8-Day Classic Tanzania Safari

Safari Overview

The route covers three parks: Tarangire, central Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater. Total driving from Arusha and back is roughly 1,200 km. The parks are different enough that eight days never feels repetitive. Tarangire is dense bush, ancient baobabs, and the Silale Swamp drawing elephants from across the region. In the dry season (June through October), herds of 200 or more are common along the Tarangire River. The Serengeti is the opposite: open short-grass plains, 600-million-year-old kopjes rising from the ground, and the best predator density in Africa. Ngorongoro is a world apart. The caldera walls drop 600 metres and the animals inside rarely leave, which is why the lion and black rhino densities here are higher than anywhere else on the continent. Which part of the Serengeti you see depends on when you travel. January through March, the herds are on the southern plains near Ndutu for calving season, roughly 8,000 wildebeest calves born per day at peak. June through July, the Western Corridor and the Grumeti River crossings. August through October, the northern Serengeti and the Mara River. November through December, the herds drift south again. Your guide tracks current conditions and positions you accordingly.

Your Itinerary

1. Day1

   Arusha to Tarangire National Park

   Arusha to Tarangire · about 2 hrs, tarmac

   Pickup from your Arusha hotel at 7:30am. The drive to Tarangire takes about two hours, heading southeast through Maasai village country before the scrub thickens into acacia woodland and the first baobabs appear. Enter through the main gate and head for the Tarangire River. In the dry season, every elephant in the ecosystem converges here. Some mornings you count 150 in a single hour. Afternoon game drive along the river before sunset check-in.

   Overnight

   Tarangire Safari Lodge or similar

   Meals

   Lunch, Dinner
2. Day2

   Full Day Tarangire

   Full day inside the park. Start before 7am while the air is cool. The Silale Swamp in the south draws buffalo, wildebeest, and hippos, and it is one of the areas most visitors never reach. Tarangire also holds species that do not appear in the other parks on this route: the fringe-eared oryx with its long straight horns, the gerenuk (a long-necked antelope that browses standing on its hind legs), and tree-climbing pythons coiled in the fig trees along the river. The park covers nearly 3,000 square kilometres. One full day is enough to see it properly.

   Overnight

   Tarangire Safari Lodge or similar

   Meals

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
3. Day3

   Tarangire to Central Serengeti via Olduvai Gorge

   Tarangire to Central Serengeti · 6.5 to 8 hrs with stops at Olduvai Gorge

   Early breakfast, then depart for the Serengeti. The drive takes about six hours with stops. You pass through Karatu town, climb into the Ngorongoro highlands, and descend into the Conservation Area on the way west. Stop at Olduvai Gorge before Naabi Hill Gate: in 1959, Mary Leakey found the skull of Paranthropus boisei here, a hominid who lived on these plains 1.8 million years ago. The resident guide at the gorge does a 20-minute talk at the excavation site. Worth every minute. Arrive Seronera area by late afternoon for a first game drive on the plains.

   Overnight

   Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge or similar tented camp

   Meals

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
4. Day4

   Full Day Serengeti

   Full day in the park. The Seronera Valley runs through the centre of the Serengeti and is the most consistent area for big cats year-round. Leopards rest in the sausage trees above the river. Lions claim the kopjes, granite outcrops roughly 600 million years old, visible for kilometres in every direction. Cheetahs work the open plains south of the valley where the grass is short. The Serengeti holds approximately 4,000 lions, 1,000 leopards, and 225 cheetahs. You will not see all of them. You will see enough.

   Overnight

   Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge or similar tented camp

   Meals

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
5. Day5

   Full Day Serengeti

   Three nights in the Serengeti is what makes this itinerary work. One day is an introduction. Two days gets you familiar. On the third you stop watching the clock and start watching properly. Your guide picks areas based on reports from other guides in the field. Optional: hot air balloon departure at 5:30am, one hour over the plains, champagne bush breakfast on landing. $599 per person, booked in advance.

   Overnight

   Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge or similar tented camp

   Meals

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
6. Day6

   Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater Rim

   Central Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater · 3 to 4 hrs, gravel then tarmac near the rim

   Final morning game drive in the Serengeti before departing through Naabi Hill Gate. The drive to the crater rim takes about three and a half hours, climbing the outer caldera slopes through montane forest thick with olive trees and giant heather. Arrive at the rim in time for lunch. The crater floor is 600 metres below you. On a clear afternoon, you can see the dark shapes of the wildebeest herds from the lodge terrace. Early dinner and sleep.

   Overnight

   Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge or similar rim lodge

   Meals

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
7. Day7

   Ngorongoro Crater: Full Day on the Floor

   The descent starts at 6:00am before the tourist buses arrive. The track drops 600 metres over about 30 minutes of steep switchbacks through forest. On the crater floor: approximately 120 lions with well-defined territories, 15,000 wildebeest, 9,000 zebra, 400 hyenas, and around 50 black rhino, the densest population in Africa. Lake Magadi on the western floor draws flamingos and hippos. The Lerai Forest in the south is where elephants shelter at midday. One thing the crater does not have: giraffes. Their legs and necks make the steep walls impossible to navigate, so none have entered and the population inside is completely isolated. All vehicles must ascend by 6:00pm. You have the full day.

   Overnight

   Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge or similar rim lodge

   Meals

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
8. Day8

   Ngorongoro to Arusha

   Ngorongoro Crater to Arusha · 3.5 to 4 hrs, mostly tarmac

   Final breakfast on the rim. Drive back to Arusha takes about three hours. Drop-off at your hotel or Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO). If your international flight departs the same day, the earliest viable departure is 21:00. Domestic connections from Kilimanjaro can work from 19:40.

   Overnight

   End of safari

   Meals

   Breakfast

Prices

Where Your Money Goes

What's Included