Built around Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Lake Manyara, this 10-day safari using value accommodation so that more of the budget goes into game viewing. 9 nights on safari, priced on request.
Maasai Mara - Nakuru - Arusha - Manyara - Ngorongoro - Serengeti
About this safari
The route opens in Maasai Mara — big cats, open plains and the northern stage of the Great Migration — and works through 4 further destinations over 10 days. It crosses between Kenya and Tanzania; the final proposal will explain the border arrangements, vehicles and guiding. Accommodation is at the budget standard: value camps and simple lodges chosen for position rather than polish. This is the practical way to see the route: the same parks, the same guiding and the same game drives, with the savings taken on accommodation rather than on time in the field. Like every safari in this catalogue, it is priced on request rather than sold at a published rate, because park fees, permits, group size and contracted accommodation all change the figure.
Day by day
Written out in full before you book, so you can see exactly how the days are paced and where each night is spent.
Day 1
Nairobi is the working gateway for this itinerary, with the first day's timing to be agreed around the confirmed travel arrangements. The approach takes you across the floor of the Great Rift Valley and up onto the grasslands that stretch south to the Tanzanian border. It is a long drive, broken for lunch and leg-stretching, and it does the useful work of showing you how the land changes — from dense highland cultivation to the open, lightly wooded country where the great herds can move freely. The Mara's density is what makes it remarkable — sightings come quickly, and the day tends to build rather than drag. Expect long stretches of plains game: zebra, topi, Thomson's gazelle, eland and Maasai giraffe, with buffalo herds grazing in the bottomlands. Overhead, vultures circling low is always worth following, and the sudden stillness of a grazing herd usually means a predator is somewhere in the grass. The suggested standard is simple and location-led. The quotation will name the property and specify what the stay includes.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 2
Game drives cover genuinely different country within a short distance. The Musiara marsh draws elephant and buffalo to permanent water, the open grassland of the central plains is where cheetah have the room they need to run, and the broken ground towards the escarpment holds different prides again. Between sightings there is the sheer breadth of the place — grass running to the horizon under an enormous sky. A full day here usually divides itself naturally. The first hours go to the predators, tracking the prides your guide knows by territory and following whatever the night has left behind. Through the middle of the day the vehicle heads for shade near the river, where hippo crowd the deeper pools and crocodile lie out on the banks. The last light brings the plains alive again, with hunting cats moving and dust rising gold behind the herds. The catalogue suggests a value stay in this area. The exact property, room basis and meals remain subject to the written quotation.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 3
This travel day carries the route onward, the route crosses some of Kenya's most productive farmland before dropping towards the lake basin, and the contrast at the park gate is abrupt. One moment there is maize and small-holding, the next there is acacia woodland with waterbuck standing in it and pelican working the shallows a short distance away. The park's compact size means a drive here covers several habitats in a couple of hours: open lakeside grassland where rhino and buffalo graze, dense acacia woodland holding lion and waterbuck, and the euphorbia forest on the higher ground. A stop at Baboon Cliff gives the whole basin at once, which is the best way to understand how the lake sits inside its bowl of hills. A practical camp is suggested for this night, with the confirmed property and services stated in the quotation.
Overnight: Lake Nakuru
Day 4
The next leg links the two destinations, the road to Arusha runs beneath the bulk of Mount Meru, Tanzania's second highest mountain, through country that grows steadily greener as it climbs. Arusha is the operational heart of the northern circuit — vehicles are prepared here, guides are briefed here, and almost every Serengeti and Ngorongoro itinerary passes through it. Arusha is a working town rather than a destination, and the day is usually about logistics done well — a full briefing on the days ahead, checking the vehicle and equipment, and an early night before the circuit begins. The coffee estates on the lower slopes of Mount Meru welcome visitors, and nearby Arusha National Park offers colobus, giraffe and flamingo on the Momella Lakes for anyone with a spare half day. This planning outline places the night at a value property near the route. Availability and the final choice are confirmed before booking.
Overnight: Arusha
Day 5
The itinerary continues by road, the road from Arusha runs west towards the Rift escarpment, which rises abruptly out of the plain ahead of you, and Lake Manyara occupies the narrow strip between that wall and the alkaline lake below. The park is compressed into a few kilometres of width, and the habitat changes band by band as you drive — groundwater forest, acacia woodland, floodplain, lake. The park's baboon troops are among the largest recorded anywhere, and watching a few hundred of them work through the forest floor is a spectacle in its own right. Elephant move through the trees with surprising quietness, hippo hold the pools near the lake, and the alkaline shallows draw flamingo and pelican in numbers that vary with the water level. The suggested standard is simple and location-led. The quotation will name the property and specify what the stay includes.
Overnight: Lake Manyara
Day 6
Leaving the previous stop behind, today's route brings you up into the Ngorongoro highlands, where the temperature drops with the altitude and cloud sits in the forest along the rim. The conservation area is shared with Maasai pastoralists, and you will pass cattle and manyattas on the way — it is one of the few places where people and wildlife share protected land by design. Ngorongoro is the most dependable place in East Africa to see black rhino, though they are usually out on the open floor at some distance and best appreciated through binoculars or a long lens. Around them the floor carries wildebeest, zebra, eland and both Grant's and Thomson's gazelle in permanent residence, with flamingo working the soda shallows of Lake Magadi. The catalogue suggests a value stay in this area. The exact property, room basis and meals remain subject to the written quotation.
Overnight: Ngorongoro
Day 7
This activity is a planning option and only forms part of the day when it appears in the written quotation. The next section of the circuit moves on, moving deeper into the Serengeti, the country shifts between short-grass plain, acacia woodland and granite kopjes rising out of the grass like islands. Your guide will use the drive itself as a game drive, and in the central Seronera area — productive year-round for resident wildlife — the sightings usually start coming quickly. A practical camp is suggested for this night, with the confirmed property and services stated in the quotation.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 8
The Serengeti's scale means different sectors feel like different parks. The central Seronera valley is reliable year-round for resident predators; the western corridor follows the Grumeti River through denser country; the north is hillier and holds the Mara River crossings in season; and the southern short-grass plains empty and fill with the herds. Where you drive depends entirely on the month. Between the large predators there is a great deal else. Bat-eared fox and serval hunt the short grass, secretary birds stride through it, and agama lizards blaze orange and blue on the kopjes. Your guide will stop as readily for a serval hunting in long grass as for a lion, and on a good day that is exactly the right call. This planning outline places the night at a value property near the route. Availability and the final choice are confirmed before booking.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 9
This travel day carries the route onward, the crossing at Namanga is the usual border point between Kenya and Tanzania, and formalities on both sides take time. Beyond it the road runs south towards Arusha with Mount Meru growing on the horizon, and the country turns greener as you climb towards the town that serves as the base for the entire northern circuit. The town sits green and temperate beneath Mount Meru, and after days of dust it is a comfortable place to land. There is usually time to change money, pick up anything forgotten, and sit somewhere with a cold drink while your guide handles permits and paperwork for the days ahead. The suggested standard is simple and location-led. The quotation will name the property and specify what the stay includes.
Overnight: Arusha
Day 10
The last morning remains flexible until the departure point and timing are agreed. Time in Arusha is practical rather than scenic — vehicles are checked and restocked, guides are introduced or handed over, and the itinerary is talked through in detail. For anyone with a spare few hours, the coffee estates on Meru's lower slopes make an easy and genuinely interesting outing. The final road section is planned towards Nairobi. Citrus will confirm the exact end point and time.
Safari ends
Where you stay
Accommodation below is the suggested standard for this package, taken from the Citrus catalogue. Where an entry describes a standard rather than a named property, we confirm the exact camp or lodge with your quotation. Named properties are suggestions and are substituted with comparable alternatives if they are unavailable for your dates.
Source catalogue listing
Miti Mingi + Buraha Zenoni + Arusha value hotel + Panorama + Simba + Seronera
This is reproduced exactly from the catalogue. The written quotation will allocate nights and confirm each available property before booking.
These are planning examples, not confirmed inclusions for this package. Your written quotation will confirm exactly what is included.
The quotation will identify every separate cost before you confirm.
Where this safari goes
Kenya
Big cats, open plains and the northern stage of the Great Migration
ExploreKenya
A fenced rhino sanctuary around a Rift Valley soda lake
ExploreTanzania
The northern circuit's starting line, beneath Mount Meru
ExploreTanzania
Groundwater forest beneath the Rift escarpment
ExploreTanzania
A collapsed volcano holding its own complete ecosystem
ExploreTanzania
Endless plains and the engine of the Great Migration
ExploreBefore you ask
The catalogue sets the route and travel standard, but it does not publish a fixed price or a contracted inclusion list. Citrus will prepare a written quotation for your dates, party and rooming, showing the exact transfers, activities, accommodation, meals, fees and permits before you confirm.
No. It is suggested accommodation from the source catalogue. Availability and any proposed alternative are confirmed in the written quotation before a booking is made.
Ask Citrus to revise it. Any change to route, nights or transport must be reflected in the final itinerary and quotation.
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Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and we will come back with availability, honest advice on timing and a written quotation for this route.