Arusha - Serengeti and Manyara Safaris

Package Overview

Overview

The Arusha – Serengeti and Manyara safari represents the quintessential Tanzanian wildlife experience, combining three of the country's most celebrated destinations into one seamless journey. Beginning in Arusha, the vibrant gateway city at the foot of Mount Meru, this safari takes travellers through the diverse ecosystems of Lake Manyara National Park and into the legendary plains of the Serengeti, offering a remarkable cross-section of Tanzania's natural heritage in a single, unforgettable itinerary.

Arusha itself is more than just a starting point. Nestled between Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru, this bustling city serves as the safari capital of northern Tanzania and offers its own attractions, including the Arusha National Park, the Cultural Heritage Centre, and the Maasai Market. For many travellers, Arusha is where the safari adventure truly begins — the sights, sounds, and smells of the city setting the stage for the wilderness that lies ahead.

From Arusha, the journey leads to Lake Manyara National Park, a slender strip of protected land stretching along the base of the Great Rift Valley escarpment. Despite its modest size of just 330 square kilometers, Lake Manyara punches far above its weight in wildlife and scenery. The park is famous for its tree-climbing lions, one of only two places in Africa where lions routinely rest in the branches of trees. Its groundwater forest, fed by springs from the escarpment, supports dense populations of elephants, baboons, and over 400 bird species, including thousands of flamingos that gather on the alkaline lake during the wet season. The dramatic Rift Valley backdrop, with its steep cliffs and lush vegetation, makes Manyara one of the most photogenic parks in Tanzania.

The safari then continues to the Serengeti, the crown jewel of Tanzania's national park system. Covering approximately 14,750 square kilometers, the Serengeti is synonymous with the Great Migration, the largest circular movement of animals on the planet, involving up to two million wildebeest, hundreds of thousands of zebras, and gazelles. The name comes from the Maasai word siringet, meaning "endless plains," and that is precisely what the southern and central regions deliver — vast, treeless grasslands stretching to the horizon, broken only by granite kopjes and the occasional acacia. The Serengeti is also home to Africa's highest density of lions — over 3,000 — and offers the best chance in Tanzania to witness cheetahs hunting on the open plains, leopards resting in trees, and the raw drama of predator and prey on a continental scale.

Together, Arusha, Lake Manyara, and the Serengeti offer a complete Tanzanian safari experience. Arusha provides the cultural and logistical gateway, Manyara delivers intimacy and dramatic scenery, and the Serengeti offers immensity, spectacle, and the greatest wildlife show on Earth. Whether you have three days or ten, this combination captures the essence of what makes Tanzania one of the world's premier safari destinations.

Itinerary