Upon arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport, you will be met by a representative and transferred by road to your lodge on the outskirts of Arusha for your overnight stay. You spend the rest of the afternoon at leisure relaxing from your trip or exploring the town.

Transfer time: Kilimanjaro airport to lodge – approx. 40 minutes

The Arusha National Park has an incredible variety of fauna and flora, which cannot fail to impress. Hollywood also chose this region to film the movie “Hatari” in which Hardy Kruger starred alongside the legendary John Wayne. Your day trip will include a visit to the Ngurdo Crater, often labelled as the little Ngorongoro and is called the “Little Serengeti”. Buffalo, waterbuck, giraffe, warthog, zebra can be seen all year round as well as many different bird species. The elephants are a little shyer than the elephants in the Serengeti but can also be seen at Arusha National Park. Occasionally, one may also spot a leopard.

At the Momella Gate, an armed ranger will be waiting for you to accompany you on your walking safari that will give you the chance to experience the wildlife up close. Only a few other national parks in Tanzania give you such an opportunity and it is something that should not be missed. Lunch will be taken at a picnic place and in the afternoon, you will continue your tour in the safari vehicle through the Arusha National Park. After plenty of time allocated for you to observe the wildlife, you will be returned to your lodge in Arusha, where you will spend a further night.

After breakfast and a short early morning briefing; you set off for the day to the Tarangire National Park with a game drive en-route to your lodge. Upon arrival in the park, your driver will open the roof of the vehicle for some more extensive wildlife viewing. Lunch will be taken at a picnic spot and in the afternoon you will get to see more of this amazing and beautiful park. In the late afternoon you will arrive at your lodge located outside of the park for your overnight stay.

Tarangire National Park gets its name from the river that threads its way through the length of the reserve. It is famous for its dense wildlife population which is most spectacular between June and September; the dry period. During this time, thousands of animals – elephant, buffalo, giraffe, eland, wildebeest, kudu, hartebeest, and the rarely seen oryx – migrate from the dry Masai steppe to the Tarangire River looking for water. Lion, leopard and other predators follow the herds. Tarangire has the largest population of elephant of any park in the norther circuit and is also home to a variety of 550 species of bird.

After breakfast you will depart towards the Rift Valley, passing through Mto wa Mbu and Karatu, in the cooler regions of the crater highlands. You will enter the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and stop for a short look into the crater from a viewing point. Continuing your journey around the crater, you will descend the other side, enjoying your free “African massage” on the bumpy road, passing Maasai villages on your way to the Serengeti National Park. At the Naabi Hill entrance gate you can walk to a viewpoint with spectacular views across the plains of the Serengeti savannah. You will then continue towards the Seronera Area in the central part of the Serengeti. The park offers a multitude of wildlife including the Big Five – lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard. Lunch will be enjoyed en-route and later in the afternoon you will arrive at your accommodation in the heart of the bush where the stars at night are breathtaking.

Following breakfast, you will spend the whole day on a game drive in the Serengeti National Park and have lunch at a picnic spot en-route. Depending upon the time of year, you might even have the chance to witness the great migration with hundreds of thousands of wildebeest, zebra and Thompson’s gazelles. During the small rainy season in October and November, you will typically see these herds moving from the Kenyan Masai Mara through the northwest of the Serengeti to the plains in the south.

After the great rainy season in April, May and June, the herds slowly travel back through the western and north-western part of the Serengeti. With fluctuations in rainfall, this timetable can of course change, resulting in the animals migrating during different times and routes. Your guide will try his utmost to find the animals and will make sure that you can see the animals from the best spot in the national park. Naturally, the migration also attracts predators and with luck you might see a kill in action.

The Serengeti is unequalled for its beauty and contains more than three million large mammals spread over the vast endless plains. It is here, at certain times of the year, that you may encounter the breathtaking spectacle of the annual wildebeest migration, where one and a quarter million wildebeest trek in columns of up to forty kilometres long in search of grazing, drawing with them their predators and numerous other species of game. From January to March the herds can largely be found in the southern area, proceeding north through the centre and western corridor during June and July before entering Kenya’s Masai Mara. They return south in November to repeat this amazing instinctive procession all over again.

After breakfast at daybreak, you will start early on your outward journey from the Serengeti back to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, leaving behind the beautiful Seronera Valley. As predators are livelier in the cooler hours of the day, you might even see them in action. Lunch will be taken en-route at a designated picnic spot. On reaching the crater’s edge, the 19km diameter caldera opens up before you in all its stunning glory and you will descend into the crater on an adventurous trail. This World Heritage Site is seasonally home to over 25,000 animals including a wide variety of birds, hyenas and the Big Five. Exiting the crater on a different ascent road, you will drive to Karatu, where you will spend the night at a formerly working farm.

After a relaxing breakfast, you will travel back to Arusha Airport for your flight to Zanzibar with Precision Air. Upon arrival at Zanzibar Airport you will be taken to your hotel in Stone Town. The rest of the day is for you to enjoy at leisure.

Transfer time: Karatu to Arusha Airport – approx. 2½ hours

Flight time: Arusha Airport to Zanzibar airport – approx. 1 hour and 10 minutes

Transfer time: Zanzibar Airport to Maru Maru Hotel – approx. 20 minutes

The city of Stone Town is the capital of Zanzibar City with its old historic centre of Stone Town, a UNESCO world heritage site, is situated on Unguja Island and is often referred to simply as Zanzibar. Its eventful history of gruesome slave and exotic trade still shows traces everywhere. Magnificent Sultan’s palaces and grand Arab houses, winding alleys and bustling bazaars give visitors the feeling of being immersed in the world of Sindbad and Alibaba.

Suggested: Day 7 – Explore Stone Town

After breakfast, you check out of your hotel and meet the driver at reception for your road transfer to The Loop Beach Resort on the South East Coast of the island.

Transfer time: Maru Maru Hotel to The Loop Beach Resort – approx. 1 hour and 25 minutes

You spend the next few days at leisure relaxing on the beach or enjoying any of the various adventure activities on offer. Book your day excursions and activities at hotel reception as you wish.

After breakfast you check out of your lodge. Enjoy your last morning at the beach before you are collected from reception and transferred to the airport for your return international flight.

Transfer time: Zanzibar South East Coast to Zanzibar airport – approx. 1 hour 15 minutes