Safari Description:

Experience the ecosystem of the Great Rift Valley with your visit to Lake Manyara National Park. The park provides a great way to sample diverse wildlife and birdlife within a short time. Lake Manyara also indulges guests who enjoy the outdoors with a variety of active offerings. The Ngorongoro Crater rim delivers awesome and spectacular views of the crater with the opportunity to descend the crater floor for a game drive.

Best Of Ngorongoro also OPTIONALLY allows our guests the opportunity to include the rarely visited southern parks such as the Selous Game Reserve and/or Ruaha National Park. These sanctuaries are a superb break away from the very common northern parks and provide a personalized and uncommon experience. For instance in the Selous experience a professionally guided nature walk with a trained naturalist identifying and explaining the intricacies of wildlife behavior and plant characteristics up, close and personal or a undertake a boating safari viewing crocodiles and hippos found no where else in East Africa. A visit to the southern parks is highly recommended.

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Guests arriving today normally have the following 3 options available to them as stated below:

1. If arriving on an early morning, your program will begin at 2.00 PM on the stated departure days.

2. If arriving on an evening flight, your program can only start the following day. Please view the Safari Notes section below to view the Arusha hotels and lodges available to AfricanMecca guests. Your guide will help you check in to your Arusha hotel or lodge. Pre-arrangements need to be made before your arrival so please let us know the Arusha hotel or lodge of choice when selecting this program. If you need assistance in selecting an accommodation appropriate for your itinerary, please let us know.

3. This program can start from Nairobi, Kenya upon completion of a safari program by noon and connecting to Tanzania on the 12.30 PM flight, arriving in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania at 1.30 PM.

Day 1: Arrival In Tanzania – Lake Manyara National Park

Upon arrival at the Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania, our guest relations’ officer will personally meet all arriving guests. We will be standing outside the arrival section holding a signboard with your name on it.

At 2.00 PM, drive from Arusha on the main road to Ngorongoro Crater and Conservation Area, with picturesque hills in the distance passing the Mto Wa Mbu area and stopping over at Lake Manyara National Park.

Drive to Lake Manyara Serena Lodge, perched on a hill with panoramic views of the lake, for dinner. Designed to reflect the brilliance of Lake Manyara's unique birdlife, the Lake Manyara Serena Lodge draws on an inspirational architectural motif that melds swooping avian curves with the gentle concentric patterns of traditional Maasai Bomas (encampments) whilst the vibrantly colored frescoes lining walls are designed to depict the colorful intricacy of bird migratory patterns.

Activities Included: Game watching from escarpment using binoculars; swimming pool available for relaxation.

Other Experiences Available Additionally: Horse riding around the escarpment; cycling; nature walks; paragliding; canoeing and abseiling.

Overnight Accommodation: Lake Manyara Serena Lodge

Overnight Accommodation: Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

Day 4: Ngorongoro Crater – Arusha

After a refreshing and hearty breakfast, drive to Arusha at 8.00 AM with a dropoff at the airport for your outbound international flight or internal flights to the Selous Game Reserve or Zanzibar. This section of the program ends in Arusha.

Upon arrival in Arusha at the completion of your northern Tanzania program, connect to your flight departing for Southern Tanzania.

Upon arrival in the Selous Game Reserve in the afternoon, you are met by the camp guides. Drive to Selous Impala Camp where you will check in and thereafter experience a game drive in the reserve. Selous Impala Camp is located on the banks of the Rufiji River, directly in front of the sunset at a point where the ample and tranquil river is animated by many and different species of animals.

The Selous Game Reserve has a superb concentration of wildlife that makes one feel overwhelmed to be literally cornered when driving on game routes. The Selous Game Reserve prides the largest concentration of elephants said to be more than 55,000 (over 50% of Tanzania's elephant population is resident in the Selous Game Reserve), over 3000 lions, approximately 40,000 hippos, over 110,000 buffalos and an increasing population of the African hunting dogs whose population is noted to be approximately 1300. The high numbers of animals means more nature watching and photographing opportunities for AfricanMecca guests.

Apart from the wildlife watching experiences described, the Rufiji River boating in the Selous Game Reserve is an amazing experience, and normally lasts two hours from approximately 4 pm to 6 pm. It combines adventure with romance. The adventure in the whole activity being that you can view hippos, crocodiles and a variety of bird species in the water or on the riverbank in their natural environment.

Activities Included: Day Game Driving; Walking Safari; Boating Safari on the Rufiji River

Overnight Accommodation: Selous Impala Camp

Morning transfer to your airstrip for your flight to the Indian Ocean Islands of Zanzibar or to the Indian Ocean beach destinations located in suburban Dar es Salaam. The program completes upon arrival at the Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam airports. Guests can either select a beach vacation extension or connect to the main departure airport for the their outbound international flight normally in Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam or Nairobi.

What's Included: