Ngorongoro, the Serengeti and Zanzibar in 9 days (8 nights)

9 days · Tanzania · Arusha → Zanzibar · best 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Northern Tanzania's two best-known parks and then the island, shaped to keep road time low. The first leg runs from the arrival airport up into the crater highlands, with a full day down on the caldera floor, where game stays put all year. A short flight crosses to the Serengeti for three nights on the plains. The last flight goes straight to the coast for three nights of reef and quiet. Bush and beach sit one hop apart, which is what makes eight nights stretch across two parks and an island.

The route, stop by stop

1. Ngorongoro, Tanzania · 2 nights

Arrive by drive — Arrival in the north, then a drive up the Rift Valley into the crater highlands

Two nights allows a whole day on the crater floor without the drive up and the drive out eating into it.

2. Serengeti, Tanzania · 3 nights

Arrive by fly — Short charter flight from the highlands onto the plains

Three nights covers the resident plains game as well as whatever the migration is doing that month, without one of the days going to transit.

3. Zanzibar, Tanzania · 3 nights

Arrive by fly — Flight from the plains out to the island, then a transfer to a beach hotel

Three nights is the least that justifies the flight, and it leaves a day for the reef, a day for Stone Town and a day doing nothing at all.

Experts who can arrange this trip

• The Safari Vibe, who works in Tanzania.

More trip ideas · Tanzania