A short safari that still feels like one. Two parks, almost no transit, and no day written off to driving.
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Overview
Built for travellers with under a week, often adding safari to a Zanzibar holiday, a Kilimanjaro climb, or a work trip. It is also the right choice for a first, cautious safari where nobody wants to commit ten days to something they have never done.
The mistake short safaris make is trying to reach the Serengeti and back: two long driving days out of three, and the safari becomes a car journey with animals at the end. So we build these around Tarangire, Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater, all within a comfortable drive of Arusha. Where four or five days are available and the Serengeti matters to you, we fly one leg instead of driving it.
The honest trade is depth. You will see a great deal in three days on the northern circuit; you will not get the slow mornings that longer journeys are built around.
Highlights
No day lost to drivingTwo parks rather than three, chosen so that no single transfer eats a morning.
The Crater on an early descentOn a short trip, the highest-value single day in Tanzania.
Out at first lightA lodge close to the park gate, so game drives start at first light rather than after an hour on the road.
A flight if you want the plainsWith five days, a flight into the Serengeti fits where driving both ways does not.
Itinerary
Every eXvo journey is designed around the traveller, so treat this as an illustration of pace and routing rather than a fixed itinerary. Days move, nights get added, whole regions get swapped.
These are examples, and every journey can use any of them. Final choice depends on availability on your dates.
Met at Kilimanjaro International Airport by your guide and driven about an hour to your lodge outside Arusha. Nothing else is planned: the rest of the day is for getting over the flight.
Meal plan: B&BB&B: breakfast only. Half board: breakfast and dinner. Full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner (on safari, lunch is often a picnic in the park).
Tarangire is a park of baobabs and seasonal swamps along the Tarangire River, about two hours from Arusha. In the dry months the river is the main water for a wide area, so animals tend to gather along it, and it sees far fewer vehicles than the Serengeti.
Today
An unhurried breakfast, then about two hours' drive to Tarangire, in the park by late morning. A picnic lunch, then an afternoon game drive among the baobabs and along the river until the gates close at dusk.
Meal plan: Full boardB&B: breakfast only. Half board: breakfast and dinner. Full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner (on safari, lunch is often a picnic in the park).
About Lake Manyara
A narrow park squeezed between the Rift Valley wall and a shallow soda lake, with groundwater forest near the gate and open shoreline beyond. It is small enough to drive properly in half a day.
Today
A last early drive in Tarangire, then west to Lake Manyara: groundwater forest near the gate, then the open shore below the Rift Valley wall. A shorter driving day, ending up in the highlands for the night.
Meal plan: Full boardB&B: breakfast only. Half board: breakfast and dinner. Full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner (on safari, lunch is often a picnic in the park).
About Ngorongoro
The Ngorongoro Crater is the collapsed caldera of an old volcano, about 19 km across and 600 m deep, inside a wider conservation area where Maasai still graze their cattle. Vehicles go down to the floor for the day and come back up to the rim by late afternoon.
Today
An early descent to the Crater floor while it is quietest, and a long morning down there with a picnic lunch. The core trip then drives back to Arusha for an evening flight home; with the extension, you fly from Manyara airstrip into the Serengeti or on to Zanzibar instead.
Meal plan: Full boardB&B: breakfast only. Half board: breakfast and dinner. Full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner (on safari, lunch is often a picnic in the park).
About the Serengeti
The Serengeti covers almost 15,000 km² of grassland, rocky kopjes and river woodland, running north to the Kenyan border. The great herds move with the rains, which is why where you stay inside it depends on the month.
Today
A full day where most travellers choose to add one: on the Serengeti plains with your guide, positioned for the month, or on the Zanzibar coast with nothing planned.
Meal plan: Full boardB&B: breakfast only. Half board: breakfast and dinner. Full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner (on safari, lunch is often a picnic in the park).
Today
A morning drive or a last swim, then a short flight back to Arusha or out from Zanzibar, in time for your flight home.
Price
Pick a level to see its lodges and guide price.
Every level keeps the same vehicle, guide and route. Only the accommodation changes.
Where you stay at Comfort: En-suite tented camps and simple lodges, usually just outside the park gates. See the Comfort lodges
Guide price · Comfort · 6 days
$2,099
per person
Based on 2 people sharing in low season. Your exact price depends on dates, group size and lodges, and is confirmed in writing before you book.
What your price covers, and what to budget for separately.
Included
Every park entry, conservation and Crater fee on the route, paid by us in advance. They are a large share of what a safari costs, and they are what fund the parks.
The lodges for the level you choose, with the meal plan shown on each day of the itinerary: full board on safari, and bed and breakfast or half board in town and on the coast. Prices assume two sharing; a room to yourself costs more, and the supplement is in your quote.
A 4x4 with a pop-up roof, used by your party alone and never shared. One English-speaking driver-guide stays with you from the first game drive to the last.
Met at Kilimanjaro airport when you land, and taken to your flight home at the end, whatever time it leaves.
Water in the vehicle on every safari day, so you never have to ration it on a long drive.
Not included
International flights. Flights to and from Tanzania are booked by you. We will suggest arrival and departure times that fit the trip.
Visa. Paid by you, usually online before you travel. Visa information
Travel insurance. A condition of travelling with us. It must cover medical treatment, emergency evacuation and repatriation.
Tips. Always your choice. As a guide, we suggest $30–50 per day per vehicle for your driver-guide, plus a little for camp staff. How tipping works
Personal spending. Drinks beyond water and what the camp serves with meals, laundry where it is charged, souvenirs, and optional extras such as balloon flights, quoted separately if you want them.
Internal flights, where added. If you add a flown leg into the Serengeti, the flight is quoted separately.
Packing
Less than you think, in neutral colours, and in a soft bag if any leg is flown. Bring a warm layer: early mornings in an open vehicle are cold, even when the middle of the day is hot.
Most nationalities need a visa: $50 for a single entry. US citizens pay $100 for a multiple-entry visa. Apply online before you travel to avoid the queue on arrival. Fees and rules change, so check with the Tanzanian embassy in your country.
Not well. Driving there and back consumes two of the three days. With four or five days we fly one leg and it works properly. With three, Tarangire and the Crater give you far more actual wildlife time.
Yes. The Ngorongoro Crater alone justifies the trip, and Tarangire in the dry season holds some of the largest elephant herds in Africa. Set expectations on depth, not on quality.
That is one of the most common shapes we plan. Safari first, coast second: it works better in that order, both for energy and for flight routing.
Three to six months is comfortable. Short journeys use lodges with more capacity, so late availability is more often possible than on longer trips.
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Where these nights are spent, and what a longer version of the same trip looks like.
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