6-Day Great Migration Serengeti Safari

Day-by-day itinerary

Route: Arusha → Ngorongoro Highlands → Serengeti Seasonal Sector → Central Serengeti → Arusha

1. Day 1

   Arusha to Ngorongoro Highlands

   Bags are loaded after breakfast and you depart Arusha bound for Ngorongoro Highlands, climbing the forested crater highlands to the rim viewpoint. Lunch and check-in come first, then an afternoon drive through a collapsed volcanic caldera roughly six hundred metres deep, with grassland, soda lake and fever-tree forest on its floor. There is the possibility of seeing lion, elephant, buffalo, flamingo and one of the few remaining populations where black rhino may be seen, depending on movement and conditions on the day. The crater floor holds a resident concentration of wildlife year-round because the caldera walls create a largely self-contained ecosystem. Transport and game drives are shared with other travellers on this joining departure. The evening is spent at your Ngorongoro Highlands accommodation, with dinner and overnight there.

2. Day 2

   Ngorongoro Highlands to Serengeti Seasonal Sector

   Breakfast is taken before you set out from Ngorongoro Highlands for the drive to Serengeti Seasonal Sector, crossing the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and descending onto the open plains. Lunch and check-in come first, then an afternoon drive through vast short-grass plains broken by granite kopjes and seasonal watercourses. Your guide works the area for lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe and immense herds of wildebeest and zebra, with sightings varying by season and conditions. The Serengeti's wildlife moves with the seasons, so the sector visited is chosen to match where the herds and predators are likely to be at that time of year. Dinner and overnight are at your camp or lodge in Serengeti Seasonal Sector.

3. Day 3

   Serengeti Seasonal Sector to Central Serengeti

   The day opens in Serengeti Seasonal Sector with a morning departure for Central Serengeti, crossing the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and descending onto the open plains. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into vast short-grass plains broken by granite kopjes and seasonal watercourses. This is good country in which to look for lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe and immense herds of wildebeest and zebra. The Serengeti's wildlife moves with the seasons, so the sector visited is chosen to match where the herds and predators are likely to be at that time of year. You return for dinner and an overnight stay at Central Serengeti.

4. Day 4

   Central Serengeti to Arusha

   The morning starts in Central Serengeti, from where you continue overland to Arusha, continuing through the farmland and Maasai country below Mount Meru. Arrival is followed by check-in and a first drive 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. You return for dinner and an overnight stay at Arusha.

5. Day 5

   Full-Day Arusha Safari

   Today is spent entirely in Arusha, beginning with a game drive shortly after first light. The drives cover northern Tanzania's safari gateway town below the slopes of Mount Meru, moving between habitats as conditions change. Arusha is the staging point for the northern Tanzania circuit and where most safari briefings take place. Meals are arranged around the drives rather than the other way round. The evening returns you to your Arusha accommodation for dinner and overnight.

6. Day 6

   Serengeti to Arusha

   The day opens in Serengeti with a morning departure for Arusha, continuing through the farmland and Maasai country below Mount Meru. Once you reach Arusha there is time to check in before heading out among 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. You are dropped at your Nairobi hotel or the airport in the late afternoon.