Moshi: 4-Day Serengeti & Ngorongoro Safari with Big Five

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.88 (8 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/8

Duration4d

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Four days, three parks, one chance at the Big Five

You get picked up from your hotel and driven through three of Tanzania's northern circuit parks over four days—Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater—with early morning game drives, lodge accommodation each night, and a high chance of spotting all the Big Five. The guide adjusts the route based on where animals are that week, and you return to your hotel on the evening of day four.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Travel to Lake Manyara National Park

Pick up from hotel after breakfast
Visit Lake Manyara National Park
See water birds and wildlife
Game drive to spot lions in trees
Drive to lodge for overnight

Day 2 — Drive to Serengeti National Park

Breakfast at lodge
Drive through crater highlands
Pass Ngorongoro Crater
Arrive Serengeti National Park around midday
Game drive to see wildlife and migration
Overnight at Serengeti lodge

Day 3 — Serengeti to Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Early morning game drive at dawn
Return to camp for breakfast
Second game drive in Seronera region
Picnic lunch
Drive to Ngorongoro Crater rim
Enjoy crater views
Overnight at lodge near crater

Day 4 — Ngorongoro Crater to Arusha

Early breakfast
Drive down into Ngorongoro Crater
Game viewing to see Big Five and other animals
Picnic lunch in crater
Drive back to Arusha or Moshi
Arrive in early evening

The Experience

The sound hits you first on the crater rim at dawn—thousands of hooves moving across the floor of Ngorongoro, a 600-meter-deep collapsed volcano where the wildlife density is almost unreal. That's the moment this 4-day Tanzania lodge safari becomes real. You start in Moshi or Arusha after breakfast, drive to Lake Manyara National Park for your first game drive, and spend the night at a lodge on the escarpment. The park stretches along a 600-meter-high Rift Valley wall, and the alkaline lake itself draws over 400 bird species—flamingos, eagles, storks—but what you're really watching for are the tree-climbing lions that lounge in the acacia branches in the afternoon heat.

Day two moves you toward the Serengeti, and the drive itself is part of the story. You pass through the crater highlands where farmers grow wheat and coffee, then cross the Ngorongoro Crater rim before the landscape opens into the Serengeti's short-grass plains and thick bush. The park holds more than 2.5 million mammals, and depending on the season, you might catch the annual migration—thousands of wildebeest and zebra moving toward Kenya, calves born on the move, predators waiting at the crocodile-infested Mara River. But migration is unpredictable, so the guide adjusts the route based on where the animals are that week. You stay at Tukaone Camps or a similar lodge, and the next morning you're up before sunrise for an early game drive in the Seronera region, where wildebeest and zebra graze within sight of lions, leopards and cheetahs. After breakfast and a second game drive with a picnic lunch, you drive toward Ngorongoro and watch the crater rim appear on the horizon.

The final day is the payoff. You descend the steep, narrow road into the crater floor while the landscape shifts from forest to savannah, and the wildlife density is concentrated enough that a few hours of driving gives you a real shot at all five—lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino, leopard—plus warthogs, hippos, wildebeest, zebra and over 500 bird species. After a morning game drive and picnic lunch, you drive back to Arusha or Moshi, arriving in the early evening. The whole tour runs on lodge stays, not camps, so you have a bed and a shower each night, and the air-conditioned vehicle means the long drives between parks don't wear you down. Hotel pickup is included, as are all park fees and taxes.

What’s included

Your four days include hotel pickup from Moshi or Arusha, private air-conditioned vehicle with WiFi on board, entry fees to Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area, lodge accommodation for three nights (Eileens Trees Inn and Tukaone Camps or similar), and all taxes.
Game drives happen each morning and afternoon, with picnic lunches provided on days three and four.
You return to your hotel on the evening of day four.

Good to know

Easy physical levelNot for heart conditionsInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Bujo Tours

Is this one for you?A good fit if you want to see the Big Five and the Serengeti migration without arranging transport, park permits and lodge bookings yourself—the fixed itinerary and private vehicle handle all three. Plan for early mornings and long driving days; that pace is what fits three major parks and high wildlife viewing into four days.