14-day best of Tanzania & Zanzibar trip

Arusha

Tag 1: Welcome to Tanzania!

Welcome to Tanzania! After landing at Kilimanjaro Airport near Arusha, your tour representative will greet you at the airport and then drop you off at your hotel in Arusha. 

Depending on your time of arrival in Tanzania, you can decide for yourself, on the spot, if you would like to receive a short safari briefing with your guide on the same day or the next morning.

The rest of the day is free for you to spend at your leisure. Enjoy the hotel, relax and get ready for your Tanzanian adventure!

Arusha

Tag 2: Discover Tanzanian Culture and Enjoy a Coffee Tour

Today you'll visit the Tengeru Cultural Tourism Project where you can get to know the local people and get a real insight into the culture of Tanzania.

During the coffee farm tour you will learn all about the fascinating process of coffee production: from fruit to cup. After a short hike over Tengeru's coffee and fruit plantations, you will be shown how coffee is made. Roasting, grinding, sieving, packing – of course, you can lend a hand at any point! At the end of the tour, you'll even get to taste the coffee you made yourself.

After a typical African lunch, head to Lake Duluti for a guided canoe tour in wooden boats, where you will see many different species of birds and amphibious animals. 

Your guide will then take you back to your hotel, where you can spend the rest of your day as you please.

Tarangire National Park

Tag 3: Enjoy Your First Safari in Tarangire National Park

Today you'll journey to Tarangire National Park, approximately two and a half hours from Arusha. On the way you will get a sense of the impressive vastness of Tanzania, and you'll pass through several small villages where locals sell their goods in small markets by the roadside. If you wish, the trip can be interrupted at any time to make a short stop at a stall or to tour a market.

In the afternoon, you will drive into the Tarangire National Park, which has the highest concentration of wildlife after the Serengeti. During the dry season, the Tarangire River is a magnet for thirsty animals. In addition to wildebeests, zebras, lions, elephants, impalas, buffaloes, giraffes and gazelles, the park is home to hundreds of impressive bird species. So keep your eyes open!

Enjoy the breathtaking views on your first safari, then in the evening head to your tented lodge for dinner.

Lake Eyasi - Karatu

Tag 4: Meet Two Indigenous Tribes and Learn About Their Traditional Way of Life

Today begins with a visit to the Hadzabe, an indigenous ethnic group in Tanzania. They live near the shores of Lake Eyasi and in the southern Serengeti. Although hunting is forbidden in the Serengeti, as is living there, the government makes an exception for the approximately 700-1500 Hadzabe, as they are one of the last tribes in Africa who still maintain their traditional way of life. 

Get a glimpse at the Hadzabe's everyday life and hear their unique language, which consists of clicking sounds. You'll see how they live so closely with nature, try your hand at using a bow and arrow, and you will also have the opportunity to take part in the traditional tribal dance.

After lunch, head to the Datoga tribe. They are a semi-nomadic people, who ensure their survival mainly through cattle and livestock, but also by farming beans and corn.

Return to the lodge in the late afternoon.

Ngorongoro Crater

Tag 5: Go Wildlife Spotting in the Largest Crater in the World

Can you imagine what it would be like to take a full-day safari in the largest volcanic crater in the world?

The Ngorongoro caldera, with a diameter measuring up to 21 km, is populated by more than 360 bird species and up to 25,000 large mammals. The crater also has the highest predator density in Africa. Elephants hide in the thickets of the jungle on the crater walls, which can reach up to 600 m in height, while zebras, wildebeests, antelopes, and buffaloes frolic in the unique landscape on the crater floor. Marvel at the grasslands criss-crossed by lakes, swamps, rivers, forests, and mountains. All in all, it's a paradise for wildlife.

Here, the Maasai people live side by side with wildlife and continue their culture and rituals in the place in which they have been doing so for centuries. 

In the late afternoon, you will return to the lodge. 

Olduvai Gorge - Serengeti National Park

Tag 6: Visit a Maasai Village and Journey to the Serengeti

Your guide will drive you to a Maasai village where you will learn more about the rituals, ways of life, and culture of this tribe. The Maasai are a seminomadic, cattle-rearing people notorious for their military raids in the 19th century.  You will be greeted in the village by a ceremony in which the young men dance and try to jump as high as possible on the spot to prove their strength.

Next, you'll follow in the footsteps of the first humans in the Olduvai Gorge, known as 'the Cradle of Humanity'. Its breathtaking scenery lies between the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti and is part of the African Great Rift Valley. Prehistoric finds from here contributed significantly to the understanding of the development of the first humans.

Then drive to the Serengeti, with a stop at the Naabi-Hill Gate.

Serengeti National Park

Tag 7: Enjoy a Game Drive in the Serengeti National Park

Take a safari in the most famous wildlife reserve in the world: the Serengeti.

In the Maasai language, "Sirengeti" means "endless plain." The steppe gained worldwide fame through Bernhard Grzimek's documentary "Serengeti Shall Not Die." You'll see the vast grassland from which granite rocks known as "Kopjes" often protrude, and many incredible natural spectacles in the oldest national park in Tanzania.

More than 1.5 million wildebeest, hundreds of thousands of Thompson gazelles, 200,000 zebras, elephants, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, and many other species live here.

Depending on the season, your guide will choose the area where you are most likely to observe the immense migratory herds. During the annual migration, about 2 million wildebeests and zebras move along the best grazing grounds — and of course, the big cats follow them.

In the afternoon, return to the lodge.

Serengeti National Park

Tag 8: Take a Second Game Drive in the Serengeti

Today you will venture once more to the extraordinary Serengeti in search of wonderful wildlife. With his trained eye, your guide will show you things that you might not have noticed otherwise, 

Equipped with a packed lunch, you will spend the whole day game driving through this magnificent landscape. In the afternoon, you will return to your lodge.

Serengeti National Park - Zanzibar

Tag 9: Journey to Zanzibar

Your guide will take you to a small airfield in the Serengeti. From there, you will fly to Zanzibar with a stopover in Arusha. Enjoy the aerial view of the Serengeti and the impressive approach to Zanzibar!

At Zanzibar airport, a local guide will greet you and take you to your hotel. Now the second part of your trip begins: a wonderful and relaxing stay on the snow-white beaches of 'the Spice Island', Zanzibar.

Zanzibar

Tag 10: Welcome to a Tropical Paradise!

This day is dedicated to rest and relaxation in your Zanzibar beach hotel.

Take a swim in the sea, have a walk on the beach or relax on the sunbed under the palm trees. If you want to partake in an exciting activity, you can choose to book a dolphin tour or snorkel tour, or join a guided mudflat hike to a nearby reef. Whether you want to go kitesurfing, diving or sailing, sports enthusiasts will enjoy a wide variety of water sports on offer in Zanzibar.

How will you personalize your day?

Zanzibar

Tag 11: Discover the Sights, Smells, and Tastes of Zanibar's Spice Plantations

Have you ever wondered where the spices come from in the supermarket? Today you will be treated to countless aromas and flavors during a tour of Zanzibar's spice plantations.

A local guide will pick you up from your hotel in the morning and drive you to the plantations where you will see nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, ginger, cardamom, vanilla, cocoa as well as carambola (star fruit), citrus fruits, jackfruit durian, and many more. 

Then, watch the plantation workers climbing the palm trees with incredible skill to harvest coconuts. You will be able to drink some fresh coconut water from them later! 

After the tour, you will have the opportunity to buy spices first-hand to take back home as a unique souvenir. 

Then you will be driven back to your hotel to spend the rest of the day at your leisure.

Stone Town

Tag 12: Visit a UNESCO World Heritage Site: Stone Town

Today you will tour the historic old town of Stone Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the 19th century, Zanzibar was home to the world's largest slave market, located where St. Monica Cathedral stands today. Your local guide will explain the cruelest chapter in Zanzibar's history: the slave trade.

Then you can visit the largest market in Zanzibar. Everything you need is for sale, from fish to meat and fruit as well as household items. 

Stroll through the narrow, shady streets, past small shops, bazaars and souvenir shops. As you walk past magnificent houses with ornately decorated antique doors, you will feel transported back to the time of the sultans and caliphs!

See other Stone Town attractions such as the house of "Tippu Tip", the richest slave dealer in East Africa in the 19th century, the Sultan's Palace, and the House of Wonders, considered the landmark of Stone Town.

Zanzibar

Tag 13: Enjoy Another Relaxing Day in Paradise

This day is also dedicated to rest and relaxation in your Zanzibar beach hotel. You've earned it!

It's entirely up to you whether you want to spend the day simply basking in the African sun or whether you would rather do something a little more active and book one of the many tours on offer at the hotel.

Zanzibar

Tag 14: Farewell!

After a wonderful trip to Tanzania and Zanzibar, it's now time to say goodbye.

You will be driven from your hotel to the airport where you will start your journey home.

Perhaps we'll meet again soon in Tanzania! There's so much to discover!