Within most of Tanzania’s National Parks you will not be allowed out of the car or outside your campsite on foot. There are some exceptions – notably Mahale Mountains and Gombe Stream National Parks where there are no roads and you walk to see chimpanzees. Arusha and Kilimanjaro National Parks allow hiking and climbs of Mt. Meru and Kilimanjaro. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area does allow pre- arranged walking in certain areas, though walking in the Crater is not allowed.
With that being said, most walking and hiking must be planned in advance and, generally, separately from the National Parks portion of your safari.
Tarangire
Tarangire is only a 2 and a half hour drive from Arusha on a recently re-paved tarmac road.The park is as famous for its elephant herds and it’s “hydra headed” baobab trees, which elephant enjoy snacking on. The Tarangire River runs through the park. Giraffe, wildebeest, eland and zebra disperse into the rivers nearby swamps and flood plains, dotted with doum palms. In the dry season the wildlife concentrates along the river. Large herds of high jumping impala browse in the parks dense brush. Here, as well as Manyara, lion and leopard can often be found sleeping in the acacia limbs.
Ngorongoro
Often called “The Eighth Wonder of the World” the ten-mile in diameter volcanic caldera is the land of the Maasai, their cattle, and the wildlife. Ngorongoro is the only place in Tanzania where you can catch a rare glimps of the indigenous black rhino – of which only about 200 remain in the wild – and only about 20, or so in the Crater. It is one of the most amazing places in East Africa to view gigantic bull elephants, cape buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, hippo, and rafts of flamingos in the crater’s Lake Magadi.
There are several private campsites on the rim of the Crater that we use for our Luxury Camping Safaris. Although, for our shorter safaris we use one of the lodges that are also located on the rim. Ngorongoro Crater and nearby Olduvai Gorge are in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area which adjoins the Serengeti National Park and is a key part of the entire Serengeti eco-system.
Manyara
At the foot of the Rift Valley, on your way to the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, lies the lush tropical Lake Manyara National Park. Here, lion often nap on tree limbs to escape the afternoon sun.
Oludavi Gorge
Olduvai Gorge – also called the “Cradle of Mankind”, where, in 1959, Dr. Mary Leakey found the fossil fragments of Zinjanthropus, a distant human relative, dating back 1.8 million years when the area was a seasonal lake. In 1976 Dr. Mary Leakey invited Peter Jones (founder of Tanganyika Film and Safari) to work with her at Olduvai as an archaeologist and stone toolmaker. His work helped assess the possible uses of the various stone tools. Thanks to Peter’s insistence to further excavate Laetoli, he and the Leakey’s eventually uncovered the famous Laetoli footprints, which proved that about 3.8 million years ago our ancestors walked up right. Peter remained at Olduvai for eight years managing Leakey’s camp, coordinating Laetoli field seasons, and conducting his own archaeological research.
Olduvai Gorge is situated in the short grass plains, a little over an hours drive west of Ngorongoro Crater, and is in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Campsites are available by special permission only and we usually visit Olduvai on a day that we travel between Ngorongoro and Serengeti.
Serengeti
In Maasai language, “Serengeti” means “the wide-open space”, reaching to the shores of Lake Victoria to the west, Lake Eyasi to the south and the Great Rift Valley to the north and east. It is without doubt the most famous of all of Africa’s National Parks, known particularly for the wildebeest and zebra migration that occurs from November or December through June or July. About 1.5 million wildebeest and 450,000 zebra undertake a circuit of over 1000 kilometers in a continuous search for water and green pastures. Their calving season takes place in February on the “short grass” plains in the Ndutu / Olduvai area.
Serengeti is home to the famous “BIG FIVE” – elephant, a population of about 2000 lion, leopard, cape buffalo, hippo, and some rarely seen rhino. The Park abounds with giraffe, eland, impala, baboons, other antelopes, and over 500 bird species. Good views of lion prides are (almost) guaranteed.
Accessible all year round, it is seven hours by car from Arusha, and a half hour by plane. There are several charter companies with scheduled flights will take you to Seronera, in the center of the park. Private campsites in the Serengeti are available, which we use for our Luxury Camping Safaris. We select the best areas to book, depending on the time of year. Sometimes, depending on weather, we may also use the Serengeti Serena Lodge.