Skip to content 
8 Days Self Drive Tanzania Safari
The 8 day self drive Tanzania safari takes you to a classic safari in the Northern Circuit on a Tanzanian self-drive safari to its amazing national parks that offer wild safari experience, grassland rainforest, savannah plains in abundance, woodland, and the best way to explore it all is by use of 4×4 wheel driving vehicle. One engaging in this 8 Days Self drive Tanzania Safari, you have a great chance of driving around a bucket of fabulous attractions around this beautiful country. While on a self-drive safari in Tanzania you will not only explore the natural beauty but also the human diversity whereby most people call it East African country home.
This 8 days self drive Tanzania safari will first take you to adventure around different incredible Tanzanian National Parks on self-drive safaris through the park’s tracking trails at your own pace with a gainful view of a wide range of animal species, Big fives among others. Then after the wildlife safari, drive back to road-tripping in Arusha city. Note, Tanzania’s roads offer the length and arduous that stretches on paved roads for better travel thus leading to fewer driving hours.
8 Days Self Drive Tanzania Safari Overview
The 8 days self drive Tanzania safari starts from Arusha town as a starting point for most of Tanzania’s remarkable safaris, you will start a visit with Serengeti National Park where you need a 4×4 wheel drive vehicles which can be hired by travelers from various outstanding car rental outfits in town. Take note, you need to hire a car with comfortable seats, and an open roof which will allow you to adventure a bucket of attractions with a clear view. More to that, you need to always make sure to hire a car well prepared to deal with unpaved roads that are often bumpy and dusty once you take a safari in any of Tanzania’s game parks.
The 8 days self drive Tanzania starts with a visit to the famous Serengeti National park one of the world’s largest shopping safari destinations on the African continent, found in the northern Tanzania region and covers an area of about 14,763 square kilometers. The park was established in 1951 as a national park to protect the great population of wildlife species and fabulous attractions. Serengeti’s offers a bucket of attractions such as millions of blue wildebeest, zebras, Thomas Gazelle and eland, 3,500 spotted hyenas, African golden wolf, and over 500 bird species, bush meals, Masai Mara people, Moru Kopjes among others. go visit Ngorongoro crater lake is known as a UNESCO World Heritage that lies in the Ngorongoro district in the Arusha region within the beautiful crater highlands geographical areas of northern Tanzania and is surrounded by a huge number of attractions to see on visitor’s self-drive safaris such as Lake Magadi, Salei Plain, and Ol Karien Gorge, GOI Mountain, Shifting sands, Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli, Lerai Fever Tree Forest among others.
Visit Lake Manyara National Park the few safari destinations in the entire world to adventure the unique tree-climbing lions and more species, situated between Lake Manyara and the Great Rift Valley. The park covers an area of about 325 Square kilometers and was created to protect a wide range of wildlife species and tourist attractions that can be encountered by travelers on safari here, after a visit to Lake Manyara National Park on this 8 Days Self drive Tanzania Safari.
Go for a self-drive city tour to Mto wa Mbu where a tourist can be able to enjoy a fun tropical town a fabulous place to meet up with local people, and other fellow visitors, buy souvenirs and some tasty snacks while on a city tour drive here, your free to ask different driving routes within the city to make your driving journey amazing.
On this 8 Days Self drive Tanzania Safari, continue to take a visit to Tarangire National park a home famous for a high population of elephants and baobab tree species during the dry season expect to see herds of thousands of zebras, wildebeest, and cape buffaloes among other species common residents like waterbucks , giraffes, dik-dik, impala ,Grant’s gazelle ,banded mongoose ,olive baboon many more ,that inhabits on land covering over 2,850 square kilometers which is comprised of granitic ridges, river valley and swamps ,Mkomazi National Park also sounds perfect for self-drive safari adventure ,it is located in northeastern Tanzania on the Kenyan border in Kilimanjaro regions and was first created as a game reserve in 1951 then later on it was upgraded to a national park with variety of attractions to view on the safari here such as ;Game drive ,site seeing ,birding ,watching of herds of elephants bathing as well as scenic landscape . The park sits on an area of about 3,234 and you will end up with a visit to City Tour Self Drive to Arusha town.
8 Days Self drive Tanzania Safari Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival in Arusha
Arrival: Upon your arrival at the Airport or point of location it will be your starting point of your 8 Days Self drive Tanzania Safari. You will meet up with the car rental agent you’re in contact with, who will give you a short briefing about the hired vehicle, then after you will continue a drive to your booked hotel in Arusha town. Dinner and Overnight stay.
Day 2: Drive to Serengeti National Park
Drive to Serengeti: After having an aroma coffee tea with delicious snacks at the hotel in Arusha. You will set off to Tanzania’s Northern circuits to Serengeti National Park where you will drive through the beautiful countryside, arrive at the park have lunch, check-in, and relax.
Evening game drive: You will go for an evening game drive in Serengeti National Park where you will be to explore the endless plains and the spectacular view around the national park. While on self-drive game viewing, expect to view animals like wildebeest, buffaloes, hyenas, giraffes, leopards, and lions among others. Dinner and overnight stay.
Day 3: Morning and afternoon game drive
Morning Game Drive: After your morning breakfast get prepared for a remarkable self-drive experience into one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world – Serengeti National Park home to a wide population of animals and the largest game park in the country. So we advise travelers on their self-drive tour here, to always hire a park guide and GSP –Global System Positioning to help you in navigating the park tracking trails for gainful game adventure. In the morning hours expect to encounter a lot of wildlife species. Drive back to the lodge for lunch.
Afternoon Game drive: After lunch, go for an afternoon game drive where you will be able to sightsee more wildlife species and attractions around the park. Dinner and Overnight stay
Day 4: Full day in Serengeti National Park
Full Day in Serengeti: On this day of your 8 Days Self drive Tanzania Safari, wake up and enjoy your breakfast with delicious snacks at the lodge. You will then drive to the park in your 4×4 wheel drive with an open roof for your rewardable adventure. Since the self-drive safari is the best experience as a family, couple, or a group with no regrets the safari becomes more memorable While on the morning game drive, you will be able to explore a wide range of wildlife species like antelopes, Kudu, waterbucks, eland’s elephants, impalas, gazelles, dik-dik and during morning hours’ animals can be active. Full day game drive you will go with packed lunch boxes which you will enjoy in the middle of the jungle as you view the park’s stunning attractions.
After you will relax a little bit, then after continue to drive through a large landscape filled with different unique attractions around. You just have to open your eyes wide to adventure more of them. Back to the lodge –Dinner and Overnight stay.
Day 5: Drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Drive to Ngorongoro: After morning breakfast in Serengeti. You will transfer to Ngorongoro a home to the high concentration of animals ‘’Big five species’’ and other animals to see on the self-drive tour including cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, waterbucks, antelopes, gazelles, hippos, kudu among others. Take a drive into the Ngorongoro crater which is about 600 meters, and enjoy your picnic lunches.
After enjoying your lunch, you will explore the beautiful crater area and be able to sightsee flocks of flamingos along the shore of lake Magadi as well as other notable bird species. Drive back for Dinner and Overnight stay.
Day 6: City tour –Mto wa mbu town & Lake Manyara NP
City Tour: After morning coffee tea, check out of the park and drive to Mto wa mbu town a small Tanzanian town for a City tour. While on a self-drive city tour in Mto wa mbu you will be able to interact with the local community and enjoy the sights of local arts and crafts. You will continue to drive through its beautiful city routes as you take an eye out for remarkable attractions. Have early lunch
After the city tour, drive to Lake Manyara National Park home to rare tree-climbing lions and many more unique tourist attractions to see. Arrive in the late afternoon. Evening game drive: Later on, you will go for an afternoon game drive where you expect to see wildlife species like Klipspringers, zebras, antelopes, buffalos many more. Back to the lodge –Dinner and Overnight stay.
Day 7: Full Day Excursion in Lake Manyara National Park
Full-Day Excursion: Wake up to have morning breakfast served at the lodge, then you will drive to the park for a wildlife adventure with packed lunch boxes served at the lodge. On this day you will enjoy a fabulous adventure in the park starting with a sunrise game drive an afternoon game drive and an evening game drive. Expect to explore beyond your thinking, attractions like herds of elephants, tree-climbing lions, wildebeest, giraffes, buffaloes, plenty of savannah bird species many more. Take a drive around the stunning lake Manyara where you will be to spot hippos in their pool as they take breath underwater for up to five minutes or if you’re lucky you can see their massive bodies cool under the hot African sun. After returning to the lodge. Have dinner and overnight.
End of Tour
Day 8: Depart to Arusha City Tour
Depart: After the morning coffee aroma with tasty snacks, check out the park. Drive on Self –drive City tour in Arusha one of Tanzania’s most beautiful cities. You will self-drive through attractive routes around the city with some stopovers to craft shops to buy souvenirs if you want and malls to do some shopping after returning the car to the car rental agency respectively. This will mark the end of your 8 Days Self drive Tanzania Safari,
8 Days Self drive Tanzania Safari Inclusions:
Ground Transportation
Park entrance fees
Acknowledgeable English-speaking driver guide
Full board accommodation
Enough mineral bottled water
All activities as per itinerary
8 Days Self drive Tanzania Safari Exclusions:
Visas
International flights
Personal expenses lke laundry service
tips
life insurance
Beverages
One planning to take part in Tanzania’s Self-drive safaris, we advise you to be very keen about the Car rental agency and tour operator in contact with for your custom-designed tour package. More so, you should book in advance to get a cheap flexible car at the lowest price than last minute booking which leads to high expenses. The Car Rental Company you’re in touch with, you must make sure that it’s fully registered, offering well-maintained car engines and all the objectives a car rental must have.
Before you attempt to start up a trip plan to Tanzanian Self Drive you should be mindful of what to take with you on a Self-Drive.
Below are the Tips Considered Before Hiring a Car On Self Drive Tanzania –A road trip or Self Drive Safari to Popular game parks like Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Arusha, and Tarangire National Park among others.
Essential things comprised of extra petrol in Jerry cans to avoid the struggle of finding petrol in remote areas since in Africa most of the petrol stations can be found in major cities-towns.
A detailed map; Visiting a safari destination or country for the first time. You will need to go with a detailed map for the specific country to help you in the location of different routes to national parks, and game reserves as well as road trips that take around Tanzania’s attractions.
A mobile phone and a local sim; You need to have a local SIM Card as a backup for any emergencies. Emergencies like a car tire breakdown will help you to call back for help.
A medical kit; You may take routes with no nearest medical help and a better way to go enjoy self-drive tours safety. You need to carry a medical kit for any unnecessary injuries, with items like tweezers, adhesive tapes, bandages, wound dressings, gloves, a first aid guide, scissors,
Emergency Roadside Toolkit; For A traveler planning to go on a self-drive Tanzania tour, we advise you to always pack an emergency roadside toolkit to help you in times of emergency.
Flashlight; On your visit to Tanzania on a self-drive safari, we recommend you carry a flashlight to help you in times when needed, especially during night movements.
Personal hotspot; Planning your self–drive Tanzania Safari, we advise you to carry your hotspot to help you get connected to the internet anytime you prefer while on your safari.
Playlists, podcasts, Audiobooks; However, self-driving in Tanzania offers you a great opportunity to explore stretches of Road and the conversation may dry up so, we recommend you travel with playlists, Podcasts, and Audiobooks to attain your company while driving.
Comfortable Shoes, and Sunscreen -glasses: While planning a self-drive Tanzania tour, make sure you pack comfortable shoes to enable you to enjoy your safari. Carry your sunglasses to help you have a clear vision when there is a lot of sunshine as well as protect you from direct sunshine for your rewardable safari adventure on the Tanzanian Safari Destination.
Jumper Cables; While planning a self-drive tour to Tanzania, we advise you to carry jumper cables to help you in time if a battery fails.
Food; Well, some campsite faces challenges in some sort of restaurant, so it would have been a good idea to carry your breakfast and lunch along with a few meals for the evening. Not forgetting the charcoal for your meal preparation.
Enough mineral water bottles to help you rehydrate your body.
