The Crater Escape: 3-Day Tanzania Express Safari

It depends on the time of year. You visit either Tarangire National Park, known for baobabs and elephant herds, or Lake Manyara National Park, known for tree-climbing lions and flamingos. Your guide chooses the park with better game for your dates. Either way you have a picnic lunch and an afternoon game drive before the climb to the crater rim.

Day two is a full day inside the crater. You descend about 600 metres to the floor after an early breakfast, look for lions, elephants, buffalo, zebras and black rhino, and have a picnic lunch beside the hippo pool. You return to the rim in the late afternoon.

Both nights are at Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge on the crater rim, so you don't change hotels. You arrive on day one in time for sunset over the caldera. Because the lodge sits on the rim, you spend very little time driving before the crater descent on day two.

On the morning of day three you take a guided cultural walk in a nearby village or the highlands, learning about the traditions and daily life of local families. It's a relaxed way to see the human side of the Ngorongoro area before you drive back to Arusha or Kilimanjaro.

It starts in Arusha with a morning departure with your guide. On day three you're driven back to Arusha or to Kilimanjaro, depending on your onward travel plans, so you can connect to a flight, a climb or another trip. Tell us your onward plans when you book.

Three days is short, but the Ngorongoro Crater is one of the best places in Tanzania to look for the Big Five in one day, including black rhino. No one can promise every species, and leopard is the least likely. If you can spare more time, our Arusha team can add a night or another park.

Travellers short on time: people adding a safari to a business trip, a Kilimanjaro climb or a Zanzibar holiday, and first-timers who want a taste of Tanzania. The pace is easy and the game viewing is from the vehicle, so it works for most ages.

Warm layers, because the crater rim is high and mornings and evenings are cold. Bring a fleece or light jacket, neutral clothing for game drives, a hat, sunscreen and sunglasses. Comfortable shoes help on the cultural walk, and binoculars are useful on the crater floor.

The The Crater Escape: 3-Day Tanzania Express Safari is 3 days and 2 nights. The day-by-day itinerary on this page shows where you go and stay each day.

This trip visits Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara National Park.

It is rated easy: no special fitness is needed.

It runs for groups of 2 to 8 travellers.

Included: Full board accommodation at Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge, All game drives in 4x4 safari vehicles with pop-up roofs, Professional English-speaking safari guide, Park entry fees for all national parks, Ngorongoro Crater descent fee, Bottled water during game drives, Cultural village walk and All transfers and transportation, and more (see the full list on this page).

Not included: International flights, Visa fees, Travel insurance (recommended), Alcoholic beverages, Tips and gratuities for guide and lodge staff, Personal items and souvenirs, Optional activities not mentioned in itinerary and Additional meals and drinks outside of full board.