13 days Honeymoon — Northern Tanzania & Zanzibar
Six days of safari and six on the island, with a rest day at the start — built for people who have just done a wedding and need the pace easy.
Honeymoon & Wildlife
Southern Highlands, Ruaha & Zanzibar
Tanzania’s green corner: crater lakes and wildflower plateaus in the Mbeya highlands, tea country at Mufindi, then Ruaha and the ocean.
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At a glance
- Destinations
- Mbeya · Ngozi Crater Lake · Kitulo National Park · Mufindi · Ruaha · Zanzibar
- Best for
- Hiking, Wildlife safari, Beach & marine
- Travel style
- Mid-range · Fly-in, Drive
- Activity level
- Moderate — walking days on forest and mountain paths
- Best time to travel
- September to October is usually a useful compromise for the highland walks, Ruaha game viewing and Zanzibar beach days. Kitulo flowers instead favour the wetter November to April season; choosing them means accepting rain on the trails and checking Ruaha camp access. June to August can be cold and foggy on the plateau.
- Start and end
- Flies to Mbeya, ends in Zanzibar
Why this journey
- Kitulo National Park — a plateau gazetted for its flowers
- Ngozi crater lake and God’s Bridge, a natural rock arch
- The Mufindi tea highlands
- Three days in Ruaha with a walking safari
- Zanzibar at the end, reached by air from Ruaha
Day by day
The southern highlands are cool, wet and almost untravelled. Kitulo is a montane grassland famous for orchids; Ngozi is a crater lake in the Poroto mountains; Mufindi is tea estates at 1,900 m. Ruaha and Zanzibar close the route.
Day 1 — Dar es Salaam to Songwe Airport
Begin your journey early in the morning from Dar es Salaam, the bustling coastal city of Tanzania. After breakfast, the drive passes Morogoro and Iringa with landscapes shifting from coastal plains to rolling hills. Lunch in Iringa, then evening arrival at Songwe.
Stay Utengule Coffee Lodge Meals Dinner
Day 2 — Ngozi Crater Lake, God's Bridge and the Kimondo Meteorite site
After breakfast, a guided hike to Ngozi Crater Lake, a volcanic formation surrounded by dense forest. The trail leads you to the crater rim, where you will be looking down on the green crater lake below. Then God's Bridge, a remarkable natural rock formation shaped over time by erosion and flowing water, and the Kimondo Meteorite site.
Stay Utengule Coffee Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 3 — Mbeya to Kitulo National Park
After breakfast, transport to Kitulo. The drive itself is a visual treat, with rolling hills and expansive landscapes guiding your way. Settle at camp surrounded by plains and mountain air.
Stay Maua Camp Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 4 — Full day in Kitulo National Park
The park is famously known as the 'Serengeti of Flowers,' displaying colourful wildflowers and rare orchids depending on season. Enjoy guided walks across the open landscapes, allowing you to fully appreciate the park's beauty and tranquility. Picnic lunch during the exploration before a late afternoon return.
Stay Kitulo Tanapa Bandas Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 5 — Kitulo to Mpanga Kipengere Game Reserve
After breakfast, scenic highland driving with a picnic lunch. On arrival, a guided visit to Kimani Waterfall where visitors enjoy the peaceful natural surroundings and surrounding landscape.
Stay Mpanga Kipengere Camp Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 6 — Mpanga Kipengere to the Mufindi Highlands
After breakfast, continue to Mufindi. Rolling hills, misty forests, and endless tea plantations create a postcard-perfect setting. The cooler climate encourages relaxation.
Stay Mufindi Highland Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 7 — Full day in the Mufindi Highlands
Enjoy a relaxed day in the peaceful Mufindi Highlands. Options include guided forest walks, hiking, birdwatching, visiting tea plantations, horse riding, mountain biking, or fishing, or relaxing at the lodge and nature picnics.
Stay Mufindi Highland Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 8 — Mufindi to Ruaha National Park
After breakfast, transfer to Ruaha where the landscape transforms into vast, rugged savannah. Check-in and an afternoon game drive introduce one of Tanzania's wildest and least crowded parks, with early sightings of elephants, giraffes and predators.
Stay Ruaha River Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 9 — Full day game drive in Ruaha
A full-day game drive with a packed lunch. Depending on the time of the year, the driver may drive far southern of the park to Usangu marsh, where you can sport the Roan and Sable antelopes.
Stay Ruaha River Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 10 — Walking safari and game drive in Ruaha
After breakfast, a morning wilderness walking safari, one of the most exciting experiences in Tanzania, accompanied by armed rangers. Return to camp for full breakfast, then an afternoon game drive with a packed lunch. Ruaha is the largest park in Tanzania, with a size of 20,226 Square Kilometers. The Great Ruaha River features large numbers of hippos and crocodiles attracting lions, leopards, hunting dogs plus waterbuck, impala, giraffe, warthog, eland, zebra, and elephants.
Stay Ruaha River Lodge Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 11 — Ruaha to Zanzibar
After breakfast, transfer to the airstrip for the scheduled domestic flight to Zanzibar. Hotel transfer on arrival, then relaxation on turquoise waters and white sands, with the afternoon free.
Stay Tembo House Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 12 — Zanzibar spice tour and Stone Town tour
After breakfast, explore Stone Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site rich in culture and history, discovering carved doors, bustling markets, and centuries of Swahili, Arab, and European influences. A guided spice tour follows where guests see, smell, and taste Zanzibar's famous spices, gaining insight into why the island is known as the 'Spice Island.'
Stay Amani Beach Bungalow Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 13 — Beach relaxation in Zanzibar
After breakfast, you will enjoy a full day at leisure on the beautiful beaches of Zanzibar — soaking up the sun, taking a refreshing swim in the turquoise waters, or simply enjoying the peaceful rhythm of island life. Optional snorkeling, diving, dhow sailing, or visiting nearby islands, plus spa treatments.
Stay Amani Beach Bungalow Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 14 — Departure
After your delicious breakfast and checkout have a road drive from the hotel to Zanzibar Airport to catch your flight back home.
Meals Breakfast
Stay and travel
Comfortable mid-range lodges and tented camps, inside the parks wherever the route allows.
Light aircraft on the routed sectors, with a road vehicle and guide waiting at each strip.
Camps fill and light aircraft schedules move. Where something changes 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
- Internal flights on the routed sectors
- Boat safari and transfers
- TANAPA armed ranger where the park requires one
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
- Activity level
- Walking days on forest and mountain paths, some of them steep and often wet underfoot. Ordinary walking fitness is enough.
- Luggage on light aircraft
- Bush flights cap baggage at around 15 kg in a soft bag. Anything else can wait at your first hotel.
- 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.
Related journeys
Every route here can be changed
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