7-Day Northern Tanzania Safari

Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport or Arusha Airport, where a Genet Expeditions representative welcomes you and drives you to your hotel in Arusha. On the way you pass farms and villages and, on clear days, see Mount Meru rising above the city — the gateway to Tanzania’s northern safari circuit. Check in and settle in after your journey.

The rest of the day is yours to rest by the pool, enjoy the gardens or simply recover from your flight. Your guide or our representative will brief you on the itinerary, departure times and what to pack, and answer any questions about the days ahead. Dinner is at your hotel or in town, depending on your confirmed plan.

After breakfast in Arusha, meet your Genet Expeditions driver-guide and drive south-west past villages, farmland and open plains to Tarangire National Park — about two to three hours. After park registration, enter a landscape of giant baobabs, acacia woodland, seasonal swamps and the Tarangire River, a vital water source for wildlife in the dry season.

Spend the day on game drives in search of elephants — Tarangire’s great speciality — along with giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, buffaloes, impalas and lions. Your guide follows the day’s wildlife activity, explains the park’s ecology and birdlife, and stops for a picnic lunch at a designated site. In the late afternoon, drive on to Karatu, a green highland town of farms and rolling hills, for dinner and the night at your lodge.

After an early breakfast, drive up through the Ngorongoro highlands — forest, rolling hills and, weather permitting, a stop at a viewpoint over the crater — then west across the conservation area as the land opens into the great Serengeti grasslands. It is a long day: allow five to seven hours or more with stops and sightings, with a packed lunch on the way. Wildlife often appears well before you reach the central plains.

Continue to the Seronera area of Central Serengeti, known for year-round wildlife among open grasslands, acacia woodland, rivers and rocky kopjes — home to lions, leopards, cheetahs, giraffes, elephants and vast herds of grazers. Time permitting, enjoy an afternoon game drive. The Great Migration moves through the wider ecosystem, but where the herds are depends on the rains and the season. Arrive at your camp in time to settle in and enjoy dinner in the wilderness.

Set out after an early breakfast for a full day in Central Serengeti, when the cool morning air makes animals most active. Your guide explores open plains, acacia woodland, watercourses and kopjes in search of lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, zebras and antelope. With a whole day here, there is time to follow promising sightings, watch behaviour unfold and photograph the Serengeti at its best — the Seronera area is famous for its resident predators.

Enjoy a picnic lunch at a designated site in the heart of the plains. Depending on the season you may find big grazing herds, predators resting under acacias or animals gathering at water, while your guide explains predator–prey relationships and the movements of the Great Migration. Afternoon drives make the most of the softer light for photography. Return to camp for dinner and another night in the heart of the Serengeti.

Wake to the sounds of the Serengeti and set out after breakfast on a final morning game drive, when animals move through the grasslands, woodland and kopjes in the cool early light. Look for lions, leopards, cheetahs, giraffes, elephants and zebras, and take time for last photographs of the endless plains before heading east towards the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Drive back across the plains and up into the highlands, with a packed lunch on the way and short stops at viewpoints when time allows. This is a significant transfer day, so your guide balances game viewing with arriving before dark. Reach Karatu in the late afternoon, check in, relax and enjoy dinner at your lodge — ready for the Ngorongoro Crater tomorrow.

After an early breakfast, drive up through the highlands to the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater for, weather permitting, a breathtaking view over the caldera, then descend about 600 metres to the crater floor. Formed when a vast volcano collapsed, the crater holds grasslands, acacia woodland, freshwater springs, marshes and a soda lake — a compact world with one of the greatest concentrations of wildlife in Africa.

Spend the morning on the crater floor among herds of wildebeest and zebras, buffaloes, elephants, spotted hyenas and lions, while your guide explains the crater’s geology and ecology. It is also one of the few places in Tanzania to see the endangered black rhino, although sightings are never guaranteed. After a picnic lunch at a designated site, climb out of the crater and return through the highlands to Karatu for a relaxing evening and dinner at your lodge.

After breakfast, check out and drive to Lake Manyara National Park, set beneath the dramatic wall of the Great Rift Valley escarpment. This compact park is remarkably varied: you begin in lush groundwater forest, home to baboons, blue monkeys and many forest birds, before emerging into acacia woodland, open grassland and floodplains along the lake.

Look for elephants, giraffes, zebras, buffaloes, hippos and antelope. Manyara is also known for its tree-climbing lions, though they are rarely seen, and flamingos sometimes gather on the lakeshore when conditions are right. After a picnic lunch, drive back to Arusha through the countryside and local villages, arriving at your hotel at the end of your seven-day northern Tanzania safari with Genet Expeditions.