7 Days Tanzania Wildlife Safari

Arrive at Kilimanjaro Airport and transfer to your lodge in Arusha.

Travel from Arusha to Tarangire National Park after an early breakfast. Tarangire National Park is known for its elephant herds of up to 300, migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland grazing and browsing in the dry riverbed. The Silale swamp attracts 550 varieties of birds, the most breeding species you'll see in one habitat anywhere in the world, and the park is also home to tree-climbing pythons as well as lions and leopards. You will enjoy a game drive and game viewing with a picnic lunch.

We depart from your lodge in Karatu and proceed to Lake Manyara National Park. Although small in size, this park is one of the most diverse reserves in the country — Lake Manyara covers two-thirds of the park, with the wall of the Great Rift Valley at the backdrop, before which lies groundwater forest, open grassland near the lake foreshore, and the Soda Lake. We enjoy a picnic lunch in this area of open grassy areas, hot springs, dense woodlands and steep mountainsides. Lake Manyara National Park is a birding paradise with more than 350 species of bird, and is also famed for its unique and elusive tree-climbing lions.

We head towards Serengeti National Park, arriving at lunchtime to enjoy our packed lunches. After lunch we drive into the Serengeti itself, spending the rest of the afternoon game viewing across vast plains broken only by stands of acacia trees and the occasional kopje. In December, January and February we normally meet the migration with large herds of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle, alongside plenty of resident giraffe, buffalo and elephant, and large predators such as lion, cheetah and leopard. We return to our special tented camp for the night.

We have another full day in this wonderful park, rising early to make the most of our time. Our guides choose the best spotting locations for the time of year — we might spend time at the hippo pool watching these majestic animals laze in the cool water alongside the crocodiles, watch a big pride of lions, or find ourselves in the middle of the migration surrounded by wildebeest and zebra. We journey from the wide open plains to the kopjes — volcanic rocky outcrops providing shelter for a wide variety of animals, with views across the vast grasslands from the top. This diverse landscape provides the ultimate in game viewing: elephants, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, lions and, if you're lucky, the elusive leopard and cheetah, plus huge amounts of interesting birdlife from elegant secretary birds to the flightless ostrich. We return to our special tented camp for the night.

We start the day with an early morning game drive while heading to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Ngorongoro is a Conservation Area rather than a National Park, meaning the whole area is managed for both the animals and the local Maasai people who graze their cattle alongside the indigenous wildlife. During the drive we have a chance to glimpse something of the Maasai way of life, before later driving to our lodge for dinner and overnight.

On this day you will drive around the rim of this fascinating volcanic landscape — the Ngorongoro Crater, known as the largest unbroken caldera — looking down to see herds of wildebeest or buffalo, before descending into the crater itself. The crater walls provide a natural sanctuary for the animals, so there's plenty to see: lions, elephants, buffalo, rhino and leopard (if you are lucky). The only animal you won't see here is a giraffe, whose long legs are unable to cope with the steep sides of the crater. In the afternoon you will be driven to the airport for your flight back home.