7 Day Tanzania Safari • All About the Best African Safari Honeymoon

An African safari is an absolute dream trip, and going on a 7 day Tanzania honeymoon safari with my animal-loving husband has got to be up there with one of the best ways to experience it. But, where do you start with the planning process when figuring out an African safari? There are so many questions when you’re trying to figure out what safari tour to go on like, “Where is the best place to go on safari?” and “What are the best African safari tours?” and I can tell you after LOTS of research and then spending my honeymoon on safari there, that Tanzania is absolutely the perfect African safari destination (honeymoon or not) for about a million reasons. So let’s dig in. 

Why a Tanzania Safari – Honeymoon or Otherwise?

A Tanzania safari specifically gets you access to many different national parks and conservation areas with different wildlife and landscapes within each. If you and your partner are animal and nature lovers, you will absolutely fall in love with this adventure, making it the perfect destination for your honeymoon safari. But also, like I mentioned, whether you’re going on your honeymoon with your partner, or adventuring with friends or family, you’re going to have an amazing time and this itinerary will work for you. 

Related: 15 Tips For Your First Safari

Best Tanzania Safari Tours

I went with Shiri Adventures and did their 7 day Tanzania safari and it was beyond incredible. It was a private, mid/luxury-range safari tour that could be fully customized based on what you want to do and/or see. They were incredible to work with and our guide was PHENOMENAL. I had the absolute best time and if you use the code AMANDAWANDERS you can get $100 off any safari with Shiri Adventures!

And for absolute transparency, I received our honeymoon at a severely discounted rate in exchange for promoting it on my blog and social presence. However, especially now after having gone on this 7 day African safari with Shiri Adventures, I would no doubt pay full price for this experience, and that’s for a couple of reasons:

• Shiri Adventures gives you a lot of bang for your buck; it was one of the more inexpensive options I found and I did not experience ANYTHING less than luxury (check here for pricing because it changes depending on time of year)
• Shiri Adventures took care of absolutely everything – I didn’t have to worry about a thing after we nailed down the 7 day safari itinerary and it was magical
• Linus, the Managing Director, was worth his weight in gold answering questions and being a problem solver for a couple of random snafus thrown my way (unrelated to the safari itself); I couldn’t be more thankful for his help
• Laurent, our Safari Guide, is nothing less than an animal-spotting and knowledge superhero
• Use my affiliate code AMANDAWANDERS for $100 off (full disclosure I will make commission on this but I wouldn’t recommend it if I didn’t truly mean it)

With all that said, I couldn’t recommend Shiri Adventures enough, and highly recommend their 7 day safari especially if you’re planning an African safari honeymoon in Tanzania.

Romantic Honeymoon Safari Activities

So, what made this particular honeymoon safari romantic, you ask? Well, there were some very thoughtful touches we got to experience along the way, such as:

• Private jeep for the duration of the safari
• Romantic rooms at the safari lodges and glamping camps
  • One lodge even wrote us a note wishing luck for our marriage and decorated our room with rose petals
• Romantic lunches in the parks every day with beautiful views and wine
• Romantic candlelit dinner in Serengeti National Park
• Sunrise hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti
• Getting to experience an absolute bucket list item and dream come true together

7 Day Tanzania Honeymoon Safari Itinerary, the Short Version

The short version of a 7 day African safari honeymoon (or just regular trip) with Shiri Adventures is as follow:

• Day 1 – Arrive to Arusha, Tanzania
• Day 2 – Tarangire National Park
• Day 3 – Maasai village visit + Serengeti National Park
• Day 4 – Sunrise hot air balloon ride + Serengeti National Park
• Day 5 – Ngorongoro Crater
• Day 6 – Lake Manyara National Park
• Day 7 – Head back to Arusha

The Long Version of My 7 Day Tanzania Safari Honeymoon with Shiri Adventures

As a reminder, Shiri Adventures can totally customize what you want to do for your African safari honeymoon package, but this is how we spent our 7 day safari with them.

Day 1 – Arrive to Kilimanjaro International Airport

Shiri Adventures picked me and my husband up from the airport to start our African safari honeymoon and they drove us straight to the town of Arusha and to our beautiful hotel. Depending on what time you arrive into town will depend on what you do on your first day, but we were exhausted and arrived a little late. So we met with our safari guide to talk about the plan for the week and specifically the following day and then we went straight to bed. 

Day 2 – Tarangire National Park

This day was truly the start of our safari honeymoon in Tanzania! We woke up at our lodge, got breakfast, and then hit the road! We drove about 3 hours to get from the town of Arusha to Tarangire National Park, but the drive actually flies by and the daily drives don’t detract from your safari honeymoon at all in my opinion! You’re driving through towns and past the native Masaai people as they go about their days. Your guide explains so much about the local culture and it truly didn’t feel like a long drive at all.

But back to Tarangire! From the moment we got into the park, we saw so much wildlife and I nearly cried. We got an amazing lunch spread put together by our amazing safari guide Laurent and enjoyed a beer with these incredible views. These thoughtful touches, like just how nice our lunch was and how beautiful the spot was that we had it, makes this, in my opinion, one of the best African safari packages for couples.

After our romantic lunch we continued on our drive where we continued spotting wildlife left and right.

Once it started to turn to dusk, it was time to head out of the park and to the lodge.

Day 3 – Maasai Village Visit & Serengeti National Park

This morning we left the lodge around 8am to go straight to the Maasai village. This was absolutely incredible and I’m so glad we did this because we learned all about how these nomadic people live their day-to-day life. We danced with the people of the tribe, we toured their homes, we visited their school, and we got to buy their crafts. This is an optional add-on to your day and requires a donation to the tribe in order to do it, but I highly recommend partaking.

From there we drove straight to Serengeti National Park and started our day. We snagged some lunch at the park entrance and scheduled a hot air balloon ride for the next morning before getting started on a game drive for the afternoon. 

We drove around the park spotting animal after animal after animal, it was actually crazy. I felt like I was living in a nature documentary. I remember being here and thinking, “wow… this is what I grew up watching on Animal Planet and I’m actually here.” I’m so fortunate my husband was just as excited as me and decided to do a honeymoon safari with me, because driving around the Serengeti and experiencing the magic that lives there was something I’ll never forget.

We drove around until sunset when we had to leave and head to our lodge for the next two days, which was a glamping experience in the park and was absolutely magical. When I say “in the park” I mean in the park; we weren’t allowed out of our tent without a guide because of the wildlife that roamed the camp. It was so cool and definitely the most unique accommodation I’ve ever stayed in.

Day 4 – Sunrise Serengeti Hot Air Balloon Ride + Full Day in Serengeti National Park

We woke up earlier than bright and early in order to make it to our sunrise hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti. This started with a night game drive beginning around 4:30am, driving from our camp to the hot air balloon takeoff point.

We all got our instructions and safety briefing, and then climbed in the balloon to take off with the sun. We spent an hour floating over the Serengeti looking down at the wildlife roaming below us, while the sky was glowing gold and pink and I will remember these moments for the rest of my life. This is an activity that is not included in the 7 day African safari honeymoon package with Shiri Adventures and is a separate add-on (and a pricey one at that at $600/person), but in my opinion it was beyond worth the splurge.

After the hot air balloon ride we went on another game drive that took us to our breakfast, also hosted by the same hot air balloon company. This was set up in a massive tent and was absolutely so cool. Breakfast was delicious, the company was phenomenal, and I loved every second of this experience.

We booked this on arrival to the Serengeti, but if you want to book it ahead of time, go right ahead!

After breakfast we met up with our Shiri safari guide and we took on the day chasing wildlife around the magical plains once again. Our Shiri Adventures guide was so knowledgeable and knew of all these incredible spots where no other safari jeeps were but tons of wildlife was. I was beyond impressed by – and grateful for – his expertise.

Once sundown hit again, we had to leave the park and head back to our camp. Back at camp they had prepared a romantic candlelight dinner for just the two of us, and it was so sweet. This was another one of those thoughtful touches that you’d only find on this honeymoon safari couples package. And then when we returned to our room after dinner they had decorated it with rose petals and a very sweet note.

This was probably the most romantic day on our Tanzania honeymoon and really solidified it, in my mind, as one of the best places to go for a honeymoon safari.

Day 5 – Ngorongoro Crater

We left the Serengeti in the morning but not without one final game drive as we headed to our next stop, Ngorongoro Crater.

When I asked our safari guide Laurent on the first day of our 7 day safari honeymoon through Tanzania what his favorite park was, he said “the Serengeti for wildlife but Ngorongoro Crater for natural beauty” and he was not wrong in that assessment.

Ngorongoro Crater is actually a massive caldera where this huge ecosystem has formed in the depression left behind post-volcanic blast. There’s a giant alkaline lake as well as a freshwater marsh area. There are plains and then also what looks like mountains from every angle because you’re inside this huge hole a volcano made 2.5 millions of years ago.

There’s a ton of wildlife and this jaw-droppingly beautiful scenery at every turn. Spending a day here on our safari honeymoon was an absolute win in my book!

Day 6 – Lake Manyara National Park

As our last official day in the parks of our 7 day honeymoon in Tanzania, I am happy to report it did not end on any sort of note less than magical.

We left our lodge and drove about an hour to Lake Manyara National Park, where once again we spent the day exploring. This is definitely the smallest of the parks we explored, but it packs a punch once you’re there. Our guide warned us that this might not have the same concentration of animals we’d seen over the past few days, but we weren’t disappointed at all with what we saw! We saw lots of wildlife, all of which was pretty different from what we’d experienced so far actually. We spent an hour in the middle of the biggest elephant herd we had seen yet and it was SO incredible . This was a lovely last day in the park overall.

Day 7 – Return to Arusha, Airport Dropoff

Your final day of your 7 day safari with Shiri Adventures has you waking up at your hotel and exploring until you either need to head back to the airport or head on the next stop of your trip.

7 Day Honeymoon Safari Official Review

So, was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY. My husband and I had the absolute time of our lives on our 7 day safari honeymoon and I would literally go back in a second! I cannot recommend booking your safari honeymoon in Tanzania with Shiri Adventures enough. And a reminder to take $100 off your safari with the code AMANDAWANDERS!

So there you have it, the full breakdown of my 7 day African safari in Tanzania that I went on with my husband for our honeymoon. I cannot begin to describe just how amazing this experience was and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. As always if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask, and definitely go check out my Safari story highlights on Instagram and Safari playlist on TikTok. Have so much fun, and have a BLAST on your safari!

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