Tanzania Safari 7 Days: Serengeti, Ngorongoro & Zanzibar

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.00 (7 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/13

Duration7d

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · DE +3

PickupAt your hotel

Differences between wildlife sightings in Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti plains

You start in Arusha and move through four northern Tanzania parks over seven days with a private driver and guide. Game drives in Tarangire and Lake Manyara give you the variety; Ngorongoro Crater's depth and animal density is the centerpiece; Serengeti gets two full days to absorb the scale. A domestic flight takes you to Zanzibar at the end. All park fees, transport, meals and accommodation are included, and the itinerary is fixed so you know exactly when you're moving and where you're sleeping.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Arrival and transfer to Arusha

Arrive at Kilimanjaro Airport
Complete immigration procedures
Transfer to accommodation in Arusha

Day 2 — Drive to Tarangire National Park

Early breakfast
Drive through Arusha city
See Maasai grazing cattle and goats
Game drive in Tarangire National Park
Overnight at accommodation

Day 3 — Lake Manyara game drive and local activities

Early breakfast
Drive to Lake Manyara National Park
Morning game drive in the park
Return to camp for hot lunch
Join local activities at Mto Wa Mbu
Bike ride or walking safari to village
Drive back to camp by tuk-tuk
Transfer to accommodation for overnight

Day 4 — Ngorongoro Crater full day tour

Early breakfast
Depart for Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Descend into Ngorongoro Crater
Game drive inside the crater
Lunch at picnic site with hippo views
Game drive en route to camp
Short safari walk and visit Maasai houses
Overnight at accommodation

Day 5 — Travel to Serengeti National Park

Breakfast
Depart for Serengeti National Park
Stop at crater viewpoint
Game drive en route to accommodation
Optional visit to Maasai Bomas
Overnight at accommodation

Day 6 — Full day game drive in Serengeti

Full day game drive in Serengeti
Observe diverse wildlife and birdlife
Overnight at accommodation

Day 7 — Transfer from Serengeti to Zanzibar

Early breakfast
Enjoy morning sun on Serengeti Plains
Transfer to Fort Ikoma airstrip
Fly to Zanzibar

The Experience

The itinerary says you'll leave Arusha early, but "early" turns out to mean 5:30am, which nobody really prepares for on the first morning. Your driver is already waiting with coffee and a thermos, though, so you're moving through Maasai land before the heat sets in. Tarangire National Park comes first — 2,850 square kilometers of baobab trees and elephant herds that can run over 100 animals. The landscape is drier than you'd expect, almost sparse, but that's exactly why the wildlife congregates around the water sources. You'll spend the afternoon on a game drive with your guide, who knows where the animals move depending on the season, and by evening you're at your accommodation under a sky so clear it feels like a mistake.

Lake Manyara National Park is different — greener, more forested, and famous for something most people don't believe until they see it: lions that climb trees. The morning game drive gets you to the park gate early, and the drive through the forest canopy before you reach the lake edge is the kind of detail that sticks with you. After lunch at camp, you have a choice: bike ride to the lake, walking safari through the village at Mto Wa Mbu, or just rest. Most people do the village walk, which is less "cultural performance" and more "here's where people actually live," and then a tuk-tuk brings you back to camp. It's the kind of unscripted afternoon that makes the difference between a safari and a tour.

Ngorongoro Crater is the centerpiece, and the descent alone justifies the whole trip. At 610 meters deep with a floor of 260 square kilometers, it's one of Africa's natural wonders, and on a clear day you can see the entire crater wall from the bottom. The crater holds roughly 25,000 animals — lions, elephants, hippos, zebras, and if you're lucky, the rare black rhino. Lunch happens at a picnic site overlooking hippos in the shallow lake, and the afternoon includes another game drive and a short walking safari where you might see Maasai houses and herders. The light changes constantly, and your guide will point out animals you'd walk past otherwise.

Serengeti National Park gets two full days, which is what lets you understand the scale of it. The park is famous for the annual migration — thousands of wildebeest and zebras crossing the Mara River while crocodiles wait — but even outside migration season, the wildlife density is staggering. Lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, elephants, impala, Grant's gazelle, Thomson's gazelle, and bird species that seem to exist just to add color to the landscape. The grassland savanna, river forest, and woodlands each have their own rhythm, and two days means you're not just checking boxes. On day seven, an early breakfast on the plains, then transfer to Fort Ikoma airstrip for your domestic flight to Zanzibar, where the spice island's historical culture and beaches wait for the wind-down part of the trip.

What’s included

Your seven days include private transportation throughout, all park entry fees and taxes, game drives with a driver/guide at each location, accommodation at each stop, meals, a domestic flight from Serengeti to Zanzibar, and Flying Doctors emergency insurance. You arrange your own international flights to and from Kilimanjaro International Airport, where a representative meets you on arrival and transfers you to Arusha.

Good to know

Moderate physical level

Operated by Ndoto Safari

Is this one for you?Right for travelers who want the main northern Tanzania parks in one trip without arranging transport, park permits or timing themselves — the fixed itinerary handles all of it. Expect early starts, long days in a vehicle, and moderate walking; that's what makes covering four parks and Zanzibar in seven days possible.