This 7-day route links Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro, with the region's finest camps, private guiding and unhurried days. 6 nights on safari, priced on request.
Tarangire - Central/Northern Serengeti - Ngorongoro
About this safari
The route opens in Tarangire — baobabs, a life-giving river and the circuit's greatest elephant numbers — and works through 2 further destinations over 7 days. It stays within Tanzania; the final proposal will confirm transfer times and the balance between travel and game viewing. Accommodation is at the luxury standard: premium camps and lodges where the accommodation is part of the experience. At this level the camps are as much a reason to travel as the wildlife: limited suites, exceptional food, private decks and guiding of a standard that changes what you see. 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
Arusha is the working gateway for this route. Citrus will set out the actual collection and transfer arrangements in writing. The road south-west from Arusha runs through Maasai grazing land before turning into Tarangire, and the change at the gate is immediate: baobabs. They stand alone across the open woodland, enormous and strange, and they give the park a landscape that exists nowhere else on the northern circuit. In the dry season the first elephants usually appear within minutes. Tarangire is noticeably quieter than the Serengeti or the Crater, and that shows in the pace of a drive. Sightings are rarely crowded, your guide can take time over them, and the mix of open woodland and river valley means the terrain changes constantly. Buffalo, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, impala and waterbuck are all common along the way. The catalogue suggests a premium camp or lodge here. The exact property, suite and services remain subject to availability and quotation.
Overnight: Tarangire
Day 2
The itinerary continues by road, the journey into the Serengeti is long, and it is a genuine part of the experience rather than dead time. You climb through the highlands, skirt the crater rim, cross the conservation area where Maasai herd cattle alongside wildlife, and then descend onto the plains where the herds are. Game viewing effectively begins as soon as you pass the gate. 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. The suggested standard is luxury. Citrus will identify the available property and contracted services before confirmation.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 3
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 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. The catalogue suggests a premium camp or lodge here. The exact property, suite and services remain subject to availability and quotation.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 4
In the northern Serengeti the days are built around the Mara River. Herds mass on the banks, sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, and the crossings when they come are sudden, violent and quickly over — wildebeest pouring down the bank into current and crocodile while the rest of the herd hesitates above. Nothing about the timing can be arranged, so the approach is to reach the river early, position well and wait. The next section of the circuit moves on, the road to the Serengeti climbs the Ngorongoro highlands and crosses the conservation area before descending onto the plains, and the moment of arrival is hard to mistake — the country simply opens, grass running unbroken to a horizon with nothing on it. The Maasai name, siringet, means the place where the land runs on forever, and it is a straightforwardly accurate description. A luxury stay is proposed for this night, with the final property and arrangements confirmed in writing.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 5
Following the migration in the north means patience and long hours. Your guide will read the herds' direction of travel and the state of the grass, work the known crossing points, and be prepared to sit for a long time on the chance that a build-up tips over into a crossing. Some days deliver one of the great wildlife spectacles on earth; others deliver enormous herds and no crossing at all, which is the honest nature of it. 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. This outline assumes the catalogue's premium standard. No named camp is guaranteed until the quotation confirms it.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 6
The route then continues 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. The descent road drops six hundred metres to the floor, and the transition from cold, misty rim to warm open grassland takes about twenty minutes. Down there the crater feels less like a park than an enclosure — walls rising on every side, weather moving across in visible fronts, and animals concentrated at a density that takes some adjusting to. This outline assumes the catalogue's premium standard. No named camp is guaranteed until the quotation confirms it.
Overnight: Ngorongoro
Day 7
If this optional activity is included in your written quotation, you drop onto the crater floor early, descending six hundred metres down a steep track from cold, misty rim to warm open grassland in about twenty minutes. The permit allows roughly six hours below, and your guide will use them on the open plain where the lion prides and the great herds are, the Lerai fever tree forest for elephant, and the soda shallows of Lake Magadi where flamingo gather. Black rhino are what most people are hoping for, and the crater offers the best odds in East Africa. The planning route returns to Arusha; the final drop-off and timing will be agreed around the confirmed onward arrangements.
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
Lemala Mpingo Ridge + Elewana Serengeti Migration Camp / luxury mobile camp + The Manor
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
Tanzania
Baobabs, a life-giving river and the circuit's greatest elephant numbers
ExploreTanzania
Endless plains and the engine of the Great Migration
ExploreTanzania
A collapsed volcano holding its own complete ecosystem
ExploreTanzania
The northern circuit's starting line, beneath Mount Meru
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. The route can be positioned for the seasonal migration, but herd movements and river crossings cannot be scheduled or guaranteed.
You might also consider
Mid-rangeTop 10 pick7 days · Tanzania
A carefully paced 7-day route through Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro, staying in comfortable tented camps and established safari lodges throughout. 6 nights on safari, priced on request.
Price on request
View safari
Mid-range7 days · Tanzania
7 days across Tarangire, Ndutu and Serengeti, with proper beds, good food and lodges that sit where the wildlife is. 6 nights on safari, priced on request.
Price on request
View safari
Budget6 days · Tanzania
This 6-day route links Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro, using value accommodation so that more of the budget goes into game viewing. 5 nights on safari, priced on request.
Price on request
View safariReady when you are
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.