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Citrus Tour Safaris
A safari vehicle with an open roof on a game drive
Mid-range4 days · 3 nightsTanzania

4 Days Serengeti & Ngorongoro — Mid-range

A carefully paced 4-day route through Serengeti and Ngorongoro, using the comfortable, well-positioned lodges most travellers choose. 3 nights on safari, priced on request.

Serengeti - Ngorongoro

About this safari

The route opens in Serengeti — endless plains and the engine of the Great Migration — and works through 1 further destination over 4 days. It stays within Tanzania; the final proposal will confirm transfer times and the balance between travel and game viewing. Accommodation is at the mid-range standard: comfortable tented camps and established safari lodges. The balance most travellers settle on — proper beds, en-suite bathrooms and well-run lodges in good positions, without the premium that the top end of the market commands. 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.

Highlights

  • Serengeti: the Great Migration, the largest terrestrial mammal movement on earth, is resident here for most of the year.
  • Ngorongoro: the highest permanent density of large mammals anywhere in Africa, all within a contained caldera.
  • A permitted descent onto the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater

Day by day

Your 4-day itinerary

Written out in full before you book, so you can see exactly how the days are paced and where each night is spent.

  1. Day 1

    Arusha to Serengeti

    Arusha is the working gateway for this route. Citrus will set out the actual collection and transfer arrangements in writing. 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. With a full day there is time to work an area rather than pass through it. Following a single pride through a morning, waiting out a cheetah that is clearly building towards a hunt, or simply sitting with a leopard until it moves — these are the things a compressed itinerary cannot do, and they are what people remember. The catalogue suggests a comfortable mid-range stay here. The exact lodge, room basis and meals are confirmed in the quotation.

    Overnight: Serengeti

    Wildebeest plunging down a riverbank and crossing the water during the Great Migration

  2. Day 2

    A full day in Serengeti

    With a full day there is time to work an area rather than pass through it. Following a single pride through a morning, waiting out a cheetah that is clearly building towards a hunt, or simply sitting with a leopard until it moves — these are the things a compressed itinerary cannot do, and they are what people remember. 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. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.

    Overnight: Serengeti

    Wildebeest plunging down a riverbank and crossing the water during the Great Migration

  3. Day 3

    Serengeti to Ngorongoro

    The next leg links the two destinations, the drive to the crater rim gains altitude quickly, and by the time you reach the top the air is cold enough for a jacket. The rim road runs along the edge with the caldera falling away on one side, and even before descending the scale of the place is obvious: this is a complete ecosystem held inside a single collapsed volcano. The crater floor holds roughly 25,000 large animals in an area small enough to cover in a morning, and because most of them have no reason to leave, the viewing does not depend on season. Lion prides are large and well known, spotted hyena are abundant, and the Lerai fever tree forest holds some of the last big-tusked bull elephants in Tanzania. This outline assumes a comfortable safari stay near the route. The named property remains a suggestion until quoted.

    Overnight: Ngorongoro

    Impala and other antelope in open grassland

  4. Day 4

    Optional: ngorongoro Crater descent, return to Arusha

    If this optional activity is included in your written quotation, the descent onto the crater floor is governed by permit and time limit, typically around six hours, so an early start makes a real difference — better light, more active animals and fewer vehicles. Once down, the drive covers the open grassland where lion, wildebeest and zebra concentrate, the Lerai forest for big-tusked elephant, and the shore of Lake Magadi for flamingo. Black rhino are the animal everyone hopes for and are seen more reliably here than anywhere else, usually at distance. Arusha is the working end point, with the final transfer stated in the written proposal.

    Safari ends

    A rhino grazing in open grassland

Where you stay

Suggested accommodation

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

Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge + Ngorongoro Serena

This is reproduced exactly from the catalogue. The written quotation will allocate nights and confirm each available property before booking.

Typical safari arrangements may include

These are planning examples, not confirmed inclusions for this package. Your written quotation will confirm exactly what is included.

  • A private or shared safari vehicle may be proposed, depending on the route and quotation
  • Guiding, transfers and game drives may be included where they are itemised in the written quotation
  • Park, reserve and permit costs may be included or quoted separately; the quotation will say which
  • Accommodation may be quoted at the suggested standard or at an agreed alternative
  • Meals, drinking water and taxes vary by supplier and will be itemised or described in the quotation

Costs that may be separate

The quotation will identify every separate cost before you confirm.

  • International or domestic flights and airport charges may be separate
  • Visas, travel insurance and health requirements are normally the traveller's responsibility
  • Gorilla and chimpanzee permits may be included or billed separately
  • Optional activities, drinks, tips, laundry and personal purchases may be separate
  • Any cost not addressed by the draft itinerary should be checked before the booking is confirmed
  • Optional extras on this route: a balloon safari where available

Important notes

  • Accommodation shown is suggested rather than contracted. The exact property is confirmed in your written quotation and may change with availability.
  • Wildlife sightings, migration movements, river crossings and clear mountain views depend on season, weather and chance and cannot be guaranteed.
  • Activities described as optional are excluded unless the written quotation expressly includes them.
  • The day-by-day text is a planning outline derived from the catalogue route. Your quotation will confirm exact transfers, activities, meals, permits and accommodation.

Where this safari goes

Destinations on this route

Tanzania

Serengeti

Endless plains and the engine of the Great Migration

Explore

Tanzania

Ngorongoro

A collapsed volcano holding its own complete ecosystem

Explore

Tanzania

Arusha

The northern circuit's starting line, beneath Mount Meru

Explore

Before you ask

Planning questions for this route

What does price on request mean for this safari?

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.

Is the listed accommodation guaranteed?

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.

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