5-Day Tanzania Safari from Zanzibar - Tarangire, Serengeti & Ngorongoro

A morning flight from Zanzibar to Arusha Airport, where your guide meets you for the drive to Tarangire National Park. A full-day game drive takes you through this scenic park, famous for its elephant population, ancient baobab trees, and the Tarangire River. A picnic lunch is served in the park, followed by afternoon drives. In the late afternoon you drive to your lodge near Karatu.

Distance: Morning flight from Zanzibar to Arusha; approximately 2 hours to Tarangire

Activity: Full-day game drive in Tarangire National Park with picnic lunch

Accommodation: Lodge or camp near Karatu

Meals: Dinner and Breakfast

After breakfast, the drive heads through the Ngorongoro highlands and into the Serengeti National Park. You enter the Seronera area in time for lunch at the camp, followed by an afternoon game drive. The central Serengeti supports exceptional year-round predator concentrations alongside large herds of plains game.

Distance: Approximately 200 km from Karatu to central Serengeti

Activity: Afternoon game drive in the central Serengeti

Accommodation: Lodge or tented camp in central Serengeti

Meals: Full Board

A full day exploring the Serengeti. An early sunrise drive targets predators at peak activity. The morning continues with extended game drive circuits across the Seronera area — tracking big cats, following elephant herds, and watching hippos and crocodiles at the river pools. A bush lunch is followed by afternoon drives until evening.

Distance: Game drives within Serengeti National Park

Activity: Full-day game drives with sunrise session and bush picnic lunch

Accommodation: Lodge or tented camp in central Serengeti

Meals: Full Board

After breakfast, a morning game drive in the Serengeti gives one final session in the central plains before departing for the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. An optional visit to a Maasai community can be arranged en route. You arrive at the crater rim in the late afternoon for dinner and overnight.

Distance: Approximately 145 km from central Serengeti to Ngorongoro rim

Activity: Morning Serengeti game drive; optional Maasai village visit; transfer to Ngorongoro

Accommodation: Lodge or tented camp on the Ngorongoro crater rim

Meals: Full Board

After an early breakfast, descend into the Ngorongoro Crater for a game drive. The crater is home to one of Africa's highest wildlife densities — lions, elephants, hippos, zebras, flamingos, and the rare black rhino are all regularly seen. A picnic lunch at the hippo pool is followed by the ascent and drive to Arusha Airport for the return afternoon flight to Zanzibar.

Distance: Approximately 200 km from Ngorongoro to Arusha airport

Activity: Ngorongoro Crater game drive; return flight to Zanzibar

Accommodation: N/A – return to Zanzibar

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Extend your trip

Add the northern Serengeti for Great Migration river crossings, or extend into Kenya. For the 4-day version of this safari, see our 4-day safari from Zanzibar. Explore our full range of Serengeti fly-in safari packages.