Inspiration for your own tailor-made trip
Ngorongoro Crater & Northern Tanzania,The Endless Serengeti Plains
100% customisable for you
Pack your bags, because your Tanzanian adventure begins today. After being fast-tracked through security, relax in the airport lounge before catching your 13-and-a-half-hour overnight flight to Kilimanjaro, via Nairobi.
On arrival in northern Tanzania, you'll be met and transferred around 40 minutes to your hotel, a charming country inn set beneath the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. With views of Africa’s highest peak as your backdrop, spend the rest of the day unwinding after your flight, enjoying a relaxed dinner and a good night's sleep ahead of your first full day of exploration tomorrow.
After a relaxed breakfast in the hotel, head into the nearby city of Arusha, a popular base for climbers preparing to scale Mount Kilimanjaro. Here, visit a community-run craft project that supports local people with disabilities, producing beautifully designed jewellery, glassware and homewares using recycled materials.
Enjoy a guided tour of the workshop to see the creative process in action, from glass blowing to jewellery making, with a chance to try your hand at a craft yourself.
Later, sit down to a traditional Swahili lunch before returning to your hotel for the afternoon to rest, reflect and enjoy the peaceful surroundings.
This morning, leave the foothills of Kilimanjaro behind and take a private transfer west towards one of Africa’s most extraordinary natural wonders: the Ngorongoro Crater. Located around three hours from your hotel, this vast UNESCO-listed volcanic caldera is over three million years old and renowned for its dramatic landscapes and remarkable concentration of wildlife.
Your base for the next few nights is a wonderful working farm set on the crater’s cooler highlands. Here, life revolves around the land, with organic produce harvested from the gardens and coffee grown, roasted and brewed on site. After a late lunch on the sunny terrace, set out on your first 4x4 game drive with an expert local guide.
As you cross the crater's vast highland plains and sun-baked savannahs, your guide will point out the area's wonderful wildlife – including elephants, buffalo, giraffes, black-maned lions and endangered black rhino – and share insights into the Maasai communities who live in this wildlife-rich landscape, maintaining traditional pastoral ways of life in harmony with their surroundings.
Today is all about delving deeper into life in the Ngorongoro highlands. Begin your day by learning how coffee is roasted in the traditional way before enjoying a generous farmhouse breakfast, complete with fresh milk, homemade jams and warm baked treats.
With appetites satisfied, set out on a guided walking safari through the forested slopes of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Along the way, discover crashing waterfalls and the incredible 'elephant caves', carved into the rock as elephants dig for mineral-rich soil. Alternatively, budding botanists can join a local healer for a walk through the forest, learning about the medicinal uses of native plants.
Return to your lodge for a farm-to-table lunch before cycling to a nearby village. Accompanied by a local guide, explore daily life in a Iraqw community, strolling through the market and visiting a family home. Gain an insight into traditional ways of life, from pottery making to the rhythmic art of pounding grain, and sample a locally-brewed drink before heading back to the lodge.
Wave goodbye to Ngorongoro today as you’re driven to the south-western corner of the Serengeti. The journey is very much part of the experience, so sit back and enjoy the changing scenery as you pass through Tanzania's vast, wildlife-filled wildernesses.
Your accommodation for the next few nights is a stylish tented safari camp in the Mwiba Wildlife Reserve, where you can enjoy a little slice of luxury immersed in the wild. Arrive in time for a tasty traditional lunch and then set off on a private 4x4 safari with one of the camp's knowledgeable guides. Keep an eye out for elephants moving through the grasslands, hippos wallowing in waterholes and predators such as lions and leopards.
As evening rolls in, return to camp for a delicious dinner, where you can share stories from the day's adventures and sundowners beside a crackling fire. Then, it's off to bed for a good night's sleep, ready for more Serengeti adventures tomorrow.
Today is likely to be a real highlight of your Tanzania trip, as you set off to meet the Hadzabe people, one of East Africa’s last remaining hunter-gatherer communities. Leaving camp bright and early, travel with a local translator for a carefully managed visit to meet the them and learn about their way of life – from the roots they use to dye clothes to how the men hunt with bow and arrow. A particular highlight is following a honeyguide bird through the bush to a hidden beehive, where Hadzabe hunters demonstrate the time-honoured practice of harvesting wild honey – a remarkable example of cooperation between humans and wildlife.
Throughout the experience, you’ll have the chance to try your hand at age-old skills, from lighting a fire to using a bow and arrow, while listening to stories that reveal how these traditions continue to adapt in a changing world.
Rise early this morning for a final exploration of the Ndutu area, setting out on a game drive or guided walking safari across its wide, nutrient-rich plains. Between December and March, this landscape becomes the backdrop for the Serengeti’s calving season, when wildebeest and zebra gather to give birth – an extraordinary spectacle that brings the plains to life.
Return to camp for a leisurely lunch before heading out to visit the village of the Datoga tribe. Arrive in time to witness the herdsmen returning with their cattle to the kraals – circular acacia enclosures that protect the wildlife and village. The celebrations that follow, marked by jumping and singing, are a powerful expression of gratitude and community. With support from a local translator, spend time meeting the women and children of the village as they go to the local market to sell their homemade jewellery and spears.
Come evening, return to camp for dinner beneath the stars, reflecting on the day’s encounters over a sundowner or two.
Savour your final morning in the bush with a leisurely breakfast, soaking in the stillness and wide-open skies one last time. Then, catch a short flight back to Kilimanjaro, enjoying a picnic lunch in the air as you pass over Tanzania’s vast and varied landscapes.
Arrive at the airport in good time to board your overnight flight back home. Touch down in the UK the following afternoon, with memories of remarkable wildlife, meaningful encounters and extraordinary landscapes to savour.
Each of our trips is entirely tailor-made with originality, quality and cultural immersion in mind. Our team of destination specialists will craft itineraries based on your tastes, using their first-hand knowledge and the help of our in-country team of Concierges and guides. All trips are accompanied by a wide range of additional services, including a 24-hour helpline, the Original Travel app, fast-track airport services and much more.
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Our team of destination experts will get to know you and your unique requirements for your holiday
We work with you to build an ultra-personalised holiday itinerary with your choice of accommodation, experiences and activities
All of our holidays include little extras designed to make a big difference to your trip, from fast-tracking you through airport check-in and security to our network of local Concierges
