5 Days Safari

Overview

A private 5-day safari designed around the season — your guide tracks the migration herds in real time so you're always in the right place at the right time. Sleep under canvas inside the parks.

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Arr
   Arrival Day

   Arrival Day

   When you arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), a representative from Tanzania Travelers will meet you and transfer you to your hotel in Arusha. After your journey, you’ll have the rest of the day to relax and settle in. Your comfortable hotel offers everything you need for a pleasant stay, including well-appointed rooms, hot water, friendly service, Wi-Fi, and a swimming pool. This overnight stay in Arusha gives you time to rest and prepare for your safari adventure, which begins the following day. If you arrive at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, Kenya, we can arrange a transfer to Arusha by shuttle bus.

   Note: Hotel check-in starts at 2:00 PM.

   Meals: Breakfast, DinnerArusha Planet Lodge
2. 1
   Day 1

   Arusha → Tarangire National Park

   Your guide collects you from your Arusha hotel at around 08:00 for a briefing before the two-and-a-half hour drive to Tarangire Gate. The rest of the day is spent on game drives along the Tarangire River, where dry-season herds of elephant, zebra, wildebeest and buffalo concentrate under giant baobabs. Tarangire is also excellent for less common species — fringe-eared oryx, lesser kudu and gerenuk — and for birding, with over 500 species recorded. Picnic lunch in the park, then sundowners and dinner at camp.

   Trip Essentials

   Accommodation

   Tarangire Pure Tented Camp

   Accommodation type

   Tented Lodge

   Meal plan

   Picnic Lunch – Dinner in Lodge

   Mode of transport

   Private 4×4 SUV Vehicle

   Transfer duration

   Approximately 2.5 hours (Arusha → Tarangire)

   Game drive duration

   5 – 6 hours

   Activity

   Game Drive Safari (Tarangire National Park)

3. 2
   Day 2

   Tarangire → Lake Manyara → Serengeti National Park

   After breakfast you drive to Lake Manyara National Park for a morning game drive through groundwater forest, acacia woodland and the soda-lake shoreline — baboon troops, blue monkey, hippo, giraffe, flamingos and the park's famous tree-climbing lions. You then climb the Rift Valley escarpment through Karatu and cross the Ngorongoro highlands, stopping at the crater viewpoint before descending onto the open plains. Entering the Serengeti at Naabi Hill Gate, you game drive towards camp in the Seronera area as the light softens.

   Trip Essentials

   Accommodation

   Serengeti Pure Tented Camp

   Accommodation type

   Tented Lodge

   Meal plan

   Breakfast in Lodge – Picnic Lunch – Dinner in Lodge

   Mode of transport

   Private 4×4 SUV Vehicle

   Transfer duration

   Approximately 1.5 hours to Lake Manyara, then 5 hours to the Serengeti

   Game drive duration

   5 – 6 hours

   Activity

   Game Drive Safari (Lake Manyara National Park and Serengeti National Park)

4. 3
   Day 3

   Serengeti National Park — full day

   A full day in the Serengeti with an early start and a picnic lunch in the bush so you can stay out where the action is. Depending on the season your guide will track the migration herds — calving on the southern short-grass plains from December to March, moving north through the western corridor from May onwards — and the predators that shadow them. The Seronera valley and its granite kopjes are among the best places in Africa for lion and leopard, with cheetah on the open grassland. An optional sunrise balloon safari can be booked in advance.

   Trip Essentials

   Accommodation

   Serengeti Pure Tented Camp

   Accommodation type

   Tented Lodge

   Meal plan

   Breakfast in Lodge – Picnic Lunch – Dinner in Lodge

   Mode of transport

   Private 4×4 SUV Vehicle

   Transfer duration

   In-park driving only

   Game drive duration

   8 – 9 hours

   Activity

   Full-day Game Drive Safari (Serengeti National Park)

5. 4
   Day 4

   Serengeti → Ngorongoro Crater rim

   One last sunrise game drive through the plains while the cats are still active, then breakfast at camp. You leave the Serengeti mid-morning and drive back east across the Maasai grazing lands, with a stop at the Olduvai Gorge museum available on request — the site where the Leakeys uncovered some of the earliest hominin remains. You reach the Ngorongoro Crater rim in the late afternoon for sunset over the caldera, followed by dinner and overnight on the highlands.

   Trip Essentials

   Accommodation

   Embalakai Ngorongoro Camp

   Accommodation type

   Tented Lodge

   Meal plan

   Breakfast in Lodge – Picnic Lunch – Dinner in Lodge

   Mode of transport

   Private 4×4 SUV Vehicle

   Transfer duration

   Approximately 5 hours (Serengeti → Ngorongoro rim)

   Game drive duration

   3 – 4 hours

   Activity

   Sunrise Game Drive Safari (Serengeti) and transfer to the Ngorongoro Highlands

6. 5
   Day 5

   Ngorongoro Crater → Arusha

   An early breakfast and a dawn descent 600 m onto the crater floor, where roughly 25,000 large animals live year-round in one enclosed ecosystem. A full morning of game viewing gives you a strong chance of completing the Big Five — black rhino, big-maned lion, elephant bulls, buffalo and leopard along the Lerai forest edge — plus hyena, serval and flamingos on Lake Magadi. Picnic lunch by the hippo pool, then the drive back to Arusha via Karatu, arriving late afternoon.

   Trip Essentials

   Meal plan

   Breakfast in Lodge – Picnic Lunch

   Mode of transport

   Private 4×4 SUV Vehicle

   Transfer duration

   Approximately 4 hours (Ngorongoro → Arusha)

   Game drive duration

   7 – 8 hours

   Activity

   Game Drive Safari (Ngorongoro Crater)

7. Dep
   Departure Day

   Departure Day

   You will rest at the hotel and then head to the airport when it’s time for your flight. If you like, you can choose to take an extra trip to Zanzibar instead. This marks the end of your safari.

   Note: Standard hotel check-out time is 11:00 AM. If your flight is later in the day and you require a late check-out, you can extend your stay for an additional cost.

   Meals: Breakfast