Tanzania bird watching and Wildlife Safari

Tanzania is our home and specialty destination, yet winging you to other exciting destinations such as Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and now South Africa.
Your Tanzania Safari experience with us, is a discovery of what these exciting destinations offer in terms of avian ( bird life ),big game viewing, people, Mountains and scenery and not forgetting the wealth of experience behind them. Come and see for yourself this greatest wildlife spectacle on earth with terrific birding experience a midst beasts.

Our safari vehicles with hatched roof for shade against sunny African wilderness; are extended body with roomy seats for comfortable sitting and stretching out legs. Every guest is accessible to window seat. Cars are also fitted with fridges, power charge sockets and VHF radio calls for easy and fast communication with base office in Arusha town. A vehicle in only as good as the driver and drivers are excellent. Each one is custom designed with an extra-large photographic roof hatch, extra dust proofing, comfortable seats with seat belts and canvas covers, first aid kits, binoculars, a selection of field guides and a cooler stocked with bottles of mineral water supplied by Cross to Africa Safaris at no additional cost.
Every safari vehicle carries a maximum of six passengers so that every passenger is guaranteed a window seat and access to the photographic roof hatch at all times during the safari.
Every safari vehicle is serviced after each safari.
Driver guides are all trained naturalists who have more than five years’ experience with us, they know their way around the parks and are skilled at spotting and identifying wildlife. They are also trained to prepare delicious picnic lunches in the bush, so that you can maximize your game viewing opportunities.
Game viewing from the vehicle is one of the core activities of a wildlife safari. Drives are conducted in the morning and evening, but depending on time of year and weather conditions may extend throughout the day. It is often best to head out for a game drive very early after a quick cup of coffee and a muffin, returning later for a leisurely breakfast. Alternatively a camp breakfast could be followed by a long morning game scouting drive with a picnic carried along and eaten whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Evening game drives are generally very rewarding, and it is during these times that we expect the best light for photography and enjoying the ever magnificent African bush scenery.

Trip  Highlights
Day  1-16 | Tanzania
Tarangire National park
Lake Manyara National Park
Ngorongoro Crater
Serengeti National Park
Usambara Mountains
Mkomazi National Parks
Lake Nyumba ya  Mungu Reservoir Area

Day 1 and 2: Lark Plains to Tarangire National Park

Our Tanzania Birding Tour will start in Arusha, the tourism capital of Tanzania. We will drive from Arusha early and head on north to the Lark Plains- to enjoy a site for the very rare Beasley’s Lark. We will enjoy the morning birding here, and then start heading south to Tarangire National Park.

We may make some strategic stop-overs to add some few species on the way. Soon, we will enter Tarangire National Park, the land of Elephants and Baobab trees; where many birds await us. Big game will also be encountered as we bird. The local Acacia woodland is also very graceful and full of birds. We shall enjoy birding here for the next two days of our Tanzania Birding Tour.

Dinner and overnight at Maramboi tented camp.

Day 3: Tarangire National Park to Lake Manyara National Park.

We will leave our camp early, carrying picnic lunches. We shall drive to Lake Manyara, a pristine soda lake in the Rift Valley near Tarangire. The local Baobab trees will illuminate our journey through this lowland region. Here we see lots of birds and during good time, lots of Flamingos are seen in the soda waters. We shall keep birding this interesting place during the day. The local game is mainly composed of monkeys. Others include Savannah Elephants, Lions and much more. In the afternoon, we will carry on with our Tanzania Birding Tour, and proceed with afternoon walking Safari around the lake.

Dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro  Tloma Lodge.

Day 4:  Ngorongoro Crater

Today we will descend to the crater floor for more birding. The mighty Ngorongoro is an amazing place. It is known as one of the wonders of Africa. Descending down the crater floor takes you through great scenery and you get to experience the local Euphorbia tree varieties. Many birds will be encountered in the crater.

Herds of wild animals are plenty inside the crater as well as wonderful views of the crater walls. Look out for the local Lions, Black Rhinos, Common Zebras, assorted Gazelles, Nile Hippos and Wildebeests.

Dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Rhino lodge.

Day 5 and 6: Serengeti National Park via Ol Duvai Gorge Pre-Historic Site

The first day will see us cross from the highlands of the Ngorongoro, through Acacia woodlands and into the grassy plains of Serengeti.

On the way, we will make a short trip to Ol duvai Gorge as (optional). The gorge has led to multiple archaeological and paleontological discoveries. Home to the great work by Louis and Mary Leakey, this is a phenomenal destination. Some famous discoveries here include Zinjanthropus, Homo habilis and Homo erectus. You will get to learn all about the work going on at the site in a very interactive way.

We will later head to Serengeti National Park where we will have our lunch. The journey to the park passes through the Ndutu Plains and welcomes you to Naabi hill gate Area; the beautiful locations where the annual Wildebeest migration starts, by thousands of females calving on these plains. Soon after lunch we will start game drives in this vast savannah, enjoying the local birds as we head to our camp.

Dinner and overnight at Serengeti wildebeest tented camp.

Day 7: Lake Victoria

Leaving early, we will cut through the Serengeti via a transect road that allows us to do a great birding session across the park to add to our bird list. By lunch time, will be at Lake Victoria, where our lodge is located next to the mighty lake. Here we will enjoy a different habitat on the Tanzania Birding Tour, a fresh water lake. Later in the afternoon, we will have a bird walk along the lake shore and the lodge compound.

Dinner and overnight at Speke Bay Lodge.

Day 8: Lake Victoria to Serengeti National Park

After an early morning bird walk at the lodge, we shall head back to Serengeti. Another day of game drives in this wonderful park will see us enjoy the sceneries of these vast plains and keep adding to our bird list. We shall spend time looking around some of the famous rock outcrops, often referred as Kopjes. Look out for animals such as Leopard, Cape buffalo, assorted Gazelles, Maasai Giraffe, Wildebeest, Common Zebras, Savannah Elephant and Lions. Here you will also get an opportunity to learn all about the famous migration and get to follow in the steps of the Wildebeests in a lovely Kopje, modelled to imitate the migration cycle.

Dinner and overnight at Serengeti Wildebeest tented camp.

Day 9: Serengeti National Park to Arusha City.

On this day we will drive back to Arusha picking some extra birds on the way. We hope to pick any species we missed earlier in Ngorongoro Conservation Area; as we transect through.

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Arusha town.

Day 10 and 11: West Usambaras 

We shall leave Arusha early and head southwards to the mighty Usambara- one of the most iconic birding sites in Africa. This is one of our top birding sites on the Tanzania Birding Tour.
Soon we shall arrive at the West Usambara Forest. We will spend the next two days enjoying the birds around Usambara Mountain.

Dinner and overnight at Mombo view point Eco Lodge.

Day 12 and 13: East Usambara Mountain

After breakfast at your lodge we will start with more birding at Lushoto, then move to the nearby East Usambara to continue our birding in this great place. On the way we may be lucky to find more birds and we will stop to pick any species we may be still missing on our Tanzania Birding Tour. Our destination will be Amani Forest, a hidden gem in northern Tanzania. We shall spend the next two days exploring this area for its rich birds.
We shall try for the rare Usambara Eagle-Owl during a night search.
Nights in Amani.

Day 14 and 15: Same-Mkomazi National Park Area

After breakfast at your lodge we will scan the East Usambaras forest for more birds in the morning. Later, we will leave the Usambaras and head north to the Same area. We may find more interesting species on the way and we make several stop-overs to enjoy birding. On arrival at Same, we will bird the area, where many dry land and open habitat species will be awaiting us; then relax at our hotel for the night.
The following day, we shall enjoy birding in the mighty Mkomazi National Park the whole day, with breaks in between. This amazing park is home to Black Rhinos, African Wild Dog, Common Zebra, Maasai Giraffe, Savannah Elephant, Cape Eland and Common Impala. Birds are in plenty too, including many species from Southern Kenya- which highly boosts our Tanzania Birding Tour list.  Dinner and overnight at Elephant Motel.

Day 16: Nyumba ya Mungu Reservoir Area to Arusha

On this day, we will return to Arusha, with a detour visit to a nearby reservoir. We can expect to add some more birds that we have missed earlier around Lake Nyumba ya mungu.
Later, we shall drive to Arusha arriving in time for our evening flights home; marking the end to our lovely Tanzania Birding Tour.

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