After breakfast, you'll be transferred to Arusha Airport for your flight to the Kogatende area of the Northern Serengeti. Enjoy a bird's eye view of Tanzania as you make the short trip, where you'll be met by your Shadows of Africa driver upon arrival. You'll spend your day driving through this distinct and beautiful region of the park in search of the Wildebeest Migration and the Big Five. In the afternoon, you have the option to extend your game drive until sunset or participate in one of the optional activities available at your lodge. These often include nature walks, village visits, and night game drives outside of the park
After breakfast, we'll start our game drive around the Kogatende area, searching around the kopjes looking for carnivores and the large migration groups that will be preparing to cross the Mara River into Kenya.
Home to large numbers of hippos and Nile crocodiles, the Mara River is the last major obstacle standing between the Wildebeest Migration and the relative safety of the Maasai Mara. If you're patient and a little lucky, you may even get to witness the death-defying crossing itself where wildebeest and zebras brave the river's currents and crocodiles in an attempt to reach safety on the opposite bank.
We'll start our day immediately after breakfast, driving through the plains of Togoro and the Mbuzi Mawe kopjes on our way to cross the Banagi River into the Seronera region of the Central Serengeti. Along the way, you'll spot everything from the enigmatic dik-diks to towering elephants, and everything in between. The Seronera is often known as 'big cat country', and its kopjes and acacias provide an excellent opportunity to spot prides of lazy lions, sleek cheetahs out on the hunt, and leopards overseeing everything from their lofty perches.
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 in different landscape. 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 at the selected Lodge/tented camp on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater.
After an early breakfast, you will descend over 600 meters into the crater to view wildlife. Supported by a year round water supply and fodder, the Ngorongoro conservation Area supports a vast variety of animals, which include herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo and giant African elephants. Another big draw card to this picturesque national park is its dense population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs and the ever-elusive leopard, which sometimes requires a trained eye to spot. We will visit Lake Magadi, a large but shallow alkaline lake in the southwestern corner, which is one of the main features of the crater. A large number of flamingos, hippos and other water birds can usually been seen here. Late afternoon transfer to Arusha For dinner and Overnight or airport drop off