This is the fastest way to see three of Tanzania’s best-known parks without a long trip. We pick you up from Kilimanjaro Airport or your Arusha hotel and take you through Lake Manyara’s forest and lake shore, down into the Ngorongoro Crater, and out to Tarangire’s baobab plains, all in three days.
Pickup is at 08:00, whether from Kilimanjaro Airport or your Arusha hotel. The drive to Lake Manyara takes around two to two and a half hours, covering roughly 120km. After a picnic lunch inside the park, you head out for a late afternoon game drive, the best time of day for wildlife here. The Rift Valley escarpment forms a dramatic backdrop to the lake, with monkeys moving through the groundwater forest and elephants often seen sheltering under baobabs along the escarpment. Zebra, giraffe, buffalo, hippo and impala are all commonly seen too. Dinner and overnight at your lodge.
After breakfast at 07:30, you drive to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a journey of around two hours. Once inside, you descend onto the crater floor for a game drive of six to seven hours, covering the short-grass plains and the shores of Lake Magadi. The crater is roughly 100 square miles in area and holds a dense concentration of wildlife, including lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, hippo and, with luck, the black rhino. In the late afternoon you climb back out and continue to your lodge or campsite on the rim. Dinner and overnight there.
After breakfast at 07:00, you drive to Tarangire National Park, around two and a half to three hours away. Tarangire is Tanzania’s sixth largest park and known for having one of the country’s largest elephant populations, estimated at more than 2,500, along with its striking baobab trees. Animals gather along the Tarangire River, the only permanent water source in the area, and you’ll likely see lion, leopard, cheetah and large herds of buffalo and plains game during your game drive. In the evening, you continue back to Arusha, around two hours further, with drop-off at your hotel or the airport depending on your onward plans.
Safari rates change with the season, number of travellers and available accommodation.
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