4-Day Tanzania Safari to Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro

Meeting: After breakfast at your hotel or lodge in Arusha, meet our safari coordinator and your driver-guide for a short safari briefing before departing for Tarangire National Park via Arusha town for any last-minute purchases.

Drive: The drive passes along the Maasai steppe and through many villages all the way to the Tarangire gate.

About Tarangire: Tarangire is the fifth-largest national park in Tanzania, located at the base of the Great East African Rift Valley. The park stretches along the Tarangire River and is made up of high hills and lowlands dominated by acacia woodlands and huge baobab trees that dwarf some of the animal species that gather beneath them.

Game drive: Enjoy a game drive in the park with a picnic lunch.

Overnight: In the late afternoon, drive to Karatu for dinner and an overnight stay at Marera Valley Lodge (mid-range lodge located outside Ngorongoro Crater).

Drive: After breakfast, collect your picnic lunch and depart for Serengeti National Park. The drive passes through the beautiful high-lying farmland of Karatu all the way to the Ngorongoro gate for check-in.

Stop: Then drive up to the crater viewpoint, where you can stop for some nice pictures of the crater floor from the rim, before continuing around and down via the Malanja Depression to the Serengeti plains.

Visit: On the way, you will visit one of the Maasai villages for a cultural encounter. A group of Maasai warriors will invite you in and take you around their houses while sharing stories of their livelihood in this area. You will meet children and other family members, and you can ask questions and take pictures with them.

Cultural activity: Lastly, they will sing and dance to their famous song, which involves jumping high, and you may join the dancing.

Overnight: Dinner and overnight at Tanzania Bush Camps Central Serengeti (mid-range tented camp located inside Serengeti National Park).

Start: On this day, as early as 06:30 hours, start with a breakfast box and lunch box for an early morning game drive in the vast Serengeti plains, with the possibility of spotting big cat families on the road, as they usually spend their morning time there avoiding the morning mist.

Wildlife viewing: You may also see other nocturnal predators returning from their long night of hunting, or a group of lionesses organizing a morning ambush.

Breakfast: Break for breakfast in the bush.

Wildebeest Migration: Continue driving to where the wildebeest migration is gathered and spend time with the herds. (This will depend on travelling dates and whether they are in Central Serengeti.)

Drive: Later in the afternoon, begin your journey to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area with an en-route game drive.

Overnight: Arrive at Rhino Lodge for sunset watching, dinner, and an overnight stay.

Game drive: As early as 6:30 am, descend 600 meters into the crater floor for wonderful game viewing.

About Ngorongoro Crater: Ngorongoro Crater is referred to by many as the 8th natural wonder of the world. Supported by a year-round water supply and fodder, the crater sustains a large number of animal species, including herds of wildebeest, buffalo, zebra, eland, topi, warthog, hippos, African elephant, and the rare black rhino.

Predators: Another major draw of this picturesque crater is its dense population of predators, including lions, cheetahs, hyenas, jackals, as well as the ever-mysterious leopard, which sometimes requires sharp binocular eyes to spot.

Visit: You will visit Lake Magadi, a large but shallow alkaline lake in the southwest corner of the crater, frequently home to hippos and flocks of flamingos and other aquatic birds.

Lunch: With a bit of luck, the 'Big Five' can be seen in just one day of game driving in the Ngorongoro Crater. (Picnic lunch will be served on the crater floor.)

Drop-off: In the afternoon, drive back to Arusha and drop you off at your hotel.