Tanzania safari for three generations: Tarangire, Ngorongoro and the Serengeti

1. Day 1: Arrive in Arusha

   Kilimanjaro International Airport to Arusha

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Early welcome dinner, about 6:30 pm
   • Stay in Arusha
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), between Moshi and Arusha. We meet each family after arrivals and drive about an hour west, roughly 50 km on tarmac, to a garden hotel in Arusha at the foot of Mount Meru. On a clear afternoon Kilimanjaro shows above the clouds from the airport road, a good first thing for the children to spot. Any arrival time works: if you land early, the afternoon is for the pool, a nap after the long flight, or a short walk in the garden. At about half past five your See Sight Tours guide gives a short briefing for all three generations: why game drives start early, how the two 4x4s are arranged so each family rides together, which seats suit stiff backs, what to wear against tsetse flies, and how bush toilet stops work. The welcome dinner follows at about half past six, early enough for young children and tired travellers. If your flight lands late, your guide catches you up at breakfast.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO)
   • Welcome briefing for the whole family
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the 5:30 pm briefing

   Activity: Any arrival time works on day 1.

   

2. Day 2: Tarangire's elephants and baobabs

   Arusha to Tarangire National Park

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Tarangire
   Day 2 details

   After a relaxed breakfast we leave at about half past eight in two 4x4 Land Cruisers and drive about two hours south-west on tarmac, some 120 km, through Maasai grazing country, with a stop for coffee and a toilet halfway. We reach our lodge, in or beside Tarangire National Park, in time for lunch. The hottest hours are for a rest and the lodge pool, which we ask for, which suits grandparents and children alike, and the animals shelter from the heat too. At about four we drive out along the Tarangire River. In the dry months it is the main water for miles around, so elephant herds come down to drink, and the great baobabs above the banks carry scars where elephants have stripped the bark. Zebra, giraffe and wildebeest graze the grass beside the river, and lions rest in the shade. The drive is about two and a half hours, with the roof up for standing, and we are back before dark for dinner at about seven.

   Included

   • Lunch at the lodge
   • Late-afternoon game drive along the Tarangire River

   Easier option: Skip the late drive and stay at the lodge pool.

   Free time: Midday free at the lodge

   Activity: Dress in khaki, beige or green, not dark blue or black, against tsetse flies.

3. Day 3: Tarangire to Mto wa Mbu and Karatu

   Tarangire to Mto wa Mbu, then up to Karatu

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Karatu
   Day 3 details

   This is the one packing morning of the first half, kept gentle. Early risers can join an optional dawn drive at about half past six, back for breakfast; everyone else sleeps in. At about nine we drive slowly out of the park with the bags aboard, then about an hour and a half north on tarmac, some 90 km, to Mto wa Mbu, a farming town at the foot of the Rift Valley wall whose name means river of mosquitoes in Swahili. A local guide leads a short, flat walk of about 40 minutes through the banana groves and irrigated rice fields; grandparents who prefer can follow the same lanes in the vehicle and meet us at a painters' workshop. Lunch is in the village, with a fee paid to the community. Then a 40-minute climb up the escarpment to Karatu, a cooler highland town among farms at about 1,500 metres. We check in by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is for the lodge pool, where we have asked for one, and an early dinner.

   Included

   • Game drive out of Tarangire National Park
   • Mto wa Mbu banana and rice field walk with a local guide
   • Lunch in Mto wa Mbu

   Easier option: Ride the village lanes in the vehicle instead of walking.

   More active option: The optional dawn drive in Tarangire before breakfast.

   Free time: From mid-afternoon at the Karatu lodge

   Activity: About 2.5 hours on the road in three legs, none longer than about 1.5 hours.

   

4. Day 4: Ngorongoro Crater at opening

   Karatu to the Ngorongoro Crater floor and back

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Karatu
   Day 4 details

   We leave Karatu at about a quarter past six with breakfast packed and blankets in the vehicles, climb through the forest of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and stop at the rim, where the caldera lies some 600 metres below. We drive down as the descent road opens, early in the morning at a time we confirm with your dates, among the first vehicles of the day, while mist still lies on the floor. Ngorongoro is a collapsed volcano with about 260 square kilometres of grassland, swamp and a soda lake inside its walls. Lions, hyenas, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest and hippos live here all year, and it is the best chance on this trip of a black rhino, though they are few and usually distant. There is no walking: you watch from your seat or stand under the roof. Breakfast and lunch are picnics at sites with toilets, one beside a hippo pool. We climb out in the early afternoon, within the time each vehicle is allowed on the floor, as it gets busy, and are back at the lodge by about three, with the rest of the day free.

   Included

   • Ngorongoro Crater rim viewpoint
   • Ngorongoro Crater game drive from the opening of the descent road
   • Picnic breakfast and lunch on the crater floor

   Easier option: Stay at the lodge pool all afternoon.

   More active option: A guided walk in the farmland around the lodge in the late afternoon.

   Free time: Afternoon free at the Karatu lodge

   Activity: The earliest start of the trip, about 6:15 am. The rim is cold at dawn: warm layers for everyone. About 6 hours in the vehicle, with toilet stops at the picnic sites: the one day over the 2.5-hour transfer cap, because it is a game drive.

   

5. Day 5: A coffee farm, then fly to the Serengeti

   Karatu to the Lake Manyara airstrip, flight to Seronera in the central Serengeti

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Serengeti
   Day 5 details

   A slow start after yesterday. After breakfast we walk a coffee farm near the lodge with a local guide: the children pick ripe red cherries, everyone sees the beans hulled and roasted over a fire, and the adults taste a cup. Older children and parents can follow the farm tracks by bike instead. After an early lunch we drive about 45 minutes, some 25 km, to the Lake Manyara airstrip on the escarpment and board a scheduled light aircraft to Seronera, about an hour over the crater highlands and the short-grass plains. Flying replaces the five-hour gravel drive into the Serengeti that most northern circuit trips take, which is the hardest day for grandparents and young children alike. Our 4x4s and driver-guides leave Karatu at dawn with the main luggage and meet the plane, so your bag on the flight can be small. From the airstrip a short game drive among the kopjes of the Seronera valley brings us to camp for an early dinner.

   Included

   • Coffee farm visit near Karatu with a local guide
   • Scheduled light-aircraft flight from the Lake Manyara airstrip to Seronera
   • Game drive from Seronera airstrip to camp

   Easier option: Stay at the lodge pool until the transfer to the airstrip.

   More active option: Ride the coffee farm tracks by bike.

   Free time: Late morning free at the Karatu lodge

   Activity: The flight time is set by the airline and confirmed at booking. The main luggage travels by road in our vehicles.

6. Day 6: A full day in the Serengeti

   Dawn and late-afternoon game drives around Seronera

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Serengeti
   Day 6 details

   Today the two vehicles run on different clocks, which is the advantage of having two. One leaves camp at first light, at about 6:15 to 6:30 all year this close to the equator, with hot chocolate and coffee in flasks, for the hours when lions and cheetahs hunt and the light is low. The other leaves after a full breakfast at about half past eight, for grandparents and children who need their sleep. Both explore the Seronera valley, where lions rest on the granite kopjes and leopards lie up in the sausage trees along the river, and both are back at camp for lunch. The hot middle hours are for a rest, a book or the pool where the camp has one. At about four everyone drives out together until sundown, then dinner is early. If you have booked the optional balloon flight (the operator usually sets a minimum age of 7), you lift off at dawn instead and rejoin us after a champagne breakfast in the bush.

   Included

   • Dawn game drive or a later morning drive, your choice
   • Lunch at camp
   • Late-afternoon game drive to sunset

   Optional experiences

   • Hot-air balloon flight at dawn. Booked in advance; the operator usually sets a minimum age of 7, so a 6-year-old may not fly. Confirmed at booking.

   Easier option: Take the later morning drive and skip the afternoon one.

   More active option: Join the dawn drive and the afternoon drive.

   Free time: Midday free at camp

   Activity: We ask for a camp with a pool, but not every Serengeti camp has one; we tell you which yours has when we confirm your dates.

7. Day 7: Fly home from the Serengeti

   Seronera airstrip, flight to Arusha, then Kilimanjaro International Airport

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   Day 7 details

   A last game drive after breakfast, with the bags already in the vehicles, ends at the Seronera airstrip, where we board a scheduled light aircraft back to Arusha airport. The flight takes about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on stops at other airstrips, and from the window the plains, the crater highlands and the Rift Valley lakes pass below; children often remember it as well as the animals. Flying saves the six to seven hours of road that most northern circuit trips spend getting back from the Serengeti. The 4x4s drive back without us. In Arusha we have lunch together and a chance to rest, then drive about an hour, some 50 km, to Kilimanjaro International Airport. If you are staying on in Arusha, we drop you at your hotel instead. Flight times are set by the airline, so book an international flight leaving JRO after about 6:30 pm, and pack the cabin bag for the plane within the small-plane limit.

   Included

   • Morning game drive to the Seronera airstrip
   • Scheduled light-aircraft flight from the Serengeti to Arusha airport
   • Lunch in Arusha
   • Drop-off at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) or your Arusha hotel

   Activity: Book a flight leaving JRO after about 6:30 pm. Small-plane bag limit, usually about 15 kg per person in a soft bag; extra luggage goes back by road.

Wildlife and weather: June to October is the dry season and fits northern summer holidays: cool mornings, thin grass and animals gathered near water, when Tarangire's elephant herds are at their largest. The great Serengeti herds move through the central and western Serengeti around June and July and are mostly in the far north from August, which this trip does not reach; resident lions, cheetahs and elephants stay all year. December to February brings green hills, warm days and calving on the southern plains, and covers the Christmas and New Year holidays; afternoon showers are possible. We do not run from March to May or in November, the rains, when tracks are hard going.

• Arusha1 night
• Tarangire1 night
• Karatu2 nights
• Serengeti2 nights