Tanzania · Arusha · Tarangire · Serengeti · Ngorongoro · 10 min read
Tanzania Safari Itinerary 7 Days: Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater
7 days · 6 cities
Duration
7 days
Estimated budget
US$ 3,000 to 4,500 per person, no flights
Best time to go
June to October; January and February
Visa
eVisa: US$ 50, or US$ 100 for US citizens
This Tanzania safari itinerary 7 days covers the Northern Circuit from Arusha: Tarangire, Lake Manyara, two days in the central Serengeti and a drive into Ngorongoro Crater on the last day. The decision behind it is a 4x4 with a driver guide and nights inside or at the gate of each park, never backtracking to Arusha.
In short: Arusha, Tarangire, Manyara and Mto wa Mbu, the Serengeti, Olduvai and the crater. Visa, season and food are at the end.
Day 1: Arusha, the Clock Tower and the Cultural Heritage Centre
The Clock Tower: Arusha’s central landmark
Twenty minutes, free. Kilimanjaro airport is an hour from Arusha; after check in, start at the clock tower on the central roundabout, which local tradition says marks the halfway point between Cairo and Cape Town. It is the town’s reference point: the Central Market is ten minutes away on foot.
Cultural Heritage Centre: where to shop for crafts in Arusha
An hour and a half, free entry, 15 minutes by taxi along the Dodoma road. The drum shaped building holds a gallery of contemporary African art and the town’s biggest craft shop, with ebony carvings, Maasai fabrics and tanzanite, the blue gem found only in this region. Prices are fixed and higher than at the markets, but the quality is checked. Arrive before 4 pm to see the gallery properly.
Day 2: Tarangire National Park, the Tarangire River and Silale Swamp
The Tarangire River: where to see the elephants and baobabs
A three hour morning game drive, with a park fee of about US$ 59. Leave Arusha at 6:30 am: it is two hours on tarmac to the main gate. The Tarangire River is the park’s only permanent water and from June to October it draws hundreds of elephants, along with giraffes, impalas and lions. The baobabs, some over a thousand years old, are stripped by elephants, which eat the bark in the dry season.
Silale Swamp: the afternoon drive in Tarangire
Two and a half hours, after lunch and check in at the lodge. The swamp stays green all year and gathers elephants, buffalo and zebras; Silale’s lions are known for climbing trees to escape the flies. In the rainy season the track floods and the guide picks another route. Be back at the lodge before 6:30 pm, when the park closes to vehicles.
Day 3: Lake Manyara and the village of Mto wa Mbu
Is Lake Manyara worth it on a short safari?
Four hours, with a fee of about US$ 59, an hour and a quarter from Tarangire. It is, because it is different from the others: you enter through a damp groundwater forest full of baboons and blue monkeys, and the track runs down to the lake shore, with hippos, wildebeest and, for part of the year, flamingos. The tree climbing lions are famous but rare; do not count on them. If you like, add the treetop walkway through the canopy, paid separately.
Mto wa Mbu: lunch and a walk through the village
An hour and a quarter, as you leave the park. The village, whose name means river of mosquitoes in Swahili, is home to people of dozens of ethnic groups, banana and rice fields and a craft market. Guided walks or tuk tuk tours are booked on the spot with village guides; agree the price first. Then climb the escarpment to Karatu, 30 minutes away, where you sleep among coffee farms.
Day 4: Ngorongoro Crater viewpoint, Naabi Hill and arriving in the Serengeti
Crater View Point: your first look at Ngorongoro Crater
Thirty minutes, covered by the Ngorongoro fee of US$ 70.80. Leave Karatu at 7 am: Loduare gate is 20 minutes away and the road climbs through forest to the rim. The viewpoint looks down 600 metres to the crater floor, with Lake Magadi shining in the middle. The drive into the crater is saved for Day 7; today the road follows the rim and drops to the Serengeti plains.
Naabi Hill: the Serengeti gate and a view over the plains
Forty five minutes at the gate where your guide pays the Serengeti fee, about US$ 83 a day. Use the wait to eat your picnic lunch and climb the short trail to the top of the hill: the southern plains stretch to the horizon, where the wildebeest gather from December to March. Continue to Seronera, an hour away, for check in and your first Serengeti game drive in the late afternoon.
Day 5: The central Serengeti, Retina Hippo Pool and the Visitor Centre
Retina Hippo Pool: where to see hippos in the Serengeti
An hour and a half, within a full day game drive that starts at 6:30 am, the best time for lions and leopards in the Seronera River valley. The pool lies where the Orangi and Seronera rivers meet, to the north, and holds about 200 hippos and a few crocodiles. It is one of the few places where you may get out of the vehicle, in the marked area. The smell is strong: the higher lookout helps.
Serengeti Visitor Centre: a picnic and the kopje trail
An hour and a quarter, free, on the way back to the middle of the park. The picnic area among the rocks is the classic lunch stop on a full day safari, and the short trail over the kopje, a granite outcrop, explains the migration and the ecosystem with panels and iron sculptures. Watch out for monkeys and starlings, which steal food. In the afternoon your guide heads south to the Moru Kopjes, rocks where black rhinos live, or back to the Seronera River for leopards.
Day 6: Olduvai Gorge, a Maasai boma and the crater rim
Olduvai Gorge: is it worth stopping on the way to Ngorongoro?
An hour and a half, US$ 35.40. It is, and it is on the way: leave Seronera at 6:30 am with a last game drive, exit at Naabi Hill and detour ten minutes to the museum, around 11 am. In this gorge Mary and Louis Leakey found hominin fossils about 1.8 million years old. The covered viewing platform faces the gorge’s red monolith, and the same fee covers the Shifting Sands, a dune of volcanic ash that moves a few metres a year.
Maasai boma: how to visit a village in Ngorongoro
Forty five minutes, with a fee agreed at the entrance, on the way to the crater rim. The cultural bomas along the road, such as Seneto, welcome visitors with the warriors’ jumping dance, a look inside a house of mud and dung and beadwork for sale. It is staged, but the money stays with the community. Ask before taking photos and do not feel obliged to buy. Check in at your rim lodge and watch the sunset over the crater.
Day 7: A game drive in Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Magadi and the flight home
Ngorongoro Crater: what the game drive on the crater floor is like
Three hours, US$ 295 per vehicle on top of the entry fee. Drive down at 6:30 am, when the road opens: the first vehicles find the lions still active and the light low. The floor covers about 260 km² ringed by 600 metre walls, with buffalo, wildebeest, zebras, hippos, hyenas and one of Tanzania’s last groups of black rhinos, which usually stay far from the road: bring binoculars.
Lake Magadi: the flamingos inside the crater
Thirty minutes, on the morning stop. The soda lake in the middle of the crater draws lesser flamingos to the shore and herds of wildebeest around it. Eat your snack inside the vehicle: at the Ngoitoktok picnic site, black kites swoop down to snatch food from your hand. Leave the crater around 11 am; it is a four hour drive to Kilimanjaro airport, in time for an evening flight.
Do you need a visa for Tanzania?
Most visitors do, including citizens of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union. Apply on Tanzania’s official immigration portal: US$ 50 for most nationalities and US$ 100 for US citizens, with a passport valid for six months, a photo and a return ticket. Apply at least two weeks ahead and print the approval. A yellow fever certificate is required only if you arrive from, or transit for over 12 hours through, a country with yellow fever risk. Malaria is present in lower areas: ask a doctor about prevention.
What is the best time for a safari in Tanzania?
June to October, the dry season: the bush thins out and animals gather near water, especially in Tarangire. January and February are the second best window, with the migration and the calving season in the southern Serengeti. April and May bring the long rains, muddy roads and low prices; some camps close.
Mornings on the Ngorongoro rim, at 2,300 metres, are cold in any month: pack a warm jacket.
How to get to Tanzania and how to get around on safari
Fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport, JRO, between Arusha and Moshi. KLM, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian, Turkish, Emirates with Flydubai and, since 2026, Brussels Airlines and Italy’s Neos all fly there, usually with one connection from North America. Your lodge or operator meets you at the airport.
The safari is done in a pop up roof 4x4 with a driver guide, booked with an Arusha operator. To finish on a beach, there are one hour flights from Arusha to Zanzibar: see the 7 day Zanzibar itinerary. To compare with the neighbour, there is the Kenya itinerary with the Masai Mara.
Where to stay on safari: lodges, tented camps and campsites
There are three levels. Public campsites, with a tent and a cook, are the cheapest. Lodges and permanent tented camps, with private bathrooms and full board, are the standard for travellers with an operator. Luxury lodges on the Ngorongoro rim and in the Serengeti cost over US$ 800 a night. Sleeping inside the Serengeti saves hours of driving, but adds a nightly concession fee, charged separately.
Where to eat in Tanzania: local dishes and what to try on safari
On safari almost every meal is at the lodge, full board, and lunch on driving days comes in a picnic box. Real local food shows up in Arusha and the villages along the way. The dish every Tanzanian recommends is nyama choma, goat or beef grilled over charcoal, served with kachumbari, a tomato and onion salad, and ugali, the firm white maize porridge you eat with your hands.
Pilau, rice spiced with cumin, clove and cardamom, a legacy of the Swahili coast, and mishkaki, skewers of marinated meat, are the most common lunch dishes. Plantain, ndizi, comes boiled or fried; in Mto wa Mbu try the red bananas grown in the village itself.
The street snack is chipsi mayai, chips mixed with beaten eggs and fried like an omelette, sold at any stall in Arusha. To see the ingredients up close, spend an hour at Arusha Central Market, the Soko Kuu, near the Clock Tower: fruit, spices, and the region’s coffee and tea.
What to avoid: tap water and ice outside the lodges, raw salad at roadside stalls, and bushmeat offered as a delicacy, which is illegal to sell in Tanzania. Drink the local Kilimanjaro or Safari lager and Kilimanjaro coffee, which the lodges serve at breakfast.
Is 7 days enough for a Tanzania safari?
It is enough for the classic Northern Circuit: Tarangire, Manyara, two full days in the central Serengeti and the crater, with Olduvai on the way. With two more days, head to the northern Serengeti for the Mara River crossings, from July to October, or south to Ndutu, from December to March. With four more, finish in Zanzibar.
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Estimated budget per person
Prices checked on 10 October 2026. Check current prices at Ngorongoro Conservation Area, official tariffs · Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) · Tanzania eVisa, official portal.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a 7 day Tanzania safari cost?+
Between US$ 3,000 and US$ 4,500 per person, without flights, for a private mid range safari for two: full board lodges, a 4x4 with a driver guide and about US$ 700 in park fees. Return flights to Kilimanjaro from North America or Europe run from US$ 1,100 to US$ 2,000. Groups of four to six share the vehicle and bring the cost down.
Do I need a visa and vaccines for Tanzania?+
Most visitors need a tourist visa, applied for on the official immigration portal: US$ 50 for most nationalities and US$ 100 for US citizens, who receive a multiple entry visa. Apply at least two weeks ahead. A yellow fever certificate is required if you arrive from, or transit for more than 12 hours through, a country with yellow fever risk. Ask a doctor about malaria prevention.
When is the best time to see the Great Migration in the Serengeti?+
It depends on the area. From December to March the wildebeest graze the southern plains near Ndutu, and calves are born in February. In June and July they cross the Grumeti River in the west, and from July to October the Mara River in the north. The central Serengeti in this itinerary has lions and leopards all year; if the migration is the priority, your operator can move days 4 and 5 to the right area for your month.
Can you do a Tanzania safari without a tour operator?+
In practice, no: self driving in the parks is allowed but rare, and park fees, vehicles and lodge bookings are handled by local operators. Book a licensed Arusha operator that belongs to TATO, the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators, get the itinerary in writing with fees included, and make sure the vehicle has a pop up roof.
How much should I tip my safari guide?+
The norm is US$ 20 to US$ 30 per day for the driver guide, pooled by the whole group and handed over in cash on the last day. At lodges, use the tip box at reception, which is shared among the staff. Bring US dollar notes printed in 2013 or later: older notes are often refused.
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