Tanzania · Northern Circuit

Serengeti Migration Crossing

Duration: 9 Days
From: $7,400per person

Nine days spent moving with a million and a half animals.

We start in the baobab country of Tarangire, drop into the Ngorongoro Crater while the light is still cold, then follow the herd north through Ndutu and the Seronera valley to the Mara River. By the time you reach Kogatende the wildebeest are massed on the south bank, and you have a full day at the water to wait for them to go.

Six guests maximum, one vehicle, one guide for the whole nine days. Nothing on this itinerary is shared with another party, and every day of it can be moved if the animals move first.

Route: Arusha · Tarangire · Ngorongoro · Ndutu · Seronera · Kogatende
Best Months: July to October for the crossing · February for the calving
Group Size: Six guests maximum, private departure
Getting There: Fly into Kilimanjaro (JRO), out of Kogatende by light aircraft
Pace: Moderate — long game drives, two internal flights, no walking required

Where the nine days go

Two internal flights, roughly eleven hours of driving spread across the whole itinerary.

Day 1
Arusha
Arrival, briefing
Day 2
Tarangire
Baobabs, elephant
Day 3—4
Ngorongoro
Rim and crater floor
Day 5
Ndutu
Southern short grass
Day 6
Seronera
Cats in the valley
Day 7—9
Mara River
The crossing, then out

Day by day

Every night is offered at two levels. Adventure is comfortable, mobile and close to the ground; Comfort is a permanent lodge with a pool and a wine list.

Day01

Arrival into Arusha

You land at Kilimanjaro International and we meet you at the door — no transfer desk, no waiting. It is forty minutes into the coffee farms outside Arusha, where the afternoon is yours to sleep off the flight. At six, your guide walks the whole nine days with you over a map on the table, and the vehicle you will live in for the week is parked outside for you to claim your seat.

Meals: Dinner
On the road: 40 minutes
Elevation: 1,400 m
Highlight: Route briefing with your guide

Where you sleep

Adventure
Kigongoni Camp
Canvas rooms in the coffee, half a mile of birdsong from the road.
Comfort
Onsea House
A hillside guesthouse with the best kitchen in Arusha, and a view of Meru.

Day02

Tarangire National Park

Out of Arusha by seven with breakfast in a box. Tarangire in the dry months holds the densest elephant population in northern Tanzania — several hundred animals at a time working the river sand for water. The baobabs along the ridge are the oldest living things you will see all week, and some of them were standing before Arusha existed. We stay in the park until the light goes.

Meals: All meals
On the road: 2 hours
Elevation: 1,100 m
Highlight: Elephant herds on the Tarangire River

Where you sleep

Adventure
Tarangire Ndovu Camp
Six tents on a bend of the river, unfenced, generator off at ten.
Comfort
Chem Chem Lodge
Private concession on the Manyara flats, plunge pool at every room.

Day03

Up into the Ngorongoro Highlands

A slow morning climb through Mto wa Mbu and up the Rift wall, with a stop at the Maasai market if it is running that day. By early afternoon you are on the crater rim at 2,300 metres, high enough that you will want the fire lit. The walk along the rim before dinner looks 600 metres straight down onto tomorrow.

Meals: All meals
On the road: 3 hours 30
Elevation: 2,300 m
Highlight: First sight of the crater floor

Where you sleep

Adventure
Rhino Lodge
Plain rooms in the forest behind the rim, elephant on the lawn at dusk.
Comfort
The Manor at Ngorongoro
A working coffee estate and manor house, forty minutes below the rim.

Day04

The crater floor at first light

Down the Seneto descent road at six, ahead of every other vehicle in the highlands. The floor is 260 square kilometres of grass, soda lake and swamp holding around 25,000 large animals inside its own walls, among them some of the last black rhino left in the region. Lunch by the hippo pool, then out on the Lerai road while the afternoon is still warm.

Meals: All meals
On the road: 5 hours in park
Elevation: 1,700 m
Highlight: Black rhino on the Lerai flats

Where you sleep

Adventure
Rhino Lodge
A second night in the same bed — no packing on a crater day.
Comfort
The Manor at Ngorongoro
A second night, and a long bath afterwards.

Day05

Ndutu and the southern plains

West across the conservation area onto the short-grass plains, where the herd calves in February and the ground stays open enough to pick out a cheetah at a kilometre. The acacia woodland along the lake edge at Ndutu is the most reliable place in the whole ecosystem to find lion asleep in a tree.

Meals: All meals
On the road: 4 hours
Elevation: 1,700 m
Highlight: Cheetah country, open to the horizon

Where you sleep

Adventure
Ndutu Under Canvas
A mobile camp that moves four times a year to stay with the herd.
Comfort
Lake Masek Tented Lodge
Broad canvas suites over the lake, hot water at any hour.

Day06

Seronera, the valley of cats

The centre of the Serengeti, and the densest concentration of predators anywhere on the continent. Seronera's kopjes and river line hold resident lion prides, leopard lying up in the sausage trees and cheetah working the termite mounds. Two long drives with a picnic between them, and a balloon launch before dawn if you want it.

Meals: All meals
On the road: 3 hours
Elevation: 1,600 m
Highlight: Leopard in the sausage trees

Where you sleep

Adventure
Serengeti Kati Kati
A classic mess-tent camp pitched in the middle of the valley.
Comfort
Dunia Camp
The only camp in the Serengeti run start to finish by women.

Day07

North to Kogatende

A short flight, or a long and genuinely good drive north through the Lobo hills to the Mara River. The northern Serengeti is emptier than the centre and greener with it, and by July the front of the migration is stacked along the south bank waiting for a reason to move. The last of the afternoon goes on reading the crossing points.

Meals: All meals
On the road: 1 hour flight
Elevation: 1,500 m
Highlight: First herd massed on the south bank

Where you sleep

Adventure
Lamai Serengeti Camp
Built into the kopjes above the river, walking distance to the ridge.
Comfort
Sayari Camp
Fifteen suites a few minutes from the main crossing points.

Day08

The crossing

The whole day is held for the river, and nothing else is scheduled against it. Crossings happen when they happen — sometimes at nine, sometimes not until four, sometimes not at all — so breakfast and lunch come with us and we sit. When the first animal goes in, ten thousand follow inside the hour, and the crocodiles are already lying in the current waiting for them.

Meals: All meals
On the road: In the field
Elevation: 1,500 m
Highlight: Wildebeest crossing the Mara River

Where you sleep

Adventure
Lamai Serengeti Camp
A second night above the river, with the sound of it below.
Comfort
Sayari Camp
A second night, and champagne if the herd went across.

Day09

Kogatende, and home

One last drive on the way to the airstrip, then the light aircraft south to Arusha — or straight on to Zanzibar if you are adding the coast to the end of this. Day rooms and a shower are held for you in Arusha before the evening flights out, and your guide waits with you until you are checked in.

Meals: Breakfast
On the road: 2 hour flight
Elevation: 1,400 m
Highlight: A last hour in the north before the airstrip

What's in, and what isn't

Park fees are the single largest line in a Tanzanian safari and they are already inside your price. Nothing on the included list is charged again in country.

Included

All park, crater and conservation-area fees for nine days
Eight nights' accommodation at your chosen tier, all meals from dinner on Day 1
Private 4×4 Land Cruiser with a roof hatch, a fridge and a window seat each
One guide for the whole nine days — never a different driver each morning
Internal flight Kogatende to Arusha, and airport transfers at both ends
Drinking water, soft drinks and house beer and wine at camp
Flying Doctors evacuation cover for the duration of the safari

Not included

International flights and Tanzanian visa
Travel and medical insurance, which we require of every guest
Balloon safari at Seronera, $599 per person
Premium spirits, champagne and spa treatments
Gratuities for your guide and camp staff

Seasonal Rates

Per person, in US dollars

Rates fall as the vehicle fills — the cost of the guide and the 4×4 is the same whether two of you travel or six.

Party size	Adventure	Comfort	Adventure	Comfort
	Low seasonApril—June · November		High seasonJuly—October · January—March
Travelling alone	11,200	13,900	14,300	17,600
Two guests	8,600	10,800	10,900	13,400
Four guests	7,700	9,600	9,700	12,100
Six guests	7,400	9,150	9,250	11,500

Rates hold for travel through 31 December 2027. Single supplement of $890 applies to the Comfort tier only.

A 20% deposit holds your dates and camps. The balance is due 60 days before you fly, and is fully refundable until then.

What you are likely to see

Nothing here is guaranteed and we will never pretend otherwise. This is what these parks reliably hold in these months.

Blue wildebeest
Connochaetes taurinus
Around 1.3 million of them move through this circuit each year, and the whole itinerary is built around where they are standing.
Nile crocodile
Crocodylus niloticus
The Mara's residents are five metres and older than you are. They wait in the current at the crossing points all season.
Black rhino
Diceros bicornis
Perhaps thirty animals on the crater floor, protected around the clock. Day 4 is your one real chance at them.
Cheetah
Acinonyx jubatus
The short-grass plains around Ndutu are the best cheetah ground left in East Africa, and they hunt in full daylight.
African leopard
Panthera pardus
Seronera's sausage trees hold the highest density of leopard in Tanzania. Look up, not out.
African elephant
Loxodonta africana
Tarangire's dry-season herds run to three hundred animals on the river at once, bulls included.
Grey crowned crane
Balearica regulorum
One of 540-odd bird species on this route. They pair for life and dance for it every year.
Serval
Leptailurus serval
A small spotted cat that hunts rodents in long grass by sound alone. Best found on an early Ndutu morning.

Things worth adding

Each of these slots into a day already on the itinerary without moving anything else. Tell us at booking, or decide over dinner the night before.

Day 6Balloon safari over SeroneraOne hour, at dawn$599
Day 5Walking safari with an armed rangerThree hours, early$180
Day 3An afternoon in a Maasai boma, by invitationTwo hours$95
Day 2Night drive in the Tarangire buffer zoneTwo hours, after dark$140
Day 9+Four nights on Zanzibar, north coastExtends the trip$1,850

Tell us when, and we will tell you where the herd will be.

Send us your dates and we will come back inside a day with the crossing odds for that window, the camps still open, and a price for your exact party. No deposit, no obligation, and a person on the other end.