Polecat Safaris
A couple standing arm in arm with champagne at a private sundowner table on a rocky outcrop, the sky turning red behind them

Honeymoon

9-Day Romantic Luxury Safari

Duration
9 Days
From
US$ 6,242 per person

Overview

Eight nights for couples with time to spend: a walking safari under Mount Meru, a bush flight to two nights in the Serengeti, a walk along the crater rim, the crater floor itself, then Manyara and Tarangire on the way back.

  • A private luxury safari with your own professional guide
  • A scenic bush flight from Arusha into the Serengeti
  • Two nights in the Serengeti at Lala Salama
  • A guided walking safari in Arusha National Park, with an armed ranger
  • A second guided walk along the Ngorongoro Crater rim
  • The Big Five on the crater floor
  • Lake Manyara as its own day, not a stop on a transfer
  • A Tarangire day, with an optional night game drive
  • Built for honeymoons, anniversaries and the odd very good reason
Duration
9 days, 8 nights
Destination
Arusha, Serengeti & the Crater Highlands
Stops
6
Experience
Honeymoon
Best time
June – October & January – March

The route, and how far apart these places are

Arusha National Park · Serengeti · Ngorongoro · Karatu · Lake Manyara · Tarangire

Route Map

Day by day

Every day here is private — your own guide and your own vehicle — so the order holds but the hours are yours to move.

Day 1 01

Arrival in Arusha

Your guide meets you at Kilimanjaro International Airport and drives you to Hamerkop House by Lemala, in the foothills of Mount Meru — a small, quiet luxury lodge with gardens worth sitting in.

Dinner is a welcome dinner, and the evening is otherwise yours. The guided wildlife walk is complimentary if you would rather move than sit.

Meals
Dinner
Overnight
Hamerkop House by Lemala, Arusha
Hamerkop House by Lemala, Mount Meru foothills

Your Stay

Hamerkop House by Lemala

Optional today

Day 2 02

Arusha National Park, on Foot

After a slow breakfast you drive out to Arusha National Park, which is small, steep and much more varied than the parks you will see later in the week.

You start on foot with an armed ranger — the only way to notice the things a vehicle drives past — then have a picnic lunch and spend the afternoon on a game drive through montane forest, open grassland and the Momella Lakes.

You finish at Koroi Forest Camp, tucked into the trees.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Koroi Forest Camp, Arusha National Park
Highlight
A guided walking safari with an armed ranger
Koroi Forest Camp, Arusha National Park

Your Stay

Koroi Forest Camp

Optional today

Day 3 03

Fly to the Serengeti

A short transfer to Arusha Airport and the scheduled bush flight west, which saves you the better part of a day and is worth staying awake for.

Your guide is at the airstrip. The drive to Lala Salama across the plains is your first game drive.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Lala Salama Serengeti Camp, Central Serengeti
Lala Salama Serengeti Camp, Central Serengeti

Your Stay

Lala Salama Serengeti Camp

Day 4 04

A Full Day in the Serengeti

A whole day in the park. Your guide will work the predators in the morning and the herds later, or the other way around, depending on what the night before turned up.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Lala Salama Serengeti Camp, Central Serengeti (Cont.)

Optional today

Day 5 05

Serengeti to the Crater Highlands

An unhurried game drive in the morning, then the road east into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

On arrival you walk the crater rim with an armed ranger — a genuinely different way to see the place, and the only way to feel how high it is.

The evening is at Meliá Ngorongoro, with the highlands falling away below you.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Meliá Ngorongoro, Ngorongoro Highlands
Highlight
A guided walking safari along the Ngorongoro Crater rim
Melia Ngorongoro, Ngorongoro Highlands

Your Stay

Melia Ngorongoro

Optional today

Day 6 06

The Crater Floor, and Karatu

Down into the crater, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the single most reliable day’s game viewing in the country.

You spend the day on the floor looking for the Big Five, black rhino among them, and then climb out towards the Karatu highlands and Kitela Lodge — gardens, coffee, and a very quiet evening.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Kitela Lodge, Karatu
Kitela Lodge, Karatu

Your Stay

Kitela Lodge

Optional today

Day 7 07

Lake Manyara

A game drive through Lake Manyara after breakfast — groundwater forest, then open country, then the lakeshore, which is a lot of habitat for one small park.

Elephant, hippo, big baboon troops, a great deal of birdlife, and the tree-climbing lions if you are lucky.

The evening is at Elephant Springs.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Elephant Springs
Elephant Springs by Karibu Camps, Tarangire (inside park)

Your Stay

Elephant Springs by Karibu Camps

Optional today

Day 8 08

Tarangire, and Back to Arusha

Tarangire for the day — ancient baobabs, the river, and the elephant herds the park is famous for.

If you want one more thing, a night game drive can be arranged, which shows you a completely different set of animals.

Then the road back to Arusha and Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge for the last night.

Meals
Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Overnight
Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge, Arusha
Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge, Arusha

Your Stay

Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge

Optional today

Day 9 09

Departure

Breakfast among the coffee at Elewana, then a private transfer to the airport.

If your flight is late enough we will fit in Shanga Shanga on the way — locally made work, and a social enterprise worth the half hour.

Meals
Breakfast

What the rate covers

Everything below is settled before you travel. What isn’t covered is listed just as plainly, so nothing on this trip arrives as a surprise.

Included

  • A private luxury 4×4 safari vehicle with a pop-up roof
  • A professional English-speaking safari guide throughout
  • The scheduled flight from Arusha to the Serengeti
  • All luxury accommodation as listed
  • All meals on safari
  • All private game drives listed
  • The guided walking safaris in Arusha National Park and on the crater rim
  • Park, conservation area and Ngorongoro Crater fees
  • Airport transfers on arrival and departure
  • Bottled water, soft drinks, beer, wine and safari snacks
  • Government taxes

Not included

  • International flights to and from Kilimanjaro (JRO)
  • Tanzanian visa fees
  • Travel insurance
  • Items of a personal nature
  • Tips and gratuities for your guide and lodge staff
  • Optional activities not listed in the itinerary

Questions

Is this suitable for a honeymoon?
It is built for couples — luxury lodges, private game drives and a pace that leaves room in the day. It works just as well for an anniversary.
Is this a private safari?
Yes. The vehicle, the guide and the itinerary are yours alone — you share the day with nobody outside your own party.
Can the itinerary be changed?
Yes. Because it is private, the nights, the lodges, the activities and the pace can all move. Tell us what you have in mind and we will redraft it.
Can we add Zanzibar?
Yes. Three to five nights on the coast at the end is the usual answer, and we book the domestic flight with it.

Travel this one

Tell us roughly when, and we’ll come back with dates, the camps that are open and what the 9-day rate looks like for your party.

Or reach the team in Arusha directly — +255 654 592 688 or WhatsApp.

We reply within one working day.

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