Luxury Tanzania safaris

Tanzania safari at a glance

Following the Great Migration? See where the herds are, month by month, below.

Tanzania's iconic parks & islands

Follow the herds, month by month

Over two million wildebeest and zebra move in a year-round circuit through the Serengeti. For this reason, our Tanzania safaris place you in the right camp for the right month. This is where they are. Tanzania holds almost every one of the African safari animals travelers hope to see.

Where you’ll stay in Tanzania

On our Tanzania safaris, where you stay is selected privately around your journey. We recommend each camp, lodge or villa according to its location, season, guiding, privacy and suitability for the people traveling. You’ll see the places we suggest, and why, in your itinerary. For the very top end, also see our guide to luxury safari lodges in Africa.

Best time to visit Tanzania

Timing decides almost everything on Tanzania safaris. Our month-by-month guide to the best time to visit Tanzania breaks down each season, park by park.

Planning essentials

Flights, entry rules, health and money: the practical details we handle for you, all in one place. Requirements can change, so we confirm everything when you book. Planning a Tanzania safari for older travelers? Our safari guide for older travelers covers pacing, altitude and fly-in routes.

How many days do you need?

For Tanzania safaris, the realistic minimum is seven nights on the ground. Fewer than that and you spend a disproportionate share of the trip moving between parks rather than sitting still in them, which is where safaris actually happen.

Seven nights: the short northern circuit

Tarangire, the Ngorongoro Crater and the central Serengeti. Enough for the Big Five and a genuine feel for the country, at one park per two nights. It works, but there is no slack in it if the weather or the herds do something unexpected.

Ten nights: the version we recommend

The same circuit with room to breathe: three nights in the Serengeti instead of two, a slower crater day, and the flexibility to move north if the migration has. Indeed, this is where most of our Tanzania trips land. See our ten-day Northern Circuit itinerary.

Eleven to twelve nights: built around the migration

If the river crossings are the point, the itinerary has to follow the herds rather than a fixed route, and that needs extra nights in the north. Our eleven-day migration itinerary is timed that way, and there is more on the herds in our Great Migration guide.

Fourteen nights: safari and Zanzibar

Ten on safari, four on the coast. Besides, after a week of pre-dawn starts the Indian Ocean stops being an indulgence, and Zanzibar is a 90-minute flight from the Serengeti, not a separate trip.

One rule worth knowing on Tanzania safaris: an extra night in a park you are already in is worth more than an extra park. Two nights in four places is a worse safari than four nights in two.

What a Tanzania safari costs

A private, tailor-made Tanzania safari with us is priced to your budget. Specifically, that covers camps, guiding, park and conservation fees, internal flights and transfers. However, it does not cover international airfare, visas, insurance or tips.

So where a trip lands above that comes down to four things, in roughly this order of impact.

Season

The same camp can differ by around 40% between the June–October peak and the green season. In fact, nothing else on this list moves the number as much.

Where the camps sit

A camp inside a private concession costs more than one on the park boundary, and it buys something real: fewer vehicles at sightings, and permission to drive off-road and after dark.

Mobile versus permanent

The northern Serengeti camps that move with the herds are more expensive to run and price accordingly. In migration season they are also the surest way to stay genuinely close to the crossings.

Flights and park fees

Light-aircraft hops between parks save half-days of driving, although they add up quickly. Park and crater fees are fixed and non-negotiable, and they are a larger share of a Tanzania budget than most travelers expect: see the current Tanzania park fees.

Our full breakdown, with ranges by trip type, is in the luxury safari cost guide. In any case, we will always tell you plainly where more money makes a real difference and where it does not.

Why plan Tanzania with NndeeAfrika

After all, Tanzania is not one destination among many for us. Our co-founder was born and raised in Tanzania, on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, and has spent 15+ years in hospitality and tourism, in hotels and as a luxury African travel advisor. That is the difference between knowing a camp exists and knowing which of its tents faces the crossing. If you are still deciding between countries, start with the region as a whole.

We have stayed in many of the camps we book. Where we have not, however, we will always tell you plainly.

Every safari is privately designed. Private guides and vehicles are arranged where specified, with your own pace and no fixed departures; at fly-in camps, game drives may be shared unless a private vehicle is reserved. It is the single biggest difference between a good safari and a memorable one, and we set it out clearly in every itinerary we build.

In addition, we are a US company, not an overseas booking agent. NndeeAfrika LLC is registered in California as a Seller of Travel, CST 2173450-50, with a payment schedule and cancellation policy set out in writing before you pay anything. Read them in our terms and conditions.

You deal with the people who planned your trip. Inquiries reach us directly, so we usually reply within one business day. There is no call center. Start with the inquiry form and tell us how you like to travel, or read more about us first.

Most Tanzania safaris begin and end here, beneath Mount Meru. For this reason, a day in Arusha is worth building in. This is how we’d spend it.

Tanzania safari FAQs

Our luxury Tanzania safaris are built one at a time, never sold from a shelf.

Tell us how you like to travel and start with a complimentary consultation.