$3,586 pp (USD)
2 travelers on Start dateArrival
Arrival
Day 1
Arusha – Arrival & Welcome
Arusha – Arrival & Welcome
Your signature safari begins with a warm welcome at Kilimanjaro International Airport, where your driver-guide will be waiting to greet you and assist with your luggage before the short transfer – around 45 minutes to an hour – into Arusha. The drive passes through rolling farmland and past the coffee plantations for which this region is well known, with Mount Meru often visible on the horizon.
Arusha serves as the springboard for this safari, and after the journey, the rest of the day is set aside for rest and recovery. Take a dip in the pool, enjoy a relaxed lunch in the gardens, or simply settle into your room and let the excitement build for the days ahead.
Later in the day, your guide will talk you through the route for the coming week – including a preview of the Lake Eyasi cultural visit that will bring your journey to such a memorable close – and answer any questions you may have before setting off in the morning.
- Main Destination:
- Arusha (City)
- Accommodation:
- Under the Shade Safari Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 2
Tarangire National Park – Giants of the Bush
Tarangire National Park – Giants of the Bush
After an early breakfast, you will set off south-west towards Tarangire National Park, a journey of around two hours through the farmland and acacia country that surrounds Arusha. As you enter the park, the scenery shifts dramatically – rolling grasslands give way to a landscape dotted with ancient, swollen baobab trees, some estimated to be hundreds of years old.
Tarangire is named for the river that winds through its heart, and during the drier months this river becomes a magnet for wildlife from across the surrounding ecosystem. The park is particularly famous for its elephants, with family herds numbering in the dozens often seen drinking, bathing and dust-bathing along the riverbanks – some of the most memorable elephant encounters anywhere in Tanzania.
Beyond elephants, Tarangire rewards patient observation: look for giraffe browsing among the acacias, herds of zebra and wildebeest on the open plains, and predators such as lion and leopard making use of the dense riverine cover.
- Main Destination:
- Tarangire National Park
- Accommodation:
- Malkia Trees Lodge
Wildlife in Tarangire NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 3
Onward to the Serengeti
Onward to the Serengeti
Today brings one of the most scenic drives of your safari, as you travel north-west from Tarangire towards the Serengeti, climbing through the highlands of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area before descending onto the short-grass plains that lead to Naabi Hill, the eastern gateway to Serengeti National Park.
The transformation in scenery along the way is part of the experience – from Tarangire's baobab woodland, through rolling farmland and forested crater highlands, to the Serengeti's famous golden grasslands stretching to the horizon in every direction. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is rightly considered one of the world's greatest wildlife sanctuaries, home to immense herds of plains game and some of the highest densities of large predators found anywhere in Africa.
Depending on your arrival time, the afternoon offers the chance for a first game drive en route to camp.
- Main Destination:
- Serengeti National Park
- Accommodation:
- Baobab Serengeti Camp
Wildlife in Serengeti NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 4
Full adventure in the Serengeti
Full adventure in the Serengeti
With a full day to explore, your guide will take you deeper into the Serengeti's varied habitats – open plains, woodland, riverine forest and rocky outcrops – each offering a different cast of wildlife and a different perspective on this extraordinary ecosystem. The day's route will be shaped by recent sightings, the season, and your own interests.
The Serengeti is renowned for its predator populations, and a day here might bring you face to face with a lion pride at rest, a leopard draped over a branch in dappled shade, or a cheetah surveying the plains from a termite mound – with the chance, always, of witnessing a hunt unfold. Vast herds of zebra, wildebeest, buffalo and elephant move across the landscape, and if your visit coincides with the Great Migration, you may witness one of nature's most extraordinary spectacles, with river crossings possible depending on the season.
Lunch is enjoyed out in the bush at a scenic spot chosen by your guide, or back at camp.
- Main Destination:
- Serengeti National Park
- Accommodation:
- Baobab Serengeti Camp
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 5
Ngorongoro Crater – The World's Garden of Eden
Ngorongoro Crater – The World's Garden of Eden
This morning you leave the Serengeti behind and travel east towards the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, arriving at the rim of one of the most extraordinary natural features on the planet. Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest unbroken, unflooded volcanic caldera – formed when a vast volcano collapsed on itself around two to three million years ago – with walls rising roughly 600 metres.
A guided descent onto the crater floor reveals a self-contained world of grassland, acacia woodland, swamp and a shimmering soda lake, supporting one of the densest concentrations of wildlife found anywhere in Africa. This is one of the best places on the continent to see the endangered black rhino, alongside large prides of lion, clans of spotted hyena, and elephant bulls of impressive size and tusk length.
On Lake Magadi, the crater's soda lake, flocks of flamingo and other waterbirds add splashes of colour against the dramatic backdrop of the crater walls.
- Main Destination:
- Ngorongoro Crater
- Accommodation:
- Foresight Eco Lodge
Wildlife in Ngorongoro Crater
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 6
Lake Eyasi – A Window Into Ancient Cultures
Lake Eyasi – A Window Into Ancient Cultures
Your final day takes you in a different direction entirely south from Karatu towards the shores of Lake Eyasi, a shallow seasonal lake at the foot of the Eyasi Escarpment. This region is home to two remarkable communities whose ways of life have remained largely unchanged for generations.
You will have the opportunity to meet members of the Hadzabe community, one of the last hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa, who still rely on bows, arrows and an intimate knowledge of the bush to find food. You may also visit the Datoga, semi-nomadic pastoralists known for their skill as blacksmiths, crafting tools, jewellery and arrowheads using traditional techniques passed down through generations. These visits offer a rare and respectful window into ways of life very different from your own memorable final chapter to your Tanzania experience.
From Lake Eyasi, it is a longer drive of roughly three to four hours back towards Arusha and finally to the people who call this remarkable landscape home.
- Main Destination:
- Lake Eyasi
- Accommodation:
- No accommodation (End of tour)
- Meals & Drinks:
