7 Days Following The Migration Footsteps

Your safari begins with a meet and greet at the airport, where your Wildflip Safaris driver and guide will be ready to welcome you with a warm Tanzanian greeting before a brief pre-departure orientation. Without delay, the adventure begins immediately as you head directly to Tarangire National Park, one of Tanzania's most rewarding and often overlooked parks. It is the perfect opening chapter for a Migration Footsteps journey.

Tarangire follows the course of the Tarangire River, a permanent water source in a seasonally dry landscape that acts as a magnet for wildlife throughout Tanzania's dry season. The park's natural vegetation of Acacia woodland and giant African baobab trees creates a dramatic and distinctive backdrop. Some of these ancient baobabs, believed to be thousands of years old, rise from the red Rift Valley earth like living monuments in a landscape that has remained remarkably unchanged for centuries. Huge swamp areas in the south add another layer of ecological richness.

Tarangire is reputed to contain some of the largest elephant herds in Africa, with enormous extended family groups gathering around the river in spectacular abundance. However, the park offers rare wildlife encounters beyond elephants, including the Greater Kudu with its magnificent spiral horns, the Fringed-eared Oryx, a species seldom seen in other parks along Tanzania's northern circuit, and the charming Ashy Starling, which is endemic to central Tanzania and found here in abundance. A morning game drive on this first full safari day sets the tone for everything that follows.

After breakfast, you depart directly for Serengeti National Park, the centrepiece of this Migration Footsteps journey and one of the world's greatest wildlife wildernesses. The drive crosses the Rift Valley escarpment and enters the Serengeti ecosystem, where the landscape opens into the iconic boundless plains. Here, vast savannah stretches as far as the eye can see, broken only by stands of acacia trees and the occasional rocky kopje rising from the grassland like a scattered giant's hand.

You arrive in the afternoon, and the remainder of the day is dedicated entirely to game viewing across these extraordinary plains. The timing of your visit determines which chapter of the Migration story you experience. During December, January, and February, the great herds are concentrated on the short-grass southern plains for the spectacular calving season. From June through September, the northern Serengeti and Mara River area offer the famous and dramatic river crossings. In every season, the resident wildlife remains extraordinary. Giraffes, buffalo, and elephants roam throughout the year, while large predator populations, including lions, cheetahs, and leopards, can be reliably encountered across the park.

Your expert Wildflip guide will navigate the day's game circuits based on the most current intelligence from the guide network, positioning you for exceptional wildlife encounters in the best possible light. By evening, your first day in the Serengeti will already have delivered moments that you will carry with you for a lifetime.

Today offers the Serengeti from every angle, from above, at ground level, and from the heights of its ancient kopjes. For those who have chosen to add this experience, the day begins before dawn with one of Africa's most extraordinary adventures, a hot air balloon safari over the Serengeti Plains. Floating silently above the awakening bush as the first light transforms the plains from grey to gold, you can watch wildlife move in their natural patterns far below. Wildebeest may stream across a river crossing, lion prides may return from the night's hunt, and elephants may drift through the acacia trees. It is an experience that cannot be replicated from the ground and is available at an additional cost by prior arrangement.

After breakfast, the vehicle game drives begin with the celebrated Sogore River Circuit, a route through the plains south of the Seronera River that represents one of the Serengeti's most consistently productive game drives. This circuit is particularly renowned for lion sightings, as well as Thomson's gazelles, topi, ostriches, and the breathtaking speed of cheetahs across the open grasslands. Midday brings a relaxed picnic lunch at the Serengeti Visitor's Centre, a beautifully designed facility near Seronera Lodge with excellent wildlife displays, a gift shop, cold drinks, and a fascinating information trail that leads up and around a nearby kopje. The trail provides a genuine panoramic perspective of the ecosystem you are exploring.

The afternoon turns to the legendary Kopjes Circuit, where you travel anti-clockwise around the Masai Kopjes, the Serengeti's famous volcanic granite outcrops. These extraordinary rock formations are miniature ecosystems in their own right. Pools of water collect in the rock depressions after rainfall, attracting a variety of wildlife, from lions to leopards, while the shade of overhanging granite provides shelter during the midday heat. The elevated vantage points also allow predators and their patient observers to survey vast stretches of the surrounding plains. Lions particularly favour the kopjes during the dry season, often lying in wait for animals drawn to nearby water sources. Large rock pythons and impressively large cobras may also occasionally be encountered among the rocky formations.

Today, the safari adventure turns south. After a final morning drive in the Serengeti to make the most of the early morning wildlife activity, you begin the approximately 180 km journey to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which takes around six hours. This UNESCO World Heritage Site was once considered among the Seven Wonders of the World, and many who have seen it would still place it on any such list without hesitation.

The drive south traverses the Serengeti's western approaches, gradually climbing through increasingly forested terrain as you gain altitude towards the crater highlands. The approach to Ngorongoro is marked by a dramatic shift in vegetation. The open savannah gives way to montane forest, the temperature drops noticeably, and the air carries the dampness of the cloud forest. Then, the rim road reveals the caldera, an almost impossibly vast natural amphitheatre that stretches 20 kilometres across. Its floor forms a distinct and self-contained ecosystem that can be viewed from the rim in a single sweeping panorama.

In the afternoon, you drive up to the Ngorongoro Crater rim for your first views of this extraordinary natural wonder. The crater floor, located 600 metres below, is home to a permanent population of more than 30,000 animals and has one of the highest concentrations of large mammals anywhere on Earth. This is one of the few places in Africa where you have a genuinely good chance of seeing the Big Five, including the lion, buffalo, rhino, elephant, and leopard, during a single day's game drive. Tonight, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area surrounds you, with its forests alive with primates and its crater rim echoing with the calls of resident birdlife.

Today is the highlight of the entire 7-day itinerary. After breakfast, you descend 600 metres into the Ngorongoro Crater for a full-day game drive across the crater floor, one of the most densely populated wildlife areas anywhere on Earth. The descent itself feels like a transition between different worlds. The forest along the crater walls gradually gives way to open grassland and soda lakes, while the scale of what you are entering becomes increasingly apparent. Before you lies a complete and self-contained ecosystem enclosed within the walls of an ancient volcano.

The Ngorongoro Crater is home to an estimated 30,000 animals, supported by a year-round water supply and abundant grazing. The diversity of species found here is extraordinary. The vast short-grass plains support large herds of wildebeest, zebra, and eland, while warthog families trot through the grass with their tails raised like antennae. Hippos wallow in pools along the crater's rivers, and giant African elephants move with deliberate authority through the lakeside vegetation. The bulls found here are among the largest remaining anywhere in Africa.

The predator population is equally remarkable. The Ngorongoro Crater supports one of Africa's highest densities of lions, with multiple prides spread across the crater floor in established territories. Spotted hyenas are also present in large numbers, while jackals patrol the edges of kills and cheetahs hunt across the open grasslands. Tanzania's critically endangered black rhino, one of the continent's last viable populations, may also be found grazing among the distant grasses. Spotting one is among the most sought-after wildlife encounters for any visitor to the crater. A picnic lunch on the crater floor, beside the shimmering soda lake where flamingos feed in the shallows, completes a day of extraordinary wildlife immersion.

After a final breakfast at the lodge, with the crater highlands surrounding you in the morning mist, you begin the drive back to Arusha for your last night in Tanzania. The return journey retraces your route through the conservation area, the crater highland forests, and the Rift Valley farmlands. Each familiar landmark now carries the memories and experiences gathered over six extraordinary days.

The drive to Arusha takes approximately three to four hours, depending on road and traffic conditions. You will arrive in the early afternoon with time to rest, refresh, and reflect on your journey. You may choose to make a final visit to Arusha's vibrant curio market, where Maasai artisans sell their work directly and where you may find the perfect final memory of Tanzania in a piece of beadwork or a carved figure. Alternatively, you can enjoy a quiet afternoon at the lodge, sorting through photographs and beginning to reflect on everything these seven days have given you.

Tonight, enjoy a celebratory dinner at Moshono Hillside, where this journey effectively began. Your guide and driver, who have been your companions, educators, and fellow witnesses to seven days of extraordinary wildlife experiences, will join you for a final evening toast to celebrate the safari you have just completed.

The final morning marks the end of an extraordinary adventure. After a relaxed breakfast at the hotel, you will be transferred to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your flight home. The 45-minute drive to the airport provides one final opportunity to take in the Tanzanian landscape, from the acacia-dotted plains and distant silhouettes of mountain ranges to the daily rhythms of Tanzanian life along the roadside, before your journey home begins.

It has been an amazing trip, with seven days of encounters that defy easy description and that most people spend a lifetime dreaming of. You leave Tanzania with an extraordinary collection of photographs and an even more remarkable collection of memories. You will remember the Tarangire elephants gathered around the river, the Serengeti balloon safari at dawn, the Masai Kopjes Circuit with lions lying in wait, and the unforgettable descent into the Ngorongoro Crater. These experiences will become stories that you will share with family and friends for years to come. Tanzania has a way of staying with people, and the memories of this journey will stay with you long after you return home.