16-Day Tanzania Zanzibar Adventure

You are met at Kilimanjaro International Airport and transferred to your hotel in Moshi or Arusha. Your guide joins you for a welcome briefing that evening and helps you settle in for the adventure ahead.

A gentle introduction to Tanzanian wildlife at Arusha National Park, beneath the peaks of Mount Meru. A guided walking safari brings you close to giraffes, buffalo and zebra on foot, and an afternoon canoe trip on the Momella Lakes offers a peaceful, unique perspective on the park.

Drive south to Tarangire National Park, whose baobab-studded plains support one of the densest elephant populations in Tanzania. A full afternoon game drive follows the river, where big herds, lions and the occasional leopard gather as the land dries.

A short journey brings you to Lake Manyara National Park, cradled between the Rift Valley escarpment and its shimmering soda lake. Watch for tree-climbing lions, elephants in the groundwater forest, and clouds of flamingos and pelicans along the shore.

You climb through the Ngorongoro highlands and enter the Serengeti National Park, where the horizon simply dissolves into distance. An afternoon drive through the Seronera Valley introduces its resident lions, leopards and cheetahs, and you reach camp as the light turns gold.

A full day to explore the Seronera region and beyond. The valley is a reliable home for leopards and lions, and dawn and dusk drives give the best chance of hunting activity. Your guide will read the tracks and the radio reports to put you in the right place at the right time.

Move north towards the Mara River, the setting for the migration’s celebrated crossings between roughly July and October. The northern Serengeti is also beautiful in its own right, with kopjes, resident predators and fewer crowds than the centre.

A final Serengeti morning on the plains, then south to the Ngorongoro Crater. En route you may pause at Olduvai Gorge, one of the world’s most important palaeoanthropological sites. You settle into your crater-rim lodge with the caldera spread below you.

Descend into the Ngorongoro Crater at first light, when the game is active and the light is soft. The crater holds a remarkable concentration of wildlife — lion, elephant, buffalo, hippo, flamingo and the endangered black rhino — and a full day is the best way to appreciate it.

Travel to Lake Eyasi in the Rift Valley for a genuine cultural encounter. You spend time with the Hadzabe, one of Africa’s last hunter-gatherer peoples, learning about their way of life, before visiting a Datoga blacksmith community. A humbling, memorable day.

After a morning drive to Arusha or Kilimanjaro, you fly to Zanzibar. Transfer to historic Stone Town to explore its UNESCO-listed alleys, carved doors and waterfront, then overnight in a boutique Stone Town hotel.

Move to the coast and settle into your beach resort. This afternoon you can dive or snorkel the reef, where the visibility is excellent and the coral gardens teem with tropical fish. Later, watch the sun drop into the Indian Ocean from the sand.

A full-day adventure on the water: a traditional dhow cruise to a sandbank, snorkelling at a coral reef, a seafood lunch and — for the energetic — kayaking through the mangroves. It is one of Zanzibar’s most-loved experiences and a perfect active day.

Head inland to Jozani Forest, home to the endemic Zanzibar red colobus monkey, then visit a working spice farm to learn how cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla are grown and processed. The island’s history comes alive in its flavours and its wildlife.

A free day to do exactly as you please — paddle a kayak, book a massage, explore a fishing village, or simply rotate between the pool, the beach and the bar. The adventure is whatever you decide it to be.

After breakfast you are transferred to Zanzibar International Airport for your homebound flight. Extensions to Pemba or Mafia Island, or a Kilimanjaro climb at the start, can be arranged on request.