Six Day Active Safari with Empakai Hiking

Short Overview

If you’re looking for a safari experience that goes off the beaten track and gives you a more intimate safari experience, than this itinerary is for you!

Combining the best of Tanzania’s northern circuit parks with a hike to the often overlooked Empakai Crater, you’ll get the chance to see the Big Five and so much more on this unique safari experience.

Details of Six Day Active Safari with Empakai Hiking

DAY ONE – ARUSHA – LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK/TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK

On this day, you can choose to go to Tarangire National Park or Lake Manyara National Park. Depending on the time of year, each of these parks offers a different safari experience. Your guide can advise you as to which is best to visit during your safari.

IF TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK You’ll depart from Arusha after breakfast for the approximately two hour drive to Tarangire National Park. Along the way you’ll pass bustling Masai villages and the vast, open plains that have become synonymous with images of Africa. Once you’ve entered Tarangire, you’ll begin your game drive across a rich vista of endless golden savannah that surrounds the Tarangire River. The river itself runs throughout the year and is a vital source of water for the animals of the region during the dry season. Lined with acacia and Baobab trees, the river is regularly visited by the park’s large elephant population as well as other herbivores such as zebras and antelopes.

A picnic lunch with a view of the river is a great way to take it all in, but you’ll have to keep on your toes as the local monkey population does its best to separate you from your lunch!

Driving through the park you’ll also have the opportunity to see lions, leopards, cape buffalo, and a huge variety of antelopes. If you’re particularly lucky, you might even see endangered animals such as the Greater Kudu or the Fringe-Eared Oryx.

After your day’s drive is done, you’ll retire to your accommodation for the evening.

IF LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK

You’ll depart from Arusha after breakfast for the drive to Lake Manyara National Park. The journey takes approximately two hours, but we’ll pass through the market town of Mto Wa Mbu along the way. This agricultural and fresh produce market is a melting pot of local cultures and a souvenir hunter’s paradise.

After a brief stop at the village market, you’ll enter Lake Manyara National Park. The park is truly a photographer’s playground and offers some of the best game viewing in the world. You can expect to see many of Africa’s most well-known animals, with the tree-climbing lions a particular treat. These proud predators lounge in acacia trees practically begging to be photographed.

Bird-watchers will find Lake Manyara is an absolute delight, with a huge variety of birds on display in the park. Even the novice can expect to be amazed by large flamingo flocks, circling birds of prey, and the brightly coloured lilac breasted roller.

You’ll then retire to your chosen accommodation for dinner and a good night’s rest.

DAY TWO – LAKE MANYARA/TARANGIRE – SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

We’ll take an early breakfast, as we’ve got a big day of exploration and adventure ahead of us! We’ll begin the day with the scenic drive towards the Serengeti. Along the way we’ll pass through the mist-shrouded rainforests of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where you might be lucky enough to glimpse cape buffalo, baboons, or even elephants and leopards in the dense undergrowth.

It’s a nearly four hour drive to the Serengeti park gates, but you can choose to break up the drive with one or both of the below optional activities:

• Oldupai Gorge Museum: Sometimes known as the Cradle of Mankind, the Oldupai Gorge Museum commemorates some of the oldest evidence of human habitation ever found. Here you can see some of the oldest fossil evidence in the world of human habitation, visit the Oldupai Gorge Museum to learn more about the human journey, and take in the stunning views of this stark gorge country.
• Maasai boma visit: Pay a visit to one of the famous Maasai bomas, where you’ll have the opportunity to witness (and participate in) traditional Maasai dance, tour an authentic Maasai village, and even do a little souvenir shopping at the local market.

  Both of the above activities attract an additional cost. Speak with your safari expert about adding them to your itinerary.

  After a delicious lunch at the Serengeti National Park picnic area, it’s time to explore the Serengeti itself. Witness Africa’s iconic savannah landscape and be amazed by the sheer number of animals that roam these grassy plains.

  Dinner and overnight in the heart of the Serengeti National Park according to the standard and the type of accommodation requested from our options.

DAY THREE – SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

We start your day early by getting up before dawn to embark on a sunrise game drive. Accompanied by the melodic singing of the birds, you’ll spend your morning searching for leopards and lions hunting for their morning meal and spying the contrastingly calm hippos returning to their watery homes with their families.

At approximately 9 am, we will return to your accommodation for a late and leisurely breakfast before continuing the game drive at 10.30.

Your driver will select the best possible route based upon the time of year and the kind of animals you’d like to see, catering your day so that your opportunities to see the Serengeti’s diverse wildlife are maximized.

Dinner and overnight in the heart of the Serengeti National Park according to the standard and the type of accommodation requested from our options.

DAY FOUR – SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK – NGORONGORO CONSERVATION AREA

After breakfast, we get right on the road back towards the Ngorongoro Crater National Park.

Our drive takes us back through the Serengeti via a different route, offering plenty of opportunities to spot the animals that eluded you on day two. As far as the eye can see, you’ll spot thousands upon thousands of animals in herds; wildebeests and zebras migrating together, tall and graceful giraffes, jumping antelopes and gazelles, the powerful African elephant and the most respected group of animals: the predators.

You will have the chance to spot lean cheetahs and shy leopards, foraging hyenas, and last but not least, the king himself; the lion.

Dinner and overnight on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater or in nearby Karatu Town according to the standard and the type of accommodation requested from our options.

DAY Five – NGORONGORO CRATER

After breakfast, you’ll depart for Ngorongoro Crater; sometimes considered as the 8th Wonder of the World. When you get your first glimpse of this vast, verdant caldera from the panoramic viewpoint, you’ll soon understand why it has earned such a lofty reputation.

Home to over 120 species of mammal including the fabled Big Five, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is one of the most sought after safari destinations in the world. It’s a particularly good place to see the endangered black rhinoceros enjoying a lonely meal out on the grass plains, as well as a place to see large numbers of hippopotamus enjoying the cool water.

From the comfort of your open-top vehicle, you’ll be able to observe and photograph some of Africa’s most recognizable faces. The crater is home to a large number of predators including lions, leopards, cheetahs, jackals, and hyenas, as well as a large population of wildebeest, zebras, antelope, cape buffalo, and more. It is truly one of Africa’s premier safari destinations.

Dinner and overnight on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater according to the standard and the type of accommodation requested from our options.

DAY SIX – TREK TO EMPAKAI CRATER

You’ll start your day with an early breakfast before heading out for your adventure at Empakai Crater. Hiking through forested hills that come to some 300 metres above the crater floor, you’ll be rewarded with an absolutely stunning view when you reach the top.

Empakai Crater offers unparalleled views of Ol Doinyo Lengai, a still active volcano. There’s also the opportunity to see Lake Natron, the Great Rift Valley, and even distant Mount Kilimanjaro on a clear day.

You’ll then trek down into the crater itself towards the shores of Empakai Lake, where you’ll see animals such as bushbucks, buffaloes, waterbucks, elands, and countless different species of bird.

Taking a picnic within the park offers you the chance to soak in its utter tranquility before you hike back to the car for your return journey to Arusha.

Included in the price

• Game safari to national park as specified
• Price quoted per person sharing in US dollars
• Professional English speaking safari and tour guide / driver
• All game viewing activities specified

Excluded from the price

• Any sightseeing
• excursions and optional activities other than those specified
• Entry visas
• International flights
• Laundry
• Please
• read our Terms and Conditions
• Tips and gratuities to safari crew – recommended: 15-20 USD per day to safari driver
• 10 – 15 USD per day to safari cook
• Travel insurance

Itinerary Note All prices are subject to change if Tanzanian National Park Entry fees change! US Dollar notes from the years before the year 2006 are not accepted in Tanzania.