Serengeti Calving Season 2016

A Customizable Trip to Tanzania

Highlights

A lovely itinerary to catch the calving season in Tanzania from February 1 - March 15, 2016. You will explore the Ngorongoro Region - Ngorongoro Crater - Southern Serengeti - Central Serengeti.

Starting from
3,415
per person sharing

Duration
9 days / 8 nights

Transport
Overland Safari

Accommodation
Luxury Tented Camps & Lodges

Exploring
Arusha, Lake Manyara National Park, Masai Mara, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park

About this Safari

This spectacular tour begins and ends in Arusha. You will be whisked away on safari from Day 1 itself, experiencing the Ngorongoro Highlands and the Serengeti.

Request for the Full Itinerary

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Day By Day Itinerary

Day 1: Arusha to Tloma Mountain Lodge

Tloma Lodge - Twin Room Plan to arrive early early morning into Kilimanjaro International Airport so that we can whisk you off on safari right away!

You will met upon arrival by your 4×4 vehicle and guide and drive off with a picnic towards the coffee-growing town of Karatu via Lake Manyara National Park, where you will get your first glimpse of Tanzania’s famous wildlife and a soda lake on the horizon shimmering with ethereal pink flamingos.

By early evening, you should be at your home base for the night – the tranquil and homely Tloma Mountain Lodge, with its comfortable private chalet where you can relax and breathe in the clean crisp mountain air of your first night in Africa.

Day 2: Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, Ngorongoro Crater

Leave comfortably from Tloma Lodge (with a packed lunch), ready to spend the day on the floor of the world famous Ngorongoro Crater. This is a very popular tourist attraction and does get very busy, so we suggest that it’s simply not worthwhile stressing about the crowds 🙂 Take your time, enjoy the sights – likely the only time you’ll see rhino on this trip (unless you’re very, very lucky in the Serengeti) and enjoy the extraordinary diversity of wildlife that was trapped inside this caldera when it was formed eons ago.

Take particular note of the beautiful lone bull elephants with their long tusks – they are getting rarer and rarer to see these days even in Africa. After a leisurely lunch and some more game drives, make sure you climb back to the crater rim before sunset, so that you can enjoy the spectacular views of the setting sun from your lodge which is perched on the crater rim

Day 3: Ubuntu Camp, Southern Serengeti

The Serengeti together with Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Park form Africa’s most famous wildlife park. The image of acacia trees on an endless grass plain epitomises Africa for many, and then add a Masai warrior and some cattle to the picture and the conversation need go no further. The annual wildebeest migration through the Serengeti and the Masai Mara is the largest mass movement of land mammals on the planet – with more than a million animals following the rains. But that is not where the game viewing ends; large prides of lions, elephants and giraffes in grasslands, gazelles and eland to mention but a few.

Day 4: Ubuntu Camp, Southern Serengeti

Ubuntu camp has been moved to a new and better location from this season onwards…

The camp will be situated in an ancient river bed, approximately 15 minutes’ drive from Kusini Airstrip. Hugging a line of acacia trees, the camp benefits from the shade and stays cool during the day, whilst enjoying sweeping views down the valley towards the short grass plains. The area boasts excellent resident game with easy access to the open plains and the Great Migration between the months of December to March. At the end of the day, the nearby Kusini Kopjes provide the perfect location for well-earned sundowners.

Day 5: Ubuntu Camp, Southern Serengeti

Since you have your own private car and guide at your disposal, the Ndutu area is your oyster! You can explore the marshes, the lakes, the plains, the woodlands – in short anywhere you like. With some luck, you’ll be in the thick of wildebeest mums and babies and all the attendant predator-prey action, so the days are yours to design. Have lunch in camp, or take lunch with you and go off on an all day drive. We recommend that you consult with your guide and your camp manager – they are the people with the most local knowledge and the people who can best guide you on the ground.

Day 6: Ubuntu Camp, Southern Serengeti

This will be your last full day in southern Serengeti, so reserve it for all the things that you still wished to see and do and try to get those things done. And as always, enjoy the fireside chats with your fellow guests at the campfire and listen for the rasping cough of the leopard as it walks along the dry gully – night is upon us and it is once more, us inside the tents and the wildlife in charge outside 🙂

Day 7: Namiri Plains Camp, Central Serengeti

After a hot breakfast in camp, it is time to head off northwards now, towards eastern Serengeti, and the delightfully remote Namiri Plains Camp. Central Serengeti is called Leopard Central for a good reason – and it makes sense to pass through this area en route to Namiri. This is a busy area of the park with lots of visitors and cars, so we usually avoid it, but it is worth driving through here to enjoy the excellent resident game and try your leopard luck.

By early afternoon, plan to roll into Namiri Plains Camp, located in a blissfully quiet corner of the Serengeti and a haven for big cats. This area of the Serengeti looks & feels different from the southern short grass plains – here you will see the the famous granite ‘kopjes’ (hopefully with a lion posing on top!) as well as all manner of other birds and beasts.

Day 8: Namiri Plains Camp, Central Serengeti

Namiri Plains camp was created for real safari enthusiasts seeking comfort and exclusivity in secluded surroundings, excellent guiding and a deeper, more intense wildlife experience. To minimize the impact on the environment the camp comprises of only eight tents. Pitched in the shade of giant acacias, this small and exclusive tented haven offers 360° views of wildlife crossing the surrounding plains, the river area with its perennial vegetation and dense green reed beds that attract birds and smaller wildlife species. Explore the Namiri Plains on game drives; enjoy sunrise breakfast picnics on top of Soit Le Motonyi rock or sun downers on top of a kopje. With your nearest neighbor over 45 minutes away, you may be excused for thinking that the Namiri Plains belong to you.

Day 9: Departure

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and so must this safari. Today, after one last morning game drive, you will be driven to the Seronera airstrip in central Serengeti from where you will catch your scheduled 11:00 am flight back to Kilimanjaro International Airport – and from there, connect to your international flight home.