6-Day Safari in Northern Tanzania

The day begins early in Arusha. After breakfast at the lodge, the safari vehicle arrives: a 4×4 Toyota Land Cruiser with a pop-up roof and large windows. The road to Tarangire National Park is paved for the first hour, then turns to red dust as the landscape opens into dry savannah dotted with acacia and baobab trees.

By mid-morning, you reach the Tarangire park gate. While the guide handles registration, there’s time to stretch, take photos, and watch for monkeys that hang around the gate area.
The vehicle enters the park and begins a slow game drive along the Tarangire River, which is the main water source for the area’s wildlife during the dry season. Elephants appear quickly—sometimes whole families, with calves walking beneath their mothers. You may spot impalas, zebra, giraffe, and even lion lounging under acacia trees to avoid the midday heat.

Lunch is served at a designated picnic site inside the park, typically under shade with a table, chairs, and toilet facilities. In the afternoon, the drive continues deeper into the park’s swamps or along the Silale plains, where animals gather in large numbers during the dry season.
Around 4:30 PM, the vehicle exits the park and heads toward the Ngorongoro Highlands. The drive to Karatu takes just over an hour, passing small farming villages and coffee plantations. Check-in at the lodge occurs around sunset. After a welcome drink, there’s time to relax, shower, and have dinner in the open-air dining area before turning in.

Overnight: Lodge in Karatu, just outside Ngorongoro Conservation Area

After breakfast, the journey begins with a 30-minute drive to the Lake Manyara park gate. Entry is quick, and the game drive starts in the groundwater forest—dense with fig and mahogany trees and alive with blue monkeys and baboon troops. From there, the path opens to grassland and lake shore, with views of flamingos, pelicans, and hippos in the shallow water.

On a good day, lions may be seen resting in the trees, for which this park is famously known.
By late morning, you exit the park and head northwest. The road climbs steeply up the escarpment, entering the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. There is a short stop at the crater rim viewpoint: on a clear day, the entire bowl of the Ngorongoro Crater is visible below, with animals seen as small dots moving across the floor.

Lunch is taken at Naabi Hill Gate, which marks the entrance to Serengeti National Park. There’s time to climb the small hill for panoramic views and a chance to stretch your legs.
By early afternoon, the first game drive in Serengeti begins. The landscape becomes wide and flat, with golden grasses, kopjes (granite rock outcrops), and seasonal rivers. You’ll likely spot herds of wildebeest, zebras, and gazelles moving in lines. Lions may be resting on rocks or in tall grass. If lucky, cheetahs or leopards may appear.

By sunset, you reach the tented camp, located in the Seronera region. The tents are permanent structures with beds, mosquito nets, solar lighting, and en-suite bathrooms. Dinner is served in the mess tent, and afterward, you can sit by the fire listening to the distant calls of hyenas and lions.

Overnight: Tented camp in Central Serengeti

After breakfast, depart the Serengeti with a final morning game drive en route to Naabi Hill. On the way, you might still encounter giraffes, warthogs, or even hyenas scavenging the open plains

After exiting the park, the drive leads back into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Along the way, you can stop at the Olduvai Gorge museum, where the earliest human fossils were discovered by the Leakey family. Exhibits are simple but informative, and the site overlooks the rift valley floor.

Lunch is taken at a picnic site along the rim, with views into the crater below.
In the afternoon, the road winds around the outer slopes of the crater. You arrive in the lush highlands by late afternoon. The lodge sits among coffee fields and flowering gardens, with cooler temperatures and misty hills.

Dinner is a bit more formal here, often a three-course meal served indoors or on a veranda. The evening is quiet and comfortable.

Overnight: Lodge in the Ngorongoro Highlands or in Karatu.

Depart early, with breakfast served at 6:00 AM and crater entry by 7:00 AM. A steep, winding descent road leads to the crater floor, 600 meters below. The inside of the crater is 19 km wide and functions like a natural zoo, with grassland, woodland, lakes, and swamps all contained within its walls.
The first sightings often include wildebeest, zebra, and buffalo. Lions and hyenas are commonly seen near carcasses or sleeping in the grass. Elephants are spotted along the forested edges. With some luck, a black rhino may appear in the distance—one of the rarest sightings in Tanzania.
Lunch is eaten at the hippo pool, where picnic benches overlook a waterhole full of snorting hippos.
After lunch, another short drive continues through the crater, then begins the steep ascent up the wall. By 3:00 PM, you’re back on the crater rim and returning to Karatu.
Arrive at the lodge around 4:00 PM. The remainder of the day is for rest, or a short walk around the coffee farm can be arranged with the lodge staff.
Overnight: Lodge in Karatu.

Following breakfast, the vehicle departs around 8:00 AM for the return drive to Arusha. Along the way, you pass through Mto wa Mbu, a town at the base of the Rift Valley escarpment.

If arranged in advance, a short walking tour through banana plantations and markets is possible.
Arrive in Arusha by midday. If you have an evening flight, a day room or lunch can be arranged at a hotel in town. Otherwise, transfer directly to the airport.