3-Day Ngorongoro Crater & Lake Manyara Safari

Day-by-day itinerary

Route: Arusha → Lake Manyara National Park → Karatu / Ngorongoro Highlands → Ngorongoro Crater → Arusha

1. Day 1

   Arusha to Lake Manyara

   The morning starts in Arusha, from where you continue overland to Lake Manyara, driving west from Arusha past Maasai settlements and the escarpment wall. You arrive in time to settle in, and the day continues with a game drive across groundwater forest, open floodplain and an alkaline lake beneath the Rift Valley escarpment. There is the possibility of seeing elephant, baboon troops, hippo, giraffe and large numbers of waterbirds including flamingo, depending on movement and conditions on the day. Manyara is known for its groundwater forest fed by springs at the base of the escarpment, and for lions that are sometimes seen resting in trees. This is a joining departure, so the safari vehicle is shared with other guests. You return for dinner and an overnight stay at Lake Manyara.

2. Day 2

   Lake Manyara National Park to Karatu / Ngorongoro Highlands

   Bags are loaded after breakfast and you depart Lake Manyara National Park bound for Karatu / Ngorongoro Highlands, climbing the forested crater highlands to the rim viewpoint. Once you reach Karatu / Ngorongoro Highlands there is time to check in before heading out among a collapsed volcanic caldera roughly six hundred metres deep, with grassland, soda lake and fever-tree forest on its floor. Look for lion, elephant, buffalo, flamingo and one of the few remaining populations where black rhino may be seen as the light softens through the afternoon. The crater floor holds a resident concentration of wildlife year-round because the caldera walls create a largely self-contained ecosystem. You return for dinner and an overnight stay at Karatu / Ngorongoro Highlands.

3. Day 3

   Karatu / Ngorongoro Highlands to Arusha

   The morning starts in Karatu / Ngorongoro Highlands, from where you continue overland to Arusha, continuing through the farmland and Maasai country below Mount Meru. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into northern Tanzania's safari gateway town below the slopes of Mount Meru. Arusha is the staging point for the northern Tanzania circuit and where most safari briefings take place. Arrival back is normally in the afternoon, with a drop-off at your hotel or the airport.