You can imagine how incredible your Serengeti & Masai Mara Safari visit is even before you’ve set foot here. You think you know what to expect—big skies, the hush before dawn, lions drifting through pale grass, but the reality feels older, more layered.
Over a period of eight days, with your encounter beginning from Arusha or Moshi, drive through Tarangire’s ancient baobabs, descend into Ngorongoro’s hidden crater, cross the endless Serengeti, and finally reach the Masai Mara for stunning encounters.
Even if you’ve been to Africa before, this route has a way of making you feel newly small in the best way possible because each day brings new terrain, new quiet moments you’ll probably think about long after you return home.
You arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport, blinking into the bright air that always feels softer than expected. A driver waits for you, holding a sign with your name. That small detail settles the first-day nerves.
The road into Arusha isn’t long. You pass fields of maize and small shops painted in bright colors, children waving as you drive past. If the sky is clear, you might glimpse Mount Meru rising in the distance, steady and green.
At your lodge, there’s time to rest, unpack, and watch the last daylight gather in the trees. Some people like to stretch their legs, others simply sit and feel the long journey ease out of their shoulders.
Accommodation
Ilboru Safari Lodge
Outpost Lodge
Arusha Serena Hotel
Arusha Coffee Lodge
After breakfast, you set out for Tarangire National Park. The road carries you past small farms, patches of open savanna, and acacia trees that stand alone like quiet landmarks.
Tarangire feels older than most places. The baobabs rise from the dust, massive and smooth. Elephants gather along the riverbanks, moving slowly, almost as if they’re thinking through each step.
Your guide keeps watch for wildlife. Sometimes you stop for long minutes, watching a herd of zebra shift and settle, or a group of giraffes drifting past without any apparent hurry.
Lunch is a picnic in the shade. The food is simple, but the setting makes it feel like something more deliberate.
By evening, you drive to your lodge near Lake Manyara. The air cools and the sky slides into darker blues.
Accommodation
Migombani Public Campsite
Manyara Safari Camp
Marera Valley Lodge
Gibbs Farm
Morning comes early. You drive up through hills, past farmland and small villages where women carry baskets balanced effortlessly on their heads.
At the crater rim, the view opens all at once. A green bowl stretching out in every direction, more complete than any place you’ve seen before.
Descending into Ngorongoro feels like dropping into another time. The crater floor is busy with life—elephants in the distance, hippos sunk into shallow pools, maybe even a rhino grazing alone.
Lunch is taken at a picnic site, the breeze carrying the calls of birds you might never be able to name.
Later, you climb back to the rim and continue to Karatu. The evening here feels quiet, as if the day has pulled all the words from you.
Accommodation
Simba A Campsite
Eileen’s Trees Inn
Acacia Farm Lodge
The Manor at Ngorongoro
You set out after breakfast, the road winding past Olduvai Gorge. Some travelers stop to look over the valley where early humans once lived, though it’s also fine to keep moving.
By midday, the Serengeti opens out in front of you. The grass seems endless, pale gold under the sun.
Your guide watches for movement. Sometimes a lion appears without warning, just a shape in the grass that slowly becomes clearer. Other times, the herds stretch to the horizon in slow, deliberate lines.
Lunch is a packed meal, eaten wherever the day leads. Evening brings you to camp, where the darkness settles in gently, and the sounds of the plains replace everything else.
Accommodation
Seronera Public Campsite
Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp
Kati Kati Tented Camp
Melia Serengeti Lodge
Wake up early and set off for the day’s adventure, proceed to the Serengeti’s wild savannah in search of the predators.
This is when predators are most active. You might watch a lion pride moving with a focus that feels both casual and exact. Or a cheetah sitting alone, scanning the distance.
Breakfast can be packed or taken back at camp. The day fills with moments you can’t always predict—a sudden burst of zebra across the track, vultures circling overhead.
By evening, you return to camp, feeling that good kind of tired that comes from paying close attention all day.
Accommodation
Seronera Public Campsite
Serengeti Heritage Tented Camp
Kati Kati Tented Camp
Melia Serengeti Lodge
After breakfast, you leave the Serengeti behind, driving north toward the Isebania border. The landscape changes subtly as you travel—grass giving way to hills, trees gathering in small clusters.
Crossing into Kenya feels like slipping into a parallel version of the Serengeti. The Masai Mara stretches out in familiar colors but with a mood all its own.
Relax as your guide handles the formalities, and later hands you to the Kenya safari guide before you finally drive to your camp, arriving in time to rest before dinner. The night feels wider here somehow, the stars more insistent.
Accommodation
Enchoro Wildlife Camp
Mara Sopa Lodge
Basecamp Masai Mara
Neptune Mara Rianta Luxury Camp
You spend the day exploring the Masai Mara, as you keep following the herds if the migration is still moving through.
Even if you’ve seen thousands of animals already, this place feels different. The herds gather in patterns that look almost choreographed. Lions trail them, patient. Cheetahs watch from low mounds, waiting.
Lunch is taken in the bush, a quiet moment with the plains spreading in every direction.
Evening returns you to camp. The air cools, and you find yourself already missing it, though you haven’t even left yet.
Accommodation
Enchoro Wildlife Camp
Mara Sopa Lodge
Basecamp Masai Mara
Neptune Mara Rianta Luxury Camp
After breakfast, you drive out of the Masai Mara. The land slowly shifts from open plains to cultivated fields.
By afternoon, you arrive in Nairobi, the city moving at its own pace.
Some journeys end with a clear sense of conclusion. Others, like this Serengeti & Masai Mara Safari, feel more like a door you’ve only partly opened. If you’d like help shaping this into something even more personal, just ask.
Step into the heart of Africa. Witness Tanzania’s wild wonders up close. Your soul-stirring safari begins here.
Address: 7th Floor, Market Street, Arusha – Tanzania
Phone: +255 767-837-026
Email: book@ngorongorocratersafaris.com
