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7-day Tanzania Wildlife Safari

7-day Tanzania Wildlife Safari

Seven days of wildlife across northern Tanzania, from Lake Manyara and the Serengeti to a sunrise on the Ngorongoro Crater floor, a quiet night at Lake Eyasi and a final dawn amongst Tarangire's elephants.

7 DaysDuration TanzaniaCountries PrivateGroup type
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Overview

Spend a week chasing After Iconic Wildlife

Discover Africa’s iconic wildlife with our 7-day Tanzania Wildlife safari, private guided to the country’s top wildlife gems.

The 7 Days Tanzania Wildlife Safari is a private, tailor-made Tanzania wildlife safari that travels from Arusha to Lake Manyara, the central Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Eyasi and Tarangire National Park before returning to Arusha. It is at its finest from June to October and in January and February, and it adds a night at Lake Eyasi, away from the main safari circuit.

Most journeys through northern Tanzania follow the same well-worn line between the great parks. This one keeps the parks, and the wildlife they are famous for, but turns aside for a night at Lake Eyasi, where the Rift Valley wall falls to a pale salt lake, and some of the oldest ways of life in Africa continue much as they have for thousands of years.

Wildlife remains the heart of it. There are lions and leopards in the Serengeti, black rhino possible on the crater floor at sunrise, and elephants amongst Tarangire’s baobabs on the final morning. Each landscape has its own character, and the days are arranged so that you meet each at its best hour. No honest guide can promise a particular animal, and these pages say so plainly. They promise only what we know we can keep.

At a glance

  • Duration7 Days
  • CountriesTanzania
  • Group typePrivate

Activities

A few additions past guests have chosen on this journey.

A balloon flight over the Serengeti at first light on Day 3, with breakfast where you land
A balloon flight over the Serengeti at first light on Day 3, with breakfast where you land
A guided bicycle ride through the villages and farms around Mto wa Mbu
A coffee farm visit in the highlands around Karatu
Moments to note

Standout moments

The moments past guests on this journey mention most,

I

The Serengeti's Big Cats

Two nights near Seronera, where lion prides hold their ground all year, cheetah hunt the open plains and the river woodland is some of Africa's finest leopard country.

II

Sunrise on the Crater Floor

A first-light descent into a caldera some 20 kilometres across, home to around 25,000 large animals and one of Tanzania's last strongholds of the black rhino.

III

A Night at Lake Eyasi

A seasonal salt lake beneath the Rift Valley wall, far from the main safari road, with flamingo and pelican in some months and some of the oldest ways of life in Africa nearby.

IV

Time with the Hadza

A small-group visit, at their invitation, with one of the last hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa, whose click language, Hadzane, is related to no other language spoken today.

V

Manyara's Forest and Shores

A national park since 1960, wedged between the lake and the Rift Valley wall, opening with a groundwater forest of fig and mahogany that is cool and green in any season.

VI

A Last Dawn in Tarangire

A final morning amongst the baobabs of a park of about 2,850 square kilometres, where elephant gather in great herds along the river from roughly June to November.

Day by day

How the days break down

A starting shape: pace, order and length of each stage are all adjustable.

Day
01
Lake Manyara
Arusha to Lake Manyara National Park

Reach Lake Manyara by Midday and Spend the Afternoon Between Forest, Lake and Rift Wall

You are met in Arusha, or at Kilimanjaro International Airport after a morning landing, and the road runs west across the plains, roughly two to two and a half hours, until the Great Rift Valley rises ahead as a long blue wall. At its foot lies the busy village of Mto wa Mbu, its name meaning river of mosquitoes, and beyond it the gate of Lake Manyara National Park.
Manyara became a national park in 1960, a slender strip of country pressed between the escarpment and the lake. After luncheon, the afternoon game drive begins in a groundwater forest of fig and mahogany, where olive baboons gather on the track and elephant browse in the half-light, then opens onto grassland and the lakeshore, where hippo wallow and, in some seasons, flamingo line the water.

Where you rest

A lodge or tented camp near Lake Manyara, on or below the Rift Valley escarpment · One night here, before the journey west.

Day
02
Serengeti
Lake Manyara to the central Serengeti, through the Ngorongoro highlands

Climb Past the Crater Highlands and Drive On Into the Serengeti's Great Grassland

An early breakfast, and then the road climbs the escarpment you looked up at yesterday, past the farms of Karatu and into the forested highlands of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, before dropping gently onto the plains on the far side. It is roughly five and a half to six and a half hours to the heart of the Serengeti, with a picnic luncheon along the way.
From Naabi Hill Gate the plains run on as far as the eye can follow, and the afternoon's drive to Seronera is a game drive from the first mile, past gazelle and zebra and, in their season, the long columns of the Great Migration. You arrive at camp as the heat goes out of the day and the grass turns to gold.

Where you rest

A lodge or tented camp in the central Serengeti, near Seronera · Two nights here, positioned for a full day exploring the park.

Day
03
Serengeti
Full day exploring the central Serengeti

Give a Whole Day to the Serengeti's Big Cats, From the Kopjes to the River Woods

This is a day for patience and early light. The Serengeti is close to 15,000 square kilometres, a national park since 1951 and on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1981, and its centre is among the finest big-cat country anywhere. Lion lie up on the sun-warmed granite of the kopjes, and cheetah use the termite mounds as lookouts over the open grass.
Your guide will read the morning from the alarm calls of birds and the posture of grazing herds, and follow wherever the plains suggest. The afternoon may lead along the Seronera River, where leopard drape themselves along the branches of the sausage trees, though no guide can ever promise one, and past pools where hippo jostle in the shallows.

Where you rest

Second night in the central Serengeti · Second night here.

Day
04
Ngorongoro Crater
Central Serengeti to the Ngorongoro Crater rim, by way of Olduvai Gorge

Leave the Serengeti by Way of Olduvai Gorge and Settle on the Crater Rim by Afternoon

A final drive across the plains takes you back towards Naabi Hill and out of the park, roughly three to five hours to the rim with a stop at Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important palaeoanthropology sites on Earth. Here, in the layered walls of a small canyon, fossil discoveries reshaped scientific understanding of early human evolution, and the site museum sets them out clearly.
By the afternoon you are climbing into the cool air of the highlands to a lodge on the crater rim, inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, created in 1959 and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. There is time to rest and to look down into the caldera, some 600 metres below, before an early night ahead of a sunrise descent.

Where you rest

A lodge on the Ngorongoro Crater rim · One night here, positioned for a dawn descent into the crater.

Day
05
Lake Eyasi
Morning on the Ngorongoro Crater floor, then on to Lake Eyasi

Descend Into the Crater at Sunrise, Then Drop Down to the Quiet Shores of Lake Eyasi

You are on the crater road as the gates open, and the descent through the morning mist is one of the great beginnings of any safari. The caldera, some 20 kilometres across, holds an estimated 25,000 large animals, and the early hours are the best for lion, spotted hyena and the crater's black rhino, of which around 30 remain, the largest single group in Tanzania, though a sighting is never certain.
After around five hours on the floor, with a breakfast or early luncheon by a hippo pool, you climb out and leave the highlands behind, roughly two to two and a half hours down through Karatu and then on a rough dirt road to Lake Eyasi. The last of the afternoon is spent at the lodge, watching the light fade over a pale salt lake at the foot of the Rift Valley wall.

Where you rest

A lodge or tented camp near the shores of Lake Eyasi · One night here, by the lake.

Day
06
Tarangire
Lake Eyasi to Tarangire National Park

Spend a Morning With the People of Lake Eyasi, Then Reach Tarangire's Baobabs by Afternoon

Lake Eyasi is a seasonal, shallow salt lake with no outflow, so its size changes greatly with the rains, and flamingo and pelican gather here in some months. The hills around it are home to the Hadza, among the last hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa, whose click language, Hadzane, is related to no other language spoken today. Early in the morning, in a small group and at the community's invitation, you may spend time with a Hadza family, on their terms and as they choose to share it, with nothing staged for visitors. Nearby, Datoga smiths still work metal by hand into tools and ornaments.
Late in the morning the road returns through Karatu and down to the plains, roughly three and a half to four hours to Tarangire National Park. You arrive in time for an afternoon drive amongst the baobabs and along the Tarangire River, where, from roughly June to November, elephant come to the water in some of the largest herds in northern Tanzania.

Where you rest

A lodge or tented camp in or beside Tarangire National Park · One night here, for an evening and a morning in the park.

Day
07
Arusha
Tarangire National Park to Arusha

Take a Dawn Drive Amongst Tarangire's Elephants Before the Road Back to Arusha

Tarangire saves some of its best hours for early morning, when the elephant herds move down to the river and lions are still on the move after the night. A final game drive amongst the baobabs, in a park of about 2,850 square kilometres and a national park since 1970, makes a fitting close to a week of wildlife.
After a late breakfast the road leads north-east to Arusha, two to three hours, arriving in the early afternoon. Seven days after setting out, you have travelled from a forest at the foot of the Rift Valley to the endless grass of the Serengeti, down into the crater at sunrise, to the shores of a salt lake and back amongst the baobabs.

What you'll likely see

Key species on this route

Based on past travellers' experiences, here's what this route is really about.

· · · · · · ·
Elephant
Elephant
97% chance
Zebra
Zebra
97% chance
Giraffe
Giraffe
96% chance
Lion
Lion
95% chance
Buffalo
Buffalo
92% chance
Hippo
Hippo
92% chance
Wildebeest
Wildebeest
90% chance
Spotted Hyena
Spotted Hyena
90% chance
Cheetah
Cheetah
68% chance
Leopard
Leopard
62% chance
The details

What's included

What's included

  • Collection from your Arusha hotel or Kilimanjaro International Airport on Day 1, and return to Arusha on Day 7
  • Private vehicle and driver guide throughout the safari
  • Park and conservation area fees for Lake Manyara, the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Tarangire
  • Ngorongoro Crater descent fee for the Day 5 morning
  • The Lake Eyasi community visit on Day 6, arranged with a local guide
  • All meals during the safari (full board), including picnic meals where noted
  • Game drives on every safari day
  • Bottled water throughout

What's not included

  • International flights to and from Tanzania
  • Tanzanian visa fees, Travel insurance, including any mandatory visitor insurance in force at the time of travel
  • Accommodation in Arusha before or after the safari
  • Alcoholic drinks and premium beverages
  • Optional extras such as the balloon flight, the Mto wa Mbu cycle ride, a coffee farm or a Datoga homestead visit
  • Tips and gratuities for guides, lodge staff and local guides
  • Personal expenses (laundry, phone calls, curio purchases)

Notes about this trip

  • The Big Five are a real chance on this route, never a promise. Black rhino are possible only on the Ngorongoro Crater floor, and leopard is never certain anywhere
  • Day 2 is the longest drive, roughly five and a half to six and a half hours from Lake Manyara to the central Serengeti, ending with a game drive
  • The Lake Eyasi visit is made in a small group at the community's invitation. It is not a performance, nothing is staged, and joining a hunt is never promised. Please ask before taking any photograph
  • The road to Lake Eyasi is rough dirt for its last stretch, and the lake's flamingo and pelican are seasonal
  • The position of the Great Migration varies by month and from year to year, and your specialist will advise where the herds are likely to be for your dates
Responsible travel

Wildlife, and the People Who Share Its Land

We believe responsible cultural tourism asks as much of the visitor as it offers, and that a Tanzania wildlife safari should leave both the land and its people better for your having come. These are the principles we hold to on this route.

I

Visiting Lake Eyasi as Guests, Not Spectators

Time with the Hadza is spent in small groups, at the community's invitation, with nothing staged and no hunt promised. We ask guests to seek permission before every photograph and to accept that some days the answer will be no.

II

The Crater's Rhino, Under Constant Guard

Poaching once left the Ngorongoro Crater with fewer than 20 black rhino. Around 30 live there today, the largest single group in Tanzania, protected daily with help from the fees paid by visitors.

III

Three National Parks, One Purpose

Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Tarangire are run by Tanzania National Parks, and the fees paid on every day you spend in them help to fund the rangers and anti-poaching patrols that keep them wild.

IV

Plain About What We Cannot Promise

We would rather tell you the truth than a pleasing story. Leopard and rhino are never certain, Eyasi's flamingo come and go with the seasons, and no part of the Lake Eyasi visit is performed on request.

Make it mine

Tell us what you most hope to understand about Tanzania, its animals or its people, and your specialist will arrange each day of this journey so that you return home knowing it a little better.

This journey was made for the traveller who is curious about more than the animals, and we shape it with that curiosity in mind. Add a second night at Lake Eyasi for a slower morning by the water, extend the crater visit with another night on the rim, or give Tarangire a full day of its own. Photographers may prefer a private vehicle fitted for long lenses, and families a gentler pace, and a Tanzania wildlife safari of this kind closes beautifully with a few days on Zanzibar.

Tailor your wildlife safari
If this isn't quite right

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Common questions

Before you enquire

It is a private seven day Tanzania wildlife safari from Arusha, with a night at Lake Manyara, two in the central Serengeti, one on the Ngorongoro Crater rim, one at Lake Eyasi and one in Tarangire, returning to Arusha on Day 7. It includes a sunrise crater descent, Olduvai Gorge, park fees, a private vehicle and guide, and all meals on safari.

It adds a night at Lake Eyasi, a seasonal salt lake beneath the Rift Valley wall that most safaris pass by. There you can spend time with the Hadza and visit Datoga smiths, alongside the wildlife of Lake Manyara, the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire.

The Hadza are among the last hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa, living in the hills around Lake Eyasi and speaking Hadzane, a click language related to no other. Visits can be respectful or exploitative depending on how they are run, so ours are made in small groups, at the community’s invitation, with nothing staged and photographs taken only with permission.

You have a real chance at all five, but no sighting can be guaranteed. Lions, elephants, and buffalo are seen most days; leopards are the hardest to find, and black rhino are possible only on the Ngorongoro Crater floor, where around 30 survive.

Around five hours on the morning of Day 5. You descend as the gates open at first light, which is the best time for predators and rhino, and climb out in the early afternoon before driving on to Lake Eyasi.

Ready when you are

Ask about 7-day Tanzania Wildlife Safari

Tell us your dates and we'll confirm whether the timing works, then adjust the route from there.

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