Overview
The safari begins with a flight into Serengeti rather than a long road transfer.
That gives you more time where it matters.
Two nights in Central Serengeti mean you can spend a full day following wildlife rather than arriving one afternoon and leaving the next morning. The original itinerary deliberately uses an internal flight from Arusha to Central Serengeti to avoid the longer road journey and keep more of the day for safari.
From there, you move towards Ngorongoro and stay close enough to the crater to descend early the next morning.
Tarangire then gives you two nights in another landscape entirely: baobabs, elephants, river systems and quieter corners of the park.
And after seven days of early mornings, wildlife and road, Zanzibar changes the pace completely.
The route is designed to build intensity, then release it.
Tour Features
Luxury
This safari uses selected accommodation and services matched to the chosen tour style.
Private Tour
This safari is arranged privately for your group.
Solo Travelers
Suitable for solo travelers.
Customizable
This itinerary can be customized.
Start Date
This safari can start on any day.
Highlights
Welcome to Tanzania
Fly straight into the Serengeti
Give Serengeti a full day
One more morning in Serengeti
Down into Ngorongoro
Into elephant country
A full day with the elephants
From the wild to the ocean
Zanzibar at your own pace
See another side of the island
One last morning by the sea
Your Safari Map
Arusha City
Central Serengeti
Central Serengeti
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Tarangire National Park
Tarangire National Park
Zanzibar Island
Zanzibar Island
Zanzibar Island
Zanzibar Island
Safari Itinerary
Kilimanjaro International Airport → Arusha:
Your journey begins at Kilimanjaro International Airport, where your Nature in Spirit guide will meet you. After you’ve collected your luggage, you’ll make the drive towards Arusha. The road gives you your first look at everyday Tanzania: towns, people, open land and, on a clear day, perhaps a glimpse of Kilimanjaro behind you. There’s no need to fit much into the first evening. At The African Tulip, you’ll have time to settle in, rest after your international flight and prepare for the safari ahead. Overnight The African Tulip Meals Dinner
Accommodation
The African Tulip Hotel
Arusha → Central Serengeti :
After breakfast, you’ll transfer to Arusha Airport for your flight into Central Serengeti. This is one of the most important design choices in the journey. Instead of spending several hours on the road, you arrive in Serengeti with enough of the day left to begin properly. Once you land, your guide will meet you at the airstrip. Then the safari starts. Central Serengeti is strong throughout the year because of its resident wildlife, river systems and predator territories. Depending on the season, migrating herds may also be moving through the area. Your guide will use what is happening that day to decide where to begin. After lunch at camp, you’ll head out again for the afternoon. No checklist. No need to cover the most kilometres. Just enough time to start understanding the place. Overnight Matawi Serengeti Camp Meals Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation
Matawi Serengeti Camp
Central Serengeti Today there’s nowhere else you need to be. That’s the point. You’ll start early, when temperatures are cooler and predators may still be active. Your guide will read tracks, movement, alarm calls and behaviour rather than simply drive a fixed circuit. You may spend time with lions. You may follow a leopard. You may find elephants moving across open ground. Or something entirely different may take over the morning. A bush breakfast keeps you out in the landscape. After some time back at camp for lunch and rest, you’ll return to the plains in the afternoon. As the day cools, wildlife often becomes more active again. Later, there’s time for a sundowner before returning to camp. Overnight Matawi Serengeti Camp Meals Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation
Matawi Serengeti Camp
Central Serengeti → Ngorongoro:
There’s no rush to leave Serengeti after breakfast. You’ll spend another part of the morning exploring before beginning the journey towards Ngorongoro. That extra time matters because no two game drives are quite the same. Wildlife moves. Predators change position. A place that was quiet yesterday may be completely different this morning. After lunch, you’ll leave Serengeti and continue towards the Ngorongoro Crater rim. The accommodation is chosen for its position. Staying close to the crater gives you a shorter drive to the descent the following morning, which means you can reach the crater floor earlier. Sometimes good safari design is not dramatic. It is simply putting you closer to where you need to be tomorrow. Overnight Ang’ata Ngorongoro Camp, Meals Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation
Ang’ata Ngorongoro Camp
Ngorongoro Crater You’ll start early today. From the rim, you’ll descend onto the crater floor while the morning is still cool. Ngorongoro feels very different from Serengeti. The crater walls remain around you, enclosing grassland, woodland, wetlands and Lake Magadi within one landscape. Throughout the morning, you may encounter lions, elephants, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, hippos, hyenas and, with luck, black rhino. You’ll spend most of the morning and early afternoon exploring before ascending from the crater and continuing to The Retreat at Ngorongoro. The rest of the afternoon is deliberately slower. After several early mornings, there is value in doing less. Overnight The Retreat at Ngorongoro Meals Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation
The Retreat at Ngorongoro
Ngorongoro → Tarangire National Park:
This morning begins more slowly. you’ll drive towards Tarangire.
The highlands gradually fall away, and the landscape begins to change. Then the baobabs appear. Tarangire is strongly associated with elephants, but the river is central to understanding the park. As conditions become drier, the Tarangire River draws wildlife from across the surrounding ecosystem. You may see elephants, giraffes, buffalo, zebra, antelope and predators using the same landscape. After lunch at camp, you’ll head out again in the afternoon. Because you’re staying inside the park, there’s no need to rush towards a gate at the end of the day. Overnight Conserve Safari Camp – Tarangire Meals Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation
Conserve Safari Camp – Tarangire
Full day in Tarangire National Park Today Tarangire gets the same thing Serengeti received earlier in the journey: Time. You’ll begin early, when the park is cooler and wildlife is moving. The morning may take you around the river, open plains, woodland or quieter routes depending on what your guide is seeing. After lunch and some time at camp, you’ll head out again. One option is to explore towards Silale Swamp, where permanent water can attract elephants and other wildlife. The important thing is that the day stays flexible. If something is worth staying with, you stay. If one part of the park is quiet, your guide changes direction. As the sun drops, you’ll stop for a sundowner before returning to camp. Overnight Conserve Safari Camp – Tarangire Meals Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Accommodation
Tarangire Conserve Camp
Tarangire → Arusha → Zanzibar:
There’s time for one final early safari before leaving Tarangire. Then the journey changes. On the way towards Arusha, you’ll stop at a Maasai community. The source itinerary also includes the delivery of a ceramic water filter to a family with limited access to clean drinking water. This should be handled respectfully and only where it is genuinely useful to the community not as a staged guest activity. From there, you’ll continue to Arusha Coffee Lodge for lunch and visit Shanga, where artisans with disabilities create handmade products using recycled materials. Then you fly to Zanzibar. By evening, the safari vehicle has been replaced by the Indian Ocean. Overnight Royal Zanzibar Beach Resort Meals Breakfast, lunch & dinner Days 9 & 10 · Zanzibar at your own pace Nungwi These two days belong to you. There is no game drive to wake up for. No airstrip to reach. No reason to leave the beach unless you want to. You can swim, walk along the shore, stay by the resort or explore more of Zanzibar. Depending on your interests, optional experiences can include: Blue Safari A day on the water with swimming, snorkelling and time around Zanzibar’s sandbanks and marine environment. Jozani Forest A half-day visit to the forest to see Zanzibar’s red colobus monkeys and learn about the island’s natural environment. Or do neither. Zanzibar doesn’t need to become another itinerary to complete. Sometimes the best plan is to leave space. Overnight Royal Zanzibar Beach Resort
Accommodation
Royal Zanzibar Beach Resort
Nungwi
After the safari, this is usually the day people realise how tired they are.
So don’t plan too much.
Wake when you wake. Have breakfast slowly. Walk down to the beach and see what the tide is doing.
In Nungwi, the sea changes through the day. Some hours are better for swimming, some are better for simply sitting in the shade and watching the boats move along the coast.
If you feel like going out, we can arrange a Blue Safari time on the water, swimming, snorkelling and stopping around sandbanks when conditions are right.
But there is no pressure to fill the day.
Stay by the pool. Walk the beach. Have a long lunch. Go back into the water when the light softens.
After days of following wildlife, today is about letting the day come to you.
Overnight
Royal Zanzibar Beach Resort
Accommodation
Royal Zanzibar Beach Resort
Nungwi
By now, you’ve had time to settle into the rhythm of the coast.
If you want to see more than the beach, today is a good day for it.
One option is Jozani Forest, where the air feels cooler and greener and the red colobus monkeys move through the trees above you. It shows you a completely different side of Zanzibar from the coast.
Or you can keep the day simple.
Stay in Nungwi. Swim in the morning. Wander out for lunch. Sit somewhere with a sea view and watch the dhows come back in later in the day.
You don’t need to do everything Zanzibar offers to enjoy it properly.
Sometimes knowing the island means knowing when not to add another activity.
Overnight
Royal Zanzibar Beach Resort
Accommodation
Royal Zanzibar Beach Resort
Nungwi → Zanzibar International Airport
There’s no need to rush your final morning.
Have breakfast slowly. Take one more swim. Walk along the beach, or simply stay where you are for a little longer and enjoy the sound of the ocean.
When it’s time, your representative will meet you at the hotel and transfer you to Zanzibar International Airport for your onward flight.
The journey ends here the memory doesn’t.
Accommodation details are available on request for this part of the itinerary.
Tanzania