10-Day Wildebeest Calving and Cultural Safari (December to March)
This amazing wildlife adventure will offer holidaymakers an opportunity to see various predators as you explore the Ndutu plains with short grass in which millions of wildebeests calve (give birth to their young) annually and several predators prey on them. You will also have a chance to interact with the local Eyasi bushmmen, and even get a chance to hunt with the locals of the Hadzabe and Datonga tribe.
You will visit Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Park, the Ndutu plains in the Greater Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater as well as Lake Eyasi.
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival
On arrival at the Kilimanjaro International Airport, you will be welcomed by our company safari guide who will brief you about this safari. From here you will be transferred to Karama Lodge where you will have dinner and spend the night.
Accommodation: Karama Lodge
Meals Plan: Breakfast and dinner
Day 2: Maasai Cultural Experience / transfer to Tarangire
Today after an early breakfast, you will drive westwards to mto wa mbu for an exciting experience of the Maasai culture. You will drive across the beautiful adulating Maasai plains dotted with acacia trees. you will drive past a number of local Masaai villages where you will see the local people dressed in the beautiful colored traditional wear, some herding cattle, others walking by the roadside, some guiding donkeys with overloaded carts.
on arrival you will be assigned a local guide who will led you on walking dventure during which you will visit the rice fields, the tradition beer brew, Banana farms as well as Makonde carving – and there you can acquire your own ebony wood carving. You will enjoy out traditional cuisine for lunch at Mto wa mbu.
You will transfer to Lake Manyara National Park after your lunch and here you will enjoy a game drive. Among the different wildlife you will encounter will be: Baboons, Hippos, Blue monkeys, Elephants, Zebras, Buffaloes as well as Giraffes. You will dine and spend the night at Migunga Tented Camp.
Accommodation: Migunga Tented Camp
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and dinner
Day 3: School Visit, transfer to Central Serengeti for Game Drive
today after breakfast you will checkout of your lodge with a packed lunch and proceed westwards across the beautiful Ngorongoro highlands where you will view a number of animals including zebras plus wildebeests freely grazing with several cattle that belong to the local Masaai people living within this area. You will visit one of the local kindergartens and for those with any scholastic donations can make them here before proceeding to Serengeti with a stopover at Nabi for lunch.
You will have an afternoon game drive in Central Serengeti during which you will see elephants, leopards, lions, reedbucks, hippos as well as giraffes. you will dine and spend the night at KatiKati Camp.
Accommodation: Serengeti Katikati Tented Camp
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and dinner
Day 4: Early Search for Lions and other animals
Today early morning you will set out searching for lions living within this area. There are also a number of other fascinating animals living here among which are Thomson’s gazelles, leopards, topis, hyenas and jackals. Cheetahs can also be sighted here especially in the dry season.
You will have lunch back at the camp and in the afternoon drive around River Soronera searching for Hippos, Elephants, and different primates such as Baboons, plus Birds. You will dine and spend the night back at your camp.
Accommodation: Serengeti Katikati Tented Camp
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and dinner
Day 5: Off-Road Game Driving at Ndutu
Following an early breakfast, you will enjoy a game drive around the Moru-Kopjes as you search for the black rhinos and lions. Afterwards you will head to Ndutu the only place in the whole of Tanzania where you can enjoy an off-road driving adventure. You will dine and spend this night at Ndutu safari lodge.
Accommodation: Ndutu Safari Lodge
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and dinner
Day 6: See the Fastest Land Mammal
Today you will enjoy Morning and afternoon game drives as you explore the Ndutu area. This being the place where wildebeest calving takes place (where they give birth from) during their annual migration, you will have an opportunity to see instances of the large predators (cheetahs, lions) making their hunt. Other animals you will see here are: giraffes, hyenas and the Bat eared foxes among others in addition to several birds such as the vultures.
You will dine and spend this night at Ndutu Safari Lodge
Accommodation: Ndutu Safari Lodge
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and dinner
Day 7: Encounter the Calving Wildebeest Mothers
After an early breakfast, set off for an early search for wildebeest mothers as they drop their young ones as well as witness predators vigilantly hunting within this area. you will proceed to the Makao region and search for the endangered wild-dogs. In the evening you will check into Ngorongoro Rhino Lodge where you will have your dinner and spend this night.
Accommodation: Ngorongoro Rhino Lodge
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and dinner
Day 8: Explore the Ngorongoro Crater – 8th Natural Wonder of the World
Today morning you will have a chance to descend into the Ngorongoro Crater also known as the 8th natural wonder of the world. This crater is believed to have an estimated population of 30,000 different large mammals permanently living there among which are the rare black rhinos, wildebeests, lions, zebras, hyenas, elephants, jackals, buffaloes and hippos.
in the afternoon after lunch proceed further south of the Ngorongoro conservation area (NCA) to the largest soda lake in Tanzania a place inhabited by the Hadzabe bushmen (who are traditional hunters and gatherers – the women gather wild fruits, tubers and roots in the afternoons while the men hunt early morning using the bow and arrow) as well as people belonging to the Dagota tribe. Here you will enjoy a nature walk along the lake shore to see the numerous flamingoes. You will dine and spend the night at Kisimangeda Tented Camp
Accommodation: Kisimangeda Tented Camp
Meals Plan: Breakfast, Lunch and dinner
Day 9: Hunt with the Bushmen, and Datonga Cultural Experience
You will start the day very early at around 5:00am and join the local Bushmen on their hunt led by a local guide; this is a very thrilling cultural experience. Afterwards, you will return to the village to do some target shooting using the bow and arrow. You will also visit the blacksmith village of the Datonga tribe, interact with them and learn about the bow and arrow making process before transferring to Karatu where you will dine and spend the night at the Bougainvillea Lodge or any similar.
Accommodation: Bougainvillea Lodge
Meals Plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Day 10: Iraqw Cultural Experience, Return To Arusha- End of Safari
Right after your breakfast you will head to the gate of Gibb’s farm from where you will hike to the elephant cave a place where numerous elephants normally converge to leak salt. This walk is very revitalizing in the early morning and actually you will have an opportunity to see several birds. you will meet the people of the Iraqw tribe who have lived in this area for more than two hundred years, and get a chance to learn about their fascinating culture, their traditional beer making process, how they make their unique wedding skirts, as well as protect themselves from the brutal cattle raids that happen every now and again.
You will have lunch at Mto wa Mbu and then return to Arusha where you will be dropped off to the air port or your hotel.
This will be the end of the safari.