Embark on an unforgettable nine-day safari that immerses you in the breathtaking spectacle of the Great Migration, while also exploring the essential highlights of Tanzania’s Northern Circuit. Your adventure begins at the stunning Lake Manyara, where lush landscapes meet diverse wildlife, and culminates at the expansive and vibrant Tarangire National Park, celebrated for its rich ecosystems.
Along the way, you’ll experience two of Tanzania’s must-see treasures: the iconic Serengeti, renowned for its endless plains teeming with wildlife, and the remarkable Ngorongoro Conservation Area, home to an awe-inspiring volcanic crater. This journey promises not just sights, but unforgettable memories in some of the world’s most extraordinary natural landscapes.
9 Days, 8 Nights
Regardless of your arrival time at Kilimanjaro International Airport, your Easy Travel driver-guide will be ready to welcome you with a genuine smile. Sit back and unwind in the comfort of your vehicle as you embark on a scenic one-hour journey to your hotel in Arusha, proudly known as Tanzania’s ‘safari capital.’ Along the way, you’ll catch a glimpse of this vibrant and bustling city, setting the stage for your incredible adventure ahead. Depending on when you arrive, you might have the opportunity to attend your pre-safari briefing today; if not, rest assured it will be scheduled for the early morning tomorrow. Get ready for an unforgettable experience!
Tour Briefing
Unless your arrival time yesterday allowed time for your safari briefing, then this will take place after breakfast. We will provide you with all the essential information, before we set off to our first safari destination, the wonderful Lake Manyara National Park, where we will enjoy lunch, take an afternoon game drive and spend the night.
Journey: Arusha to Lake Manyara National Park
Our two-hour (130km) journey takes us westwards from Arusha. Along the route, your eyes will be opened to all the colours and character of Tanzania: perhaps some Maasai herdsmen driving their flocks of goats to new pastures. You’ll get to know your driver-guide, amazed at his depth of knowledge as he effortlessly answers all your questions.
Day’s Highlight
Your game drive in wonderful Lake Manyara, with the Rift Valley escarpment and the lake itself as the wonderful, natural backdrops.
Safari (Game Drive) in Lake Manyara National Park
After our lunch, we jump in our vehicle to cover the highlights of this park. Set against the rugged Rift Valley escarpment, and characterised by its shimmering lake, Manyara is rich in vegetation and the wildlife that thrives here. Enjoy the tranquillity as majestic pink flamingos wade elegantly, picking out a meal of algae from the shallow, alkaline waters. On land, Manyara’s terrain is compact, yet boasts differing environments such as diverse forests fed by waters seeping from the nearby escarpment. Monkeys are abundant, but look out too for the lions, giraffe, warthog, and grumpy Cape buffalo who all call this park ‘home’. Hold your nose when we reach the hippo pool, because these big lumps smell!
Journey: Lake Manyara National Park to Serengeti National Park
With Serengeti as our destination, we leave Lake Manyara behind and set out to the northwest on our 4- hour (205km) journey. On the way, you can quiz your driver-guide about all aspects of Tanzanian culture, traditions, tribes and of course wildlife. Treat him as an ‘encyclopedia on legs’ – he will rarely disappoint with his answers! In no time, you too will feel like an expert, even before you reach the awesome Serengeti plains. On arrival, we take lunch before embarking on our afternoon game-drive.
Day’s Highlight
Serengeti is a National Park which will offer you a whole variety of wildlife surprises over the two days, but perhaps today’s highlight – certainly for first-time visitors – will simply be the Serengeti terrain itself. The sheer vastness, as the plains roll away in front of you into eternity, will leave you with a sense of awe.
Safari in Serengeti National Park
At last! Serengeti, the incomparable wonder of Tanzania, will be the stage for the natural animal theatrics which will undoubtedly be performed during your visit. Your afternoon game drive here combines the known with the unknown, the certainty that you will be amazed with the uncertainty of exactly what you will see and when. Changing light, a changing cast of animal actors, ensuring that at every turn there is a new experience. Snap off some memorable photos, but don’t forget to simply take a deep breath and enjoy nature in its real-time, raw beauty.
Today on our trip-of-a-lifetime we turn north, driving to the very northern edge of the Serengeti, our world-famous national park and – of course – a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Journey: Central to Northern Serengeti
After breakfast, our journey from Central Serengeti to Northern Serengeti will take around 4 hours (120km), with plenty of changing landscapes and wildlife highlights to see along the route.
Day’s Highlight
The changing landscapes of Northern Serengeti and the wildlife surprises it will almost certainly provide. There are no guarantees, but a rhino sighting cannot be ruled out!
Afternoon game-Drive in Northern Serengeti National Park
The Northern Serengeti is a land of open woodland, extending from the Seronera in the south to the Mara river in the north, marking the frontier with neighboring Kenya. During your time here, you can get to grips with a whole new set of exotic names: Bolongonja, Kogatende, Lamai and of course, the legendary Mara river.
We are now following in the footsteps of the Great Migration, great herds of thousands of zebra and wildebeest getting ready to cross the Mara into Kenya, and back again. On a daily basis, crossings cannot be guaranteed, but our driver-guides know the most likely places to witness them, one of Nature’s most awe-inspiring sights. Patience is required! And if you’re not lucky enough to witness a crossing, there’s always tomorrow; and in Northern Serengeti, plenty more to see today.
Day’s Highlight
If you’re lucky today, perhaps a rare, black rhino might cross your path…
Morning Safari (Game Drive) in Northern Serengeti
As you awake for a second day in Northern Serengeti, you can contemplate that parts of this northern area can easily match the Southern Serengeti for the abundance of wildlife viewing, especially between July and October. After your breakfast, you will embark with your driver-guide on a full-day game drive, looking out for elephant and buffalo, eland and gazelle. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to spot something really special: perhaps a cheetah, or even a rare black rhino, of which a small population are resident here.
Afternoon Safari (Game Drive) in Northern Serengeti
Depending on what your driver-guide found for you yesterday and this morning, this afternoon we’ll set out to see something new. If a Mara River crossing has escaped you, perhaps the conditions this afternoon will suggest that a crossing could take place. Our driver-guides have intimate knowledge of where and when they might occur. As well as the migrating herds, the Northern Serengeti is an area where you might easily see giraffe, elephant, and dik-dik: with many resident species, there’s never a dull moment.
Journey: Northern to Central Serengeti
After breakfast, and a morning game-drive in the north, we set off back to our next destination, the Central Serengeti, a journey of around 155km with an expected time of around 5 ½ hour. There will be plenty to see on the way. On arrival, we take lunch and have an afternoon game drive.
Day’s Highlight
As we reach the Central Serengeti, you will soon realize why this is often known as the ‘wildlife hub’ of the Serengeti. There are animals everywhere, graceful, quirky, dangerous. Safe inside your vehicle, you will see them all here. Your driver-guide will find you a highlight.
Day’s Highlight
As we reach the Central Serengeti, you will soon realize why this is often known as the ‘wildlife hub’ of the Serengeti. There are animals everywhere, graceful, quirky, dangerous. Safe inside your vehicle, you will see them all here. Your driver-guide will find you a highlight.
Morning Safari in Northern Serengeti/ Afternoon Safari (Game-drive) in Central Serengeti
Before leaving the Northern Serengeti, we take the opportunity this morning to enjoy another game drive in this incredible location. This allows us further time to wonder at the migratory herds and the dangers and challenges they face each year in their battle for survival. As well as the herd animals, you can look to the skies, perhaps finding a majestic martial eagle or one of the other birds that populate this area. As well as the thousands of migrating animals, this area also has a good population of resident wildlife, so you will never be disappointed. In the afternoon, we take the short drive to the central part of Serengeti, where after lunch a game-drive will help us explore further this busy area. Finally, you will go to your chosen accommodation for relaxation and your evening meal.
Today our adventure takes us out of the Serengeti National Park and leads us to another of Tanzania’s true wonders, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. With its wildlife-filled crater, Ngorongoro may be difficult to pronounce, but with its wildlife-filled volcanic crater it is easy to admire. Unsurprisingly, this is yet another of our country’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Journey: Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Conservation Area
After a morning game drive and lunch, this afternoon we will head south-east towards Ngorongoro, a distance of 145km which will take us around 3 ½ hours.
Day’s Highlight
Today, we will get our first sight of the spectacular, incomparable Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera and the heart of the Conservation Area of the same name. But before that, we have another morning game drive in amazing Serengeti, marveling at its animal inhabitants. Another day of adventure, another day to enjoy the wildlife.
Safari in Central Serengeti National Park
After our morning game drive, perhaps trying to find any animal that has – until now – been elusive enough to evade your eagle-eyed driver-guide, we head south-east towards Ngorongoro. If it has not already struck you with its vastness, Serengeti’s ‘endless plains’ will certainly now make a deep impression on you as we take the long, straight road which passes Simba Kopjes (famous from ‘The Lion King’) to reach Naabi Hill Gate, close to the divide between Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Here you can gather information at the gate’s visitor center, clamber up the hill for superb views back over the plains, or look out for a colorful agama lizard among the rocks.
Journey: Ngorongoro Crater to Tarangire National Park
After our morning game drive in Ngorongoro’s incredible crater, we will enjoy our lunch before we set out southwards for Tarangire National Park, a journey time of 2-hour (135km).
Day’s Highlight
Like nothing else on Earth, the stunning crater of Ngorongoro is a unique home for many, many species of Tanzania’s wildlife. With some luck, you may even see a black rhino here.
Safari in Ngorongoro Crater
From our accommodation, we set off after breakfast, a 6am departure to reach the rim and then descend into the vast crater itself. At one side there’s the Lerai Forest, classic mountain forest landscape with almost tropical characteristics. This is good elephant country, so keep your eyes peeled. By the side of the nearby swampland is what is sometimes called the ‘elephant graveyard’ as the mighty male tuskers at the end of their lives come to chew on the soft, swampland grasses once their teeth have failed them.
The crater has a population of around 120 lions, with well-defined territories; 15,000 wildebeest, 9,000 zebra, 400 hyenas, and around 50 black rhino. Many wildebeest and other herd animals are resident, benefiting from the many sources of year-round waters and are boosted by some migrators in season. Buffalo, Thomson’s gazelle and eland are also present in numbers. Hippos can be found in pools and swampland and highland birdlife is colourful and plentiful around the waters. Flamingos can often be seen in Lake Magadi, which occupies part of the crater floor.
Journey: Tarangire National Park to Kilimanjaro International Airport
After our morning game drive in Tarangire National Park and then lunch, we will have a 3-hour journey, covering the 175km back to Kilimanjaro International Airport.
Day’s Highlight
The diverse landscapes of Tarangire, spread across nearly 3,000 km2, and the density and variety of wildlife they contain. And it is the wildlife – not us – which will decide what your highlight will be!
Safari in Tarangire National Park
Tarangire is huge. As you stand at the park gate and look south, it stretches as far as the eye can see. Known as the ‘Elephant Playground,’ this phenomenal park contains huge herds of these mighty mammals. But Tarangire is also home to buffalo, lion, wildebeest, zebra and gazelle and the park can rival Serengeti for sheer animal densities. What might you see today? Perhaps a solitary male lion stretched out beneath a tree, perhaps a trio of male cheetah enjoying some lazy bonding-time in the sun. Maybe some graceful Grant’s gazelle or zebra bounding away from the road or a couple of giraffe munching happily from the choicest acacia branches. For Tarangire specialities, look out for kudu and oryx.
Here as in other parks, it pays not to ignore the small animals. It’s so easy to be mesmerized by the power and majesty of an elephant or the elegance of the giraffe. Ask your guide to find you an agama lizard, especially a male one who changes colour in front of you according to the temperature! Or a hyrax, known as pimpi, an insignificant-looking creature of around 30cm in length…who astonishingly is related to elephant!
Not many trees will pass you by without something of avian interest catching your eye. A memorable flash of colour might be a lilac-breasted roller or blue-eared starling. Ostrich are plentiful and it’s hard not to chuckle at the sighting of the well-named, studious-looking secretary bird as it awkwardly pads across the grasslands.
The park is also famous for its splendid baobab trees, rolling savannah and acacia woodland. It can be dusty – wear a scarf over your mouth – but this is a minor inconvenience for sighting wildlife in such abundance.
Meal Plan
Breakfast is served at Tarangire Kuro Tree Tops Lodge. Lunch will be a nutritious and balanced meal, also provided by the Lodge for you to take out on safari and enjoyed after your morning game-drive, before we return you to the airport for your flight home. As today is your departure day, please note that dinner tonight is not included in the tour.
Departure Instructions
Please note that this Tanzania Wildebeest Migration Luxury Safari – 9 Days tour ends at Kilimanjaro International Airport at 17.30 hours. Your departure can only take place today if you have pre-booked a domestic flight which leaves from Kilimanjaro International Airport at 19.40 hours or after, or an international flight which leaves at 21.00 hours or after.
Tipping: Tipping is of course discretionary, but is an expected part of the way in which business is done in Tanzania. It counts as an expression of gratitude to those who – hopefully – have made your experience an unforgettable one and enables you to directly reward those people. Our passengers come from all around the world, with different cultural attitudes to tipping, but a tip is of great significance here in Tanzania and will be hugely appreciated by the recipient. We know that the act of giving of a tip can be a bit awkward and we would suggest that the best way to remove this ‘awkwardness’ is for each couple to put their tip anonymously into an envelope and for the envelopes to be presented by the couple to the staff member. As a guideline, you should consider tipping at the following levels:
Driver guide: $25 US per day, per couple.
For hotels/lodges/tented camps, please do not tip individual staff members, but instead use the ‘Tip Box’, which you should find at the reception of your accommodation. For guidance, you should consider tipping between $5-7 US per day, per guest, at each accommodation.
Balloon Safari: Experience 60 – 90 minute (depending on wind condition) aerial adventure, followed by bush breakfast and champagne.
Any Changes done by you:Â The trip excludes changes done by you during safari or before safari which deviates from the original program
Post Night Accommodation in Arusha: This Tour ends at Kilimanjaro International Airport at 17:30hrs, you can only depart on this day if you have booked a Domestic flight which departs from Kilimanjaro International Airport at 19:40hrs and onwards or an International Flight which departs at 21:00hrs and onwards. Otherwise, you will need to book a post night Accommodation if you are departing with any earlier flight. Please contact us for details.
Flights:Â The trip costs Excludes International and Domestic Flights
Visa:Â The trip costs Excludes all visa costs including arrival visas and transit visas
Medical Insurance:Â The trip cost Excludes Medical Insurance which is mandatory
Travel Insurance:Â The trip cost Excludes Travel Insurance which is mandatory
Laundry Service:Â If you require to launder your clothes while on your safari, then you will need to pay an amount that the accommodation charges as per their rate sheet.
Drinks at the lodges/camps:All kinds of soft drinks and hard drinks at the lodges/camps are not included
Drones:Â The government of Tanzania does not allow anyone to bring drones into the country.
Tipping:Â Tipping is of course, discretionary, but is an expected part of the way in
which business is done in Tanzania. It counts as an expression of gratitude to those who hopefully, have made your experience an unforgettable one and enables you to directly reward those people. Our passengers come from all around the world, with different cultural attitudes to tipping, but a tip is of
great significance here in Tanzania and will be hugely appreciated by the recipient. We know that the act of giving of a tip can be a bit awkward, and we would suggest that the best way to remove this ‘awkwardness’ is for each couple to put their tip anonymously into an envelope and for the envelopes to
be presented by the couple to the staff member. As a guideline, you should consider tipping at the
following levels:
Driver guide: $25 US per day, per couple. For hotels/lodges/tented camps, please do not tip individual staff members, but instead use the ‘Tip Box’,
which you should find at the reception of your accommodation. For guidance, you should consider tipping
between $5-7 US per day, per guest, at each accommodation.
Balloon Safari: Experience 60 – 90 minute (depending on wind condition) aerial
adventure, followed by bush breakfast and champagne.
Any Changes done by you:Â The trip excludes changes done by you during safari or before
safari which deviates from the original program
Post Night Accommodation in Arusha:Â This Tour ends at Kilimanjaro International Airport
at 17:30hrs, you can only depart on this day if you have booked a Domestic flight which departs from
Kilimanjaro International Airport at 19:40hrs and onwards or an International Flight which departs at
21:00hrs and onwards. Otherwise, you will need to book a post night Accommodation if you are departing
with any earlier flight.Â
Flights:Â The trip costs Excludes International and Domestic Flights
Visa:Â The trip costs Excludes all visa costs including arrival visas and transit visas
Medical Insurance:Â The trip cost Excludes Medical Insurance which is mandatory
Travel Insurance:Â The trip cost Excludes Travel Insurance which is mandatory
Laundry Service:Â If you require to launder your clothes while on your safari, then you
will need to pay an amount that the accommodation charges as per their rate sheet.
Drinks at the lodges/camps:Â All kinds of soft drinks and hard drinks at the
lodges/camps are not included
Drones:Â The government of Tanzania does not allow anyone to bring drones into the
country.
The Tanzania Luxury Adventure offers amazing year-round experiences. The dry season, from June to October, is ideal for wildlife viewing as animals gather around water sources, making sightings frequent and predictable. The green season, from November to May, is equally wonderful, as the landscape transforms into a lush paradise. This season is ideal for bird enthusiasts, with many migratory species arriving, and you’ll also have the chance to see young animals in their first months. The green season offers a quieter, more peaceful safari experience with fewer visitors, allowing for a truly immersive adventure.
Yes, most travelers will need a visa to join the Tanzania Luxury Adventure, Visa requirements vary depending on your nationality. Many visitors can obtain a visa on arrival or apply for an e-visa before their trip. For detailed information on the Tanzania visa application process
If you choose a visa on arrival, be prepared for potentially longer wait times at the immigration checkpoint. Please note that the visa fee must be paid in USD, as other currencies are not accepted.
Yes, the duration of the Tanzania Luxury Adventure can be customised to fit your preferences. Whether you’d like to extend or shorten your stay, simply let us know, and we’ll adjust the itinerary to make it just right for you.
Yes, we offer group discounts for the Tanzania Luxury Adventure. As the number of participants increases, the per-person cost typically decreases due to shared expenses. To inquire about group pricing and available discounts, please fill out the form below and let us know how many people will be part of your tour.
Our team is always here to help
