Tanzania Birding And Game Viewing

On arrival in Tanzania, you will be met by our driver/guide at Kilimanjaro International Airport. Transfer to accommodation birding en route towards Arusha, looking out for species like the Variable and Scarlet-chested Sunbirds, Common Bulbul, Brown-crowned Tchagra, Mourning and Namaqua Doves, Spotted Eagle-owl, African Black-headed Oriole, red-headed Weaver, Baglafecht Weaver, White-eared Barbet, Blackcap, Waller’s Starling, African Green Pigeon, among others.

Dinner and Overnight at Korona Villa ( Full Board).

Breakfast at about 8:00 am, walk around the lodge garden, and depart for Arusha National Park with your picnic lunch boxes. You will have a full day exploring the Ngurodoto crater and famous Momella crater lakes, as well as clear views of Mount Meru ( 4500m above sea level). You will have sights of big game, including herds of buffalo, Masai Giraffes, and Black & white Colobus monkeys,  to mention but a few.

The bird checklist here includes Trilling Cisticola, Moustached Grass-warbler, Mosque Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Lesser Striped Swallow, African Harrier-hawk, Cabanis’s Greenbul, Short-tailed Batis, Horus Swift, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Hartlaub’s Turaco, Bar-tailed Trogon, Brown Woodland Warbler, Eastern Mountain Greenbul, White-starred Robin, and many more. 

Dinner and Overnight at Korona Villa ( Full Board).

After an early breakfast and a picnic lunch, head out to the Serengeti Plain, driving through the Masai countryside side, and making a stopover at the Rift Valley Escarpment for a scenic view. Lunch will be had at  Olduvai Gorge as you listen to lectures from the resident Archaeologist about the fossils of early man.  You will also visit the Paleontology Museum, where the Australopithecus Bosei skeleton was discovered, dating back a million years.

We will continue with the game drive until sunset as we look out for birds like Buff-bellied Warbler, Red-faced Crombecs, and Winding Cisticolas. Tawny-flanked Prinias, Diederik Cuckoos, White-browed Coucals, Grey-headed Kingfishers, Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, Cardinal Woodpecker, Black-headed Gonolek, Rufous Chatterers, Isabelline Shrike, Angola Swallow, Pearl-spotted Owlet, Brubru, Black-backed Puffback, Marico Sunbird, Karamoja Apalis, Southern Ground Hornbill, Bateleur, and Little Sparrowhawk.

Dinner and Overnight at Katikati Tented Camp( Full Board).

Early rise to catch up with the game, as hundreds of mammals rise out of their dens to begin a typical jungle day. Serengeti is famous for its annual million herds of Wildebeests migrating within the Serengeti-Masai Mara eco-system; Grazers, Browsers, and Carnivores. We will return to the camp for breakfast before heading back for the official full-day game viewing.

Look out for a handful of Lion Pride, Thomson's and Grant's Gazelles, caracals, and Leopards. Birds to look out for include the Common Sandpiper, Black Crakes, Montagu’s Harrier, Black-shouldered Kite, Black-chested Snake-eagle, White-bellied Bustard, Temminck’s Couser, White-headed Buffalo-Weaver, Rufous-tailed Weaver, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Pallid Harrier, Dark Chanting-Goshawk, to mention but a few.

Dinner and Overnight at Katikati Tented Camp( Full Board).

Breakfast at leisure and with a packed lunch, explore the Serengeti plains with chances of catching up with the Kudus, Topi, Eland, and Waterbucks. En route to Ngorongoro are the Masai local homesteads, locally known as the box, and you are welcome to visit their home at a fee.

More birds will be sighted, like the African Hill Babbler, Thick-billed Seedeater, Brown Woodland Warbler, Black-winged Bishop, Holub’s Golden Weaver, Emerald-spotted Wood-dove, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Chinspot Batis, Gray-capped Warbler, White-necked Raven, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, Black-throated Wattle-eye, Tambourine Dove, Mountain Wagtail, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater,  Collared Sunbird, Grey Cuckoo-shrike, Black-fronted Bushshrike, Moustached Tinkerbird, African Hill Babblers, and Montane Nightjar.

Dinner and Overnight at Rhino Lodge ( Full Board)

After breakfast at 7:30 am, you will descend the crater walls onto the crater floor, which has a radius of about 265 square kilometers. The crater is uniquely dotted with watering holes and shelters about 30,000 mammals, including White-bearded Gnus, Cheetahs, and Tanzania’s only Black Rhinos. This is the eighth wonder of the world and the only remaining memory of the “Garden of Eden, “ better described as Noah’s ark.

Birds to look out for include Cape Rook Kestrel, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Yellow-throated Sandgrouse, Rufous-crowned Roller, White-throated Bee-eater, Singing Cisticola, Yellow Bishop, Scalow’s Wheatear, Northern Anteater Chat, Yellow-fronted Canary, Abdim’s Stork, Ruppell’s Robin-Chat, Spur-winged Goose, Saddle-billed Stork, Mountain Yellow Warbler, Hunter’s Cisticola, Eastern Mountain Greenbul, Streaky Seedeater, Cape Robin-Chat, Kenrick’s Starling, Olive Pigeon, Schalow’s Turaco, Tropical Boubou, Dusky Flycatcher, White-eyed Slaty-Flycatcher, Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, to mention but a few.

After the excitement on the crater floor, you will ascend the crater walls and head to the lodge.

Dinner and Overnight at  Country Lodge ( Full Board).

Today we drive into the jungles of Lake Manyara, which is famous for its tree-climbing lions, large schools of Hippos at the Hippo pool, and Maji Moto hot springs. Birds to look out for include Black-crowned Tchagra, Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Collared Palm-Thrush, Purple-crested Turaco, Yellow-bellied Greenbul, White-backed and Ruppell’s Vultures, African Crowned Eagle,  Black Goshawk, African Marsh Harrier, African Fish-Eagle, Bateleur, Common Buzzard, Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl, Sulphur-breasted Bush-shrike, Yellow-billed Stork, Great White Pelican, Pink-Backed Pelican, Sacred Ibis, African Spoonbill, Squacco Heron, Purple Heron, White-faced Whistling Duck, Black-winged Stilt, Marsh Sandpiper, Little Stint, and Collared Pratincole.

We will have our picnic lunch at a convenient location, and explore the park more before heading to our accommodation. 

Dinner and Overnight at E Unoto Retreat Lodge ( Full Board).

We will have an option pre-breakfast nature walk around the Gibba Farm, and later head out for a full-day game drive in the Manyara jungles. Look out for water birds like the Water Thick-knee, Long-toed Plover, Blacksmith Plover, Spur-winged Plover, African Jacana, European Bee-eaters, African Swamphen, Mocking Cliff Chat, Bearded Woodpecker, Crowned Hornbill, African Black-headed Oriole, Collared Palm Thrush, White-headed Barbet, Southern Citril, Spot-flanked Barbet, African Green Pigeon, Red-headed Weaver, Eastern Nicator, and many more.

In the evening, we will explore the surroundings and also mingle with the local people before heading to the lodge for dinner.

Dinner and Overnight at E Unoto Retreat Lodge ( Full Board).

Breakfast at leisure, then drive to Arusha to catch your flight back home.