6 Day Tanzania Safari: Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Manyara

Day 1: Arusha to Tarangire National Park

The day starts with breakfast in Arusha. About two hours later the farms are gone and baobabs, the park gate and the river are in front of you. We do not run a transfer with a short game drive tacked on. The safari starts here, private Land Cruiser, pop-up roof, a window seat that is yours for the whole trip.

Tarangire belongs to elephants. Dry months put whole families on the Tarangire River and in the Silale swamp. Giraffe work the acacias. Lion rest in the shade of the same giants you came to photograph. We picnic so the light can tilt while you are still inside, and the herds can move toward water around you.

Your Super Luxury Safaris’ Guide has already picked the quiet track for that week. You are with the Super Luxury Safaris Team, not a convoy from a distant call centre, and they still answer WhatsApp after dinner.

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

Day 2: Karatu to Serengeti National Park

Iraqw farmland, a pause at the Ngorongoro viewpoint, the drop through Naabi: that is how the horizon opens onto the Serengeti, a grassland so wide it rearranges how you think about space. Give the afternoon to the Seronera River. Lion use the kopjes. Leopard use the sausage trees if the day is kind. Zebra and gazelle hold the open grass.

Since they booked, most guests have been holding this moment in their heads. We do not rush it. Picnic or late lodge lunch first; then a slower drive so you arrive in camp with the sun still on the plains.

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

Day 3: Full day in Serengeti National Park

Sleeping in the Serengeti instead of driving through it means no long transfer today. That is the point. Leave in the cool, picnic packed, and stay with the morning — a hunt, resident herds crossing, a kopje that holds a leopard if you sit still.

Dry months send us to the riverine strips. December to March we can lean south toward Ndutu when the calves are on the short grass. Want a balloon at first light? It is there, not hidden inside the base package. The rest of the day stays yours in your own vehicle. Your Super Luxury Safaris’ Guide would rather you see one pride well than ten animals from a traffic jam.

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

Day 4: Serengeti to Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The conservation area still holds giraffe, eland and Maasai herds on the open slopes, so the transfer is not empty tarmac. After a last dawn on the plains you game-drive east toward the crater highlands.

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

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

Day 5: Ngorongoro Crater

Drop roughly 600 metres onto the crater floor while the grass is still cold. This is the morning that sells the northern circuit. Pack the short grass with zebra, wildebeest and buffalo. Hippo in the pools. Lion often in the open. Never guaranteed: black rhino. We never pretend they are. The fairest chance you will have is this closed caldera.

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

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

Day 6: Lake Manyara National Park to Arusha

A personality of its own: that is Lake Manyara. Groundwater forest under the Rift escarpment. A soda lake that draws flamingos when the water is right. Woodland elephants that feed in the open. Some seasons, tree-climbing lion use the acacias. We look. We do not promise.

Not an optional extra on the way to the airport — a committed morning. After the game drive we continue to Arusha or Kilimanjaro Airport as your ticket requires. If your flight is too early: we skip the park, we do not charge the fees, and we tell you that before you pay.