Stay on the lookout for Africa’s most iconic wildlife while on a tour in the Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, and Serengeti National Parks.
Meet with a professional from the Serengeti Wildlife Research Centre to discuss ongoing studies in the famed reserve.
Visit a Maasai village and spend good time with Maasai community and experience their culture.
Where you go will depend on what you want to find and experience while on safari in Tanzania and the best time to visit Tanzania for adventure. While the safari-adventurers Circuit provides is a favorite among first-time and experienced safari-goers alike, both Southern and Western Tanzania are hidden gems of this multifaceted destination. Read our Tanzania tour guide to discover everything you need to know about planning your ideal Tanzania safari.
Synonymous with Tanzania Safari, the Serengeti is the place to go in Tanzania for game viewing at its most dramatic. Hosting the lion’s share of the Wildebeest Migration (from about January to September), the Serengeti’s sheer size, accessibility, top-quality lodges, and camps, and around-the-year availability of wildlife make it one of the preferred safari destinations in Africa. It’s also a common stop on the best Tanzania safari tours.
Take about 30 000 animals and place them in a crater of an extinct volcano. Add wetlands, forests, grasslands, and some out-of-this-world cliff-top accommodation, and the result is the latter Crater. This superb Tanzania safari destination offers the best game viewing in an unbelievably unique setting. It’s famous for delivering the easiest and most reliable Big 5 sightings in East Africa, and it provides what is arguably the best tour destination in Tanzania.
Near to Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire is worth much more than the usual day visit. During the June to October dry season, animal – especially elephant – concentrations along the Tarangire River are among the highest in Tanzania. The park’s bird count of more than 500 species means that a visit here is one of the most rewarding country’s safaris for twitchers, while its full range of big predators completes the appeal. Tarangire is a beautifully diverse wilderness featuring a riverine forest, huge swamps, and open woodlands that include Africa’s iconic baobab tree species.
Part of Tanzania’s famous Northern Tanzania Safari Circuit, Lake Manyara provides easy game viewing in a beautiful setting. The park is home to a good range of heavyweight species, including buffalo, hippo, giraffe, elephant, leopard, and its known tree-climbing lions. Lake Manyara is an awesome bird-watching destination. You’ll often view flocks of pelicans and flamingos in the middle of the lake, and the floodplains, woodlands, and evergreen forests are equally vibrant.
Enjoy your East Africa Tanzania Safari experience with a stay on Tanzania’s Spice Island: Zanzibar. Good for both families and honeymooners, it’s where to go in Tanzania for beautiful beaches and coral reefs, dhow (traditional boat) trips at sunset, and exploring pleasant back-street markets. Tanzania’s other Indian Ocean islands also won’t disappoint. Pemba, Mafia, and Chole are superlative beach holiday destinations with amazing diving, exclusive boutique accommodation, and all the indulgent pampering you could hope for.
Nyerere National Park (previously Selous) is Africa’s biggest game reserve – bigger than Switzerland. Its lifeblood, the colossal Rufiji River, forms an intricate network of channels, swamps, and lakes where one of East Africa’s most magnificent ecosystems was born. Buffalos, hippos, crocodiles, and lions thrive here, while the reserve is also one of Africa’s most important sanctuaries for endangered wild dogs. Don’t miss a boat safari, guided walk, or fly-camping excursion in this awesome wilderness.
Ruaha’s wild and unbridled character is what keeps it apart from other Tanzania Safari destinations. This hidden gem is Tanzania’s biggest national park and there are only a handful of safari camps regardless of its size. You won’t see other tourists around – only a plethora of animals like buffalos, giraffes, kudus, sables, roans, lions, cheetahs, and leopards. It’s home to Tanzania’s biggest elephant population and a place for rare African wild dogs.
The longest freshwater lake in the world is between the mountainous walls of the Great Rift Valley. It’s one of the planet’s most biologically rich habitats, not least due to the lakeside presence of the Mahale Mountains and Gombe Stream National Parks. These two far-flung places are worth the effort it takes to get to them, as both deliver some of Tanzania’s most unique safari experiences: tropical rainforest wildlife watching and remarkable chimpanzee trekking.
Whether you’re content with standing in its mighty shadow or yearning to climb to its icy summit, the famous Mount Kilimanjaro won’t fail to stir your soul. At 5 895 meters (19 340 feet), it’s the highest mountain in Africa and the tallest free-standing mountain on Earth. But its snow-capped peaks are far more accessible than you may guess. If you climb Kilimanjaro in the dry season between July and October or January and March, no technical climbing is needed. But organizing and executing a hike to the summit does call for a fair quantity of logistical planning.
The undisputed safari capital of Tanzania, the city of Arusha is on the itinerary of virtually anyone visiting the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Lake Manyara, as logistics often prefer an overnight layover in or around the Arusha city. Set in the shadow of Mount Meru, the city has its own international airport (Kilimanjaro International Airport) as well as the smaller Arusha Airport for charter flights to the final location. If you spend some time in Arusha, you’ll have many opportunities to buy souvenirs, take in cultural activities and visit sarrounding places of interest.
Top Kenya Safari #1