7 Days Tanzania Budget Camping Northern Circuit Grand Safari

Overview

Highlights

• ✦Mara River wildebeest crossings (July–October) at a fraction of lodge prices
• ✦Northern Serengeti — the wildest, least-visited part of the park
• ✦Two full days in the central Serengeti's Seronera Valley
• ✦Tarangire elephants, Manyara tree-climbing lions, Ngorongoro Crater
• ✦Camp-cooked meals throughout, dedicated camp chef
• ✦Maximum 6 guests in the safari Land Cruiser

Day-by-day itinerary

1. 1

   Arusha → Tarangire

   Arusha → Tarangire

   An 8am pickup from your Arusha hotel or campsite and the two-hour drive west into Tarangire National Park. Picnic lunch at a viewpoint inside the park, then a long afternoon game drive along the Tarangire River, where elephant herds gather to drink. Sundowners as the herds head back to the bush. Dinner cooked fresh at the public campsite by your dedicated camp cook — soup, hot main, fresh fruit. Overnight in twin tents on safe public campsites with shared ablutions.

   Meals: L, D · Stay: Tarangire public campsite

2. 2

   Tarangire → Lake Manyara

   Tarangire → Manyara

   An early breakfast precedes a final morning game drive in Tarangire when the elephant herds are at the river. Mid-morning, depart for the short drive northwest to Lake Manyara National Park. After lunch at your Manyara lodge perched on the rim of the Rift Valley escarpment, descend into the park for an afternoon game drive. Manyara is small — 330 square kilometers — but extraordinarily diverse: groundwater forest of giant fig and mahogany, acacia woodland, open floodplain, alkaline lake. Look for the famous tree-climbing lions draped in the limbs of acacia, hippo pods at the lake edge, large troops of olive baboons, and over 400 bird species including pink flamingos and yellow-billed storks. Dinner with sunset views over the lake.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Manyara public campsite

3. 3

   Manyara → Central Serengeti

   Manyara → Serengeti

   Depart Manyara after breakfast for the long but spectacular drive across the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and into the Serengeti National Park — Africa's most famous wildlife region and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Stop at the Olduvai Gorge en route, where Mary and Louis Leakey unearthed some of the earliest evidence of human evolution; a small museum tells the story. Picnic lunch on the gorge rim, then continue down onto the Serengeti's endless plains — the name means "endless plain" in Maa. Afternoon game drive through the central Seronera region en route to your camp, where lion prides, leopard, cheetah, and resident herds of giraffe, topi, impala and zebra await. Dinner at your Serengeti camp, the night air alive with the calls of hyena and distant lion.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Seronera public campsite

4. 4

   Central Serengeti — full day

   Serengeti

   A full day in the Serengeti with morning and afternoon game drives. Pre-dawn coffee, then out by 6am for the diamond hours when the big cats are still hunting — leopards descend from sausage trees, cheetah scan the plains for Thomson's gazelle, and lion prides finish overnight kills. The Seronera Valley is the Serengeti's permanent water source and supports year-round wildlife concentrations. Return to camp around 11am for a late breakfast, swim and rest. The afternoon drive heads further afield — perhaps north to the Grumeti woodlands, south toward the Maswa side, or east toward the Banagi Hills — depending on where the migration is and what your guide is tracking. Sundowners on the bonnet of the Land Cruiser as the African sun melts into the horizon.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 3

5. 5

   Central → Northern Serengeti (Mara River)

   Serengeti

   A full day in the northern Serengeti — Mara River country. From July to October, this is the stage for the most dramatic act in the great migration: the Mara River crossings. Over 1.5 million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra and 350,000 gazelle gather on the Tanzanian side and, sensing some collective imperative, throw themselves into the crocodile-filled river to reach the new grass on the far bank. Crossings can last 30 seconds or three hours; some end in slaughter, some pass without incident. Your guide tracks radio reports of build-ups all day, racing between herds when a crossing looks imminent. Outside the crossing months, the northern Serengeti is the quietest, wildest part of the park, with high resident-cat densities and far fewer vehicles. Picnic lunch on the riverbank. Dinner and overnight at your Northern Serengeti camp.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Kogatende public campsite

6. 6

   Northern Serengeti → Ngorongoro rim

   Serengeti → Ngorongoro

   After breakfast and a morning Serengeti game drive en route, climb back up the escarpment to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Lunch at your lodge perched on the crater rim, with vertiginous views into the world's largest unbroken volcanic caldera — 19 kilometers wide, 600 meters deep. Afternoon at leisure to enjoy the lodge facilities and acclimatize to the cooler high-altitude air. Optional walking tour to a Maasai village inside the conservation area — uniquely, the Maasai still live and graze cattle within Ngorongoro alongside the wildlife. Sundowners on the rim as the crater fills with mist below you. Dinner and overnight at your crater rim lodge — the night cold and crisp at 2,400 meters elevation.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Simba public campsite

7. 7

   Ngorongoro Crater → Arusha

   Ngorongoro → Arusha

   A pre-dawn breakfast and an early descent into the Ngorongoro Crater — Africa's Eden. The crater floor supports one of the highest concentrations of large mammals on Earth: lion prides, the densest population of spotted hyena anywhere, an estimated 30 black rhino, vast herds of wildebeest and zebra, hippo pools, flamingos on Lake Magadi, eland, gazelle, and Cape buffalo. The crater is a self-contained ecosystem and the wildlife rarely leaves. Spend the entire day on game drive, with a picnic lunch at the Ngoitokitok Springs hippo pool. Late afternoon, climb back up the crater wall to your lodge for dinner. For most travelers, the crater day is the single most memorable of any Tanzania safari. An optional morning game drive on the crater rim or Lake Manyara if time permits, then descend to Karatu for a coffee-plantation visit en route. Continue across the Manyara escarpment and back to Arusha, arriving mid-afternoon. Drop-off at your Arusha hotel, Kilimanjaro International for international flights, or transfer onward to a Zanzibar flight. Hot lunch en route. End of safari — and we hope the start of a long love affair with Tanzania.

   Meals: B, L · Stay: N/A (departure)

What to bring

• • Lightweight neutral-color clothing (khaki, olive, beige)
• • Warm fleece for cool early morning game drives
• • Sun hat and sunglasses with UV protection
• • High-SPF sunscreen and lip balm
• • Insect repellent (DEET)
• • Comfortable walking shoes and sandals
• • Swimsuit for lodge pools
• • Binoculars (8x42 ideal for safari)
• • Camera with telephoto lens (200mm+)
• • Spare batteries, memory cards, power bank
• • Refillable water bottle
• • Anti-malarial prophylaxis (consult your doctor)
• • Yellow-fever certificate (required if arriving from yellow-fever zones)

Frequently asked questions