Tanzania Ultimate Serengeti Active Safari

Drive 45-minutes through the Rift Valley to Lake Manyara National Park, home to stunning wildlife. Notice the colorful water birds - herons, storks, ibises, and fish eagles, and look out for impala, giraffe, zebra, blue wildebeest, and buffalo. Then drive into the highlands above the Ngorongoro Crater to meet the Maasai people, whose traditional welcome dance features athletic leaps and earth-shaking stomping. Enter typical homes made of cut branches, mud, and cow dung. Wrap up with a stay at the MT Sobek Deluxe Camp in the Crater Highlands.

The Ngorongoro Crater, almost entirely open country, presents spectacular views of wildlife within a 100-square-mile steep green wall frame. Close in on a group of zebra, buffalo or black rhino gazing across the plains. Watch herds of white-bearded wildebeest and gazelle mingle. Find elephants, hyenas, and lion prides. Top the six-hour crater safari with brilliant birds: clusters of flamingos, the auger buzzard, bateleur, jacana, little bee-eater, and the red bishop. Head out for a sunset ridge walk for an Ol Pul (meat feast) with new Maasai friends.

Descend from the Ngorongoro highlands onto the vast plains of the Serengeti, with their classic granite kopjes - rounded boulders shaped by wind over the eons. Deeper into the Serengeti, notice the vegetation change into riverine woodland and acacia tree valleys as you continue on to the next tented camp.

All aboard for a day of classic game viewing! The savannah woodlands are a mosaic of habitats: small grassy plains mix with tree savannas and areas of dense bush, making for a greater diversity of animals. See buffalo, giraffe, dik-dik, reedbuck, impala, waterbuck, baboons, and vervet monkeys - all common residents, as are lion, cheetah, leopard, and hyena. Hippos and crocodiles occupy several rivers in the woodlands of the north; the Seronera River area is one of Africa's best for encounters with the elusive leopard.

After breakfast, grab water bottles, binoculars, and snacks, and head out for a Serengeti walking safari. Hiking in the Serengeti isn't about covering a lot of ground; it's about really experiencing Africa up close and personal, reveling in the smaller sights, smells, and feelings that are missed from a car. Stop for lunch under a shady tree or a cool overhang, perhaps overlooking a waterhole or small plain, and continue hiking in the afternoon.

On the second day, become a true pioneer. Discover places unvisited by man for over half a century, with no roads. Look out for secret spots that animals use to survive - the natural salt lick, the pool in the steam that never dries. Find the best place to cross the river, the ridge with the best views, the meadow with the sweetest grass, and the kopje with the coolest breeze. In the afternoon, go for a short orientation walk to learn about walking in the bush.

Make the most of your final day in the Serengeti. Move slowly with MT Sobek guides interpreting Serengeti's enticing sights and smells. Find a lion's paw print in the damp ground, watch a dung beetle roll a ball of dung uphill, smell a herd of elephants before you spot them in the valley below. Follow a stream in hope of seeing game come down for a drink, or climb up a kopje boulder to get better views of the striking landscape. Come evening, relax at the camp's bug-proof mess tent.

After a pleasant morning game drive and lunch, fly back to Arusha Airport, where dayrooms at the Moivaro Lodge await. Bid farewell to fellow travelers at dinner before transferring to the Kilimanjaro International Airport for homeward-bound flights. Schedule your departure flight from Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) no earlier than 7pm.