Three days, and the two parks everybody has heard of. You'll drive up over the crater highlands to the Serengeti, spend a night out on the plains, and come back through the Ngorongoro Crater.
We'll be straight with you: one night in the Serengeti is less than we'd normally suggest. It's a long drive in for a single evening and a morning. But if your dates are fixed and you'd rather see the place than skip it, this is the honest way to do it.
Is this trip for you?
Travellers with three days and no more, and anyone adding a short safari to a Zanzibar holiday or a work trip. If you have six days, have a look at the longer northern circuit trips instead.
This is a starting point, not a fixed departure. You can change the route, the pace, the camps and the length, and most people do.
Customize this safari →
Highlights
The best bits of this trip
01A night out on the Serengeti plains
02A full morning on the Ngorongoro Crater floor
03The crater rim viewpoint on the drive out
04Your own vehicle and guide the whole way
05Serena lodges in both parks
Day by day
Your 3 days, one at a time
An early breakfast, then the long drive west. It's spectacular in its own right: you climb the crater highlands and stop at the rim for your first look down into Ngorongoro, which tends to stop conversation for a minute or two.
Then the Serengeti opens up, and you'll see why the name means “endless plains”. Keep an eye out for lion, cheetah and leopard, and for the migration herds if the month is right. You'll reach the lodge in time for dinner.
We'd suggest a very early start for a morning game drive, when the animals are at their most active and the light is at its best. Back to camp for a late breakfast, then the drive to Ngorongoro.
The crater floor runs to about 260 square kilometres inside walls six hundred metres high, and almost everything that lives there stays there. You'll sleep on the rim, which is cold enough at night that the rooms have fireplaces.
Down onto the crater floor early, while it's quiet. This is the most realistic place in Tanzania to see black rhino, usually at a distance, and you'll almost certainly find lion, elephant, buffalo and flamingos on the soda lake.
Picnic lunch near the hippo pool, a last short game drive, then up and out towards Arusha. We'd expect you back around five, and we can work around a flight if you have one.
So, what does it cost? We price every safari individually, because it really
depends on when you travel, which camps you pick and how many of you there
are. The same route in February and in August won't cost the same.
Tell us your dates and roughly what you have in mind, and we'll send you a
full, itemised quote. Not a vague range, a real quote.
Per person, based on two of you travelling together. The per-person price comes down in a bigger group, and we confirm your exact figure in writing when we quote. Rates as published for 16 January 2026 to 31 January 2027.
What's included
Exactly what you're paying for
Included
A private 4x4 Land Cruiser with a professional English-speaking guide
Lodge accommodation in the Serengeti and at Ngorongoro
All meals while you are on safari
Park entry fees for the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater
All the game drives in the itinerary
Bottled water in the vehicle
Airport transfers to and from Kilimanjaro or Arusha
