11 Day Tanzania Safari and Zanzibar

Arusha to Tarangire National Park

Breakfast in Arusha, then the farms drop behind you in about two hours. Baobabs show first, the park gate next, the river after that. This is not a transfer with a short game drive tacked on. Tarangire is where the safari starts, in a private Land Cruiser with a pop-up roof and a window seat that stays yours for the whole trip.

It is elephant country. In the dry months whole families walk the Tarangire River and the Silale swamp. Giraffe work the acacias. Lion take the shade of the same giants you came to photograph. We stay out for a picnic so you are still in the park when the light tilts and the herds move toward water.

Your Super Luxury Safaris' Guide already knows which track is quiet that week. You are not following a convoy from a distant call centre. You travel with the Super Luxury Safaris Team that will still answer WhatsApp after dinner.

Overnight: in the Karatu highlands, in the camping, mid-range, luxury or high-end lodge named on your

Karatu to Serengeti National Park

The Serengeti is reached by climbing through Iraqw farmland, pausing at the Ngorongoro viewpoint, and dropping through Naabi until the horizon opens. The grassland is so wide it rearranges how you think about space. Afternoon belongs to the Seronera River, to lion on the kopjes, to leopard in the sausage trees if the day is kind, and to zebra and gazelle on the open grass.

Since booking, most guests have held this moment in their heads. We do not rush it: picnic or a late lodge lunch, then a slower drive so camp comes with the sun still on the plains.

Dinner and overnight in the Serengeti, in the camp or lodge class named on your quote.

Overnight: in the Serengeti, in the camp or lodge class named on your quote

Full day in Serengeti National Park

No long transfer. You are sleeping in the Serengeti instead of driving through it, and that is the point of today. Leave in the cool. Carry a picnic. Stay with whatever the morning offers — a hunt, a crossing of resident herds, a kopje that has a leopard on it if you sit still.

A Super Luxury Safaris' Guide would rather you see one pride well than ten animals from a traffic jam. The rest of the day is yours in your own vehicle. Dry months: riverine strips. December to March: we can lean south toward Ndutu when the calves are on the short grass. A balloon at first light if you want it, not hidden inside the base package.

Dinner and overnight in the Serengeti, in the camp or lodge class named on your quote.

Overnight: in the Serengeti, in the camp or lodge class named on your quote

Second full day in Serengeti National Park

Covering kilometres for the sake of a checklist is not today. There is time to sit with a cat. A second full day on the plains is when the safari settles: back to a corner you liked, or a little north or south if the herds have moved.

The vehicle is still private. The radio is still your guide’s, not a loudspeaker in a packed truck. Many guests pick a balloon, a walking safari where it is legal, or simply a long picnic under a sausage tree.

Dinner and overnight in the Serengeti, in the camp or lodge class named on your quote.

Overnight: in the Serengeti, in the camp or lodge class named on your quote

Serengeti to Ngorongoro

Last dawn on the plains, then a game drive east toward the crater highlands. Giraffe, eland and Maasai herds still use the open slopes, which is why the transfer is not empty tarmac inside the conservation area.

On the rim or in Karatu for the evening, caldera below you if the lodge class you chose sits on the edge. Sleep early. Tomorrow is the descent.

Overnight: on the Ngorongoro rim or in Karatu, depending on the lodge class you chose

Ngorongoro Crater

This is the morning that sells the northern circuit. We drop roughly 600 metres onto the crater floor while the grass is still cold. Zebra, wildebeest and buffalo pack the short grass. Hippo hold the pools. Lion are often in the open. Black rhino are never guaranteed — and we never pretend they are — but this closed caldera is the fairest chance you will have.

Picnic lunch is on the floor, not a rushed snack at the gate. We climb out with time to wash off the dust. You will talk about this day for years; we pace it so you are still looking, not watching the clock.

Overnight: in the Karatu highlands, in the camping, mid-range, luxury or high-end lodge named on your

Lake Manyara National Park to Arusha, fly to Zanzibar

Under the Rift escarpment the groundwater forest, on the soda lake the flamingos when the water is right, in the open the woodland elephants: Lake Manyara, a park with a personality of its own. Tree-climbing lion use the acacias some seasons. We look. We do not promise.

We continue to Arusha or Kilimanjaro Airport after the game drive, as your ticket requires. A committed morning, not an optional extra on the way to the airport. Flight too early? We skip the park, we do not charge the fees, and we tell you that before you pay.

Dust becomes salt air in under an hour on the included domestic flight to Zanzibar from Arusha or Kilimanjaro Airport. The Land Cruiser’s work is done; we drive you there.

Depending on the hotel named on your quote, a driver meets you on the island and takes you to Stone Town or the north coast. Seafood tonight. Sleep to the Indian Ocean, not to a generator in camp.

Overnight: on Zanzibar, in the town or beach hotel named on your quote

Stone Town

Carved doors, the Darajani market, the waterfront fort, alleys that smell of cloves and the sea: Stone Town is the other Tanzania. A local guide walks it with you so you are not lost in the same three streets every brochure uses.

A rooftop, a coffee, a slow dinner — the afternoon is yours. This is how the safari half leaves your shoulders.

Overnight: on Zanzibar, in the town or beach hotel named on your quote

North-coast beach

Pale sand, a reef you can snorkel, a horizon with nothing on it but dhows: Nungwi and the north coast, which is why people add Zanzibar at all. Swim. Sleep. A Mnemba boat only if you want it. We do not pad the quote with extras you did not ask for.

Your Serengeti nights and the island hotel share the same itinerary. The Super Luxury office in Arusha is still your WhatsApp line.

Overnight: on Zanzibar, in the town or beach hotel named on your quote

Zanzibar at leisure

A spice farm in the morning is the right kind of tourist morning: cinnamon bark, vanilla, a coconut opened in front of you, and a clear sense of why this island mattered to every dhow that ever rounded the Horn.

Then we drive you to the beach hotel named on the quote. The safari is behind you. The ocean is not a rumour anymore.

Overnight: on Zanzibar, in the town or beach hotel named on your quote

Departure from Zanzibar

Airport or harbour transfer, which ends the trip. Keep the morning free if your international ticket is early.