With us, a safari in Tanzania usually lasts five to ten days. You can go shorter, but then you spend more time in the vehicle than among the animals. Add Zanzibar and you are quickly at two weeks.
It can be done, from Moshi or Arusha, to one park close by. Arusha National Park makes a good day trip, with giraffe, buffalo, flamingos on the Momella Lakes, and you are back before dark.
Tarangire works too, but you spend much of the day on the road and see the park in the hottest hours. We only do that day when someone has just the one day.
The Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater are not day trips. Anyone who offers you one is selling you a day of driving.
Days | What fits |
3 to 4 | Tarangire and the Ngorongoro Crater, or a short flight to the Serengeti. Tight |
5 to 6 | Tarangire, the crater and two or three nights in the Serengeti |
7 to 10 | The northern Serengeti as well, or a slower pace with longer stops |
Give the Serengeti three nights or more and your chances of seeing a cheetah are very good. We do not say that to keep you longer. It is what we see.
A short safari feels like a saving, but the driving days stay the same. Arusha to the Serengeti is a full day on the road, whether you then stay two nights or four. The shorter your trip, the bigger the share of it you spend getting somewhere.
If you are short on days, fly. A domestic flight to the Serengeti saves you a full day of driving there and another on the way back.
Most of our trips end by the sea. Allow four to five nights on Zanzibar after your safari. Together that comes to about two weeks, as in our Safari and Zanzibar itinerary.
KLM from Amsterdam lands at Kilimanjaro in the evening, and whichever route you fly, you sleep your first night in Moshi or Arusha and start the safari the next morning. So do not count that night as a safari day.
Tell us what you want to see and how much time you have, and we will tell you what fits. Our itineraries show how that works out, from one week to two.