making the trip one not to forget.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 06/20/2023
Bob and Julia - Traveled, June 2023
Quite simply, everything on the trip met or exceeded our expectations, from the animals we saw to the accommodation to the superb guide. Everything went according to plan and our fellow Explorers were brilliant. We knew we were in expert hands with our guide, Hassan, whose knowledge of animal behaviour and extraordinary ability to spot them in the landscape made the trip such a success.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 06/18/2023
Anonymous - Traveled, October 2024
A really excellent trip. In just over a week we had game drives in several different environments (forest, open plains, the Ngorongoro Crater) and had some truly magical experiences. Visiting the Olduvai Gorge to learn about humans' early ancestors was a moving experience. Our visit to a Maasai village helped us to see and understand something of their way of life. We stayed mainly in luxury tented camps (Tortillis Camps), which were spotlessly clean, very comfortable and run by a team of very helpful staff.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 10/17/2024
Anonymous - Traveled, May 2019
This was a fantastic trip - staying in the tented camp in the Serengeti with animals wandering through was fantastic. Seeing lionesses stalking prey and a mother with tiny cubs was amazing. Our guide was really knowledgeable and got us the best views possible.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 06/11/2019
Anonymous - Traveled, May 2020
This was an excellent tour. Our guides, Stephen and Hassan, looked after us very well. We travelled with Hassan. He had an uncanny ability to predict what the animals were going to do next. For instance in the Serengeti, Hassan left a group of safari vehicles looking at a cheetah in the distance in long grass, and went some distance down the track before turning around. The cheetah followed parallel to the track, turned and came down to the track, crossing immediately in front of us. Hassan also managed time and time again to spot animals and birds while driving along the bumpy trails, which I struggled to find with binoculars after we had stopped! Highlights were the cheetahs, lions in trees and mating, zebras migrating, dik diks..... The accommodation was all very good, especially the Ngorongoro Farm House and Burunge Camp, which provided purified water, so we could refill our bottles rather than using new plastic bottles. Accommodation highlights were Burunge, where we saw dik diks, bushbucks and vervet monkeys by the tents and a jackel nearby, and the Serengeti Kati Kati camp, where we learnt in the morning that there had been a lion by our tent that the staff had driven away - we slept through the commotion! A few points for the trip notes: It wasn't necessary to change money to shillings. Everywhere took US$ and almost everywhere prices were quoted in US$. Beer was typically $4 and a larger bottle of water $2, but we bought very little water, as Stephen and Hassan had free bottles in the fridge in the vans, and the lodges provided free bottles/water in the rooms/tents and generally with the meals. We had one 'optional' extra cost not mentioned in the notes - a visit to a Masia village. The charge was per vehicle, about $20 each (less if we had been full trucks) - well worth it.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 06/01/2020
Anonymous - Traveled, May 2019
Isaac and Good Luck were brilliant at identifying all we saw and positioning our vehicle to get the best view to spend time observing the animals and birds. They were so knowledgeable and patient. We did miss the migration, which they told us was much further south this year but we were not scheduled to go that far. The highlights for me were the wonderful observations of lions, lionesses and cubs; the leopards; the cheetahs; vast numbers of elephant and hippos along with everything else. It was a wonderful trip.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 06/10/2019
Anonymous - Traveled, May 2019
A very good safari trip to Tanzania. The accomodation was of a higher standard than I expected from wilderness camps and tented lodges; everywhere had running water, showers, electricity, most places also had WiFi (although it was a bit patchy on the couple of occasions I tried it.) Most hotels provided bottled water, in varying amounts from single 500ml bottles at some to 19L water coolers at others. Our guide also had a good supply of bottled water in our jeep, kept in a cooler. Our guide Isaac was fantastic throughout the trip, both with regards to finding, ID'ing animals and organisation of the trip. He advised us to be up early so we could get out and about early in the day with the best chance of seeing animals, which paid off as we saw things that other later groups missed. That being the case this was a very busy trip with little relaxation time, but why go to Tanzania on safari if not to be out seeing the animals... He was also able to arrange for a ranger when a couple of us enquired about a walk above the Ngorongoro crater (this was an extra cost as it wasn't on the itinerary.) There were lots of highlights but the two which stand above the rest for me were watching a Cheetah stalk and then catch a Gazelle before calling her cubs over for breakfast and seeing the view down into the Ngorongoro Crater from a viewpoint on the crater rim. My only negative point was from the flights to and from, which involved a long lay-over (4 hours which became 9 on the way out and 5 hours on the way back,) take direct flights if you can get them.
Source: Tour operator Submitted: 06/10/2019
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