5-Day Serengeti & Ngorongoro Big Cat Safari

Arrive in Tanzania and transfer to your lodge perched above Lake Manyara National Park, a bird-rich landscape framed by Rift Valley escarpments. In the late afternoon, set out on your first game drive amid acacia woodland and floodplain edges, where you may encounter elephants, waterbuck, and the park’s famous tree-climbing lions. As the light softens, return to your lodge for dinner and an introduction to the wild rhythm ahead.

After breakfast, depart for Serengeti National Park, Tanzania’s iconic wildlife realm. Enter wide-open plains and riverine corridors that host large herds of grazing animals and their pursuers. Enjoy your first afternoon game drive within this legendary park, watching for lions resting under acacia trees, graceful giraffes surveying the plains, and maybe even the distant movement of migrating wildebeest that characterize these lands.

Rise early for a full day of safari in the Serengeti National Park, following your expert guide into areas alive with predator-prey dynamics. The Seronera region offers some of the richest big cat viewing in all of Africa — from stealthy leopards hidden in riverine trees to cheetahs chasing across open grasslands. Lunch is served amid the wilderness before you continue your afternoon drives into the Serengeti’s golden dusk.

Depart the Serengeti and descend into the incomparable Ngorongoro Crater — a UNESCO World Heritage natural amphitheater boasting some of the highest wildlife densities on the continent. Your game drive descends into this vast caldera, bringing you face-to-face with elephants, buffalo, lions, and possibly black rhino grazing on crater grasslands. Enjoy a picnic lunch beside a hippo pool before ascending to your lodge perched above the crater rim.

On your final morning, enjoy a relaxed breakfast at the lodge overlooking the crater before transferring back to Arusha or the airport for your onward journey. As you depart, reflect on the unforgettable wildlife encounters and sweeping landscapes that defined your Tanzanian safari adventure.