Safari & Beach Combo

Your safari begins when your international flight lands at Kilimanjaro International Airport. After completing immigration, collecting your luggage, and clearing customs, your private driver will welcome you in the arrival lounge. You will then take a scenic one-hour drive west to Arusha, passing through sun-drenched plains, local towns, and Maasai pastures. On a clear day, you can view the snow-capped peak of Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Meru before checking into your Arusha hotel to rest. Your first night is at Arusha Coffee Lodge.

The two-hour drive from Arusha to Tarangire National Park takes you from the bustling city into the heart of the Great Rift Valley. The smooth highway cuts through vast plains, passing vibrant Maasai villages where herders tend to livestock against distant blue hills. As the urban scenery fades, the tarmac gives way to a red-clay track signaling the start of your safari adventure. The landscape transforms to reveal massive ancient baobab trees and umbrella acacias, where giraffes and zebras often wander near the roadside before you reach the main gate. An extended afternoon game drive takes you through its different habitats, so you have time to get used to the rhythm of a safari day. Tonight is at Tarangire Treetops Lodge. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Leaving Tarangire, the drive north along the Great Rift Valley highway leads to Mto wa Mbu, a culturally diverse town representing over 120 tribes. Here, a guided walking tour takes you through banana plantations and local markets to watch Makonde woodcarvers and see traditional banana beer brewing. After an authentic African buffet lunch on a local farm, you will climb the steep Rift Valley escarpment. The winding road offers panoramic views of Lake Manyara before entering the cool, fertile Karatu highlands. You check in at Lemala Osonjoi Lodge, a crater rim lodge, for two nights, so there's no packing tomorrow. The rest of the day is for the views and an early night before the descent. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Descending early down the steep crater wall, you will enter a hidden world home to over 25,000 large animals on the volcanic caldera floor. The morning focuses on tracking the Big Five, including rare black rhinos, lion prides, and massive bull elephants, alongside flamingos at Lake Magadi. Enjoy a picnic lunch by the hippo-filled waters of Ngoitokitok Springs. The afternoon drive explores the yellow acacias of Lerai Forest, a prime habitat for leopards and baboons, before ascending back up the winding rim road. You're back at Lemala Osonjoi Lodge for a second night. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Leaving the Ngorongoro highlands, the journey to the central Serengeti drops you from cool mountain forests onto the endless African savanna. The road winds down the dusty northern slopes through Maasai lands, passing young herders and the historic Olduvai Gorge. Once you cross the park boundary at Naabi Hill Gate, the landscape transforms into immense, tree-free plains. After a brief stop to check permits and view the endless horizon from the rocky hill, you will enjoy a game drive into the Seronera Valley, where flat plains give way to acacia woodlands and lion-inhabited granite kopjes. By evening you reach Elewana Serengeti Pioneer Camp in the central Serengeti, your base for the next two nights. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A full-day private game drive begins at first light to target active apex predators along the Seronera River loops. This reliable water source draws a constant stream of zebras, wildebeests, and waterbucks, while the surrounding Simba or Moru kopjes provide sunbathing spots for local lion prides. Enjoy a private bush lunch experience complete with cold drinks under a lone acacia tree. The afternoon shifts toward outer circuits, featuring a visit to the crowded Retima Hippo Pool and dedicated tracking for cheetahs in the open grasslands or leopards hidden in yellow-barked acacia trees. This is your second night at Elewana Serengeti Pioneer Camp. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A morning bush flight takes you from the Serengeti back to Arusha, with views over the plains, the Ngorongoro Crater and the patchwork farmland of the Rift Valley. You land in Arusha around midday and transfer to your hotel for the night. The rest of the day is free to rest and repack for the coast. Bush flights have luggage limits, so a soft duffel bag is the easiest way to travel. Meals: breakfast and dinner.

After breakfast at your hotel, a private transfer vehicle will pick you up for the short drive through the city to Arusha Airport, which handles the region's domestic island departures. After a brief check-in and security process, you will board a regional turboprop plane operated by local airlines like Precision Air, Coastal Aviation, or Auric Air. The flight offers stunning aerial views as you lift off over the Maasai plains, heading southeast toward the Indian Ocean and crossing the azure waters of the Zanzibar Channel. You will touch down at Abeid Amani Karume International Airport in Zanzibar in the afternoon, where a resort transfer driver can meet you at the arrivals terminal to take you straight to your beach hotel or Stone Town. Your hotel for the night is in Stone Town. Afterwards a walking tour takes you through the old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a maze of narrow alleys, carved wooden doors and historic buildings. You also visit the Darajani spice market, where you'll smell the clove, cinnamon and cardamom before you see them. Clothing that covers shoulders and knees is best in Stone Town. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

You transfer to the north coast of Zanzibar and check in at Mnemba Lodge, your base for the rest of the trip. The day is for the sea. There's white sand and turquoise water, snorkelling over coral reefs with tropical fish, and a sail on a traditional wooden dhow. After a week of early starts and dusty tracks, it's a complete change of pace, and the warm water makes it easy to do very little. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A short boat ride takes you to Prison Island, also called Changuu Island, home to a colony of Aldabra giant tortoises, some of them over 100 years old. You explore the island's historic ruins and snorkel in the clear water around it. Then it's back to the north coast for a slow afternoon on the beach, watching the dhow fishermen bring in their catch. The night is at Mnemba Lodge. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Today is your choice. Spend the whole day on the beach, or visit Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park to see the endangered Zanzibar red colobus, a monkey found nowhere else. They live in the park's mangrove and coral rag forest, and the visit makes a good contrast to the safari animals you saw on the mainland. Either way, you're back at Mnemba Lodge for your last night. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Your last morning is free for a swim or a slow breakfast overlooking the Indian Ocean. Then you transfer to Abeid Amani Karume International Airport for your flight home. Because the trip starts at Kilimanjaro and ends in Zanzibar, you'll need an open-jaw international ticket, flying in to one and out of the other. If you haven't booked flights yet, our Arusha team can help you plan the timings so the last morning isn't rushed. Meals: breakfast.