Arrive at Kilimanjaro Airport near Arusha, Tanzania, and transfer to Lake Duluti Lodge.
A three-four hour drive takes us to Tarangire National Park. The park is famous for its elephant herds (some of the largest in Africa), a plethora of baobab trees and two distinctive species of antelope: the fringed-eared oryx and the gerenuk. We arrive at our hotel in time for lunch and an afternoon game drive in the park.
After an early morning breakfast we will drive toward Lake Manyara National Park for a game drive. You will see elephants and huge troops of baboons in the forest and if you are lucky even tree-climbing lions. A variety of wildlife can be found around the huge soda lake, like buffaloes, warthogs, giraffes, wildebeest, zebras and flamingos. The shallow hippo pool offers excellent opportunities for hippo sightings and you will have a spectacular view of the Rift Valley Escarpment. Lake Manyara is an ideal location to combine game drives with enjoyable activities, like a cultural tour.
Driving from Manyara National Park we will head toward one of the most famous parks in the world, the Ngorongoro Crater. When viewed from atop its steep volcanic walls, the 100-square-mile crater floor presents a breathtaking patchwork of habitats – changing constantly with the interplay of light and shadow moving across it. Often called the eighth wonder of the world, the crater appears suddenly, in the midst of the forest, like a lost world.
We descend to the crater floor for our first game drive. Descending the steep crater wall each day, we find year-round herds of elephants, wildebeests and zebras, as well as Ngorongoro’s famous black-maned lion prides, hippos and incredible birdlife. We spend the maximum possible time in good light exploring the many habitats on the crater floor, staying to watch the interplay of individual animals and different species wherever we encounter them. We return to our hotel overlooking the crater each evening.
After an early breakfast we will drive from Ngorongoro towards Ndutu in the south-eastern Serengeti. Here, our lodge is well positioned to intercept the great herds of zebras and wildebeests as they wend their way across this vast savannah following the rains and the burst of fresh grass. We stop along the way at Olduvai Gorge. The gorge is an archaeological site of immense importance. In 1979 Dr. Mary Leakey discovered the 1.8-million-year-old fossil of Homo habilis in a wall of the gorge. Later finds included hominid footprints dated to around 3.5 million years of age.
This is when you’ll have the best time to photograph in Ndutu. Wildebeest and zebras give birth in massive herds near Ndutu. Thousands upon thousands of very young calves and foals are interspersed among the throng of adults. Large prides of lions stalk these herds while sleek cheetahs prey on the accompanying gazelles. We divide our time between two locations in the Serengeti to ensure good access to large herds and a diversity of other wildlife, habitats and photography opportunities.
Since movement of the wildebeest and zebras is governed by changeable weather patterns, the largest herds are in the southern Serengeti if the weather is wet, and closer to the central Serengeti and its rivers if the south is dry. To ensure our attempts to encounter the large herds, we adjust our location during our stay in the Serengeti to see different habitats and cover more ground if the herds are away from Ndutu.
After an early game drive, we drive towards central Serengeti, in any nearby lodge for lunch, then enjoy an afternoon game drive at Serengeti National Park looking for big predators.
We photograph from sunrise following the daily movements of the herds in their search for fresh grazing. Predators abound and we search for those secretive species, like leopards, as well as the more visible species, like lions. We expect to see frequent kills and photograph other animals such as vultures, jackals and hyenas who wait patiently to claim their share of this abundance.
After breakfast at your lodge we drive to the air strip for the one hour flight that takes us from Serengeti to Arusha, where we have dayrooms at Lodge. There is time to rest, shower and prepare for flights home this evening.
