Super Luxury SafarisSuper Luxury Safaris
7 day itinerary

7 Day Serengeti Predator Research Safari

A private Serengeti and Ngorongoro safari built around real predator-monitoring work: camera-trap checks, lion and cheetah identification, and time with the people who track them.

From $18,500 per personFinal quote depends on travel dates, lodge choice and group size.

Open digital itinerary Get a free quote

Route map

From start to finish

Starts in Arusha and ends in Arusha.

Start: Arusha End: Arusha

Tanzania

  1. Start Arusha (Day 1)
  2. Tarangire National Park (Day 1-2) Land Cruiser
  3. Central Serengeti (Day 2) Land Cruiser
  4. Serengeti (Day 2-6) Land Cruiser
  5. Ngorongoro Crater (Day 6-7) Land Cruiser
  6. End Arusha (Day 7) Land Cruiser

Open digital itinerary WhatsApp this itinerary

Digital itinerary

Day by day

Every package has a shareable digital itinerary: overnight notes, the route, and a print-ready PDF view.

  1. Day 1 Arusha to Tarangire National Park in the lodge, luxury or high-end camp named on your quote
  2. Day 2 Tarangire to Central Serengeti in the Serengeti, in the lodge or camp class named on your quote
  3. Day 3 Camera-trap survey with the monitoring team
  4. Day 4 Lion identification and territory briefing
  5. Day 5 Full day in the Serengeti in the Serengeti, in the lodge or camp class named on your quote
  6. Day 6 Serengeti to Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the Ngorongoro rim, in the lodge class named on your quote
  7. Day 7 Ngorongoro Crater floor to Arusha

Open digital itinerary

Lodge Safaris Luxury Safaris Research & Conservation Safaris

Seven days lets you safari the way Tanzania’s own wildlife researchers do: slower, with a purpose beyond the next sighting. This itinerary pairs the private Land Cruiser, guide and lodges you would expect from Super Luxury Safaris with real access to predator-monitoring work in the Serengeti ecosystem — camera-trap lines, lion pride identification boards, and the field team who keep both up to date.

You still get Tarangire’s elephants and a Ngorongoro Crater morning. The difference is the two full days built around the Serengeti’s resident researchers: a camera-trap check with a monitoring vehicle, a briefing on how prides and cheetah coalitions are identified and tracked over years, and — where the season and the team’s schedule allow — a look at how the data becomes the population counts you read about in the news. A private Super Luxury Safaris’ Guide travels with you throughout; the research access is arranged alongside your own game drives, not instead of them.

A lion pride resting in the Serengeti grass

Day 1: Arusha to Tarangire National Park

Elephants gathering at a Tarangire waterhole

A private departure from Arusha or Kilimanjaro Airport, with a first afternoon among Tarangire’s elephant herds and baobabs.

Overnight in the lodge, luxury or high-end camp named on your quote.

Day 2: Tarangire to Central Serengeti

Wildebeest crossing the Serengeti plains

A long, scenic transfer across the Ngorongoro highlands into Seronera, with game viewing along the way.

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

Day 3: Camera-trap survey with the monitoring team

Cheetah surveyed on a Serengeti monitoring transect

A full day alongside a Serengeti predator-monitoring vehicle: checking a camera-trap line, reading the images for individual animals, and hearing how the team builds long-term territory maps for lions, leopards and cheetahs.

This is fieldwork, not a demonstration — expect dust, patience, and real data rather than a guaranteed sighting.

Day 4: Lion identification and territory briefing

A male lion identified by its whisker-spot pattern

A morning game drive built around known pride territories, followed by a briefing on how individual lions are identified by whisker spots and scars, and how prides are tracked across the ecosystem over years.

Afternoon at leisure in camp, or an optional second drive if the light and the pride locations are right.

Day 5: Full day in the Serengeti

The open plains of the Serengeti at golden hour

A full day of game drives across the plains and woodland, timed to the season’s wildlife movements rather than a fixed loop.

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

Day 6: Serengeti to Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The road along the Ngorongoro highlands

Transfer to the Ngorongoro highlands, with a stop to discuss the Conservation Area’s own wildlife and rangeland monitoring work along the way.

Overnight on the Ngorongoro rim, in the lodge class named on your quote.

Day 7: Ngorongoro Crater floor to Arusha

The Ngorongoro Crater floor from the rim

A full morning on the crater floor — one of the highest concentrations of predators anywhere in Africa — before the drive back to Arusha, which ends the safari.

The package

What is included — and what is not

Two separate lists, so you can see what the itinerary price covers before you request a quote.

Covered

Included in this itinerary

In the package price, for the dates and lodge or camp class on your quote.

  • Current TANAPA and Ngorongoro conservation fees for every park named in the day plan.
  • Private 4×4 Land Cruiser with pop-up roof, fridge and a window seat for every guest.
  • Arusha-based Super Luxury Safaris' Guide, all game drives, and the research-camp briefings written in the day plan.
  • Lodge or camp nights as confirmed on your quote.
  • A donation to the local wildlife-research and monitoring programme you visit, included in the price.
  • Bottled water in the vehicle.
  • Hotel or airport collection in Arusha or at Kilimanjaro International Airport, and the return drop-off.
  • All meals (full board) at the lodges, camps or hotels named on your itinerary.
  • An evening of live music and traditional dance performances at select camps, arranged for your dates.

You arrange these

Not included

Budget separately, or ask us to add them to your proposal.

  • International flights
  • Airport taxes and visa or eTA fees
  • Alcoholic drinks and any specialty dining not named on your quote
  • Tips and gratuities
  • Items of a personal nature, laundry and souvenirs
  • Travel insurance
  • Optional extras such as a hot-air balloon, Maasai village visit or spa, unless added to the quote
  • Any optional research-institute donation beyond the amount already built into the price

When to travel

Season and routing

Predator research runs year-round. December to March gives the best odds of calving-season predator activity near Ndutu; June to October favours resident Serengeti prides and cheetah territories in the central plains.

Where you sleep

Choose your stay style

Four ways to travel the same parks. Pick one style for the whole safari, or mix nights — we quote what you actually want. Names below are properties we often confirm. The lodge or camp on your quote is the booking; nothing here is reserved until you approve it.

  1. Camping Safari tents, a cook, the night sounds of the park. The honest, close-to-the-ground way to safari.
  2. Mid-range En-suite lodges and tented camps we use most — a proper bed, a shower, and the game still at the door.
  3. Luxury Pools, full-service dining, the better rooms in the same parks.
  4. High-end Suite camps and private houses when the trip is built around silence and space.

Tarangire National Park

Camping

Tarangire public campsite or a private farm site on the park edge — Super Luxury tents, a cook, baobabs at first light.

Mid-range

Tarangire Safari Lodge, Tarangire Sopa Lodge — classic rooms above the river, elephants on the floodplain below.

Luxury

Tarangire Treetops, Sanctuary Swala — raised decks and a quieter night inside the park.

High-end

Oliver’s Camp, Chem Chem Lodge — suite tents and private guiding when the quote is built around Tarangire.

Central Serengeti

Camping

Seronera public campsite or a designated special campsite. We pitch Super Luxury tents, cook on site, and you fall asleep to hyena.

Mid-range

Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp, ThornTree Camp, Kati Kati Tented Camp — comfortable canvas, proper beds, close to the Seronera game.

Luxury

Serena Serengeti Safari Lodge, Melia Serengeti Lodge, Mbalageti Serengeti — pools, full-service dining and a view over the plains.

High-end

Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti, Singita Faru Faru, &Beyond Klein’s Camp — private suites, guiding extras, and the kind of silence you pay for. In calving months we quote Ndutu; in river-crossing months we quote the north.

Ngorongoro rim

Camping

Simba public campsite on the crater rim — simple wash blocks, an unmatched dawn over the caldera.

Mid-range

Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge — rim rooms with a crater view and an early descent the next morning.

Luxury

Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge — stone rooms on the rim, a short drive to the gate.

High-end

&Beyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, Melia Ngorongoro Lodge — suite-level rim stays with the caldera at your feet at dawn.

Before you book

Practical notes

  • This is a private safari with research access built in, not a scheduled volunteer programme — you keep your own vehicle, guide and pace, and add camera-trap and monitoring visits on top.
  • Access to a specific researcher, camp or camera-trap line depends on who is in the field on your dates. We confirm the exact programme on your quote once we have your travel dates.
  • No veterinary, capture or handling activity is part of this itinerary. Everything here is observation-, survey- and data-based and led by the resident team.

OUR AFFILIATES

Singita Elewana Collection Meliá Karibu Africa Safaris Legendary Expeditions