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Western Serengeti Migration Safari Detailed ItineraryDay 1 Arrive Arusha. Optional safari to Arusha National ParkYour Serengeti safari starts at check-in to a comfortable lodge located on a coffee plantation close to Tanzania’s self-proclaimed safari capital, Arusha. Depending on your scheduled arrival time in Arusha, today you can enjoy a pre-bookable safari excursion to Arusha National Park. One of Tanzania’s smallest wildlife reserves, Arusha National Park is well worth a visit. Despite its lack of big cats, it does offer first sightings of elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, warthog, waterbuck, baboons, monkeys, flamingos and numerous other bird species. It is, however, the park’s variety of natural habitats and spectacular views of Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro that delight most visitors. Your itinerary once in the park is flexible to a degree and can be discussed with your safari guide/driver. A popular place to head to for a picnic lunch is the rim of the Ngurdoto Crater, a vast volcanic crater inaccessible to visitors and a haven for hippo, antelope and birdlife. Views of the crater from the heavily forested crater rim are spectacular – a pair of binoculars is a must! Another highlight is the Momella lakes area where, on a clear day, you may be lucky enough to see Mount Kilimanjaro rising in the distance above flocks of pink flamingos feeding on the algae of the soda-fed lakes. Alternatively today, simply relax around the poolside of your lodge and enjoy the views of Mount Meru.
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| Accommodation | Migunga Forest Camp |
| Included Meals | Breakfast, lunch and dinner |
Day 3 - Drive to Ikoma in Serengeti National Park; game drive in Serengeti
After another game drive in Lake Manyara National Park this morning, you’ll begin your journey to one of the world’s greatest wildlife reserves, the Serengeti National Park. Your destination and base for three nights is the Ikoma region, located on the western border of the park (220 km, approx. 5-6 hours drive). Reaching Ikoma entails a scenic game viewing spectacle as you’ll traverse the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to enter the Serengeti at Naabi Hill gate, and then travel on a slow drive through the vast game-filled plains of the Serengeti.
En route today you can expect to encounter the colourful Maasai people. You’ll also witness breathtaking volcanic scenery as you drive through the Ngorongoro Highlands. Accepted as a World Heritage Site in 1981, Tanzania's Serengeti National Park is undoubtedly one of the best-known wildlife sanctuaries in the world, unequalled for its natural beauty, proliferation of animals and scientific value. With more than two million wildebeest, half a million Thomson's gazelle, and a quarter of a million zebra making their annual migration, this famous park has the greatest concentration of plains game in Africa.
The name 'Serengeti' comes from Maasai language and appropriately means an 'extended place'. The National Park, with an area of 14,763 square kilometres, is as big as Northern Ireland, but its ecosystem, which includes the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Maswa Game Reserve and the Maasai Mara Game reserve (located in Kenya), is roughly the size of Kuwait. It lies between the shores of Lake Victoria in the west, Lake Eyasi in the south, and the Great Rift Valley to the east. As such, it offers the most complex and least disturbed ecosystem on planet earth.
As your camp at Ikoma is located just on the edge of the park boundary both night drives and guided game walks are possible from camp.
| Accommodation | Ikoma Tented Camp |
| Included Meals | Breakfast, lunch and dinner |
Days 4 & 5 – Migration search and game viewing in the Serengeti
Over the next two days your typical schedule will be based around early morning and late afternoon game drives, the best time for both photography and for observing wildlife activity (and avoiding the hottest part of the day). You’ll return to your tented lodge late morning each day for lunch and time to rest and relax, then head out into the bush again later in the afternoon. Alternatively you may head out on all day game drives in search of the migration.
Travelling in your own private safari vehicles, each game drive circuit will be different. Numerous tracks criss-cross the Serengeti through unforgettable contrasts of wild African scenery. Lush grasslands are interspersed with gently rolling hills, woodland and acacia trees, watered by many rivers. With such a good variety of habitats for wildlife, you should see a whole host of different species during your stay. A sizeable lion population, a good number of cheetahs, leopards, spotted hyenas and silver-or black-backed jackal make up the frequently seen carnivore population.
Baboons are commonly seen in large troops; hippos wallow in the slow-moving waters of the rivers or in still-water pools, whilst the largest and heaviest of all living land mammals, the elephant, has many family groups residing in the Serengeti. Giraffe are usually spotted browsing succulent leaves of mainly deciduous tree species. Many buffalo live in the Serengeti, along with herds of impala, topi and Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelle. There are also over 500 recorded species of birds and 100 species of dung beetle.
Travelling in your own private safari vehicles, each game drive circuit will be different. Numerous tracks criss-cross the Serengeti through unforgettable contrasts of wild African scenery. Lush grasslands are interspersed with gently rolling hills, woodland and acacia trees, watered by many rivers. With such a good variety of habitats for wildlife, you should see a whole host of different species during your stay. A sizeable lion population, a good number of cheetahs, leopards, spotted hyenas and silver-or black-backed jackal make up the frequently seen carnivore population.
Baboons are commonly seen in large troops; hippos wallow in the slow-moving waters of the rivers or in still-water pools, whilst the largest and heaviest of all living land mammals, the elephant, has many family groups residing in the Serengeti. Giraffe are usually spotted browsing succulent leaves of mainly deciduous tree species. Many buffalo live in the Serengeti, along with herds of impala, topi and Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelle. There are also over 500 recorded species of birds and 100 species of dung beetle.
| Accommodation | Ikoma Tented Camp |
| Included Meals | Breakfast, lunch and dinners |
Day 6 - Drive to Ngorongoro via Olduvai Gorge; game drive in Ngorongoro Crater
This morning you’ll cross the Serengeti for a final time as you make your way to another of earth’s greatest natural sights – the Ngorongoro Crater – in time for an afternoon game drive on the crater floor (160 km, approx. 4-5 hours drive). Before entering the crater there’s time to visit Olduvai Gorge, a river canyon cut 100m deep through the volcanic soil of the Serengeti Plains. Buried in the layers are remains of animals and hominids that lived and died around a shallow lake amid grassy plains and woodlands. These remains date from two million years ago. Guides at the site give a fascinating onsite interpretation of the gorge and the small museum provides further information.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area boasts the finest blend of landscapes, wildlife, people and archaeological sites in Africa. Often called an ‘African Eden’ and the ‘eighth wonder of the natural world’, it is also a pioneering experiment in multiple land use, allowing humans and wildlife to coexist in a natural setting. Your first view of the Ngorongoro Crater may well take your breath away. Ngorongoro is a huge caldera (collapsed volcano), 250 sq. km in size and 600m deep.
The crater alone contains over 20,000 large animals including some of Tanzania’s last remaining black rhino. These prehistoric figures make a striking impression set against a backdrop of the ancient crater walls. No fences border the crater so animals are free to enter or leave as they please. Most choose to stay for the plentiful water and grazing available throughout the year. There’s plenty of time for criss-crossing the crater floor in search of wildlife before driving to your tented camp located in a forest setting on the edge of the Conservation Area.
| Accommodation | Crater Forest Camp |
| Included Meals | Breakfast, lunch and dinner |
Day 7 – Drive to Tarangire; late afternoon game drive in Tarangire National Park
Early risers might like to join an optional forest walk this morning before departing on the drive to Tarangire National Park (135 km, approx. 2-3 hours drive). After lunch you’ll make your first game drive in Tarangire. Threading its way through the length of the reserve, the Tarangire River is the lifeblood of the thoroughly rewarding and scenic Tarangire National Park. During summer months the river becomes a mere shadow of itself, as it dwindles into a tiny stream choked with wildlife in search of water.
In the dry season months from August to October Tarangire enjoys the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem. Tarangire’s huge herds of elephant, often three hundred strong, rival the park’s gigantic, squat baobab trees as its most celebrated feature – ancient matriarchs, feisty young bulls and tiny, stumbling calves are ever present to fascinate visitors with their grace, intelligence and majesty. Wildebeest, giraffe, hartebeest, kudu, reedbuck, roan, topi, waterbuck, zebra, buffalo and smaller gazelle mingle with rare species such as eland and oryx, to offer one last glimpse of Tanzania’s incredible wildlife before your safari ends.
| Accommodation | Maramboi Tented Camp |
| Included Meals | Breakfast, lunch and dinner |
Day 8 – Morning game drive in Tarangire then drive to Arusha. Safari ends.
There’s time for one last game drive in Tarangire National Park before your return by road to the safari town of Arusha (120 km, approx. 2-3 hours drive), where your safari ends.
| Included Meals | Breakfast and lunch |
Safari Connections and Zanzibar Holiday Combinations
This safari itinerary has been planned to allow adequate time for you to take one of the daily early afternoon flights from Arusha to Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Pemba or Mafia Islands. If you are considering maximising your holiday time in Tanzania by staying for a second or third week, please take a look at our range of private safaris in southern Tanzania and western Tanzania, or relax and unwind on one of our Zanzibar holidays, Pemba holidays or Mafia holidays.
