Your journey at a glance
Sample journey
This itinerary is adapted from the reference collection as travel inspiration. Confirm accommodation, activities, inclusions and availability with Darba Tanzania Safaris before booking.
Overview
Seven days of luxury on Tanzania's northern circuit: Tarangire, two days in the Serengeti with an optional balloon flight, two days at Ngorongoro Crater and a morning with the Hadzabe at Lak...
Experience Overview
This is our most refined northern circuit itinerary, designed around exceptional lodges and unhurried days with your own guide. After Tarangire's elephants you settle into a luxury camp in the Serengeti for two nights, with the option of a sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the plains followed by a champagne breakfast in the bush.
Two nights on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater give you a full, early game drive on the crater floor before the other vehicles arrive, and the trip ends with something most safaris miss: a dawn walk with the Hadzabe hunter-gatherers of Lake Eyasi. Throughout, you travel in a private 4x4 with a pop-up roof and stay in lodges chosen for their setting, food and service.
Highlights
The standout moments built into this safari.
Luxury lodges and tented camps throughout
Optional sunrise balloon flight over the Serengeti
Two nights on the Ngorongoro Crater rim with an early crater game drive
A dawn walk with the Hadzabe at Lake Eyasi
Private guide and 4x4 vehicle with pop-up roof
Itinerary
These are sample itineraries designed to inspire your journey. Each trip can be fully customized to match your travel style, preferences, and schedule. Use them as a starting point to craft your perfect safari experience.
Day 1 · Tarangire National Park
Meet your private guide in Arusha and drive two hours to Tarangire National Park. Afternoon game drive among the elephant herds and baobabs along the Tarangire River, then dinner and the night at a luxury lodge overlooking the park.
Day 2 · Serengeti National Park
Drive over the Ngorongoro highlands, pausing at the crater viewpoint, and descend onto the Serengeti plains. Game drive through the southern and central Serengeti to your luxury tented camp for the next two nights.
Day 3 · Serengeti National Park
A full day in the Serengeti, starting if you wish with a sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the plains and a champagne breakfast. The rest of the day is spent on game drives with your guide, following the big cats of the Seronera valley or the migration herds in season.
Day 4 · Ngorongoro Crater
A final morning game drive in the Serengeti, then drive to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, stopping at Olduvai Gorge. Check into your lodge on the crater rim for two nights, with views across the caldera from your room.
Day 5 · Ngorongoro Crater
Descend at first light to the crater floor, before most vehicles arrive, for a game drive among lions, elephants, buffalo and black rhino, with breakfast or lunch by the hippo pool. Return to the rim for a relaxed afternoon at the lodge.
Day 6 · Lake Eyasi
Drive down from the highlands to Lake Eyasi at the foot of the Rift Valley escarpment. In the afternoon, visit a Datoga family to see their blacksmiths at work, and spend the night at a lodge near the lake.
Day 7 · Arusha
Rise before dawn to join Hadzabe hunters on their morning hunt and foraging walk, then return for breakfast and drive back to Arusha, arriving in the afternoon for your onward flight.
