This route links four parts of Tanzania over 11 nights. It begins with a single night in Arusha, the staging town on Mount Meru’s slopes, then climbs to the north-western rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, where highland walks sit above the caldera floor. From there it moves onto the Serengeti plains in a camp that relocates with the migrating herds, before flying west to the rainforest and white-sand shore of the Mahale Mountains on Lake Tanganyika.
You travel by road on the northern circuit and by light aircraft and dhow to reach Mahale. Days hold full-day game drives, guided rim and forest walks, boma visits, and chimpanzee tracking on foot from camp. The accommodation runs from a family-run farmhouse to remote camps and a lakeshore lodge, small in scale and chosen for position.
The trip starts with a single night on the forested lower slopes of Mount Meru, around 20 kilometres east of Arusha and a half-hour from Kilimanjaro International Airport. Ngare Sero is a 1905 colonial farmhouse run by the Leach family since 1974, wrapped around gardens, indigenous forest and a spring-fed lake. Colobus and Sykes' monkeys move through the canopy, and more than 200 bird species have been recorded here. Meals lean on the estate's organic garden and freshly caught trout.
Entamanu sits on the quiet north-western rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, facing the sunrise to the east and the Southern Serengeti to the west. Guided walks lead along the rim and through nearby forests with a Nomad guide and a Maasai guide, and longer excursions reach the Olmoti and Empakai craters. Full-day game drives descend early via the Seneto road to the crater floor, where lion, spotted hyena, elephant, buffalo and black rhino share the caldera with zebra, wildebeest and gazelle.
Laba is a mobile tented camp that relocates three times a year across the Serengeti to follow the migrating wildebeest and zebra. From December to March it sits on the Ndutu plains for the calving; by mid-year it shifts west toward the Grumeti, then north to the Mara River. Styled by Xavier Marie and Julie Brisson, the camp holds up to 22 guests, with leather armchairs and a mess tent filled with rare books, fossils and meteorites. At night the animals are audible from the tents.
A light aircraft and a dhow reach Greystoke Mahale, a dhow-wood lodge on a white-sand beach where rainforest climbs steeply behind six bandas. The forest holds the habituated M-group, studied by Japanese researchers since the 1960s, and guests track on foot from camp with guides and rangers. A trek may be a gentle walk or several steep hours. Afternoons belong to the lake, with swimming, snorkelling among the cichlids, kayaking and sunset dhow drifts.
Ed Charles, BBC Producer
Fitzroy are true specialists in accessing the wilderness. They know where to go and importantly, when to go there. Highly recommended.
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tanzania
Twelve nights across remote Ruaha, the Rufiji at Nyerere and the Bwejuu coast of Zanzibar, from bush to reef.
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tanzania
Fly by light aircraft into the Serengeti for three nights tracking the migration, with walks, bikes and crater drives.
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tanzania
Twelve nights linking Ruaha's escarpment game drives with eight nights on Zanzibar's Bwejuu coast and its coral reef.
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Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
Every journey starts with a conversation. We favour a direct, personal approach: understanding your vision before anything else.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape a journey that is both thoughtfully considered and expertly delivered.
Get in touch to start planning yours.
