Your 16 days Tanzania safari & Zanzibar Islands tour is a well-paced 15 nights/16 days safari in Tanzania tour, combining wildlife safaris in Tanzania’s most spectacular wildlife game parks with amazing cultural tours and an affordable beach holiday on the exotic Spice Island of Zanzibar.
Starting in Arusha, this unforgettable 16 days Tanzania safari and Zanzibar tour takes you to Tarangire National Park, famous for its big herds of elephants, buffalos, zebras, giraffes, ostriches, gazelles, and other large animals – not to mention the iconic huge ‘Upside Down Trees’ (baobabs).
Then visit Lake Manyara NP, home to flamingos and rare tree-climbing lions – before moving to Serengeti – a slice of paradise – hosting one of our planet’s densest concentrations of wildlife and the Great Wildebeest Migration – the largest overland animal migration on earth. Your next destination is the iconic Ngorongoro Crater the best place in East Africa to see the ‘big five animals and the rare black rhinos
After a thrilling safari, fly to the paradise island of Zanzibar. Tour the historic Stone Town and unwind beside the Indian Ocean.
Day 1 & 2: Arusha – Arusha National Park
Day 3, 4 & 5: Tarangire National Park
Day 6: Lake Manyara National Park & Mto wa Mbu Village
Day 7, 8 & 9: Serengeti National Park
Day 10, 11, & 13: Ngorongoro Crater & Maasai Village
Day 13, 14, & 15: Zanzibar beaches & Stone Town
Day 16: Departure.
Day 1: Arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport & transfer to Arusha
Day 2: Game drive in Arusha National Park & community walk or cycling tour.
Day 3: Transfer to Tarangire National Park & do a game drive
Day 4: Whole day game drive in Tarangire
Day 5: Full-day game drive in Tarangire
Day 6: Transfer to Lake Manyara NP. Enjoy an en-route cultural tour of Mto wa Mbu Village & a game drive on arrival.
Day 7: Transfer to Serengeti NP via Olduvai Gorge & Enjoy an en-route game drive
Day 8: Unlimited game drives in Serengeti
Day 9: Full-day game drive in Serengeti
Day 10: Game drive in Serengeti & Ngorongoro Crater
Day 11: Full-day game drive in Ngorongoro Crater
Day 12: Ngorongoro Crater Rim Walk & Maasai Village Visit.
Day 13: Drive Back to Arusha for Your Flight to Zanzibar.
Day 14: Relax on the White Sand Beaches of Zanzibar
Day 15: Tour Zanzibar Stone Town & relax in the afternoon
Day 16: Transfer to Zanzibar Airport for departure.
Your 16 days Tanzania safari and Zanzibar tour starts as soon as you touch down at Kilimanjaro International Airport. You will be met by our company representative who will help you pack your bags in our comfortable 4×4 safari vehicle and transfer you to your comfortable hotel in Arusha, less than an hour away.
Arusha is a small town on the southern slopes of Mount Meru, close to Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa’s highest mountain), Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, and Arusha National Parks. Built by the Germans as a center of colonial administration because of the temperate climate, Arusha is a good spot to take a day off from your safari if you have extra time.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Impala Hotel/Kibo Palace Hotel/ Arusha Coffee Lodge
Midrange: – Outpost Lodge
Meal Plan: – Dinner
Activities & Services: –
Day two of your 16 days Tanzania safari and Zanzibar Islands tour commences with a delicious breakfast at the hotel. Then embark on a 45-minute drive to Arusha National Park for a game drive. Drive through the park’s landmarks: Momella Lakes and the Ngurdoto Crater, sometimes known as ‘Little Ngorongoro’.
You will not see all of the “big five” animals (elephant, leopard, lion, buffalo, and rhino) here, but the park is home to the world’s largest population of giraffes! There are also zebras, buffalos, elephants, flamingos, hippos, primates, and other animals.
After your game drive, return to your lodge for lunch and some time to relax. In the afternoon, take a community walk and explore the colorful local marketplaces to get a feel for local life in Africa. You’ll find everything from Maasai handicrafts and jewelry to fresh fruit, spices, carvings, and local textiles. If you have more energy, you can take a 2 hours cycling tour of villages on Arusha’s outskirts.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Kibo Palace Hotel/Arusha Coffee Lodge/Impala Hotel
Midrange: – Outpost Lodge
Meal Plan: – Dinner
Activities & Services: –
Optional Activities:-
After a good breakfast at the hotel, embark on a scenic 2½-hour drive southwest to Tarangire National Park. You arrive at your lodge in time for lunch. After lunch, take some time to relax before heading out on an afternoon game drive.
Tarangire is a lovely quiet park, off the beaten safari track, most famous for its elephants that congregate in herds of up to 300 animals! The park is named after the Tarangire River that crosses it. Its landscape is primarily an open savanna dotted with enormous ‘Upside Down Trees’ (baobab).
Tarangire has a dense wildlife population, which is most spectacular between the dry season months of June and September.
During this time, thousands of animals; elephants, Buffalo, Giraffe, Eland, Wildebeest, Kudu, Hartebeest, and Oryx – migrate from the dry Masai steppe to the Tarangire River looking for water. Lion, Leopard, Hyenas, and other predators follow the herds. After the game drive, return to your lodge for dinner and overnight.
The highlight of the Day: – Viewing huge elephant herds of Tarangire
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Tarangire Sopa Lodge
Midrange: – Tarangire Kirurumu Camp
Budget: – Roika Tented Lodge
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Drive Distance & Time: – Approx. 150km/2½ hours
Activities & Services: –
Optional Activity: –
Have a full-day safari in beautiful Tarangire on this day four of the 16 days of Tanzania safari and Zanzibar tour. Enjoy morning and afternoon game drives, returning to camp/lodge for lunch, and a short relaxation in the heat of the day.
Tarangire National Park is a very beautiful park of granite ridges, river valleys, mixed vegetative landscapes, and swamps.
It is one place in Tanzania where rare dry-country antelopes such as Beisa Oryx and the long-necked Gerenuk are regularly seen. Additionally, the park is home to Impala, Waterbuck, Olive Baboon, Cheetah, Caracal, Honey Badger, African wild dogs, and Dwarf Mongoose.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Tarangire Sopa Lodge
Midrange: – Tarangire Kirurumu Camp
Budget: – Roika Tented Lodge
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
Your day 5 of the 16 days Tanzania safari and Zanzibar Islands tour starts with a good breakfast. Then go for another morning game drive.
Look for animals and birds you may have missed out on during your earlier excursions. Again return to your lodge for lunch and some relaxation time before you head out again on an afternoon game drive.
About 550 bird species have also been sighted and recorded in Tarangire National Park, including the colorful Yellow-collared Lovebird, the Common Ostrich (the world’s largest bird), and the Kori Bustard (the heaviest flying bird in the world).
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Tarangire Sopa Lodge
Midrange: – Tarangire Kirurumu Camp
Budget: – Roika Tented Lodge
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
After a relaxed breakfast today, take a 2-hour drive northwest to scenic Lake Manyara National Park at the base of the Rift Valley escarpment.
En route, tour the vibrant village of Mto wa Mbu. The village is one of the only places in Tanzania where there are representatives from all 120 tribes living happily side by side, making it a real melting pot of cultures.
During your village walk, discover the very social side of rural life in Tanzania; from the small farms to schools, markets, and churches. Observe the Makonde tribe’s intricate wood carving and tribal painting techniques and learn how the Chagga tribe brews their “Mbege”, traditional banana, and millet beer.
Afterward, continue to your lodge for lunch and relaxation. In the afternoon, go for a game drive in Lake Manyara National Park, home to the world’s highest concentration of Baboons and rare Tree-climbing lions! You also look out for Buffalo, elephants, Hippos, Giraffes, Zebras, Wildebeest, Gazelles, Impalas, Waterbucks, Warthogs, Leopards, Hyenas, Jackals, Otters, etc…
The park is a favorite spot among bird lovers who come to observe over 400 species including thousands of flamingos and pelicans.
The highlight of the Day: – Spotting rare Tree-climbing lions
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge
Midrange: – Manyara Kirurumu Camp
Budget: – Manyara Wildlife Safari Camp
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Drive Distance & Time: – Approx. 110km/2 hours
Activities & Services: –
Optional Activities:-
After an early breakfast, take a 5-6 hour drive north to Serengeti, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, renowned for its large population of lions and home to the biggest terrestrial mammal migration on the planet, the Wildebeest Migration.
Drive through the scenic Rift Valley and Maasai villages. Make a stop en route at Ngorongoro Conservation Area’s Olduvai Gorge Museum – located near the site where archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey discovered the remains of Homo habilis, one of the earliest members of the human genus in the 1960s. At about noon, arrive in Serengeti and enter through the southern region.
Enjoy a game drive as you continue to your lodge in the central Serengeti – Seronera area. Have a packed lunch en route, so as to not cut into your game viewing time in this part of the Serengeti.
The area forms part of “the Great Migration” and is hailed as one of the best places in Africa to see predators, particularly lions, leopards, and cheetahs – on thrilling hunts. You’ll reach your camp in the central Serengeti in the evening to freshen up and enjoy dinner.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Serengeti Sopa Lodge/Serengeti Serena Lodge
Midrange: – Serengeti Kati Kati Camp
Budget: – Kijereshi Tented Camp (Bungalow)
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Drive Distance & Time: – Approx. 250km/5-6 hours
Activities & Services: –
Your day 8 of the 16 days Tanzania safari and Zanzibar tour will commence with an early breakfast. After breakfast, go on a full safari in Serengeti.
You’ll return to your camp for lunch and some time to relax and then you go out in search of more animals and birds on an afternoon game drive. You’ll head out just before daybreak to experience a Serengeti safari at sunrise.
Few predators hunt during the heat of the day, so the early morning is the best time to observe the thrill of the chase. It is also a magical time in the Serengeti National Park, with soft light dappling the landscape, birds awakening, and the sense of adventure begins to unfold.
On your game drive, explore the heart of the Serengeti, Seronera Valley. The area is known for its high concentration of Big Cats (lions, leopards, and cheetahs) but also a variety of other wild animals roam its grassy plains including elephants, buffalos, hippos, giraffes, topis, impalas, waterbucks, etc….
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Serengeti Sopa Lodge/Serengeti Serena Lodge
Midrange: – Serengeti Kati Kati Camp
Budget: – Kijereshi Tented Camp (Bungalow)
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
Optional Activity: –
Today, have another full-day safari in Central Serengeti. You enjoy breakfast and lunch at the camp, with morning and afternoon game drives included. Serengeti means ‘Endless Plains’ in Maa language of the Maasai People.
Dotted with flat-topped Acacia trees, the park’s endless plains are also home to over 500 bird species including Common Ostriches, Southern Ground hornbills, Kori bustard, Secretary birds, lilac-breasted roller, grey-breasted spurfowl, Fischer’s lovebird, Usambiro barbet, grey-crested helmet-shrike, Rufous-tailed weavers, Lappet-faced vultures, etc…
Reptiles in Serengeti include the massive Nile crocodile, East African Serrated Mud Turtle, Nile Monitor, and many others.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Serengeti Sopa Lodge/Serengeti Serena Lodge
Midrange: – Serengeti Kati Kati Camp
Budget: – Kijereshi Tented Camp
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
Day 10 of your 16 days Tanzania safari and Zanzibar tour with an early breakfast. After breakfast, enjoy an en-route game drive as you leave the flat grassy plains of the Serengeti to the rugged forested hills of the Ngorongoro Highlands.
Travel through beautiful Masai villages en route. Your destination today is the Ngorongoro Crater. You arrive at your lodge in time for lunch, after which you descend 2,000 feet to the crater floor. On the way into the crater, learn some cool facts about this incredible natural wonder of Africa.
The Ngorongoro Crater has formed about 2.5 million years ago when a huge volcano exploded and collapsed on itself. Now an enclosed ecosystem and World Heritage Site, it is the largest unbroken volcanic caldera on Earth! The grasslands within the crater host 25,000 large mammals and are the best places in East Africa to see the big five – Lion, Rhino, Leopard, Buffalo, and Elephant.
After the game drive, return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge/Ngorongoro Crater Lodge
Midrange: – Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge
Budget: – Karatu Simba Lodge
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Drive Distance & Time: – Approx.140km/3-4 hours
Activities & Services: –
After breakfast, go for a full-day game drive inside the Ngorongoro crater. You’ll enjoy a picnic lunch on the 264km2 crater floor and return late afternoon to your lodge on the rim of the crater for dinner.
Ngorongoro sometimes referred to as “the eighth wonder of the world”, is best known for its amazing natural beauty and biodiversity.
Although animals can move in and out of the crater, climbing the steep caldera walls requires some effort, so much of the wildlife is resident inside. This includes a healthy population of Black rhinos. These shy creatures are rarely seen in East Africa, but the crater is one of the few places where they are easy to find.
While a major attraction is of course the animals, the varied habitats of Ngorongoro make it a bird Eden for more than 500 species including Flamingos, Ostriches, beautiful crowned cranes, and the Golden-winged sunbirds.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Ngorongoro Serena Lodge/Ngorongoro Crater Lodge
Midrange: – Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge
Budget: – Karatu Simba Lodge
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
Day 12 of your 16 days Tanzania safari and Zanzibar tour will begin with a leisurely breakfast at the lodge.
Thereafter, take a guided nature walk around the crater rim for dramatic crater photographs. Also hike through gorgeous vegetation with colorful birds, wildflowers, and lush trees. Learn about the traditional medicinal uses of the various plants, as well as animal tracks and scat.
After the walks, return to the lodge for relaxation and lunch. In the afternoon, visit a Maasai village in the Ngorongoro highlands. Spend time with the villagers, find out about their way of life, and join in their lively singing and dancing.
There is then the opportunity to learn about some of the customary practices such as fire-making and beadwork. Once your time in the village has come to an end, you will be driven back to the camp/lodge for relaxation, dinner, and overnight.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Ngorongoro Serena Lodge/Ngorongoro Crater Lodge
Midrange: – Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge
Budget: – Karatu Simba Lodge
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
Your day 13 of the 16 days Tanzania safari and Zanzibar tour starts with an early breakfast. You then take a 5-6 hour drive back to Kilimanjaro Airport and fly to the exotic Spice Island of Zanzibar.
Your flight will take you over the impossibly turquoise blue waters of the Indian Ocean before landing on the island, a sunny place with palm-fringed white sand beaches and a blend of cultures. Most of the best beaches are on the east coast, and you’ll pass vibrant villages and spice plantations on the way to wherever you’re staying on the beach. Spend the rest of today relaxing.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Baraza Resort & Spa/the Residence Zanzibar
Midrange: – Zuri Zanzibar Hotel & Resort/Reef & Beach Resort
Meal Plan: – Pongwe Beach Hotel/Sunshine Hotel, Zanzibar
Activities & Services: –
Zanzibar offers a variety of activities and attractions, but you will spend your time relaxing on the beach while reading a book under the shade of a palm tree or swimming in the warm Indian Ocean. If you’re feeling more active, it’s easy to arrange scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, paddle boarding, kite surfing, or a cycling tour to explore the local fishing villages.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Baraza Resort & Spa/the Residence Zanzibar
Midrange: – Zuri Zanzibar Hotel and Resort/Reef & Beach Resort
Budget: – Pongwe Beach Hotel/ Sunshine Hotel, Zanzibar
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, lunch, & dinner
Optional Activities: –
Your day 15 of the 16 days Tanzania safari and Zanzibar tour, begins with a leisurely breakfast. Then go for a walking tour of the historic Stone Town, the fascinating old quarter of Zanzibar, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The varied architecture here is a testament to the various cultures: African, Arab, European, and Indian – that occupied this exotic island
Walking along the bustling narrow streets and admire the historical old buildings and homes that are part of a preservation program funded by UNESCO and the Aga Khan Foundation. Visit local fruits and vegetable market, fish market, Tip tipu house, and National Museum.
Also, visit the old slave market, now the site of Anglican Cathedral Church of Christ, a building that houses several memorials to the city’s tragic past, one of which is an altar built over the spot where the whipping post stood. All newly captured Africans were chained to the tree here and whipped to test their mettle
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Jafferji House & Spa/Zanzibar Serena Hotel
Midrange: – Dhow Palace Hotel/Shaba Boutique Hotel
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, lunch, & dinner
Activities & Services: –
Today, you’ll be picked up and taken to the Zanzibar Airport for your onward flights. This is the end of hopefully a wonderful experience.
Meal Plan: – Breakfast
Activities & Services: –
Cate
Samuel
Robert
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