8-Day Tanzania | Fly-in Serengeti National Park & Ruaha National Park

On arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport, you will be met and transferred to Machweo on the outskirts of nearby Arusha. Overnight here, relaxing in the pretty gardens and enjoying a delicious dinner – it’s the perfect place to recover from your flights before you set off on safari tomorrow.

This morning you will be driven to Arusha Airport for your light-aircraft flight to the Serengeti, where you will be met and enjoy a game drive on the way to camp. Settle in with lunch and a siesta during the heat of the day. Enjoy afternoon tea before setting off on your afternoon game drive, fully exploring this wildlife rich park. The Serengeti is famed for its strong populations of big cats and of course the Great Wildebeest Migration herds that move around the park (and into the neighbouring Masai Mara) in search of fresh grazing. Ubuntu Migration Camp is moved several times each year to ensure you are in the best location possible to maximise your wildlife sightings.

Game viewing in the Serengeti tends to focus on the early morning and late afternoon, when the wildlife is most active, with guests returning to camp during the heat of the day to relax, catch up on a good book and have some lunch. If you wish to travel further afield, you can opt for a full-day game drive with a picnic lunch, stopping in a shady spot at midday and returning to the camp in the late afternoon. You will be sharing your game drives with other guests at Ubuntu Migration Camp, but the camp will do their utmost to accommodate your preference wherever possible.

The wildlife in the Serengeti is excellent year round, with plentiful big cats, elephant herds, pods of hippos and various species of antelope and birds. The Great Wildebeest Migration of two million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle move around the Serengeti-Masai Mara ecosystem throughout the year, and aside from August and September (when the bulk of the herds are in the Masai Mara in Kenya), you have the chance to search for this mega-herd as well as see a wonderful variety of wildlife in the Serengeti regardless.

You can enjoy a final short early morning game drive on the way to the airstrip before you fly south to the remote and beautiful Ruaha National Park. This journey is in a faster and more luxurious light aircraft than you’ll typically find, a Pilatus, making this only a two-hour flight despite the distances involved. A guide from Kwihala will be waiting to greet you at Ruaha’s Msembe Airstrip, and you will enjoy a short game drive through the park on your way to the camp. Relax, and have some lunch overlooking the Great Ruaha River and enjoy a siesta before afternoon tea is served. Your afternoon activity is your choice of a game drive or guided walk, accompanied by an expert guide.

Each day you have a choice of morning and afternoon activities, allowing you to be where the wildlife is and the flexibility to explore on foot as well as by vehicle. Game drives are in open-sided vehicles to allow the best views of the wildlife, and enable you to explore further afield – either for a morning or afternoon, or for the full day with a picnic lunch. The park is home to an impressive one tenth of the world’s lion populations, as well as more unusual species such as roan and sable antelope. It offers a superb contrast to the Serengeti, and the guides here at Kwihala are some of East Africa’s finest.

Today brings another day to explore. Perhaps try a guided walking safari with an expert guide at Kwihala, which is a real highlight and we highly recommend at least one walk during your stay. They offer you an entirely different perspective of the park and the chance to pay attention to the smaller details of the bush, from tracking wildlife by their prints in the earth to learning about the plants and smaller creatures.

There’s time for a final morning game drive before you fly by light aircraft to Dar es Salaam, where you can connect to your international flight home.