5 days Serengeti & Crater, from Zanzibar
Five days off the island and into the northern parks, flying both ways — Tarangire, the Serengeti and the crater, with no day lost to the coast road.
Wildlife
Usambara, Mkomazi & Materuni
Cool forested mountains, a viewpoint over a 1,000 m drop, then down into the dry bush of Mkomazi and back up to a waterfall on Kilimanjaro.
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At a glance
- Destinations
- Lushoto · Usambara Mountains · Mkomazi National Park · Materuni
- Best for
- Hiking, Culture & history, Wildlife safari
- Travel style
- Budget · Drive
- Activity level
- Moderate — walking days on forest and mountain paths
- Best time to travel
- June to October usually offers a good balance for Usambara walking, Mkomazi game drives and the Materuni waterfall path. January and February are another option; forest trails can still be wet, and mountain views depend on cloud.
- Start and end
- Starts in Lushoto, ends in Moshi
Why this journey
- Irente viewpoint, looking out over the Maasai steppe from the escarpment edge
- Walking in Eastern Arc forest, which has been forested long enough to evolve its own species
- Game drives in Mkomazi under the Pare mountains
- Materuni waterfall and a coffee farm run by the Chagga community
- A route with almost no other tourists on it
Day by day
The Usambaras are part of the Eastern Arc — old, wet, forested mountains that sit well above the surrounding plain. This route walks there first, then drops to Mkomazi for game, and finishes among the coffee farms at Materuni on Kilimanjaro’s lower slopes.
Day 1 — Into Lushoto
Pickup from an agreed location, then drive to Muller's Mountain Lodge in the Western Usambara Mountains. Lunch on arrival and an afternoon exploring the trails around Muller's lodge.
Stay Muller's Lodge / Muller's Campsite Meals Lunch & Dinner
Day 2 — Irente Viewpoint tour (4–6 hrs)
This most famous viewpoint in the Usambara mountains is just an hour's walk from Lushoto, looking down on the village of Mazinde almost 1,000 meters below you. The return route passes the village of Irente juu, where you will visit the crossbreeding and soil conservation projects. Optional extensions to waterfalls and further viewpoints.
Stay Muller's Lodge / Muller's Campsite Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 3 — Lushoto to Mkomazi National Park
Road transfer with a pleasant picnic lunch stop on the banks of the Pangani River. After lunch the route crosses the South Pare Mountains to Zange Gate and the national park. The afternoon is a walking safari accompanied by an armed ranger.
Stay Elephant Motel / Mkomazi Tanapa Bandas Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 4 — Mkomazi National Park to Moshi Town
The morning focuses on two highly endangered species, the charismatic black rhino and the sociable African wild dog, both successfully reintroduced in the 1990s. The afternoon transfers to Moshi Town on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Stay Kaliwa Lodge / Kilimanjaro Crown Hotel Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 5 — Materuni Waterfalls
A 45-minute drive precedes a trek along a small canal in the rainforest, passing rural farms en route, with beautiful flowers, coffee plants, and banana trees before reaching Materuni Falls. After lunch, a walk above the waterfalls and into the Kilimanjaro rainforest, with fantastic panoramic views from an altitude of between 1900 and 2400 meters. Optional visits to ancient caves where the Chagga people hid from the Maasai and to blacksmiths using their traditional methods.
Stay Kaliwa Lodge / Kilimanjaro Crown Hotel Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 6 — Moshi Town, back home
After breakfast, transfer to Arusha, Kilimanjaro Airport or Dar es Salaam, arriving in the early afternoon at the pre-arranged drop-off point.
Meals Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Stay and travel
Camping and simple lodges or park bandas, with a cook travelling with the group.
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
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.
- 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.