Great Value Tanzania’s Tarangire, Migration and Karatu

It is only a 5-minute drive from Arusha Airport to your comfortable bed and airy suite at Katambuga House. Set on the Endurance Estate, its six rooms are surrounded by lovely gardens, views of looming Mount Meru (the fifth highest mountain in Africa) and nearby coffee plantations. The feel is cosy-contemporary with modern necessities like Wi-Fi on tap. 

If you need to stretch after a long flight, then head for the swimming pool for a few laps before dinner. Then, the next morning, enjoy breakfast in your room before heading back to Arusha Airport for your flight to the Kuro airstrip.

Your first game drive starts with the hour-long transfer from the Kuro airstrip to Tarangire Nduvo Camp in northern Tarangire National Park. Perhaps you will even be lucky enough to spot some of Tarangire’s famous elephant families quietly making their way to find permanent water sources. Tarangire is dotted with baobabs, their branches seemingly rooted in the blue sky, so in addition to Africa’s largest land mammal you will also see one its most gargantuan trees.

The eight to 10 tents of Nduvo eventually come into sight, pitched in around a central campfire. Each is 48m² / 158ft² in size, giving you plenty of space to relax and lots of options when it comes to the layout of beds (up to three can be accommodated and there is one family tent). The en suite bathroom has a good, old-fashioned bucket 20-litre / 5-gallon shower and a flush loo. All light is solar powered.

Your days at Tarangire Nduvo Camp will be filled with exciting game drives in search of leopard, lion, ostrich, zebra and everything in between!

Africa has plenty of great lakes but on this trip, you will be a stone’s throw away from Lake Ndutu in the heart of the southern Serengeti. After flying in from Kuro, a 10-minute drive from the Ndutu airstrip will deliver you to Ang’ata Migration Ndutu Camp. ‘Ang’ata’ means ‘wilderness’ in the Maa language spoken by the Maasai and indeed this is a truly unspoilt wilderness. The short grass plains that support the passing wildebeest herds are known as ‘shamba maharagi’ and they are within easy reach of camp.

Also, short drives away are Lakes Ndutu and Masek, which offer reliable water to the game living here and which make great places to hang out and see what comes down to drink.

Karatu is an area with a very enviable position between the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park. This gives you the best of two of Tanzania’s dazzling wildlife hotspots and ensures you end your safari on an unforgettable high note. 

Your base is the refined arena of Gibb’s Farm, to where you are driven after landing at the Manyara airstrip. Gibb’s offers cosy, down-to-earth hospitality in a rural setting. After a week of flying around Tanzania, you may want to have a day at leisure, going for a walk, bird watching, roasting your own coffee or even mountain biking to Rotia. Whatever you choose, it is bound to be a salve for the senses.

Your last full day in Africa promises to be one of the best yet for Day 8 is when you rise at dawn for a full-day excursion into the famed Ngorongoro Crater. It is said that the crater provides some of the easiest and most reliable Big 5 sightings in the world, thanks to its high caldera walls, plentiful grazing and ever-flowing streams. You will have a picnic lunch on the crater floor, surrounded by some of the nearly 30 000 animals that call Ngorongoro home.

After bidding farewell to the staff at Gibb’s, it is back to the Manyara airstrip for the hour-long flight back to Arusha Airport to continue your onward travel arrangements.