The same three parks, at a friendlier price
If you want the northern circuit without the lodge prices that usually come with it, this is the one. The parks are identical to our luxury five-day trip. The difference is where you sleep: comfortable lodges up in Karatu and a tented camp in the Serengeti.
It also has a couple of things the pricier version doesn't: your nights in Arusha before and after the safari are included, and you'll stop at a Maasai village in the Ngorongoro highlands on the way back.
Travellers on a budget who still want the Serengeti, and groups of friends or family who would rather spend the money on an extra day than on a smarter room.
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
After breakfast you'll meet your guide and cook and head for Tarangire, with a stop in Arusha for anything you've forgotten. Then a full day in the park, which is famous for its elephant herds and its baobabs.
Expect elephant, zebra, giraffe and hippo, and keep your eyes open for lion, leopard and cheetah. Birders do well here too: ashy starling and fringe-eared oryx are both Tarangire specialities.
After breakfast you'll drive into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and down six hundred metres to the crater floor for the day.
There are big herds of wildebeest, zebra and buffalo down there, and it's one of the few places you might see black rhino. Lake Magadi on the floor usually has hippo, flamingos and whatever else is passing through.
Breakfast with the highlands behind you, then out onto the Serengeti plains. You'll pass through the Seronera area, which holds water all year and therefore holds lion, cheetah and leopard all year too.
Lunch somewhere with a view, then on to camp, with a game drive towards sunset. Whether the migration herds are part of that depends entirely on the month.
A morning game drive in the Serengeti, then the long drive east. You'll stop at a Maasai village up in the Ngorongoro highlands on the way through.
Back to Karatu for the night.
After lunch you'll drive back to Arusha for your airport drop-off. If you'd rather stay another night, just ask and we'll arrange it.
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 20 January 2026 to 31 October 2029.
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