Tanzania budget safari offers you 4 days of pure wildlife pleasure in Tanzania. All this is in a shoestring budget without having to break a back. You will see the lion roar and the elephant trumpet. Look out for wildebeest grant as the gazelle watch out for any coming danger.

About the 4 Day Tanzania Budget Safari

Tanzania budget safari is a 4 day tour to Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro. This 4 days Tanzania budget safari is for those who don’t have enough time. The 4 days Tanzania budget safari visits Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara.

The parks toured  on this African safari tour in Tanzania are on the northern circuit. Lake Manyara is one of the most scenic parks that Tanzania safari tour visits.

The park measures a paltry 330 sq. km. Of this, the lake occupies 230 sq. km.  Lake Manyara is on the base of the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley.

Ngorongoro Crater is a wonder, one of the new wonders of the world. This great caldera is wildlife field and has great scenery. It is the largest caldera in the world that supports wildlife.

Tanzania Budget Safari Highlight

Tanzania budget safari highlight includes wildlife tracking. Big cats and the herbivores are some of the wildlife encountered. Tree climbing lion is unique to the Lake Manyara. highlights include:

• Ngorongoro Crater
• Big Game Viewing
• Big Cat Tracking
• Crater Tour

Your Tanzania budget safari itinerary is below:

Tanzania Budget Safari Itinerary

Day 1: ARUSHA – NGORONGORO CRATER NATIONAL PARK

Our Tanzania safari rep will meet you at your hotel. You will be briefed on the Tanzania budget safari. With picnic lunch boxes you will leave for Ngorongoro. Your arrival at Ngorongoro Crater National Park will be in 3 hours.

Your Tanzania budget safari takes a drive into the crater’s floor. This will be a steep drive down the walls of the caldera. You will be here for half-day crater tour. Search for the big cats, herbivores, vulture and birds. After lunch you will proceed to your budget Ngorongoro crater accommodation.

You will spend the afternoon of your Tanzania budget safari at leisure.  You have the option of having a walk to the surrounding villages or on the rim of the crater. I am sure you will be amazed by the scenery from this vintage point.

Return to your safari camp for an evening of great story telling. This is in an African style around the campfire. Your dinner will be at Simba ‘A’ Camp with overnight under the cover of the star filled African sky.

About Ngorongoro Conservation Area

This is a UNESCO protected World Heritage Site. It is also an International Biosphere Reserve. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is some 190 km. west of Arusha, between Lake Manyara and Serengeti National Parks.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area covers approximately 8,292 square km. This consists of the Ngorongoro Crater itself, the Olduvai Gorge and Ndutu. We also have the Empakai crater and the Oldonyo Lengai Mountain.

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a pioneering experiment in multi-purpose land use. This is where people, livestock and wildlife coexist and share the same protected habitat.

Wild animals are protected as in the National Parks. The craters of Ngorongoro and Empakai are reserved for wildlife. The rest of the Conservation Area is shared by wildlife, people and livestock.

The Maasai are the main residents of Ngorongoro. They are pastoralists who move with their herds of cattle, sheep, goat and donkeys. They are often always in search of pasture and water.

In recent years the Maasai have been encouraged to work on the land. This is to supplement their traditional diet of milk and meat.

The Ngorongoro Crater is the central attraction in the area. It is the largest Caldera in the world that has its walls intact. The Ngorongoro Crater floor, a sheer drop of 610 metres below the crater rim, has an area of 304 sq. km, with a diameter of 19 km.

The sight of the Ngorongoro Crater is stunning. “It is impossible to give a fair description of the size and beauty of the Crater. There is nothing with which one can compare it. It is one of the Wonders of the World…” once wrote Professor Bernhard Grzimek.

The crater floor is home to tens of thousands of plains animals. They include wildebeest, zebra, gazelles, elands and a large predator population. The predators include lions, hyena and jackal which can all be seen at close quarters.

The rare black rhino can be viewed here, and if you are lucky you can see cheetah and leopard. The rainy season is between November and May.

The altitude at the crater rim is about 2286 metres above sea level. The temperatures can get quite chilly in the evening, especially between May to September.

Day 2: NGORONGORO CRATER NATIONAL PARK

Start your Tanzania budget safari day with breakfast. This will be followed by a drive down the steep walls of the caldera. This is another day on Half-day crater tour. You will be searching for game in the Ngorongoro Crater’s floor.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a paradise of woodlands and lakes. This provides for abundant wildlife. They include the big cats like the lion, leopard and cheetah. You should also be on the lookout for elephants, buffaloes, gazelles and other antelopes.

The Lake Magadi is at the floor of the crater. It hosts a multitude of birds including flamingos are often seen here. It is also a good spot to catch sighting of most wildlife as they come to quench their thirst

Dinner and overnight will be at Simba Camp.

Day 3: NGORONGORO – LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK

Enjoy an early breakfast before departure. Your Tanzania budget safari heads to Lake Manyara. You will arrive in time for lunch at your Lake Manyara campsite. A short rest will prepare you for the afternoon activities.

At 1600 hrs, enjoy a game drive in Lake Manyara National Park. Lake Manyara National Park is well situated. This is between the Great Rift Valley Escarpment and Lake Manyara. The most famous spectacle is the tree-climbing lions. They are seen along branches of Acacia trees.

Your dinner and overnight will be at the Lake Manyara Twiga Camp.

About Lake Manyara National Park

Lake Manyara National Park one of the most diverse of Tanzania’s national parks. It is tiny (325km²) combination of rift valley lake, dense woodlands and steep mountainside.

It was made famous by elephant researcher, drain Douglas Hamilton. This is in his book, ‘among the elephants’.

Manyara was established to protect the elephant herds that have made the area world-renowned. But heavy poaching in the 1970’s and 1980’s decimated the herds. They are now recovering and returning to their former strengths.

Lake Manyara is a birding paradise with more than 380 species. It is home to waterfowl and migrants, and the forests are one of the best places around to see leopards.

Lions hunt on the grassy shores of the lake. They were once known for their habit of climbing trees. This behavior seems to have been dropped in recent years.

The park can easily be seen in a day. Best game viewing months are December to February and May to July. This tapers off in august and September.

Most visitors will tailor a tour to Lake Manyara. It is to fit in with a Tanzania safari trip to one of the big three parks (Serengeti, Tarangire and Ngorongoro).

Day 4: LAKE MANYARA – ARUSHA

Start your Lake Manyara Ngorongoro safari with breakfast. This will be followed by check out from your lodge. You will drive back to Arusha arriving in the early afternoon. Drop off will be at your hotel in Arusha.

———- End of 4 Day Tanzania Budget Safari ———-

4 Day Tanzania Budget Safari Costs:

What is included in the 4 Day Tanzania Budget Safari cost?

• Accommodation on full board basis
• Transport in a 4 X 4 Safari vehicle with pop up roof
• Meals on full board basis while on 4 Day Tanzania Budget Safari
• All park entrance fee
• All Government tax

4 Day Tanzania Budget Safari cost excludes:

• Visa
• Items of personal use
• Deviation from the above program
• Drinks and beverages
• Tips and porterage

What to Carry on the 4 Day Tanzania Budget Safari

• Sun glasses
• Light and some few heavy clothing
• Sun screen
• Insect repellant
• Hat
• Comfortable shoes

Other Tanzania safari Tours

Affordable Safari in Tanzania to lake Manyara Ngorongoro and Serengeti

Best Budget Safari in Tanzania to Ngorongoro and Serengeti

Best camping Trip in Tanzania including Ngorongoro National Park

Tanzania Flying Safari to lake Manyara Ngorongoro and Serengeti

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The Ngorongoro conservation area is one of the best places to view wildlife in Africa while on Tanzania budget safari. It is also one of the most visited tourist attractions in Tanzania. The main activities in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area are walking safaris to observe wildlife from the rim of the crater (can take about 6 hours), camping along the rim of the crater, visiting the local Maasai villages and a game drive around and in the crater itself.

Other attractions here for your Tanzania budget safari include Lake Magadi, Lerai Fever Tree Forest, Olduvai Gorge, the Shifting Sands, the Gol Mountains, the Olmoti Crater, the Empakaai Crater, Ol Karien Gorge, Nasera Rock, Salei Plains, Oldeani Mountain, Lake Natron, Ol Doinyo Lengai and visiting the Hadzabe Tribe.

Ngorongoro Crater, the Garden of Eden of Africa, has a glorious landscape that’s teeming with about 25,000 animals. They include ungulates, four of the Big Five and other large mammals. It is also one of the best places to spot critically endangered animals like black rhinos, golden cats and wild hunting dogs when on Tanzania budget safari.

Tanzania budget safari  takes you to the home to one of the densest known population of Masai lions. Ngorongoro Crater guarantees an action-packed, heart-pounding game. In fact, it also supports the largest animal migration on earth, the Great Migration.

You see, the Ngorongoro Crater area and Ndutu area are settings of the wildebeest calving season. During this time around February, you will be able to witness thousands of baby wildebeests being born and a plethora of opportunistic predators on stealth and killing modes.

The splendor of this world wonder makes people say this is like “mini Africa in a bowl.” As one Tanzania budget safari traveler put it.

What to See in Ngorongoro Crater

Wildlife

Ngorongoro crater is a home of the big four with only the leopards raer or not seen but others like rare black Rhinos, Buffalos, Elephants and Lions are easy to spot during your game drive at the crater. Other animals seen are different species of Antelopes, Zebras, Warthogs, Wildebeest, Jackals and others.

The Crater Lake attracts more animals to leave around the lake for water while nearby swamp is cool area for Elephants and cape buffaloes, one can easily find these animals especially in dry season cooling themselves in this muddy area, the swamp have hippo pools with large school of hippos spotted all the time.

Bird Species

Birds are one of the greatest attractions in Ngorongoro one time it was termed as the birding paradise in Tanzania with both permanent and migratory birds from both Asia and Europe that normally come around September to April that is rainy season for breeding like the Europen Swallows, Caspian Lapwing, Europen Rollers, the Montagus Harrier mention but a few.

Other ground big birds are the Ostriches, Grey Crown Cranes, Secretary birds, Kori Bustards and many more. The soda lakes of Ngorongoro are the breeding grounds of thousands of flamingoes and other water birds such as ducks, waders and herons.

Lake Manyara National Park

Tanzania budget safari to this wonderfully scenic park takes you on the road from Arusha to Ngorongoro. Lake Manyara National park is set between the Great Rift Valley and the sodiforous lake, so hence is often visited en route to the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti National Park.

Although the concentration of wildlife is less impressive than some of Tanzania’s other parks, it is known for its famous tree-climbing lions, habituated baboons and large elephant populations.

With a total area of just 330 square kilometers, the area of the park is compact, but a proportion of the land mass is occupied by the lake itself. The views from the top of the escarpment that extend for miles out toward the lake are undoubtedly stunning, and if visiting the park en route to other areas it is certainly a great place to begin your venture and sets a superb precedent for the rest of your Tanzania budget safari.

In the north of Tanzania, Lake Manyara National Park centres around its eponymous alkaline lake, a key habitat for hundreds of bird species. Between November and April, thousands of greater and lesser pink flamingos gather on its shores, along with pink-backed pelicans, yellow-billed storks, grey herons and pods of hippo.

Surrounding the lake are marshlands, grassy plains and acacia woodlands, home to tree-climbing lion and long-tusked elephant. Giraffe strut across the grasslands, where herds of buffalo, zebra and wildebeest graze.

As well as enjoying game drives and walking safaris, you can visit the Maji Moto hot springs to soak in the warm, clear water under the shade of leafy trees.

Lake Manyara is only 90 minutes from Arusha by car and easy to combine with a safari in the Serengeti, Tarangire or the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

What to See in Lake Manyara

Situated between Tarangire National Park and the famous Ngorongoro Conservation Area, followed by the world-renowned Serengeti, Lake Manyara is often overlooked as a safari destination. At 330 square-kilometres of which more than half are often submerged in water, it certainly is one of the smaller national parks – in African terms.

Here’s why we think it’s worth visiting Lake Manyara National Park on Tanzania budget safari, nevertheless.

Just like neighbouring Tarangire, Lake Manyara is home to many elephants. The gentle giants roam the acacia woodlands and evergreen forests fed by high groundwater levels. Lush and thick vegetation offers plenty of feeding grounds for the elephants.

Lake Manyara National Park is known for its large troops of baboons. While not everyone’s favourite, these highly social animals are a joy to observe on Tanzania budget safari  as they interact amongst each other. Watch young ones learn the ropes of life while older animals battle for a spot higher up the hierarchical ladder.

Tree-climbing lions are a more than rare sight – for many years, only two prides on the continent were known to climb up trees. One pride is in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park and one in Lake Manyara National Park. While today you can also spot tree-climbing lions in the Serengeti and Tarangire National Park, it is still a very exciting sight.

The lions are said to avoid tsetse flies and other bugs by climbing the trees, as well as enjoying the cooler breeze and taking advantage of the extended views across the park.

Many hours on Tanzania budget safari are spent in your safari vehicle. While it is dangerous and forbidden to leave your car at most spots in the national parks, you can do so at Lake Manyara: walk through the tree canopy at the “Treetop Walkway” and look out for monkeys and birds. A local guide will accompany you and share their knowledge.

While seeing wildlife is not guaranteed, taking a walk through the treetops is a great opportunity to get out of the car and take in the sounds and smells and colours of your surroundings.

Water is life in the African bush and the soda lake is an oasis for plenty of wildlife. Besides different kinds of antelopes, the bird life of Lake Manyara is spectacular. Proud pelicans and colourful flamingos call the lake and surrounding swamps home.

Despite its smaller size, Lake Manyara National Park has its very own charm. It stands out from its world-famous neighbors thanks to its rich and lush aquatic landscapes and ample wildlife. Its close proximity to Arusha makes Lake Manyara a perfect day trip destination. Fewer safari vehicles, especially in the morning hours, give you the opportunity to appreciate every moment you immerse yourself in this tranquil park in Tanzania’s Northern Circuit.