2 Days Tarangire National Park & Ngorongoro Crater Safari

Destinations: Tarangire National Park & Ngorongoro Crater
Conservation status: UNESCO World Heritage Site & protected wildlife sanctuary
Activities: Game drives, birding, photographic safari, Rift Valley sightseeing
Starting / ending point: Arusha or Kilimanjaro
Safari vehicle: 4x4 custom safari Land Cruiser with pop-up roof
Suited for: Private travel, families, honeymoons, groups — budget & luxury options
Meals: Full board — breakfast, picnic lunch box, hot dinner

Route itinerary

01Day One

Arusha to Tarangire National Park — game drive

Your safari begins early. After a short briefing from your driver-guide, you'll leave Arusha or Kilimanjaro and cross the Great Rift Valley escarpment toward Tarangire National Park.

Tarangire is known as the "Elephant Playground," and its skyline is dominated by giant baobab trees. Your first game drive gives you a strong chance of large elephant herds, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, waterbuck and impala, with lion and leopard often resting in the acacia shade.

Lunch is a picnic inside the park. In the afternoon you'll continue on to your lodge or tented camp near Karatu, on the Ngorongoro highlands, for dinner and overnight.

02Day Two

Ngorongoro Crater floor game drive & return

After breakfast and check-out, you'll drive up to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, reach the crater rim, and descend roughly 600 metres onto the floor of the world's largest inactive, intact volcanic caldera.

Often called Africa's Eden, the crater floor holds an unusually dense concentration of wildlife — upwards of 25,000 large animals in one bowl. You'll be looking for the Big Five (elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo and the rare black rhino), plus flocks of lesser flamingo around Lake Magadi.

Lunch is taken near a hippo pool. In the early afternoon you'll climb back up the crater wall, clear exit formalities at Lodoare Gate, and drive back to Arusha or Kilimanjaro Airport for onward travel.