East Africa
Tanzania
The Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater and a mountain you can walk up
01The country
Tanzania has more land under protection than any of its neighbours, and it shows in the scale of the places. The Serengeti alone runs to roughly fifteen thousand square kilometres of grassland, woodland and kopjes, and the wildebeest migration moves around it in a loop that never actually stops — the herds are somewhere in the ecosystem every month of the year.
Beside it, the Ngorongoro Crater is a caldera nine miles across with its own resident population of lion, elephant, buffalo and black rhino living on the floor. It is not a subtle place, and the first look over the rim is not something people forget.
The northern circuit adds Tarangire's baobabs and elephant herds and Lake Manyara's forest and flamingos. The south and west — Ruaha, Nyerere, Katavi, Mahale — are emptier, wilder and far less visited. And then there is Kilimanjaro, and after it, Zanzibar.
- Region
- East Africa
- Capital
- Dodoma (Dar es Salaam is the largest city)
- Gateway
- Kilimanjaro (JRO) and Dar es Salaam (DAR)
- Known for
- Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar
- Recommended stay
- 8 to 14 days
02Why Tanzania
- 01
The migration, all year round
Because the herds circle within the Serengeti ecosystem, there is always somewhere to see them. Calving on the southern plains from around January to March; river crossings in the north from roughly June to October.
- 02
The Ngorongoro Crater
An intact caldera with its own contained ecosystem on the floor, including one of the better chances of black rhino anywhere in East Africa. A single descent covers ground other parks need days for.
- 03
Kilimanjaro
The highest mountain in Africa, and a walk rather than a climb — no technical skill required, but a serious multi-day effort at altitude with several route options.
- 04
Genuinely remote southern parks
Ruaha and Nyerere are enormous and lightly visited, with walking and boat safaris the northern circuit does not offer. Mahale puts chimpanzees on a beach on Lake Tanganyika.
03What it is for
- The Great Migration in the Serengeti — calving or crossings
- Descending into the Ngorongoro Crater
- Hot air balloon over the Serengeti at sunrise
- Elephant herds among the baobabs at Tarangire
- Climbing Kilimanjaro — Machame, Lemosho or Marangu
- Walking and boat safaris in Ruaha and Nyerere
- Chimpanzee trekking at Mahale on Lake Tanganyika
- Stone Town, spice farms and the beaches of Zanzibar
04Parks & regions
Serengeti National Park
Endless grassland broken by granite kopjes and river courses, and the heart of the migration ecosystem. The southern plains for calving, the western corridor mid-year, the northern Mara River for the crossings.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area
A collapsed caldera roughly nineteen kilometres across, with a permanent population of lion, elephant, buffalo, flamingo and black rhino on its floor, and Maasai grazing cattle on the rim above.
Tarangire National Park
Baobab country along the Tarangire River, and the northern circuit's best dry-season park. Elephant concentrations from around June to November are the largest in the region.
Lake Manyara National Park
A narrow strip between the Rift escarpment and an alkaline lake, packing groundwater forest, open floodplain, flamingos and a lot of primates into a small area an hour and a half from Arusha.
Kilimanjaro National Park
Africa's highest mountain, at 5,895 metres, climbed over five to nine days depending on route. No technical climbing, but altitude decides who summits and the longer routes acclimatise far better.
Ruaha, Nyerere, Katavi and Mahale
The southern and western circuit. Ruaha for predators and walking, Nyerere for the Rufiji river system and boat safaris, Katavi for near-total solitude, Mahale for chimpanzees on the shore of Lake Tanganyika.
Zanzibar
The archipelago off the coast: Stone Town's carved doors and alleyways, spice farms inland, and white-sand beaches that most itineraries use to decompress after the parks.
05When to go
June to October is the reliable dry window and the crossing season. January to March is drier again, and puts you on the southern plains for calving.
- JanJan: best time to visit
- FebFeb: best time to visit
- MarMar: shoulder season
- AprApr: quieter
- MayMay: quieter
- JunJun: best time to visit
- JulJul: best time to visit
- AugAug: best time to visit
- SepSep: best time to visit
- OctOct: best time to visit
- NovNov: quieter
- DecDec: shoulder season
- Migration position moves with the rain. Where you stay matters more than which month you pick, and we route accordingly.
- The long rains fall roughly late March to May, when some remote camps close and tracks in the south can become impassable.
- Kilimanjaro is climbed mainly in the drier windows — January to March and June to October.
06Getting there
- From Kigali · Air
- Roughly 2 hours to Kilimanjaro or Dar es Salaam
- From Europe and the Middle East · Air
- Direct and one-stop routings to Kilimanjaro (JRO) and Dar es Salaam (DAR)Kilimanjaro Airport is the gateway for the northern circuit; Dar for the south and Zanzibar.
- From Arusha to the northern circuit · Road or light aircraft
- Manyara about 1.5 hours; the Serengeti a long drive or a short flight
- From Serengeti to Zanzibar · Light aircraft
- Roughly 2 to 3 hours with a stopThe standard way to end a Tanzanian itinerary.
07Where to stay
- Serengeti camps range from permanent lodges to mobile tented camps that move with the herds — the mobile camps are the reason a migration trip works in the shoulder months.
- Crater lodges on the rim cut out a long drive before the descent, which is worth a great deal given the crater is best in the first hours after the gate opens.
- Arusha is the staging town for the northern circuit and the usual place for the night before a Kilimanjaro climb.
08Planning it
Tanzania on its own, or combined with Rwanda
Our published itineraries are Rwandan, because Rwanda is where we operate day to day. Tanzania we build to order, routed around your dates and usually paired with a Rwandan leg — the two do different things and the borders are short hops.
It depends which part you want. Calving on the southern Serengeti plains runs roughly January to March and brings enormous predator activity. The Mara River crossings in the north are generally June to October. Both are driven by rainfall, so we place you in the right sector for your dates rather than promising an event on a day.
Plan Tanzania
Build a trip through Tanzania
Tell us roughly when you want to travel and what you want to see. We will come back with an itinerary built around it, not a package pulled off a shelf.