14 Days - Great Migration Safari, Cultural Encounters & Zanzibar Escape

Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport and meet your Serengeti Steppe Travels representative for a private road transfer to Arusha. After checking into your hotel, the remainder of the afternoon is free to rest and recover from international travel.

In the evening, enjoy a safari briefing covering migration strategy, Serengeti sector positioning, and how daily routes may adapt based on wildlife movement.

Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Wake early for breakfast before driving across Maasai plains toward Tarangire. Game viewing begins upon entry, with slow exploration of baobab-studded savanna and seasonal riverbeds frequented by elephant families.

Spend the day tracking wildlife along water sources, enjoying a picnic lunch inside the park before continuing deeper into productive zones in the afternoon.

Late in the day, exit the park and drive to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, travel through the Ngorongoro Highlands toward the Serengeti, passing volcanic scenery and pastoral communities.

Enter the central plains around midday, enjoy lunch, then set out on an afternoon game drive through granite kopjes and wide grasslands that support lions, cheetahs, leopards, and resident hyena clans.

Arrive at camp before sunset for dinner and overnight.

Depart central areas after breakfast on Day 4, driving north through changing ecosystems while game viewing en route. Woodland gradually gives way to rolling plains and river corridors — natural funnels for migrating herds.

Over two full days, exploration concentrates on major river systems and surrounding grasslands where wildebeest columns gather, predators patrol, and crocodiles wait during crossing season. Early mornings focus on active wildlife movement, while midday hours are used to reposition between likely crossing points and rest during peak heat.

Picnic lunches maximize time in the field, and guides continually adapt routes based on fresh tracks and real-time sightings. Evenings are spent at a strategically located camp close to migration routes, allowing fast access at dawn for the following day’s search.

Enjoy a morning drive before breakfast, then begin the southward journey using new wildlife corridors.

The route passes cheetah hunting grounds, leopard-rich riverine woodland, and rocky kopjes favored by lion prides. Lunch is taken en route while continuing wildlife exploration through the afternoon.

Arrive back in the central plains for dinner and overnight.

Depart early and climb into the highlands before descending into the crater for a morning game drive across wetlands, grasslands, and soda lakes.

Search for elephant bulls, hippo pods, dense predator populations, and the endangered black rhino.

After a picnic lunch, ascend the crater walls and continue to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, descend into the Rift Valley toward Lake Eyasi, where arid landscapes replace fertile farmland.

Spend the morning with the Hadzabe community learning traditional hunting techniques and fire-making skills, followed by a visit to Datoga blacksmiths practicing centuries-old metalwork traditions.

Return to your lodge in the afternoon to relax before dinner.

After an early breakfast, depart the Karatu area by road toward the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, passing coffee plantations, forested slopes, and rural villages as Africa’s highest peak gradually comes into view.

On arrival at the park gate, meet local mountain guides and complete registration formalities before beginning a guided day hike along a well-established trail through lush montane rainforest. This lower forest zone is rich in birdlife and colobus monkeys, with towering trees draped in moss and ferns creating a dramatic contrast to the open savannas visited earlier in the safari.

The hike is paced comfortably, allowing time for photography, rest stops, and interpretation from your guide about Kilimanjaro’s ecology and climbing routes. A picnic lunch is enjoyed at a scenic turning point on the trail before descending back to the park gate in the afternoon and begin flight arrangements to Zanzibar.

Spend three nights on Zanzibar’s northern shoreline enjoying uninterrupted beach time.

Days are entirely at leisure, allowing guests to swim in turquoise waters, arrange snorkeling or diving excursions, indulge in spa treatments, take sunset dhow cruises, or simply relax beneath the palms with a book.

Evenings are ideal for ocean-front dinners and star-filled skies, with gentle sea breezes closing each day.

After breakfast, transfer to Zanzibar’s old town district for a cultural finale.

Join a guided walking tour through narrow alleys, bustling markets, historic buildings, and waterfront palaces. The afternoon is free for souvenir shopping or relaxing at a harbor-side café before overnight at a heritage-style hotel.

After breakfast, transfer to the international airport for onward travel, marking the end of this comprehensive Great Migration safari and island escape with Serengeti Steppe Travels.