The northern circuit at a pace that lets you stay with a sighting instead of driving past it.
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Overview
Built for travellers with a week or more who would rather see three parks properly than five in passing. It suits first-time visitors who want the recognisable Tanzania (Serengeti, the Crater) without the compressed feeling a shorter trip forces, and returning travellers who found their first safari too rushed.
Most itineraries at this length move every night: packing at dawn, hours in the vehicle, and one short drive before dark. Two or three nights in one place changes what a day can be. You can go back to the same spot in the evening, wait out the heat, follow a river rather than a route. Guides do their best work when they are not watching a clock.
Everything here is a default, not a rule. Swap Tarangire for Lake Manyara, add nights in the north for the crossings, drop the Crater if crowds matter more to you than the view, or extend to Zanzibar. The framework only fixes length and pace.
Highlights
Two or three nights per campFewer packing mornings, and a guide who is not watching the clock.
Serengeti, placed for your monthNorth or south depending on the season, rather than one fixed camp.
One quieter parkUsually Tarangire, which most operators cut first and which is often the part people talk about afterwards.
Time out of the vehicleWalking with an armed ranger, or a slow morning at a waterhole hide.
Itinerary
Every eXvo journey is designed around the traveller, so treat this as an illustration of pace and routing rather than a fixed itinerary. Days move, nights get added, whole regions get swapped.
These are examples, and every journey can use any of them. Final choice depends on availability on your dates.
Met at Kilimanjaro International Airport by your guide and driven about an hour to your lodge outside Arusha. Nothing else is planned: the rest of the day is for getting over the flight.
Meal plan: B&BB&B: breakfast only. Half board: breakfast and dinner. Full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner (on safari, lunch is often a picnic in the park).
A small park on the slopes of Mount Meru, under an hour from Arusha, with forest, crater lakes and open glades. It is one of the few northern parks where you can walk with an armed ranger.
Today
A gentle first full day. Sleep in, then an optional short game drive or walk in Arusha National Park, or a visit to a coffee farm, and back at the lodge by mid-afternoon, so the first long day in the parks starts rested.
Meal plan: B&BB&B: breakfast only. Half board: breakfast and dinner. Full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner (on safari, lunch is often a picnic in the park).
About Tarangire
Tarangire is a park of baobabs and seasonal swamps along the Tarangire River, about two hours from Arusha. In the dry months the river is the main water for a wide area, so animals tend to gather along it, and it sees far fewer vehicles than the Serengeti.
Day 3
About two hours from Arusha, in the park by late morning. A picnic lunch, then an afternoon drive among the baobabs and along the river before dusk.
Day 4
A full, unhurried day. Out early while it is cool, back to camp through the midday heat if you like, and out again in the afternoon; or a packed lunch and a longer run south towards the swamps.
Meal plan: Full boardB&B: breakfast only. Half board: breakfast and dinner. Full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner (on safari, lunch is often a picnic in the park).
About the Serengeti
The Serengeti covers almost 15,000 km² of grassland, rocky kopjes and river woodland, running north to the Kenyan border. The great herds move with the rains, which is why where you stay inside it depends on the month.
Day 5
Up over the Ngorongoro highlands and down onto the plains, game driving from the park gate to camp, or a short flight in if you would rather not spend the day on the road. Your camp is chosen for the month: the south in calving season, the north for the river crossings.
Day 6
A full day on the plains with nowhere you need to be. Your guide decides where to go from the season and from what other guides reported that morning; you decide how long to stay with whatever you find.
Day 7
A third day from the same camp, so no packing. Another full day out, or a slower one: a morning drive, the afternoon at camp, and out again for the last light.
Meal plan: Full boardB&B: breakfast only. Half board: breakfast and dinner. Full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner (on safari, lunch is often a picnic in the park).
About Ngorongoro
The Ngorongoro Crater is the collapsed caldera of an old volcano, about 19 km across and 600 m deep, inside a wider conservation area where Maasai still graze their cattle. Vehicles go down to the floor for the day and come back up to the rim by late afternoon.
Today
Out of the Serengeti early and across the highlands to the Crater, down to the floor for a few hours, and back up for the night on the rim or in Karatu.
Meal plan: Full boardB&B: breakfast only. Half board: breakfast and dinner. Full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner (on safari, lunch is often a picnic in the park).
Today
Back to Arusha by road through the Rift Valley, or a short flight from Manyara airstrip, in time for your flight home.
Price
Pick a level to see its lodges and guide price.
Every level keeps the same vehicle, guide and route. Only the accommodation changes.
Where you stay at Comfort: En-suite tented camps and simple lodges, usually just outside the park gates. See the Comfort lodges
Guide price · Comfort · 9 days
$2,719
per person
Based on 2 people sharing in low season. Your exact price depends on dates, group size and lodges, and is confirmed in writing before you book.
What your price covers, and what to budget for separately.
Included
Every park entry, conservation and Crater fee on the route, paid by us in advance. They are a large share of what a safari costs, and they are what fund the parks.
The lodges for the level you choose, with the meal plan shown on each day of the itinerary: full board on safari, and bed and breakfast or half board in town and on the coast. Prices assume two sharing; a room to yourself costs more, and the supplement is in your quote.
A 4x4 with a pop-up roof, used by your party alone and never shared. One English-speaking driver-guide stays with you from the first game drive to the last.
Met at Kilimanjaro airport when you land, and taken to your flight home at the end, whatever time it leaves.
Water in the vehicle on every safari day, so you never have to ration it on a long drive.
Not included
International flights. Flights to and from Tanzania are booked by you. We will suggest arrival and departure times that fit the trip.
Visa. Paid by you, usually online before you travel. Visa information
Travel insurance. A condition of travelling with us. It must cover medical treatment, emergency evacuation and repatriation.
Tips. Always your choice. As a guide, we suggest $30–50 per day per vehicle for your driver-guide, plus a little for camp staff. How tipping works
Personal spending. Drinks beyond water and what the camp serves with meals, laundry where it is charged, souvenirs, and optional extras such as balloon flights, quoted separately if you want them.
Packing
Less than you think, in neutral colours, and in a soft bag if any leg is flown. Bring a warm layer: early mornings in an open vehicle are cold, even when the middle of the day is hot.
Most nationalities need a visa: $50 for a single entry. US citizens pay $100 for a multiple-entry visa. Apply online before you travel to avoid the queue on arrival. Fees and rules change, so check with the Tanzanian embassy in your country.
No. It illustrates pace and routing at this length. Most travellers change something: an extra Serengeti night, a different park, Zanzibar on the end. The framework fixes length, not the map.
January to March for calving on the southern plains, June to October for the dry season and the crossings. It runs year-round; March to May is greener, quieter and better value with more chance of rain.
Eight to twelve months for June to October, when the best northern camps fill first. January and February need less lead time. Shorter notice is often still possible. Ask and we will tell you honestly what is left.
Yes, but you will spend one to two extra days in the vehicle. At this length we usually recommend flying one leg and driving the rest.
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The places and experiences this journey is built from, each with its own page.
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