1 day · Day trip
Ngorongoro Crater Day Safari
The whole crater in one very long day. It is a five-hour drive each way from Moshi, and it is still worth it.
Is this trip for you?
Trip type
Private departure
A single day, planned around your pickup time and your interests, with your own vehicle and guide.
Ages
All ages
Day trips are the easiest way to travel with small children or with anyone who would rather not sleep under canvas.
Fitness
Easy to moderate
Most day trips involve an hour or two of walking on uneven ground. The Kilimanjaro day hike is the exception and asks for a full day on your feet.
Group size: 1 to 7 travellers per vehicle
Day by day.
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1
Ngorongoro Crater
We leave early — five hours from Moshi, three and a half from Arusha — and descend more than 200 m of steep winding road to the crater floor. The forest holds monkeys and elephant, the lake holds flamingo, and the open grass is where the lions hunt. The crater is only about 20 km across, so four or five hours covers it properly. Lunch is a picnic at a designated spot looking over the marsh, with hippo and pelican for company. In the afternoon we climb back out and return you to your hotel or to the airport.
- Overnight
- Your own hotel
- Where
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area
- Driving
- 5 hours each way from Moshi, 3.5 from Arusha
- Meals
- Picnic lunch in the crater
Where you sleep.
Not applicable
Day trips return to your own hotel in Moshi or Arusha the same evening. If you have not booked one yet, tell us and we will suggest somewhere in the right part of town for your pickup.
We book against availability for your dates rather than naming a property we may not be able to get you into. Your written quotation names every lodge and camp before you pay anything.
What is included
- All park entrance and administrative fees
- A packed lunch
- 1.5 litres of drinking water
- Transfers from and to your hotel
- 4x4 transport for the day
- Professional English-speaking guide
- Staff fees
Not included
- International airfares and departure taxes
- Visa fees
- All items of a personal nature
- Tips and gratuities for your driver and guide
- Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks
When to go.
Year-round
Every day trip on this page runs in any month. Waterfalls are at their most impressive during and just after the rains, and the Chemka springs are warm whatever the weather is doing outside.
Questions about this trip.
How early do we leave?
Very. It is a five-hour drive from Moshi and three and a half from Arusha, and you want to be descending in the morning, so expect a start before dawn.
Would we be better off staying a night?
Almost certainly, and we will say so. The day trip exists for people who only have the one day. If you have two, the three-day safari does the same crater with far less road.
Is half a day really enough in the crater?
The floor is only about 20 km across and the game is dense, so four or five hours covers it. Park rules also limit how long vehicles may stay down there.
On this route
Where you will be.
Compare
Other day trip journeys.
Materuni Waterfall & Coffee Tour
The best single day out from Moshi: a green walk to a waterfall, then a Chagga coffee tour where you take the beans from tree to cup yourself.
- Materuni waterfall and cold pool
- Pick, roast and pound your own coffee
- Chagga village and lunch
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Chemka Hot Springs
A spring-fed pool of clear turquoise water under fig roots, about an hour from Moshi. The right thing to do the day after a climb.
- Clear, warm spring water
- Fig tree roots and rope swing
- Picnic lunch at the pool
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Arusha National Park Day Trip
Game drive, walking safari and canoeing in one day, in a park that sits under Mount Meru less than an hour from Arusha.
- Walking safari with an armed ranger
- Canoeing on the Momella lakes
- Colobus monkeys in the forest
Pricing on request View itinerary
Plan it with us
Make this itinerary yours.
Add days, drop a park, change the pace. This is a starting point, not a fixed departure.