3-Day Zanzibar to Tarangire, Ngorongoro & Lake Manyara

Get ready for an exciting safari! Your transfer driver will pick you up early in the morning from your hotel in Zanzibar and take you to the airport. You’ll fly for about an hour to Arusha in a small plane. Then, your guide will meet you at Arusha Airport and drive for 2 hours to Tarangire National Park. This park is famous for having many elephants and ancient baobab trees, the biggest trees in Africa. In an open-roof vehicle, you can see seasonal swamps, grassy areas, and the Tarangire River, where you’ll spot all sorts of wildlife like birds, giraffes, zebras, lions, and more. After all the adventure, you’ll head to your lodge for dinner and spend the night there. Overnight at Ngorongoro Marera Mountain View Lodge • Mid-range lodge located outside Ngorongoro Crater.

Tarangire is the elephant capital of northern Tanzania. In the dry season the Tarangire River is the only permanent water for miles, and herds of up to 250 elephants come down to drink, calves tumbling between their mothers' legs.

You spend the day on a private game drive through baobab-studded floodplains: lions resting in the shade, giraffe browsing acacia tops, fringe-eared oryx and the strange dwarf mongoose colonies. We pack a hot picnic lunch so you can stay in the park while the light is good.

Where you sleep tonight

Ngorongoro Marera Mountain View Lodge

Highland lodge near Ngorongoro

Today, after having an early breakfast at the lodge, you’ll depart and drive for about 90 minutes to reach the Ngorongoro Crater. This incredible location showcases a wide range of wildlife native to East Africa, and you might even be fortunate enough to spot the elusive black rhinos. The crater spans around 20 kilometers in diameter, so you should plan for about 6 hours to fully explore it. You’ll have a chance to enjoy lunch at the scenic Ngoitoktok picnic site, which overlooks the Hippo Lake. Afterward, you’ll continue with an afternoon game drive before making your way back to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay. Overnight at Ngorongoro Marera Mountain View Lodge • Mid-range lodge located outside Ngorongoro Crater.

The Ngorongoro Crater is a 260 km² collapsed caldera with 600 m walls, and the highest density of large mammals on Earth. Inside the crater floor live around 25,000 large animals, including the densest population of black-maned lions and one of the last strongholds of the eastern black rhino.

We descend at first light when the floor is still in shadow and the cats are working. A picnic breakfast on the rim, a full morning circuit past the soda lake's flamingos and Lerai Forest's elephants, then a climb back up the escarpment in time for a late lunch.

Where you sleep tonight

Ngorongoro Marera Mountain View Lodge

Highland lodge near Ngorongoro

After you’ve had your breakfast, you’ll drive for about 40 minutes to Lake Manyara National Park. Here, you’ll get to see different animals like birds, baboons, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, buffalos, and elephants. If you’re lucky, you might even spot lions relaxing in the trees. This park is famous for its diverse landscapes, with open grassy areas, forests filled with monkeys, and cliffs with big baobab trees. Once you’re done with the exciting safari, you’ll drive to Arusha Airport for your flight back to Zanzibar, and that will mark the end of your adventure.

Lake Manyara is a small park with an outsized reputation: a Rift Valley wall on one side, a shallow soda lake on the other and a strip of groundwater forest crammed between them. Tree-climbing lions, large baboon troops and clouds of flamingos.

You travel along the Rift escarpment with sweeping views over the lake, then drop into the forest for a half- or full-day game drive. Birders bring binoculars: more than 400 species have been recorded here.