5-Day Northern Tanzania Safari — Tarangire, Manyara, Serengeti & Ngorongoro

Day-by-day itinerary

Route: Arusha → Tarangire National Park → Lake Manyara National Park → Serengeti National Park → Ngorongoro Crater → Arusha

1. Day 1

   Arusha to Tarangire

   Bags are loaded after breakfast and you depart Arusha bound for Tarangire, driving south-west from Arusha through Maasai grazing country. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into rolling country of ancient baobabs, seasonal swamps and the year-round Tarangire River. Look for large elephant herds, zebra, wildebeest, eland and a notably rich birdlife as the light softens through the afternoon. In the dry season the Tarangire River draws wildlife from a wide area, and the park is famous for its baobab-studded landscape. This is a joining departure, so the safari vehicle is shared with other guests. Dinner is served at your Tarangire camp or lodge, where you spend the night.

2. Day 2

   Tarangire to Lake Manyara

   Breakfast is taken before you set out from Tarangire for the drive to Lake Manyara, driving west from Arusha past Maasai settlements and the escarpment wall. Arrival is followed by check-in and a first drive into groundwater forest, open floodplain and an alkaline lake beneath the Rift Valley escarpment. Look for elephant, baboon troops, hippo, giraffe and large numbers of waterbirds including flamingo as the light softens through the afternoon. Manyara is known for its groundwater forest fed by springs at the base of the escarpment, and for lions that are sometimes seen resting in trees. The evening is spent at your Lake Manyara accommodation, with dinner and overnight there.

3. Day 3

   Lake Manyara to Serengeti

   You leave Lake Manyara after breakfast and head for Serengeti, crossing the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and descending onto the open plains. Arrival is followed by check-in and a first drive into vast short-grass plains broken by granite kopjes and seasonal watercourses. Look for lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe and immense herds of wildebeest and zebra as the light softens through the afternoon. The Serengeti's wildlife moves with the seasons, so the sector visited is chosen to match where the herds and predators are likely to be at that time of year. Dinner and overnight are at your camp or lodge in Serengeti.

4. Day 4

   Serengeti to Ngorongoro

   Breakfast is taken before you set out from Serengeti for the drive to Ngorongoro, climbing the forested crater highlands to the rim viewpoint. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into a collapsed volcanic caldera roughly six hundred metres deep, with grassland, soda lake and fever-tree forest on its floor. There is the possibility of seeing lion, elephant, buffalo, flamingo and one of the few remaining populations where black rhino may be seen, depending on movement and conditions on the day. The crater floor holds a resident concentration of wildlife year-round because the caldera walls create a largely self-contained ecosystem. The evening is spent at your Ngorongoro accommodation, with dinner and overnight there.

5. Day 5

   Ngorongoro Crater to Arusha

   After breakfast you leave Ngorongoro Crater and travel on toward Arusha, continuing through the farmland and Maasai country below Mount Meru. Arrival is followed by check-in and a first drive into northern Tanzania's safari gateway town below the slopes of Mount Meru. Arusha is the staging point for the northern Tanzania circuit and where most safari briefings take place. Arrival back is normally in the afternoon, with a drop-off at your hotel or the airport.