Ngorongoro · Grumeti · Mwiba
8 Day Tanzania
Grand Circuit
The Crater rim, the western Serengeti and the Mwiba hills. Three private concessions in seven nights, and not one of them repeats another.
The Crater rim, the western Serengeti and the Mwiba hills. Three private concessions in seven nights, and not one of them repeats another.
The usual Tanzanian circuit gives you three variations on the same plains. This one does not. The Ngorongoro Crater is a collapsed caldera twenty kilometres across, holding a density of wildlife found nowhere else in Africa and one of the last reliable black rhino populations on the continent. The Grumeti Reserve is 350,000 acres of open western Serengeti held under a single private concession. Mwiba is broken granite country, fig trees and natural springs, where you can walk.
Two of the three are private concessions, which means off road driving and night drives are permitted, and at Mwiba so is walking with a guide. None of that is possible inside Serengeti National Park.
Two nights on the Crater rim rather than one, which is the difference between descending with a full day and racing the day visitors down from Arusha. Three at Grumeti, which is what a private concession deserves. Two at Mwiba, which is where the pace changes.
Why we love this journey — because it solves the problem with expensive Tanzanian safaris, which is that they are frequently the same safari three times over. Here the landscape changes completely at every move: forest and caldera, then open plains and a river, then granite and springs. Every leg is flown, so three widely separated reserves cost a morning each rather than a day. Black rhino are resident in two of the three. And the complimentary night, the meet and assist, the departure lounge and the flights are already in the number, so the figure you are quoted is close to the figure you actually spend.
Three concessions, one journey
The Ngorongoro Crater, the Grumeti Reserve and Mwiba. Three quite different landscapes in seven nights, none of them repeating another.
The Crater, properly
Two nights on the rim rather than one, so you descend with time rather than racing the day visitors down.
Black rhino, twice over
Ngorongoro holds one of the last reliable rhino populations in Africa, and Grumeti has a successful reintroduction of its own.
Off road and after dark
Two of the three are private concessions, which permit off road driving and night drives that the national park does not.
Walking at Mwiba
Granite hills, fig trees and natural springs, and country you can walk rather than only drive.
Flown between them
Light aircraft on every leg, so three widely separated reserves take a morning each rather than a day.
Flown in and driven up to the Crater highlands, where Lemala Osonjoi sits in forest on the rim. A full day descending into the caldera itself, which holds a density of wildlife found nowhere else in Africa: lion, elephant, buffalo and one of the last reliable populations of black rhino on the continent, in a bowl twenty kilometres across.
The flight across to the Grumeti Reserve on the western edge of the Serengeti. A private concession where off road driving and night drives are both permitted, neither of which the national park allows. Three nights on the riverbank with hippo below the deck, and full days out across country holding very few other guests.
On to Mwiba, a private wildlife reserve of granite hills, fig trees and natural springs on the southern edge of the Serengeti ecosystem. Different country again after the Crater and the plains: broken, wooded and quiet. Walking is permitted here, which changes the pace of the last two days entirely.
A final early game drive and breakfast, then the flight out to Kilimanjaro, Arusha or Nairobi for your onward connection. If you would rather finish on the coast, Zanzibar is a short hop and we can extend from here.
A lodge set in forest on the Ngorongoro Crater rim, minutes from the descent road.
Ten tented suites on the bank of the Grumeti River, in a private concession of 350,000 acres.
A lodge among granite boulders and fig trees above a gorge, in a private reserve on the southern Serengeti edge.
From USD 30,100 per person sharing. That covers two nights at Lemala Osonjoi on the Ngorongoro Crater rim, three nights at andBeyond Grumeti River Lodge, two nights at Mwiba Lodge, one complimentary night in Nairobi, Kilimanjaro or Arusha, all light aircraft flights between the reserves, return flights from Kilimanjaro, Jomo Kenyatta or Zanzibar, all park, crater and concession fees, all meals and selected beverages, every game drive, walking at Mwiba, laundry, meet and assist, and medical evacuation insurance.
Because none of them repeats another. The Ngorongoro Crater is a collapsed caldera twenty kilometres across with a density of wildlife found nowhere else. The Grumeti Reserve is 350,000 acres of open western Serengeti held privately. Mwiba is broken granite hills and natural springs where you can walk. Most Tanzanian itineraries give you three variations on the same plains.
Yes, and one night is the commonest mistake made here. Two nights on the rim means you descend with a full day rather than racing the day visitors down and back. The Crater floor is closed in the afternoon, so the morning you have matters a great deal.
Grumeti and Mwiba are both private concessions, which permit off road driving and night drives. Mwiba also allows walking with a guide. None of the three is possible inside Serengeti National Park.
The odds are better on this journey than on almost any other. Ngorongoro holds one of the last reliable black rhino populations in Africa, and Grumeti has a successful reintroduction of its own. No operator can promise a sighting, but two of your three reserves have resident animals.
Light aircraft on every leg, so each move takes a morning rather than a day. Ongeri Expeditions builds every journey so that no ground transfer runs longer than about ninety minutes.
Easily. Zanzibar is a short flight from Mwiba and the return leg is already included from there, so adding five or six nights on the coast is straightforward. Mnemba Island is the natural finale.
Three small camps have to align on the same week, so this journey books further ahead than most. Tell us roughly when and we will come back with what is genuinely open.
Osonjoi sits in the montane forest along the Crater rim, where the air is thin and the mornings are genuinely cold. What matters here is the position. The descent road is close, so you are on the Crater floor early rather than queueing behind the day visitors who have driven up from Arusha.
Spacious suites in forest, each with a fireplace for the cold evenings, a large bathroom and a private veranda facing the trees.
All meals and selected beverages are included. Dinner beside the fire, and a very early breakfast on Crater mornings.
Grumeti River Lodge sits low on the riverbank under a canopy of old trees, with hippo close enough to hear all night. The camp is small and deliberately unshowy, and the concession around it is enormous.
Ten tented suites raised on decks above the riverbank, each with a private veranda, an en suite bathroom and an outdoor shower.
All meals and selected beverages are included. Breakfast on the deck, lunch wherever the morning ends, dinner under the trees.
Mwiba is unlike the plains in almost every respect. Broken granite country, ancient fig trees and natural springs, with the lodge built among the boulders above a gorge. It is a private reserve, so walking is permitted, and the last two days of the journey move at a different pace because of it.
Tented suites on raised decks set among the rocks and trees, each with a private plunge pool and a view down into the gorge.
All meals and selected beverages are included, served in the main lodge, on the deck above the gorge, or out in the reserve.
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