Tour Overview
Ten days is the magic number for many Tanzania travellers. It is long enough to explore the Northern Circuit in full depth. It also leaves three glorious days for Zanzibar’s beaches at the end. Together, they form the most complete Tanzania experience our programme offers.
The safari portion covers all four major Northern Circuit parks at a satisfying, unhurried pace. Tarangire delivers elephants and baobabs on Day 2. Lake Manyara surprises with tree-climbing lions and flamingo-fringed shores on Day 3. Then two full days in the Serengeti follow , Africa’s greatest wildlife theatre, where migration herds, predators, and vast open landscapes combine to create something genuinely beyond words. A full descent into the Ngorongoro Crater rounds off the safari in style. By the time you board your flight to Zanzibar, you carry more wildlife sightings in your camera than most people accumulate in a lifetime.
Then comes the island. Three nights on Zanzibar bring white beaches, warm Indian Ocean water, the ancient alleys of Stone Town, and the coral gardens of Mnemba Atoll. Each day moves at whatever pace you choose. Tanzania at its most complete , and absolutely worth every day.
Route: Arusha → Tarangire → Serengeti → Ngorongoro → Zanzibar
Best For: International visitors, luxury couples, anyone wanting the complete Tanzania experience
Meals Included: All safari meals; breakfast in Zanzibar
Accommodation: Safari lodges and tented camps; 3 nights Zanzibar beach hotel
Day-by-Day Migration Safari Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival in Arusha
Your Kori Safaris representative meets you at the airport and transfers you to your hotel in Arusha. After a long journey, the cool highland air of Tanzania’s safari capital is a welcome arrival. Check in, freshen up, and join your guide for a welcome dinner and full briefing. Your guide walks you through every detail of the ten days ahead , the parks, the wildlife to expect, the best viewing strategies, and how the itinerary flows from wilderness to beach.
Day 2: Tarangire National Park
After an early breakfast, depart for Tarangire National Park , a two-hour drive south through the open Maasai steppe. Tarangire is famous for good reason. During the dry season, the permanent Tarangire River draws wildlife from across the surrounding landscape in concentrations found nowhere else. Hundreds of elephants gather at the water’s edge. Lion prides patrol the riverbank. Leopards rest in the branches of fever trees. Over 500 bird species inhabit the park’s diverse habitats, making it a paradise for birding enthusiasts.
Spend the full day on game drives before dinner and overnight at your lodge near the park.
Day 3: Lake Manyara National Park
Drive to Lake Manyara National Park , a compact but extraordinarily diverse park pressed between the Great Rift Valley escarpment and the alkaline lake itself. Tree-climbing lions are the headline attraction here , a behaviour unique to this park and a few other isolated locations in Africa. Scientists still debate why Manyara’s lions developed this habit, but watching a full-grown male draped across an acacia branch is undeniably one of Tanzania’s most unusual wildlife sightings.
Beyond the lions, Manyara offers dense forest elephant encounters in the lakeshore vegetation, vast hippo pools in the shallows, and the astonishing spectacle of thousands of flamingos turning the lakeshore pink. Dinner and overnight near the park.
Day 4: Serengeti National Park (arrival)
Drive northwest from Manyara through the Ngorongoro Highlands , a journey of cool montane forest, open Maasai plains, and breathtaking highland vistas , before descending into the Serengeti basin. Stop at the crater rim for photographs and a first view of the Ngorongoro Crater below.
The moment you enter the Serengeti, the landscape changes everything. The sense of scale is immediate and overwhelming. Lions appear in the first few kilometres. Zebras and wildebeest stretch to the horizon. Your guide begins the afternoon game drive, and the Serengeti starts giving immediately. Dinner and overnight at your camp inside the park.
Day 5: Full Day Serengeti
Your first full day in Africa’s most celebrated national park. Rise before sunrise for the morning game drive , the golden hour when predators are most active and the light is at its most extraordinary. Your guide uses years of local knowledge and real-time communication with fellow guides to position you wherever the action is best.
Depending on the season, the Great Migration may be passing through , the sight of hundreds of thousands of wildebeest and zebra moving across the plains is one of the most powerful wildlife experiences on earth. Even without migration herds, the Serengeti’s resident lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, and giraffe ensure a day that stays with you forever.
Day 6: Second Full Day Serengeti
Another complete day in the Serengeti , and by now, you are beginning to see it differently. Your eye has adjusted to the landscape. You spot movement in the grass before your guide points it out. You recognise the alarm calls of birds that signal a predator nearby. Not only that, but you start to understand the rhythm of this extraordinary ecosystem.
Today may bring a cheetah hunt on the open plains, a leopard descending from its overnight kill in a tree, a lion pride moving through the long grass at dawn, or a river crossing of thousands of wildebeest. Whatever the Serengeti offers, you are now fully present to receive it.
Day 7: Ngorongoro Crater
Transfer east from the Serengeti to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. As your vehicle climbs the crater rim road, the temperature drops and dense highland forest closes in around you. Then, at the summit, the forest clears , and the crater opens below in one of Africa’s most dramatic views.
Descend into the crater for a comprehensive Big Five game drive on the crater floor. Black rhinos graze the open grassland , among the highest concentrations of this critically endangered species anywhere in Africa. Lion prides stalk through the short grass. Hippos crowd the shallow soda lakes. Flamingos form a pink ribbon along the lakeshore. The Ngorongoro Crater delivers a wildlife experience so dense and so complete that most guests find it difficult to believe a single place can contain so much.
Overnight at a crater rim lodge with views across the caldera.
Day 8: Flight to Zanzibar
A final morning crater game drive before transferring to the airstrip for your flight to Zanzibar. The journey takes roughly an hour, and the contrast between departure and arrival could not be more striking , trading the ochre grasslands and wild skies of the Ngorongoro highlands for the turquoise waters, coconut palms, and white sand beaches of the Indian Ocean’s Spice Island.
Arrive in Zanzibar in the afternoon. Transfer to your beachfront hotel, change out of safari clothes, and walk to the shoreline. The water is warm. The sand is soft. Order a sundowner cocktail and let the Indian Ocean do the rest.
Day 9: Zanzibar – Beach & Island Exploration
Today belongs entirely to Zanzibar. The island rewards those who explore beyond the beach, and the options are extraordinary.
Take a dhow sailing boat out to Mnemba Atoll , one of East Africa’s finest snorkelling sites, where sea turtles, spinner dolphins, and kaleidoscopic reef fish move through pristine coral gardens in warm, clear water. Alternatively, join a guided spice farm tour through the aromatic gardens that gave Zanzibar its name as the Spice Island , cloves, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemongrass all grown within touching distance. Or spend the morning in Stone Town, wandering the UNESCO World Heritage labyrinth of Swahili alleyways, carved wooden doorways, bustling markets, and centuries of layered cultural history.
Or simply stay at the beach. Read, swim, sleep, and let the Indian Ocean fill the silence.
Day 10: Zanzibar – Departure
Your final morning in Tanzania. Wake to the sound of the Indian Ocean and take one last walk along the beach at sunrise , the light here in the early morning is soft and golden, and the water is still and clear.
Breakfast at the hotel, then time for any last-minute exploration before your transfer to Zanzibar International Airport. You leave carrying ten extraordinary days , the dust of the Serengeti, the silence of the Ngorongoro Crater, and the warmth of the Indian Ocean all folded together into a single, extraordinary memory. Tanzania has given you everything.
What’s Included & Excluded
What’s Included
✓ All park and conservation fees
✓ Professional English-speaking safari guide
✓ 4×4 safari land cruiser / game drive vehicle
✓ Accommodation as specified per itinerary
✓ All meals as specified (B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner)
✓ Safari bottled drinking water
✓ Flying doctors emergency evacuation insurance
✓ Airport/hotel transfers
What’s Excluded
✗ International and domestic flights
✗ Visa fees (Tanzania visa ~USD 50)
✗ Travel insurance (strongly recommended)
✗ Tips & gratuities for guides and camp staff
✗ Personal items, laundry, and souvenirs
✗ Alcoholic and soft drinks
✗ Optional activities (balloon safari, guided walks)
✗ Items of personal nature
