Wayo Africa group trip

You’ll be met on arrival off your international flight into Kilimanjaro Airport and transferred to Rivertrees Country Inn for a first night acclimatising after your journey. This classic Arusha guesthouse is delightfully located on the Usa river and is one of our favourite starting points for a northern safari circuit. With fab food, comfortable rooms, a swimming pool, and warm staff, Rivertrees offers a wonderful welcome to Africa, before your main safari itinerary begins.

After breakfast you’ll head out for a guided tour of Arusha, where you will sample the vibrant markets and colourful bustle of the region’s foremost city. Then, on your way to Manyara, you’ll mountain bike through Mto Wa Mbu, an exhilarating little journey through banana plantations, and enjoy a local lunch and community visit. After lunch, you’ll continue on to Lake Manyara National Park, to stay overnight at Wayo Manyara Green Camp. As soon as you enter Manyara, you’ll be game driving and savouring your first taste of safari, within the region famous for its stunning flamingo populations, magnificent rift valley views, and tree-climbing lion. As the sun sets on your first day in the wild, a beautiful calm will descend, the sounds of the bush will surround you, and it’ll feel like you have the park to yourself, since Wayo Manyara is one of only a handful of lodges actually located within the park boundaries.

Wake up in the morning with a fresh coffee, in readiness for your first full day in the bush! Wayo Manyara Green Camp is located on a dry riverbed with views over an escarpment cliff-face and waterfall. Due to this fantastic location within the park, you can set off game driving early in search of the famous tree-climbing lion, as they are often found deeper into Manyara. Amongst the impressive list of activities here, you can take to the water and do some canoeing on the lake itself, before returning to Wayo Manyara Green Camp for sundowners, fire-pit chat about the day’s adventures, followed by a hearty supper and staying another night in the camp’s wonderful ‘star tents’.

Take a morning game drive in Lake Manyara NP and a trip to the ‘treetop walkway’, a stunning intersecting wooden adventure that takes you high up into the trees and enables you to see the forest from a different perspective! Watch monkeys leaping between trees and see elephants from above as they make their way through the undergrowth. You will then journey out of Manyara, visiting a local village and having lunch on the way to the Karatu region. This is en route to the Ngorongoro Crater, and you’ll stay overnight at the delightful Plantation Lodge.

It’s an early rise to beat the crowds as you head for the Ngorongoro Crater floor for a morning game drive. This epic ancient caldera is home to a multitude of ‘trapped’ wildlife who have made the place their home, and all Big Five species can be found here. It’s one of the world’s best settings for game viewing, and the scarred volcanic landscape will take your breath away. The crater is only open for safari in the mornings and is a small game area, so one drive here is plenty. The afternoon will be spent enjoying the views from the crater rim and meeting local Maasai before staying overnight at Mysigio Camp.

After breakfast you will set off through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, on your way to the Serengeti. It’s a very scenic drive through the park, and you will be game driving for large parts of it. As you enter the Serengeti, you’ll quickly grasp why it’s considered one of the finest safari destinations in Africa! Endless plains, huge volumes of game and predator concentrations, and the Great Migration… all this will make up the grand finale to your trip. Where you go afterwards will depend on the time of the set departure during the year. You will either head to Ndutu in the south (3 hours’ drive), where the mega-herd congregates from December to the end of March, or, from July through to the middle of October, you will journey up to the north for the famous river crossings (6 hours with picnic en route), when the herds move back and forth across the Mara river as crocs snap at their heels! You will stay overnight at Wayo Serengeti Green Camp.

These two days staying at Wayo Serengeti Green Camp will provide your most exhilarating safari experience. Early morning walking safaris take you close to the action – there’s nothing quite like being on foot (with an armed ranger) in this gorgeous landscape. Then it’s back to camp for lunch, followed by late afternoon/early evening game drives once the heat of the day has passed and the animals become active again. After an eventful day of game viewing, you’ll head home to camp for drinks by the fire as the sun sets over the savanna, stories are shared, and excellent food is served by Wayo’s top-notch chef. The Serengeti never disappoints!

There’s time for one more morning game drive before you fly back to Arusha at around lunchtime. On arrival in Arusha, you will be met and transferred back to Rivertrees Country Inn, where a dayroom awaits you. This is a nice chance to relax, have a swim, eat, and freshen up before being transferred to Kilimanjaro Airport in time for your international flight home.