13 days across Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha, on a practical budget footing, without cutting the days spent in the field. 12 nights on safari, priced on request.
Mara - Nakuru - Naivasha - Amboseli - Arusha - Manyara - Ngorongoro - Serengeti - Tarangire
About this safari
The route opens in Maasai Mara — big cats, open plains and the northern stage of the Great Migration — and works through 7 further destinations over 13 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. Today's route runs towards Kenya's most famous reserve, and the change in country is gradual but unmistakable. Farmland gives way to grazing land, grazing land to open savannah, and the flat-topped acacias that define the Mara begin to appear on the ridgelines. Your guide will usually raise the roof before the gate, because plains game gather along the boundary and the first sightings often come early. The rhythm of a Mara day follows the animals rather than the clock. Dawn is the most productive window, when cats are still active and the light is low enough for photography. Later the plains settle into the heat and the emphasis shifts to elephant, buffalo and the birdlife along the water. By late afternoon the predators stir again, and the last hour before the gate closes is often the best of the day. A practical camp is suggested for this night, with the confirmed property and services stated in the quotation.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 2
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. Beyond the big cats, the reserve holds an extraordinary supporting cast. Bat-eared fox and black-backed jackal work the short grass, secretary birds stalk through it hunting snakes, and ground hornbill move in slow procession. Your guide will stop for these as readily as for lion, and they are often what people remember once the trip is over. This planning outline places the night at a value property near the route. Availability and the final choice are confirmed before booking.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 3
This travel day carries the route onward, the road north from the Rift Valley floor climbs towards Nakuru town, and the park gate sits close enough to the main highway that the transition from traffic to wildlife happens within minutes. Inside the fence the country changes immediately — yellow-barked acacia along the shoreline, euphorbia forest climbing the eastern slopes, and the pale sheet of the lake spread out below. Nakuru is small enough to cover thoroughly, and that is its advantage. The lakeside circuit is where white rhino graze the open flats, usually in loose groups and often close to the track. Black rhino are browsers and stay in thicker cover, so seeing them takes more luck. Rothschild's giraffe — distinguishable by their clean white lower legs — were introduced here and are now easy to find among the acacias. The suggested standard is simple and location-led. The quotation will name the property and specify what the stay includes.
Overnight: Lake Nakuru
Day 4
If this optional activity is included in your written quotation, a boat trip on the lake is the reason most itineraries stop here. Cutting the engine near a hippo pod brings you closer to these animals than any vehicle can, and the birdlife along the shoreline is extraordinary — fish eagle calling from the dead trees, pelican working the shallows in line, cormorant colonies packed onto drowned branches, and herons stalking the papyrus edge. Boat trips are normally an optional extra rather than an automatic inclusion. The next leg links the two destinations, today's transfer is short, which is part of the point. Naivasha sits high in the Rift at nearly 1,900 metres, and the lake's fresh water supports a completely different community from the alkaline lakes nearby — papyrus, fever trees, hippo pods and an extraordinary concentration of waterbirds rather than the flamingo flocks found further north. The catalogue suggests a value stay in this area. The exact property, room basis and meals remain subject to the written quotation.
Overnight: Lake Naivasha
Day 5
The itinerary continues by road, the route runs south towards the border, and the country grows steadily drier as you go. Amboseli sits in the rain shadow of Kilimanjaro, which is why the plains outside the park look so bare — and why the swamps at its heart, fed from the mountain itself, concentrate wildlife so reliably. The first elephants usually appear before you reach the gate. The birdlife around the swamps is easy to underestimate — pelican, crowned crane, African spoonbill, sacred ibis and large numbers of waders work the shallows, and raptors hunt the open ground. Between elephant sightings there is always something on the water, and the contrast of a green marsh set into grey dust is part of what makes the park photograph so well. A practical camp is suggested for this night, with the confirmed property and services stated in the quotation.
Overnight: Amboseli
Day 6
The open, almost treeless terrain gives Amboseli long sightlines and makes it one of the best photographic parks in Kenya. Morning drives work the swamp edges where elephant, buffalo and hippo gather, while the dry lake bed shimmers and distorts in the heat further out. If the cloud lifts off Kilimanjaro — most likely in the first and last hour of daylight — the mountain dominates everything. A full day here divides between the permanent swamps, which hold water all year and concentrate game reliably, and the open plains where zebra, wildebeest, giraffe and gazelle spread out. Lion, cheetah and spotted hyena are present, though at lower densities than the Mara and requiring more patience. A short climb up Observation Hill gives the only elevated view in the park and makes sense of how the swamps sit in the landscape. A practical camp is suggested for this night, with the confirmed property and services stated in the quotation.
Overnight: Amboseli
Day 7
The next section of the circuit moves on, 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 8
The route then continues onward, today's drive brings you to the foot of the Rift Valley escarpment, where springs emerging at the base of the cliff feed a genuinely lush groundwater forest. After the dry acacia country elsewhere on the circuit, the density and greenness of Manyara comes as a surprise. Tree-climbing lion are what Manyara is known for, and the acacia woodland along the middle stretch of the park is where to look. The behaviour is real but opportunistic — the lions climb when it suits them — so it is best treated as a possibility rather than an expectation. The park's other strengths, particularly the forest and the birdlife, stand on their own. The catalogue suggests a value stay in this area. The exact property, room basis and meals remain subject to the written quotation.
Overnight: Lake Manyara
Day 9
This travel day carries the route onward, leaving the plains, the road climbs towards the rim of the largest intact volcanic caldera in the world. The ascent is through montane forest, often in mist, and the arrival at the rim viewpoint is the payoff — the whole floor spread out below, with soda lake, forest, swamp and grassland all visible at once. 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. A practical camp is suggested for this night, with the confirmed property and services stated in the quotation.
Overnight: Ngorongoro
Day 10
This activity is a planning option and only forms part of the day when it appears in the written quotation. The next leg links the two destinations, heading north through the Serengeti, the landscape changes as you go: the short grass of the south gives way to taller grassland, then to rolling hills and river courses lined with fig and sausage trees. This is the country the herds move through on their way to the Mara River, and in the right months it carries an extraordinary weight of animals. 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 11
A full day in the Serengeti means covering distance, and that is no hardship. Between sightings the plains themselves hold attention — grass moving in wind, kopjes standing out of it, and the sense of space that no other park in East Africa quite matches. Your guide will usually pack lunch and stay out through the middle of the day, when many vehicles return to camp and the tracks empty. The Serengeti holds one of the densest lion populations on earth, and the granite kopjes are the best place to look — prides use them for shade, vantage and shelter, and a pride draped across warm rock in early light is one of the defining images of the park. Cheetah favour the open plains where their speed counts, and leopard rest through the heat in the acacias along the Seronera river courses. The suggested standard is simple and location-led. The quotation will name the property and specify what the stay includes.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 12
Leaving the previous stop behind, tarangire is the closest circuit park to Arusha and the first stop on most northern itineraries. The drive is short and the arrival is dramatic — open woodland dotted with ancient baobabs, termite mounds standing like chimneys, and the Tarangire River drawing a green line through country that is otherwise parched for much of the year. Drives work the river circuits where game concentrates, then out into the woodland and towards the southern swamps where the country opens up. Tarangire holds dry-country species the rest of the circuit lacks — fringe-eared oryx, lesser kudu and gerenuk — and its bird list exceeds 500 species, including the yellow-collared lovebird found nowhere else. The catalogue suggests a value stay in this area. The exact property, room basis and meals remain subject to the written quotation.
Overnight: Tarangire
Day 13
This outline leaves the final morning available for the confirmed transfer plan. In the dry season Tarangire holds the largest elephant concentrations on the northern circuit, drawn from a huge surrounding area to the only permanent water for miles. Herds of several hundred gather along the riverbed, digging for water in the sand and moving between the baobabs in long files. It is the most reliable elephant viewing in Tanzania and the reason the park earns its place. 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 + Leisure Apex + Nyati + Arusha value hotel + Panorama + Simba + Seronera + Tarangire public campsite
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
ExploreKenya
Freshwater, hippo pods and the Rift Valley's gentlest day
ExploreKenya
Great elephant families beneath Mount Kilimanjaro
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
ExploreTanzania
Baobabs, a life-giving river and the circuit's greatest elephant numbers
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.
No. Cloud and weather can obscure the mountain even when a route is timed well.
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.