Volunteer Project and Safari in Tanzania - 17day

You're met on arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport and transferred to your hotel in Arusha, where the rest of the day is yours to rest and settle in after your flight. Dinner is included at your hotel, giving you a relaxed first night before the safari portion of your trip begins the following morning.
 

After breakfast at 8:30am, you set off from Arusha with a packed lunch for Lake Manyara National Park, stopping for a picnic lunch inside the park around 1pm before continuing your game drive into the evening. Lake Manyara is known for its tree-climbing lions and dense birdlife, and the groundwater forest gives the whole park a different character from the open plains still to come. You arrive at your lodge or campsite in the evening for dinner and overnight.
 

After breakfast at 8am, you head out with a packed lunch, driving via the Ngorongoro Conservation Area toward the vast plains of the Serengeti, with game viewing along the way. The drive itself is part of the experience here, as the landscape shifts from Ngorongoro's highland forest to the Serengeti's open grassland. You arrive at your lodge in the late afternoon for dinner and overnight.
 

After breakfast, you head out with a packed lunch for a game drive across the Serengeti's acacia savannah in the central and eastern regions, breaking for a picnic lunch between 12:30 and 1pm before continuing into the afternoon. The Serengeti's wildebeest population follows a remarkably precise biological rhythm. Mating season runs roughly from mid-January to April, when around 95 percent of females conceive, and calving follows eight to eight and a half months later back on the same southern plains, a cycle that shapes the entire Great Migration. You return to your lodge in the evening for dinner and overnight.
 

After breakfast, you drive toward the Ngorongoro Conservation Area with a packed lunch and game viewing along the way. You have the option of stopping at Olduvai Gorge, a historic site significant to the study of early human life, and for an additional cost, a visit to a traditional Maasai boma if you're interested in experiencing Tanzanian culture and tradition firsthand.
 

After breakfast, you drive to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area with a packed lunch and descend into the crater floor for a full day of game viewing. The crater holds an extraordinary density of wildlife within its walls, and your packed lunch is served at a picnic site near the Lerai forest or the hippo pool. Many visitors hope to spot the black rhinoceros here, and some guides suggest sightings can be easier outside the hottest part of the dry season, when the rhinos tend to seek shade rather than stay out in the open. In the late afternoon, you ascend out of the crater and drive to Arusha for dinner and overnight.
 

In the morning, you drive to Arusha National Park for a game drive, breaking for lunch around 12:30pm before continuing to explore into the late afternoon. This smaller, often-overlooked park sits in the shadow of Mount Meru and offers a good variety of wildlife in a compact, easy-to-cover area. In the evening, you return to the Bethlehem Star Pre & Primary School Hostel, where you'll be based for the volunteer portion of your trip.
 

The final ten days of your trip shift from safari to service, based at Bethlehem Star Pre & Primary School in Usa River, Arumeru District. The school is still under construction and currently under-resourced, and volunteers play a real role in closing that gap, whether that means teaching English, maths, or science; running sports and playground activities; supporting ICT work, including the school's computer lab; helping with website development; contributing to small maintenance and construction projects; or assisting with fundraising efforts. No specific teaching qualification is required. What matters most is enthusiasm, a willingness to get involved, and the ability to communicate clearly in English, since the children are genuinely eager to learn.

A typical weekday starts with breakfast alongside students and fellow volunteers in the school dining hall, with lessons beginning around 8am. You'll break for lunch around 1pm, generally shared with other volunteers, students, and local staff, before an afternoon of further classes, additional support work, games, or sports. Most placements wrap up by around 3pm, though it's common for children to want you to stick around and play a little longer. Evenings are spent unwinding over dinner with other volunteers, boarding students, and local staff, often followed by informal games or group activities. Weekends are entirely free, leaving plenty of room to explore more of Tanzania if you choose.

Accommodation during this phase is in the school's own hostel in Usa River, which has hot showers and shared communal space, with the option for some volunteers to stay with a host family under special arrangement instead (facilities there are more basic, with latrine and private washing facilities, electricity, and piped water). All meals are provided throughout the placement, built around rice, beans, beef, chicken, vegetables, and fruit, with a proper breakfast each morning.