Day 1

Arrive Kilimanjaro Airport. After clearing customs/immigration, you are met by a Ranger Safaris vehicle and transferred to your hotel in Arusha town. Overnight at Serena Mountain Village on a bed and breakfast basis.  

Serena Mountain Village

Secreted in the depths of a tree-shaded coffee plantation, wreathed in multi-coloured tresses of tumbling bougainvillea, cooled by mountain streams and strung like a necklace around the shores of an idyllic wooded lake, Mountain Village offers a haven of calm and serenity just outside the hustle and bustle of Arusha, Tanzanias premier Safari Town

Day 2

After breakfast, you have an early transfer to Arusha airport for the Regional Air flight to Grumeti dep 0800 hrs arr 0930 hrs (booked by Ranger Safaris). Upon arrival you are met by a Ranger Safaris vehicle and driver/guide and drive to Musoma on the shores for Lake Victoria. You are provided a boat transfer to your lodge arriving in time for lunch. After lunch, you have an afternoon boat safari around the Island. Overnight at Lukuba Island Lodge on a Full board basis

Lukuba Island Lodge

Situated on Lukuba Island 13 kilometres off the shore of Lake Victoria in the Musoma District, Lukuba Island Lodge caters to the needs of travellers seeking an exclusive retreat to complement their safari. The opportunity to observe and experience the fascinating Lake Victoria area culture and to engage in sport fishing for the infamous Nile perch make Lukuba Island Lodge a unique destination experienced by few travellers to East Africa

Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza (also known as Ukerewe and Nalubaale) is one of the Great Lakes of Africa.

Lake Victoria is 68,800 square kilometres (26,560 square miles) in size, making it the continent's largest lake, the largest tropical lake in the world, and the second largest fresh water lake in the world in terms of surface area. Being relatively shallow for its size, with a maximum depth of 84 m (276 ft) and a mean depth of 40 m (131 ft), Lake Victoria ranks as the seventh largest freshwater lake by volume, containing 2,750 cubic kilometres (2.2 million acre-feet) of water. It is the source of the longest branch of the Nile River, the White Nile, and has a water catchment area of 184,000 square kilometres (71,040 square miles)

Day 3

This morning you have a choice of two activities: Fly and traditional fishing or a guided nature walk with birding. Overnight at Lukuba Island Lodge on a full board basis

Day 4

This morning you return to Musoma and drive to Serengeti National Park with a picnic lunch. You have an afternoon game drive, exploring the great splendour of the endless plains that go up to the sky. Overnight at Mbuzi Mawe Tented camp on a full board basis

Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp

Scenically located in a glade guarded by 3 million year old granite towers, Mbuzi Mawe (meaning Klipspringer in English) makes maximum use of its unique wilderness location. There are al fresco breakfasts, safari luncheons, lantern-lit bush suppers, campfire roasts, and dance displays by the Ikoma people as well as game drives, ranger-led bush walks, ornithology and sightings of: elephant, lion, cheetah, leopard, buffalo, hyena, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, warthog, hippo and crocodile.

Day 5 - Morning and afternoon game drives in Serengeti National Park exploring this famous park and all that it has to offer. Overnight at Mbuzi Mawe Tented camp on a full board basis

A million wildebeest... each one driven by the same ancient rhythm, fulfilling its instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life: a frenzied three-week bout of territorial conquests and mating; survival of the fittest as 40km (25 mile) long columns plunge through crocodile-infested waters on the annual exodus north; replenishing the species in a brief population explosion that produces more than 8,000 calves daily before the 1,000 km (600 mile) pilgrimage begins again. Tanzania's oldest and most popular national park, the Serengeti is famed for its annual migration, when some six million hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson's gazelle join the wildebeests trek for fresh grazing. Yet even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers arguably the most scintillating game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grants gazelle. The spectacle of predator versus prey dominates Tanzanias greatest park. Golden-manned lion prides feast on the abundance of plain grazers. Solitary leopards haunt the acacia trees lining the Seronera River, while a high density of cheetahs prowls the southeastern plains. Almost uniquely, all three African jackal species occur here, alongside the spotted hyena and a host of more elusive small predators, ranging from the insectivorous aardwolf to the beautiful serval cat.

Day 6

Depart after an early breakfast and drive back across the Serengeti plains and onto Ngorongoro Crater with a picnic lunch, stopping at Olduvai Gorge on the way, before you continue to your lodge which is perched on the rim of this world renowned caldera. Overnight at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge on a full board basis.

Ngorongoro Crater

Ngorongoro Crater is one of the world's greatest natural spectacles, its magical setting and abundant wildlife never fail to enthral visitors.

Called the eighth wonder of the world and stretching across some 8,300 sq km, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania boasts a blend of landscapes, wildlife, people and archaeology that is unsurpassed in Africa. The volcanoes, grasslands, waterfalls and mountain forests are home to an abundance of animals and to the Maasai.

Day 7

A highlight awaits you this morning as you depart to explore what is commonly referred to as the Worlds largest wildlife zoo. After breakfast, youll descend through the early morning mists and 2,000 feet into the crater for game viewing. You return to the lodge for late lunch. Afternoon is at leisure followed by dinner. Overnight at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge on a full board basis.  Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

Perched on the jagged rim of the crater, wreathed in morning mist, camouflaged in river-stone and cloaked in indigenous creepers, the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge is a triumph of ecological and architectural fusion. Sensitively constructed so as to take nothing from its environment whilst affording endless vistas over the heat-shimmering reaches of the crater below, the clustered boulder-built buildings of the Lodge hug the crater rim, linked by rope-lashed timber walkways that skirt the buttressed roots of ancient, liana-hung trees.

Day 8

After breakfast enter your safari vehicle continue to Mto Wa Mbu Village for a guided walk having a chance to explore the local market, including interaction with the Local Tribes People with by lunch provided by Serena Active. Following this cultural experience you continue to Lake Manyara National park for an afternoon game drive, returning to your lodge in the late afternoon. Overnight at Lake Manyara Serena Lodge on a full board basis.

Lake Manyara Serena Lodge

Standing high on the bluff of a dramatic ochre and terracotta streaked cliff above the flamingo-frosted expanse of Lake Manyaras gleaming alkaline waters, the Lodge commands panoramic views across the volcano-studded floor of the Great Rift Valley.

Designed to reflect the brilliance of Lake Manyaras unique birdlife, the 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 coloured frescoes lining the walls are designed to depict the colourful intricacy of bird migratory patterns

Lake Manyara National park

Stretching for 50km along the base of the rusty-gold 600-metre high Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyara is a scenic gem, with a setting extolled by Ernest Hemingway as the loveliest I had seen in Africa.  From the entrance gate, the road winds through an expanse of lush jungle-like groundwater forest where hundred-strong baboon troops lounge nonchalantly along the roadside, blue monkeys scamper nimbly between the ancient mahogany trees, dainty bushbuck tread warily through the shadows, and outsized forest hornbills honk cacophonously in the high canopy. Contrasting with the intimacy of the forest is the grassy floodplain and its expansive views eastward, across the alkaline lake, to the jagged blue volcanic peaks that rise from the endless Maasai Steppes. Large buffalo, wildebeest and zebra herds congregate on these grassy plains, as do giraffes some so dark in coloration that they appear to be black from a distance. Inland of the floodplain, a narrow belt of acacia woodland is the favoured haunt of Manyaras legendary tree-climbing lions and impressively tusked elephants. Squadrons of banded mongoose dart between the acacias, while the diminutive Kirks dik-dik forages in their shade. Pairs of klipspringer are often seen silhouetted on the rocks above a field of searing hot springs that steams and bubbles adjacent to the lakeshore in the far south of the park. Manyara provides the perfect introduction to Tanzanias birdlife. More than 400 species have been recorded, and even a first-time visitor to Africa might reasonably expect to observe 100 of these in one day. Highlights include thousands of pink-hued flamingos on their perpetual migration, as well as other large waterbirds such as pelicans, cormorants and storks.