10-Day Tanzania Adventure Safari

🛏 Overnight: Chanya Lodge, Moshi

Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport, where our representative will meet you and transfer you to Moshi (about 1.5 hours) for your overnight stay at Chanya Lodge.

Arrival tip: Have your Tanzania entry visa, a yellow fever vaccination certificate (if needed) and any other required entry documents ready. Bring a refillable water bottle; we don’t supply single-use plastic bottles, only reusable 20-litre water dispensers in the vehicle.

🛏 Overnight: Chanya Lodge, Moshi · Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner

Your Tanzania adventure safari starts on Africa’s highest mountain, and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. This Kilimanjaro day hike takes you through the rainforest zone for a glimpse of what the mountain is all about, from 1,830 m (6,000 ft) to 2,740 m (9,000 ft) and back.

Leave the lodge at 08:00 for a 1.5-hour drive to Marangu Gate (1,900 m), then walk through the rainforest to Mandara Hut on the edge of the forest belt as your guide explains the local flora and fauna. After a picnic lunch, walk to Maundi Crater for vast views, weather permitting, towards Kenya, Lake Jipe and Lake Chala. Descend to Marangu Gate, where a vehicle will take you back to Chanya Lodge.

Hike time: about 6 hours · Pack: light hiking boots, rain jacket, warm long-sleeve top, sunhat, sunscreen and sunglasses. The mountain weather is unpredictable.

🛏 Overnight: Arumeru River Lodge · Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner

At 08:00, head to Arusha National Park. Despite its small size, it has a rich variety of wildlife across three vegetation zones, and the Mount Meru ecosystem is home to elusive mammals such as leopard and hyena. Almost 400 bird species have been recorded here, some migratory (October to April) and others resident.

After a mid-morning game drive and lunch at a picnic site, enjoy a peaceful 2.5-hour canoeing safari along the shoreline of Momella Lake, a new perspective on game viewing with buffalo, bushbuck, giraffe, hippos and many water birds. Leave the park with a game drive en route to Usa River and Arumeru River Lodge.

🛏 Overnight: Tarangire Sopa Lodge · Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner

After breakfast, drive to Tarangire National Park for game viewing until late afternoon, with a picnic lunch en route. Against a unique backdrop of giant baobabs and termite mounds, watch the park’s huge elephant herds. In the dry season, thirsty antelope and elephants trek hundreds of kilometres to drink at the Tarangire River, and with more than 550 bird species, the park will excite any birdwatcher.

🌙 Optional (extra cost): A night game drive in an open vehicle with an armed ranger, specialist guide and tracker. Look for porcupines, genets and civets, watch hyenas and antelope after dark and, if you’re lucky, prowling lions and leopards, all under the stars.

🛏 Overnight: Manyara Escarpment Luxury Lodge · Meals: Breakfast, local lunch, dinner

Explore Tarangire until mid-morning, then drive to the culturally diverse town of Mto wa Mbu, next to Lake Manyara National Park. Start with a hearty Tanzanian lunch prepared by a local women’s group using traditional methods and indigenous vegetables and spices.

Mto wa Mbu is home to many of Tanzania’s peoples living side by side, including the Mbugwe, Iraqw, Gorowa, Irangi, Chagga and Maasai. On this Mto wa Mbu cultural tour, a local guide from the Mto wa Mbu Cultural Tourism Program walks you through the backstreets. You might visit a Chagga family brewing banana beer, Rangi people weaving mats and baskets from papyrus, Sandawe families making traditional bows and arrows, or Makonde woodcarvers whose skills have passed down for generations. Bring some cash to buy handicrafts directly from the artisans.

The day ends with ziplining. A short drive through Maasailand takes you to the Tanzip Zipline Adventure Park, where after a full safety briefing you’ll fly between majestic baobab trees beneath the Rift Valley Escarpment on 4 zips and 5 eco-platforms (about 2.5 hours). Overnight at Manyara Escarpment Luxury Lodge, perched in the forest overlooking Lake Manyara National Park.

🛏 Overnight: Manyara Escarpment Luxury Lodge · Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner

This is the most active day of your Tanzania adventure safari. After an early breakfast, enjoy an easy, peaceful bike ride (2–3 hours) from Mto wa Mbu to the shores of Lake Manyara, outside the national park. You may spot monkeys, zebra, wildebeest and giraffe on the way, and you’ll learn about the fishermen who work this soda lake. Bicycles and helmets are provided.

Next, hike to the impressive Lake Miwaleni and its waterfall at the foot of the Great Rift Valley (3–5 hours). Walk around the papyrus-lined lake and learn about the wetlands and the Rangi people who weave papyrus mats and baskets. The trail to the waterfall can be challenging in places, over rocks and stones, but the reward is a picnic lunch and a refreshing swim in the pool beneath the 15 m (50 ft) waterfall. This trip can also be done by bike.

Bring: sturdy walking shoes, plenty of water, sun protection and your swimwear.

🛏 Overnight: Hippo Trails Camp · Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner

Drive through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to the Serengeti, entering at Naabi Hill Gate for a picnic lunch. This isn’t just a transfer but a game drive in its own right, and your first sight of the central Serengeti plains is unforgettable.

Serengeti, from the Maa word Seringit meaning “endless plains”, is one of the oldest ecosystems on earth. Its essential features have changed little in a million years: plains interspersed with wooded hills, towering termite mounds, rocky kopjes and acacia-lined rivers.

Note: The camp is unfenced and wild animals, including predators, roam freely. Always walk with a guard and follow the camp staff’s instructions.

🛏 Overnight: Hippo Trails Camp · Meals: Breakfast, picnic or hot lunch, dinner

Spend the whole day exploring Serengeti National Park, established in 1952. The wider ecosystem covers over 30,000 km² and is home to the famous annual migration of more than a million wildebeest, hundreds of thousands of zebra and many antelope, following the rains to new grazing grounds. Watch out for lions, cheetahs, leopards and hyenas.

Choose a full-day Serengeti game drive with a picnic lunch, or return to camp for lunch and a rest before heading out again in the late afternoon (6–8 hours of game viewing in total).

🛏 Overnight: Ang’ata Ngorongoro Tented Camp · Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner

At 06:00, set out on an early game drive, when predators and other animals are most active before the heat of the day. Return to camp for breakfast, then game drive out of the Serengeti via Naabi Hill Gate for a picnic lunch.

Continue into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, often called the eighth wonder of the world, to the crater rim. Here over 40,000 Maasai pastoralists live alongside abundant wildlife with their cattle, goats and sheep, a rare insight into how people once lived in harmony with nature.

Note: This camp is also unfenced, and buffalo in particular may roam through. Always walk with a guard.

🦴 Optional (extra cost): Visit Olduvai Gorge, one of the world’s most important fossil sites, with some of the earliest evidence of human ancestors. Hundreds of fossilised bones and stone tools dating back millions of years have been found here, and the museum tells the story of human evolution in Africa.

Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch

Your Tanzania adventure safari ends with a spectacular Ngorongoro Crater game drive. Descend early into the world’s largest intact caldera, about 600 m deep and 250 km² across, home to over 20,000 large animals, including Tanzania’s remaining critically endangered black rhino. There are good chances of seeing the Big Five in this natural enclosure.

Depending on your flight time, your driver-guide will transfer you to Kilimanjaro International Airport (about 4 hours) for your onward journey.

End of itinerary.

It’s 10 days and 9 nights, starting and ending at Kilimanjaro International Airport, covering Moshi, Arusha, Tarangire, Mto wa Mbu, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater.

No full climb is included. It’s a guided day hike of about 6 hours through the rainforest zone from Marangu Gate to Mandara Hut and Maundi Crater, between 1,830 m and 2,740 m.

A reasonable level of fitness is helpful. The Kilimanjaro hike lasts around 6 hours, and the Lake Miwaleni trail is not difficult overall but can be challenging in places over rocks and stones. The cycling is easy-going.

A Kilimanjaro day hike, a canoeing safari in Arusha National Park, a Mto wa Mbu cultural walk, ziplining, cycling to Lake Manyara and a hike to the Lake Miwaleni waterfall, plus game drives in four parks.

Have your Tanzania entry visa ready, a yellow fever vaccination certificate if required, and any other documents needed for entry. Visas are not included in the package.

No. Hippo Trails Camp in the Serengeti and Ang’ata Ngorongoro Tented Camp are unfenced, so wild animals can roam through. Always walk with a guard and follow staff instructions.