7-Day Classic Tanzania Safari - Tarangire, Serengeti & Ngorongoro

Whatever your arrival time at Kilimanjaro International Airport, your SafariBando driver-guide will be waiting with a warm welcome. Relax in your comfortable vehicle as he takes you to your hotel in Arusha, Tanzania's self-styled "safari capital," with a brief impression of this bustling commercial city along the way. Depending on your arrival time, your pre-safari briefing may take place today or first thing tomorrow morning.

Distance: Airport transfer to Arusha

Activity: Arrival, transfer to Arusha, pre-safari briefing

Accommodation: Hotel in Arusha

Meals: Breakfast

After your safari briefing and a roughly 2-hour drive, you'll arrive at Tarangire National Park. Giant baobab trees, bush savannah and seasonal marshes define this landscape, considered one of the best places in Tanzania to see elephants up close. Buffalo, zebra and wildebeest are also commonly seen here, closely followed by predators including lion, with leopard occasionally spotted and cheetah a rarer sighting. From the open roof of your safari vehicle, you'll have a clear view of the landscape and its wildlife throughout the day. In the late afternoon, you'll leave the park for your lodge.

Distance: Approx. 2 hours' drive from Arusha, plus a full day of game driving

Activity: Full-day game drive in Tarangire National Park

Accommodation: Tented camp near Tarangire

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

After breakfast, you'll travel through the cooler highlands toward the southern Serengeti, reaching its plains by midday. Tanzania's largest national park holds a remarkable diversity of habitats, short grass plains, savannah, thick bush, swamps and lakes, with bizarre rock formations called kopjes dotting the landscape, a favorite hiding spot for predators. The Serengeti is famous for its annual migration, when hundreds of thousands of wildebeest and zebra trek in search of fresh grass and water. You'll spend the night at a tented camp inside the park.

Distance: Drive through the highlands to the southern Serengeti, plus afternoon game drive

Activity: Drive to the Serengeti, afternoon game drive

Accommodation: Tented camp inside the Serengeti

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

The entire day is dedicated to game viewing, with your guide tracking where the migrating herds currently are. Predators usually follow close behind, lion, leopard (often spotted resting in acacia trees) and cheetah are all realistic sightings. The migration's exact location varies year to year depending on rainfall, but your guide will know where to look. You'll spend a second night at the same tented camp.

Distance: Full day of game driving

Activity: Full-day game drive across the Serengeti

Accommodation: Tented camp inside the Serengeti (second night)

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

An early morning game drive before heading toward the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a special designation distinct from a national park, the whole area is managed for both wildlife and the local Maasai people who graze cattle alongside the indigenous animals. The drive offers a glimpse of Maasai life, and after stopping at the entrance gate to learn more about this volcanic landscape, you'll drive along the crater rim, looking down at herds of wildebeest or buffalo from above. In the late afternoon, you'll travel to your camp for the night.

Distance: Morning game drive, then drive to Ngorongoro

Activity: Morning Serengeti game drive, transfer to Ngorongoro with rim views

Accommodation: Tented camp near the Ngorongoro crater rim

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

After an early breakfast, you'll descend into the crater, home to over 25,000 mammals ranging from the Big Five, lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard, to spotted hyena, rare wild dog, and more than 500 recorded bird species. After an extensive game drive and a picnic lunch, you'll leave the caldera and make a short journey to Lake Manyara for an included walking safari, accompanied by an armed ranger for an up-close perspective on the park's groundwater forest and open grassland near the lake shore. Lake Manyara is also a birding paradise with over 350 recorded species, and is known for its elusive tree-climbing lions.

Distance: Full crater game drive, then transfer to Lake Manyara with a walking safari

Activity: Ngorongoro Crater floor game drive, walking safari at Lake Manyara

Accommodation: Tented camp near Lake Manyara

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

After breakfast, you'll drive directly to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your departing flight, or to Arusha if you're continuing your stay.

Distance: Drive to airport or Arusha

Activity: Departure transfer

Accommodation: N/A, end of safari

Meals: Breakfast

Extend your trip

• Want more time in any single park, particularly the Serengeti? Our 8-Day Tanzania Lodge Safari extends this same core route by an extra day.