Tanzania – Ngorongoro & Serengeti Signature Safari 2021

After arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport you will be collected by an ORYX representative and driven to your accommodations for the night. Here you will be met by tour leader Greg du Toit, and will be able to discuss your exciting upcoming African photo safari together!

This morning on our Tanzania photography tour we head west away from Arusha before turning northwest towards the Gregory Escarpment. At the base of the escarpment, we pass through the town of Mto wa Mbu and its large ground water forest before ascending the Rift Valley wall, allowing us to gaze down onto Lake Manyara below. Our photo tour then takes us through cultivated lands as we make our way through the dusty town of Karatu and its red soils into the Crater Highlands. We enter the Ngorongoro Conservation Area at Lodoare Gate, and travel through the verdant highland forest which cloaks the crater rim. Reaching the top of the rim, we will stop and take a few minutes to drink in the sensational view of the crater stretching out ahead of us! Our Tanzania photo safari continues as we drive to our spectacular accommodations for the next three nights. All the wildlife is free ranging, and sleeping on the edge of the crater we might have an elephant or buffalo walk through the lodge grounds.

During our Tanzania photo tour, we will depart camp early each day and then wind our way down the descent road. Once we reach the bottom of the road and where the crater opens up, ambient light levels will just be high enough to capture sublime moody and mysterious images. For two full days on our Tanzania photo safari we will be able to photograph the crater together with all its incredible creatures and vistas.

Today we strike out for a different area in this stunning ecosystem on our Serengeti photo tour, making our way north-west into the south-central Serengeti.

During our time in the national park, we will be able to access a large network of roads that will lead us to its famous residents. An African Lion stretched out on an elevated boulder enjoying the cool afternoon breeze, a Leopard draped over an Acacia or Sausage tree bough awaiting nightfall, or an elegant Cheetah standing proud on a termite mound scanning the plains for an easy meal… These are some of the quintessential sights of this region that we will be searching for. The Serengeti also harbours excellent numbers of resident game, and we should encounter Grant’s Gazelle as well as its smaller, “bouncier” cousin the Thomson’s Gazelle, Topi, Impala, Warthog, Cape Buffalo, Maasai Giraffe, Defassa Waterbuck, Coke’s Hartebeest and even African Elephant. Although Black Rhino does occur, it typically inhabits thick thorn scrub and wooded koppies, and is rarely encountered. Smaller carnivores include Banded Mongoose, Golden and Black-backed jackals, Bat-eared Fox and Serval, although the latter two can be slightly more challenging to encounter. Overall however, the volume and diversity of game that occurs in the Serengeti is astounding, and it truly is any wildlife photographers dream to visit and photograph this one-of-a-kind region! With full days to explore this paradise, we are in for a real treat, and with the next closest camp being one hour away, we are guaranteed an incredible photographic and wilderness experience!

Today marks the end of our Tanzania photography tour and make our way to Seronera Airstrip, where after we will fly to Kilimanjaro International Airport and depart.