7-Day Big 5 Private with Walking Safari

Your guide will pick you up from your hotel at 7:45 am and drive for an hour to the park’s entry gate. Arusha National Park has an awe-inspiring blend of vegetation which includes swamps, grasslands and montane forest, and of course the mountain slopes of Meru which are swathed in tropical rainforest. It is a home to the black and white Colobus monkeys and flamingos at the Momella Lake. It’s a unique eco- system that attracts thousands of animals and birds including the flamingos. A walking safari will get you up close to the animals. You will later drive back to Arusha for dinner and your overnight stay. Overnight at Karibu Heritage House • Budget hotel located in or near Arusha.

Arusha sits at 1,400 m at the foot of Mount Meru, a green coffee town and the gateway to the Northern Circuit. Today is for resting, sorting kit and meeting your guide properly.

If you arrive early there is time to walk the coffee plantations, browse the Maasai market or visit a local Tinga Tinga art studio. Otherwise simply enjoy the gardens, the pool and a quiet first dinner under the African sky.

Where you sleep tonight

Karibu Heritage House

Guesthouse in Arusha

Warm, owner-run guesthouse in Arusha — the trusted first/last-night base for our camping and trekking guests.

After breakfast, you will be picked up from the hotel by the driver/guide and drive to Tarangire National Park. Tarangire is well known for its large elephant herds. From the open roof of the safari jeep, you will experience the seasonal swamps, savanna and Tarangire River in search of many animals including zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, elephant and giraffe. After a full day in the park, you will drive to Fig Tree Lodge, where you will be able to relax and enjoy dinner and have an overnight stay. Overnight at Fig Tree Lodge & Camp • Budget hotel located in or near Mto wa Mbu.

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

Fig Tree Lodge & Camp

Lodge & camp near Tarangire NP

Family-run lodge and camp just outside Tarangire's main gate, with simple chalets, pool and bush dinners under the figs.

After breakfast, drive up the crater highlands, stopping at the rim for a spectacular view of the Ngorongoro Crater. Continuing as far as the eye can see is the vast Serengeti. Serengeti means “endless plain” and this 6900sq miles (18000sq km) park is inhabited by more than 2 million wildebeest. Large predators including lions, cheetahs and hyenas are drawn to the area by this abundance of prey which migrates throughout the park. Many smaller animals like rock hyraxes, bat-eared foxes, mongoose, honey badgers, jackals, monkeys, baboons and African hares also inhabit the area along with nearly 500 species of birds. After the game drive, you will drive to Lala Salama Serengeti Camp for dinner and your overnight stay. Overnight at Lala Salama Serengeti Camp • Mid-range tented camp located inside Serengeti NP.

The Seronera valley is the heart of the Serengeti and a year-round game-viewing area. Permanent water, rocky kopjes and short-grass plains create the highest density of big cats in Africa: roughly 1 lion per 10 km², and the best leopard sightings on the circuit.

Mornings start before sunrise to catch the cats while they are still active; midday is a slow picnic in the shade of an acacia. In the afternoon we work the riverine fig trees for leopards and the kopjes for resting prides. Distances are long but every stop is worth it.

Where you sleep tonight

Lala Salama Serengeti Camp

Tented camp, Serengeti

Classic tented camp pitched in the heart of the Serengeti — warm hosting, hearty bush meals and easy access to the plains right from your tent flap.

Today we will spend the whole day in the park. We’ll head out and start to explore at sunrise, we will have a full-day game drive exploring the beautiful scenery of Serengeti, searching for the Big Five. We will then return to the campsite for hot lunch and then head out for an afternoon game drive. There is more to Serengeti than large mammals, more than 500 bird species recorded, ranging from the oversized ostrich and bizarre secretary bird of the open grassland to the black eagles that soar effortlessly above the savannah. We will continue to search for Serengeti wildlife and return to camp at sunset for dinner and your overnight stay. Overnight at Lala Salama Serengeti Camp • Mid-range tented camp located inside Central Serengeti.

The Seronera valley is the heart of the Serengeti and a year-round game-viewing area. Permanent water, rocky kopjes and short-grass plains create the highest density of big cats in Africa: roughly 1 lion per 10 km², and the best leopard sightings on the circuit.

Mornings start before sunrise to catch the cats while they are still active; midday is a slow picnic in the shade of an acacia. In the afternoon we work the riverine fig trees for leopards and the kopjes for resting prides. Distances are long but every stop is worth it.

Where you sleep tonight

Lala Salama Serengeti Camp

Tented camp, Serengeti

Classic tented camp pitched in the heart of the Serengeti — warm hosting, hearty bush meals and easy access to the plains right from your tent flap.

Today you will wake up very early in the morning for a sunrise game drive after a quick cup of coffee/tea so as to spot the animals when they are more active and also to have a fantastic sun rise in front of you. The sunrise in the African savanna is one of the most beautiful experiences one can have. Later at noon, you will return back to the campsite for a brunch/lunch and then you will continue with the afternoon game drive while driving to Simba Campsite in Ngorongoro for dinner and your overnight stay. Overnight at Lala Salama Serengeti Camp • Mid-range tented camp located in Central Serengeti.

The Seronera valley is the heart of the Serengeti and a year-round game-viewing area. Permanent water, rocky kopjes and short-grass plains create the highest density of big cats in Africa: roughly 1 lion per 10 km², and the best leopard sightings on the circuit.

Mornings start before sunrise to catch the cats while they are still active; midday is a slow picnic in the shade of an acacia. In the afternoon we work the riverine fig trees for leopards and the kopjes for resting prides. Distances are long but every stop is worth it.

Where you sleep tonight

Lala Salama Serengeti Camp

Tented camp, Serengeti

Classic tented camp pitched in the heart of the Serengeti — warm hosting, hearty bush meals and easy access to the plains right from your tent flap.

Today you will wake up early to do an early morning game drive after breakfast. You will descend to the crater, inhabited by almost every species of wildlife indigenous to East Africa including the rare black rhinos. In fact, the crater has the greatest concentration of wildlife in the planet. It contains a river, several swamps, and a soda lake that from the top, looks like steam, full of flamingos, a forest and open plains. The large bull elephants that reside here have extremely large tusks, due to the rich mineral content of the volcanic soil and its grasses. After a 5-hour of game drive, you will drive to Fig Tree Lodge, where you will be able to relax and enjoy dinner. Overnight at Fig Tree Lodge & Camp • Budget hotel located 1-2hr drive from 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

Fig Tree Lodge & Camp

Lodge & camp near Tarangire NP

Family-run lodge and camp just outside Tarangire's main gate, with simple chalets, pool and bush dinners under the figs.

After breakfast, your safari guide will pick you up from your accommodation and drive you to Lake Manyara National Park. Manyara is a relatively small but diverse park, 120km west of Arusha. The park’s namesake is a shallow, salt lake. It covers a large area of the park, flooding and drying with the seasons and is home to thousands of flamingos and over 500 other bird species. On your exploration of the park, you will see monkeys, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, buffalos, elephants and with some luck, lions lounging in the trees. The park is known for its diverse landscapes; not only open grassy plains, but also primate-filled woodlands and baobab-dotted cliffs. After a full day game drive, you will return to Arusha where your safari ends.

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.