7-Days Northern Tour, Lake Natron & Oldoinyo Trekking

After breakfast depart from the camp with full packed lunch boxes and head to Lake Manyara National Park. It is a unique and picturesque park with a stunning lake, inspiring views, and varied wildlife and birdlife. Lake Manyara is a shallow, alkaline lake that is part of the Rift Valley wall; the lake is at the base of this dramatic western escarpment giving it a beautiful and serene setting. In addition to this peaceful setting, Lake Manyara’s main attractions are its rich bird life, tree climbing lions, and its hippos which you can see at a closer range than any other place. Overnight stay is at Sun bright Campsite.

After breakfast depart to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which is a 2 hrs drive. Today you enjoy a full day of game viewing at the Ngorongoro Crater floor. Called the eighth wonder of the world, the crater wont fail to take your breath away as you stand on the rim looking down a 10-mile wide crater floor with abundant wildlife. The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest unbroken volcanic caldera in the world covering approximately 260 sq. km with walls rising 600 meters from the crater floor. Before the Ngorongoro Volcano exploded and collapsed 2 million years ago, it was one of the world’s tallest mountains. Now, it is home to more than 30,000 large mammals – mainly gazelle, buffalo, eland, heartbeat and warthog – and has the highest predator density in the world. Overnight at Simba Campsite in the Crater Rim.

After breakfast we leave Ngorongoro Conservation Area as today is a full day of exploring the amazing array of wildlife around central Serengeti. Serengeti is the vast Tanzanian landscape that hosts one of earth’s last remaining wildlife spectacles: the annual Great Migration. This is when a staggering number of herbivores trek across the Serengeti plains in search of water and fresh grass, with hungry predators following in their wake. The Serengeti endless plains provide an exceptional landscape for wildlife viewing; it truly is ultimate safari country. Often spotted in the Serengeti are elephants, hippos, lions, zebras, wildebeests, cheetahs, leopards and more. Overnight is at Seronera Campsite.

Lobo Area is located in the North of Serengeti National Park, the most spectacular scenario of wildlife in its pure essence. Lobo area is a migratory route of over one million wildebeest in their desperate struggle for survival during July to November. The area is only 28-40 km from the Masai Mara. From July through to the end of October, the migrating herds are resident here, and this is the finest place to see the Migration’s river crossings as the herds often cross the Mara River daily. This region has been described as ‘ultimate paradise’ for safari from July to November. Dinner and Overnight is at Lobo Campsite.

We leave the camp after a hot brunch to continue exploring Northern Serengeti Corridor (Lobo and Kogatende Areas) as we heading towards Lake Natron. There are rugged mountains where vultures soar and baboons bark, dusty gorges where the Maasai bring their cattle to drink and endless grassy plains. Arrive at Lake Natron in the evening approximately around 4:30pm, get some drinks (coffee), while having trek briefing. After the briefing we will rest in the camp while a chef prepares a dinner. After dinner enjoy the cool atmosphere of the camp and at 10pm start trekking; this usually takes 6-7hrs, After watching the sunrise, start descending down around 9am. The jeep will be waiting for you at the bottom of the mountain to drive you back to the camp for resting.

After a heavy brunch and time for resting, we will enjoy the spectacular tour in the soda Lake of Natron and the beautiful waterfall flow from highlands toward the direction of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Lake Natron is lying in a beautiful scenic area below the Rift Valley escarpment. Lake Natron has such a high concentration of sodium, that the water is often viscous to the touch. There is good game viewing and birding in this harsh landscape with dry country species such as gerenuk, lesser kudu, and Oryx. Natron is also the only known breeding ground for East Africa’s millions of lesser flamingos which cover the lake between August and October. Drive back to Arusha at the end of the tour.