This nine-day journey takes us through some of northern Tanzania’s most impressive places. From Arusha and the Ngorongoro Crater to the vast plains of the Serengeti, experience Tanzania with Destination Earth. Join us on traditional game drives, a walking safari, wildlife viewing after dark, and time with local communities near Lake Eyasi.
July brings us into the Northern Serengeti during one of the highlights of the Great Migration. We’ll spend two days in a bush camp with guides who track the migration of wildebeest through the plains. Our local guides will take us to the Mara River, where we can witness the Great Migration first hand.
Guests can choose to extend their trip with a five day, four-night trip to Zanzibar. We begin in historic Stone Town and end on Zanzibar’s Indian Ocean coast. Come with us we take a ride on a traditional dhow boat, visit a turtle sanctuary, and visit Timbatu Island.
July 19 - July 27, 2027
Starting from
$7800
per person based on double occupancy
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Activity Level: Light
Altruism Index: 5
Service Level: Upgraded
Group Size: Min 4 pax, Max 15 pax
Travel Experience: Mixed Bag
Trip Highlights:
Jud Yaski is an adventure travel veteran with more than 22 years of experience spanning international travel, extreme sports, and corporate hospitality. Over the past two decades, he has explored destinations throughout Southeast Asia, Hawaii, and South America. His deep appreciation for these regions and their cultures—combined with firsthand, immersive travel experience in each location—shapes the thoughtfully curated adventures he shares with travelers.
Arrival
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport, where you’ll meet your safari guide and transfer to Arusha. Located between Kilimanjaro and the landscapes of Tanzania’s northern safari route, Arusha is our starting point for the journey ahead.
After checking into the hotel, the remainder of the day is open to rest after your international flight and get settled before we begin exploring the next morning.
Arusha National Park & Karatu
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After breakfast, we head to Arusha National Park for our first game drive. With Mount Meru rising in the background, we’ll begin looking for giraffes, zebras, buffalo, monkeys, antelope, and other wildlife.
The park is especially known for its black-and-white colobus monkeys, which are often seen moving through the forest canopy. We will stop at the Momella Lakes, where flamingos and other waterbirds gather.
After our game drive, we continue to Karatu, our base for the next two nights.
Overnight: Eileen’s Trees (or similar)
Hadzabe & Datoga Communities and Local School Visit
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Today shifts our focus from wildlife to the people and communities of northern Tanzania. We travel toward the Lake Eyasi area to spend time with members of the Hadzabe and Datoga communities.
The Hadzabe have maintained hunting and gathering traditions in the Lake Eyasi region, while the Datoga are traditionally pastoralists known for metalworking and blacksmithing. During our visit, we’ll learn about daily life, traditional skills, local crafts, and the ways these communities have adapted while maintaining important cultural practices.
We’ll also visit a local school, where we’ll meet teachers and students and learn more about education in the area. Destination Earth travelers will have an opportunity to contribute useful educational supplies based on the school’s current needs.
Afterward, we return to the lodge for some free time before dinner.
Overnight: Eileen’s Trees (or similar)
Ngorongoro Crater & the Serengeti
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After an early breakfast, we travel to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and descend into Ngorongoro Crater for a full safari experience with a picnic lunch along the way.
Ngorongoro is the world’s largest unbroken volcanic caldera and one of Africa’s most significant wildlife areas. Its grasslands, wetlands, forests, and water sources support a remarkable concentration of animals within the crater. The larger conservation area is also unusual because wildlife conservation exists alongside traditional pastoral communities.
As we explore the crater floor, our guide will help us understand how geology created this landscape and how its different habitats support the wildlife living here.
After our crater safari, we continue toward Central Serengeti, watching the landscape open into the grasslands that define one of the world’s best-known wildlife ecosystems.
Overnight: Baobab Central Tented Camp, Serengeti (or similar)
Into the Northern Serengeti
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Today we travel north through Serengeti National Park, but the journey itself is part of the safari. We’ll game drive along the way, stopping to view wildlife activity
Our destination is the Northern Serengeti, where the Great Migration often reaches the Mara River region during the dry season.
We’ll spend the afternoon tracking wildlife and looking for wildebeest, lions, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, and other animals that use this part of the Serengeti. We will enjoy a picnic lunch.
Overnight: Moyo Migration Camp, Northern Serengeti (or similar)
Great Migration & Northern Serengeti
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
We have a full day dedicated to exploring the Northern Serengeti.
During migration season, large wildebeest herds may gather near the Mara River as they move between grazing areas in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. River crossings are unpredictable and herds may gather for hours or even days before moving. They may change direction entirely, or cross without warning.
Our guide will use current wildlife movements to determine where we spend the day. We’ll stop for a bush picnic lunch before continuing our game drive through the afternoon, looking for migrating herds, predators and other wildlife.
We return to camp for dinner and another night in the Northern Serengeti.
Overnight: Moyo Migration Camp, Northern Serengeti
Walking Safari & Serengeti Game Drive
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
This morning we leave the safari vehicle behind for a different perspective on the Serengeti: a guided walking safari followed by a bush breakfast.
The walking safari will focus on tracks, plants, insects, animal signs, and the smaller things we can’t see from a vehicle. Our guide will help us read clues in the landscape, identify animal prints, and plants.
After breakfast, we return to camp for some time to rest before heading out again in the afternoon.
We’ll continue our safari by vehicle as we travel toward Central Serengeti, watching for wildlife along the way before arriving at camp for dinner.
Overnight: Dove Serengeti (or similar)
Serengeti & Lake Manyara After Dark
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
After breakfast, we begin with another morning game drive through Serengeti National Park before traveling toward the Lake Manyara and Karatu region. Wildlife viewing continues along the route.
After arriving at our lodge, we will enjoy some free time before taking an evening night drive.
Many animals become more active after dark and the night drives use spotlights to search for nocturnal wildlife. Species found in the area can include genets, civets, bushbabies, porcupines, hippos, and more.
It’s a chance to experience the bush through sound and movement and to see how a familiar landscape changes once the sun goes down.
Overnight: Manyara Serena Safari Lodge
Arusha & Onward to Zanzibar
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
After breakfast, we travel back toward Arusha. There will be an opportunity to visit local markets or shops for souvenirs before continuing to Arusha Airport.
From here, the safari portion of our Tanzania journey comes to an end as we prepare to continue onward to Zanzibar.
Those headed home will return to JRO and those headed to Zanzibar will fly out of Arusha.
Zanzibar extension 5days/4nights $1850
Stone Town History & Nungwi Beach
Meals: Breakfast & Dinner
We begin early with a visit to Stone Town’s fish market, where the morning activity offers a glimpse into the everyday working life of the city before we set out on a guided historical walking tour.
We will walk our way through Stone Town’s narrow streets and learn how centuries of trade shaped Zanzibar’s culture. The tour includes historical sites, local markets and, the distinctive carved Zanzibar doors.
After our exploration of Stone Town, we leave the city and travel north to Nungwi Beach. Here, the character of the trip changes as we move from the historic streets of the capital to Zanzibar’s Indian Ocean coastline.
Overnight: Mantis Nungwi Dreams, Nungwi (or similar)
Mnemba Marine Life & Tumbatu Island
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Today combines Zanzibar’s marine environment with an opportunity to learn more about island life and local culture.
We begin with a snorkeling excursion in the waters near Mnemba. This area is known for its coral. We will explore the waters around the island, where we may encounter colorful reef fish, turtles, and dolphins.
Our day also includes a cultural experience on Tumbatu Island. We travel by small boat from the fishing community of Mkokotoni and spend time learning about daily life on the island. The visit includes local fishing traditions and traps, dhow building and repair, community spaces, and traditional uses of plants and herbs.
A local lunch is served on Tumbatu before we return to Nungwi.
Overnight: Mantis Nungwi Dreams, Nungwi
Nungwi & Marine Conservation
Meals: Breakfast & Dinner
Today gives us time to enjoy Zanzibar’s northern coast.
Today we visit Under The Wave, a marine conservation organization working to protect Zanzibar’s reefs and coastal ecosystems. We will learn about the challenges facing the marine environment here and see some of the practical conservation work being done in about it.
Overnight: Mantis Nungwi Dreams, Nungwi (or similar)
Departure from Zanzibar
Meals: Breakfast
After breakfast, we have our final morning in Zanzibar before checking out of the hotel and transferring to Abeid Amani Karume International Airport for flights home.
After traveling from Tanzania’s wildlife-rich interior to the Indian Ocean, Zanzibar gives us a very different final chapter to the journey. Over the extension, we experience the island through its Swahili history, coastal communities, traditional sailing culture, marine life, and conservation work — adding another layer to our understanding of Tanzania beyond the safari landscape.
Nightly Accommodations
Almost all Meals!
Transportation & Fees:
Personal items & equipment
Visas:
International Airfare:
Gratuities & Donations:
(optional: School supplies, shoes, clothing, money)
(see itinerary below for opportunities)
Travel Insurance (required)
Your Own room:
Tanzania: Add $1300
Zanzabar: not available
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, USA
"Jud and Steve did a fabulous job on my recent tour with them to Myanmar and Sumatra. They really listen carefully to our desires and are open to making any adjustments in their planned itinerary to give everybody everything they want to experience. For example, the main reason I signed up for the trip was to photograph the ancient temples in Bagan. Well, following a less than stellar sunset shoot at the temples on our last night due to weather, even though we were flying out about 10 AM the next morning, they scrambled and put together a sunrise shoot that turned out to be mind blowing incredible! I’m so thankful for that ?? and it remains as one of my top two memories of the trip. All along the way we stayed very comfortably in great hotels and ate wonderful local food. So, thanks guys, we’ll definitely do it again!"
California, US
"DO IT!!! Steve, Jud and Tom, our guides were the best hosts and had crazy knowledge about where the best places were. Spectacular and breath taking!"
California, USA
"I have had the great pleasure of participating in two tours with Destination Earth. One was on the Big Island and one was on Kauai. Both tours were beyond amazing. The leaders Steve and Jud were experienced, professional, organized and great fun to be with. The accommodations were great and perfectly situated. The chef prepared local cuisine and was amenable to personal preferences. Overall, both experiences were wonderful. I felt safe at all times and appreciated the camaraderie and flexibility of the guides."
