7 days Tarangire, Serengeti & Lake Eyasi
The northern parks with two days at Lake Eyasi on the end, where the Hadzabe and Datoga communities live — the part of the route people remember.
Wildlife & Culture
The Serengeti by Balloon
Northern Tanzania at the top end, built around a dawn balloon flight over the Serengeti and a champagne breakfast on the plain where you land.
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At a glance
- Destinations
- Lake Manyara · Serengeti · Ngorongoro · Tarangire
- Best for
- Wildlife safari
- Travel style
- Luxury · Drive
- Activity level
- Easy — most of the day is spent in a vehicle or on a boat
- Best time to travel
- June to October usually gives drier conditions for the Serengeti safari and camping. Balloon launches depend on the wind and weather on the morning itself; no season guarantees a flight or places the migration beneath the balloon.
- Start and end
- Starts and ends in Arusha
Why this journey
- A dawn balloon flight over the Serengeti, landing to breakfast on the plain
- Two nights in the Serengeti before the flight, so the timing can move with the weather
- A full crater day
- Tarangire at the end, when most routes have already gone home
- Lodges rather than camps throughout
Day by day
A balloon takes off at first light and drifts wherever the wind is going, a hundred metres over the grass. The rest of the route is the classic northern loop at a comfortable pace — Manyara, the Serengeti, the crater, then Tarangire on the way back.
Day 1 — Arrival
Meet and greet at Kilimanjaro Airport or an agreed location, then transfer to an Arusha hotel for dinner and overnight.
Stay Arusha Coffee Lodge (luxury) Meals Dinner
Day 2 — Lake Manyara National Park
After breakfast, drive to Lake Manyara for an afternoon game drive. The park spans 390 sq km and hosts over 400 species including flamingos, pelicans, storks, ibis and eagles, along with buffalo and elephant herds, and is known for tree-climbing lions.
Stay Neptune Ngorongoro Luxury Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 3 — Serengeti National Park
Drive to the Serengeti via Olduvai Gorge, the Leakey family archaeological site, with a packed lunch. From February to July, over a million wildebeest migrate across the park. Common wildlife includes lions, leopards, zebras, gazelles, impala and buffalo, across grasslands, granite kopjes and acacia woodland.
Stay Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 4 — Balloon safari in the Serengeti
Early 5:00 a.m. pickup for the balloon departure — meet the pilot, receive the briefing and watch the balloon inflate. Launch at dawn, ascending with the sunrise. The pilot controls altitude from treetop height to over 1,000 feet for panoramic views, and the flight is quiet but for the burner. A bush breakfast is served under acacia trees. Return to the lodge for afternoon relaxation and a sunset game drive.
Stay Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 5 — Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Depart 8:00 a.m. after breakfast for the crater rim. The caldera is 20 km wide at 2,286 m elevation — the largest unbroken caldera in the world. Steep walls rise 610 m from the floor, which covers 260 sq km and hosts over 30,000 animals (nearly half zebra and wildebeest). A UNESCO World Heritage site known for black rhinos.
Stay Ngorongoro Crater Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 6 — Ngorongoro Crater
Early 6:00 a.m. breakfast with a packed lunch for a full-day crater tour, descending 2,000 feet by 4WD to explore the crater and its wildlife, then ascending the rim and driving to Karatu Village for overnight.
Stay Neptune Ngorongoro Luxury Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 7 — Tarangire National Park
Breakfast at the lodge, then drive to Tarangire for an afternoon game drive. Herds of up to 300 elephants dig in dry riverbeds for water, and migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. The park has the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem, with fringe-eared oryx and long-necked gerenuk.
Stay Maramboi Luxury Tented Camp Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 8 — Tarangire to Arusha
After breakfast, an optional walking safari at the park boundary, then the drive back to Arusha with the pre-arranged drop-off.
Meals Breakfast & Lunch
Stay and travel
Premium camps and lodges, chosen for where they sit rather than how many rooms they have.
A 4×4 with a roof hatch and a window seat for everyone, driven by your guide throughout.
Camps fill, and roads change with the rains. Where something has to change we substitute at the same level and tell you before you travel, not after.
Included and excluded
What is included
- Every activity named in the day-by-day
- Accommodation as listed, or a similar alternative if a camp is full
- Meals as noted against each day
- Transfers between the agreed pick-up and drop-off points
- Park, reserve and conservation area fees
- An English-speaking Tanzanian driver-guide
- A 4×4 with a roof hatch, or the vehicle the route calls for
- Drinking water through the day
- Government taxes
- Boat safari and transfers
- TANAPA armed ranger where the park requires one
- Ngorongoro crater service fee
Not included
- International flights, airport taxes and visa fees
- Travel, medical and baggage insurance
- Personal spending — drinks, laundry, telephone
- Tips for your guide and crew
- Anything not listed as included
Practical information
- Visas, insurance and tipping
- A visa is arranged before travel or on arrival. Travel and medical insurance is a condition of booking. Tipping is customary and we will suggest a range rather than set one.
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Every route here can be changed
Tell us what you would keep, what you would drop and how long you have. We will send back a version that is yours.