Beach Holiday and Safari in Tanzania

Your first Tanzania national park is already extraordinary. Tarangire is beloved by guides for good reason; it is vast, remote in its southern reaches, and utterly alive. Ancient baobab trees, Africa’s prehistoric Trees of Life, punctuate the dry woodland in every direction. Enormous elephant herds move between the river and the shade. Wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, impala, buffalo, and the rarely seen gerenuk and fringe-eared oryx share this landscape. A picnic lunch in the bush, then onward to your camp as the sun drops.

The Serengeti. Even saying it feels like an arrival. The drive in winds through Maasai highlands before the land opens wide and the horizon becomes everything. Two full days here means time to breathe, to search, to simply be present in one of the greatest wildlife arenas on the planet.

The Serengeti wildebeest migration is the great spectacle — more than a million wildebeest, hundreds of thousands of zebras and gazelles moving in ancient rhythm across the plains, pursued by lions, cheetahs, and crocodiles. In the southern grasslands, rock kopjes rise from the grass like fortresses, favoured vantage points for the big cats that rule here. Your private guide knows how to read the land, and these two days will yield sightings you will describe to people for years.

For a perspective unlike any other: a sunrise hot air balloon safari over the Serengeti plains, drifting silently above the herds as morning light floods the savannah. Available at additional cost — ask us to arrange it.

The drive from the Serengeti to Ngorongoro takes you through shifting landscapes until suddenly the crater rim appears and the world drops away below you. Nearly 600 metres deep, 20 kilometres wide — the Ngorongoro Crater is a collapsed volcano that became its own kingdom. The highest concentration of wildlife in Africa lives within these walls: elephants, lions, buffalo, hippo, and the rare black rhino. This is one of the most reliable places on the continent to see all of the Big Five in a single game drive. Six hours in the crater, a picnic lunch on the floor, and a return to Karatu as the afternoon softens.

Early in the morning, you’ll drive from Serengeti to the Ngorongoro. Upon arrival at Ngorongoro, you will start descending into the crater. This collapsed volcano is the main feature of the area and creates a unique ecosystem with a wide variety of vegetation. Enjoy the beautiful colours of the landscapes and the diversity of animals.

The crater is home to the highest concentration of wildlife in Africa and is choked with elephants, lions, buffaloes, hippos and even the rare black rhino. This is one of the best places to spot all of the Big Five. The views from the crater rim over the crater floor are incredible. Because of its natural beauty, the Ngorongoro Crater is chosen as one of Africa’s Seven Natural Wonders.

There is a range of activities to do in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, like visiting a Maasai village. You can spend up to six hours in the crater before heading back to Karatu.

After a final breakfast, your transfer to Zanzibar International Airport closes this chapter. Tanzania has a way of staying with you — in the smell of dust after rain, in the sound of lions at dusk, in the quiet of an ocean morning.