Built around Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro, this 10-day safari with the region's finest camps, private guiding and unhurried days. 9 nights on safari, priced on request.
Tarangire - Serengeti - Ngorongoro - Lake Manyara - Zanzibar
About this safari
The route opens in Tarangire — baobabs, a life-giving river and the circuit's greatest elephant numbers — and works through 4 further destinations over 10 days. It stays within Tanzania; the final proposal will confirm transfer times and the balance between travel and game viewing. Accommodation is at the luxury standard: premium camps and lodges where the accommodation is part of the experience. At this level the camps are as much a reason to travel as the wildlife: limited suites, exceptional food, private decks and guiding of a standard that changes what you see. Like every safari in this catalogue, it is priced on request rather than sold at a published rate, because park fees, permits, group size and contracted accommodation all change the figure.
Day by day
Written out in full before you book, so you can see exactly how the days are paced and where each night is spent.
Day 1
This itinerary is planned to finish on Zanzibar. The final day's transfer and departure arrangements are confirmed in the written proposal. Heading back towards Tarangire, the country dries out again after the highlands and the baobabs return to the skyline. In the dry months the park draws wildlife from a far wider area than its boundaries, because the river holds water when nothing around it does — which is exactly why it is such a productive stop. In the dry season Tarangire holds the largest elephant concentrations on the northern circuit, drawn from a huge surrounding area to the only permanent water for miles. Herds of several hundred gather along the riverbed, digging for water in the sand and moving between the baobabs in long files. It is the most reliable elephant viewing in Tanzania and the reason the park earns its place. The suggested standard is luxury. Citrus will identify the available property and contracted services before confirmation.
Overnight: Tarangire
Day 2
The route then continues onward, heading north through the Serengeti, the landscape changes as you go: the short grass of the south gives way to taller grassland, then to rolling hills and river courses lined with fig and sausage trees. This is the country the herds move through on their way to the Mara River, and in the right months it carries an extraordinary weight of animals. Game drives here work several habitats at once. The open plain carries gazelle, topi and hartebeest with cheetah working the edges; the kopjes hold lion, leopard and klipspringer; and the river courses draw elephant, hippo and an extraordinary range of birds. Spotted hyena are everywhere and worth watching properly — they are far more effective hunters than their reputation allows. The catalogue suggests a premium camp or lodge here. The exact property, suite and services remain subject to availability and quotation.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 3
With a full day there is time to work an area rather than pass through it. Following a single pride through a morning, waiting out a cheetah that is clearly building towards a hunt, or simply sitting with a leopard until it moves — these are the things a compressed itinerary cannot do, and they are what people remember. The Serengeti holds one of the densest lion populations on earth, and the granite kopjes are the best place to look — prides use them for shade, vantage and shelter, and a pride draped across warm rock in early light is one of the defining images of the park. Cheetah favour the open plains where their speed counts, and leopard rest through the heat in the acacias along the Seronera river courses. A luxury stay is proposed for this night, with the final property and arrangements confirmed in writing.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 4
The next leg links the two destinations, the drive to the crater rim gains altitude quickly, and by the time you reach the top the air is cold enough for a jacket. The rim road runs along the edge with the caldera falling away on one side, and even before descending the scale of the place is obvious: this is a complete ecosystem held inside a single collapsed volcano. The crater floor holds roughly 25,000 large animals in an area small enough to cover in a morning, and because most of them have no reason to leave, the viewing does not depend on season. Lion prides are large and well known, spotted hyena are abundant, and the Lerai fever tree forest holds some of the last big-tusked bull elephants in Tanzania. This outline assumes the catalogue's premium standard. No named camp is guaranteed until the quotation confirms it.
Overnight: Ngorongoro
Day 5
This activity is a planning option and only forms part of the day when it appears in the written quotation. The itinerary continues by road, the road from Arusha runs west towards the Rift escarpment, which rises abruptly out of the plain ahead of you, and Lake Manyara occupies the narrow strip between that wall and the alkaline lake below. The park is compressed into a few kilometres of width, and the habitat changes band by band as you drive — groundwater forest, acacia woodland, floodplain, lake. The suggested standard is luxury. Citrus will identify the available property and contracted services before confirmation.
Overnight: Lake Manyara
Day 6
The day is yours. The lagoon inside the reef is calm and shallow, shaded loungers and a swimming pool cover the hottest hours, and the pace is deliberately undemanding after a week of dawn starts. Snorkelling, diving, dhow trips and fishing can all be arranged locally, and the tide dictates the rhythm more than any schedule does. Leaving the previous stop behind, today trades the savannah for the sea. The flight to Zanzibar takes a little over an hour, and it delivers you to somewhere shaped by centuries of Swahili, Omani, Persian and Indian trade rather than by wildlife. The transfer to the coast runs through spice-growing country, past villages and plantations, to the beach. The catalogue suggests a premium camp or lodge here. The exact property, suite and services remain subject to availability and quotation.
Overnight: Zanzibar
Day 7
If this optional activity is included in your written quotation, stone Town rewards being walked rather than toured. The old quarter is a maze of coral-stone alleys too narrow for cars, lined with merchants' houses and the heavy carved doors the island is known for. It carries a difficult history — this was one of East Africa's major slave-trading centres, and the former market site is now a memorial and cathedral. The Old Fort, the House of Wonders and the evening food stalls at Forodhani Gardens fill an afternoon easily. Days on the coast run at whatever pace you set. Reef trips and dhow sailing are easily arranged, the fishing villages along the shore are worth walking through, and sunset from the water is the standard close to the day. All of these are normally arranged locally as optional extras rather than being built into the package. A luxury stay is proposed for this night, with the final property and arrangements confirmed in writing.
Overnight: Zanzibar
Day 8
The day is yours. The lagoon inside the reef is calm and shallow, shaded loungers and a swimming pool cover the hottest hours, and the pace is deliberately undemanding after a week of dawn starts. Snorkelling, diving, dhow trips and fishing can all be arranged locally, and the tide dictates the rhythm more than any schedule does. Beyond the beach there is more here than most people expect. Spice farms in the interior still grow clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla, the remnants of the trade that made the island wealthy. Jozani Forest protects the Zanzibar red colobus, a monkey found nowhere else on earth. And the reefs — Mnemba Atoll in particular — offer genuinely good snorkelling and diving. This outline assumes the catalogue's premium standard. No named camp is guaranteed until the quotation confirms it.
Overnight: Zanzibar
Day 9
The day is yours. The lagoon inside the reef is calm and shallow, shaded loungers and a swimming pool cover the hottest hours, and the pace is deliberately undemanding after a week of dawn starts. Snorkelling, diving, dhow trips and fishing can all be arranged locally, and the tide dictates the rhythm more than any schedule does. The east and north coasts hold the beaches — fine white sand, a shallow turquoise lagoon inside the fringing reef, and dhows working the shoreline under sail. After a safari the main point is rest, and the days shape themselves around swimming, shade and long meals. The tidal range on the east coast is substantial, so the lagoon retreats and returns noticeably through the day. The suggested standard is luxury. Citrus will identify the available property and contracted services before confirmation.
Overnight: Zanzibar
Day 10
The last morning remains flexible until the departure point and timing are agreed. Beyond the beach there is more here than most people expect. Spice farms in the interior still grow clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla, the remnants of the trade that made the island wealthy. Jozani Forest protects the Zanzibar red colobus, a monkey found nowhere else on earth. And the reefs — Mnemba Atoll in particular — offer genuinely good snorkelling and diving. The journey is planned to finish on Zanzibar, with the final transfer confirmed around the traveller's onward arrangements.
Safari ends
Where you stay
Accommodation below is the suggested standard for this package, taken from the Citrus catalogue. Where an entry describes a standard rather than a named property, we confirm the exact camp or lodge with your quotation. Named properties are suggestions and are substituted with comparable alternatives if they are unavailable for your dates.
Source catalogue listing
Lemala Mpingo Ridge + Four Seasons + The Manor + Manyara Tree Lodge + premium 5-star Zanzibar resort
This is reproduced exactly from the catalogue. The written quotation will allocate nights and confirm each available property before booking.
These are planning examples, not confirmed inclusions for this package. Your written quotation will confirm exactly what is included.
The quotation will identify every separate cost before you confirm.
Where this safari goes
Tanzania
Baobabs, a life-giving river and the circuit's greatest elephant numbers
ExploreTanzania
Endless plains and the engine of the Great Migration
ExploreTanzania
A collapsed volcano holding its own complete ecosystem
ExploreTanzania
Groundwater forest beneath the Rift escarpment
ExploreTanzania
Indian Ocean reef, spice history and the right way to end a safari
ExploreBefore you ask
The catalogue sets the route and travel standard, but it does not publish a fixed price or a contracted inclusion list. Citrus will prepare a written quotation for your dates, party and rooming, showing the exact transfers, activities, accommodation, meals, fees and permits before you confirm.
No. It is suggested accommodation from the source catalogue. Availability and any proposed alternative are confirmed in the written quotation before a booking is made.
Ask Citrus to revise it. Any change to route, nights or transport must be reflected in the final itinerary and quotation.
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Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and we will come back with availability, honest advice on timing and a written quotation for this route.