A 6-day circuit taking in Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro, staying at premium camps and lodges where the setting is part of the point. 5 nights on safari, priced on request.
Lake Manyara - Serengeti - Ngorongoro - Tarangire
About this safari
The route opens in Lake Manyara — groundwater forest beneath the Rift escarpment — and works through 3 further destinations over 6 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 from Arusha runs west towards the Rift escarpment, which rises abruptly out of the plain ahead of you, and Lake Manyara occupies the narrow strip between that wall and the alkaline lake below. The park is compressed into a few kilometres of width, and the habitat changes band by band as you drive — groundwater forest, acacia woodland, floodplain, lake. The park's baboon troops are among the largest recorded anywhere, and watching a few hundred of them work through the forest floor is a spectacle in its own right. Elephant move through the trees with surprising quietness, hippo hold the pools near the lake, and the alkaline shallows draw flamingo and pelican in numbers that vary with the water level. The catalogue suggests a premium camp or lodge here. The exact property, suite and services remain subject to availability and quotation.
Overnight: Lake Manyara
Day 2
The next section of the circuit moves on, heading north through the Serengeti, the landscape changes as you go: the short grass of the south gives way to taller grassland, then to rolling hills and river courses lined with fig and sausage trees. This is the country the herds move through on their way to the Mara River, and in the right months it carries an extraordinary weight of animals. With a full day there is time to work an area rather than pass through it. Following a single pride through a morning, waiting out a cheetah that is clearly building towards a hunt, or simply sitting with a leopard until it moves — these are the things a compressed itinerary cannot do, and they are what people remember. A luxury stay is proposed for this night, with the final property and arrangements confirmed in writing.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 3
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 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. This outline assumes the catalogue's premium standard. No named camp is guaranteed until the quotation confirms it.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 4
This travel day carries the route onward, the road climbs steeply out of the Rift Valley into the Ngorongoro highlands, through forest thick with wild olive and strung with lichen, and the air turns cold and damp. Then the trees break at the rim, and the crater is simply there below — twenty kilometres across, six hundred metres down, with its own weather moving across the floor. It is a genuinely arresting first view. Ngorongoro is the most dependable place in East Africa to see black rhino, though they are usually out on the open floor at some distance and best appreciated through binoculars or a long lens. Around them the floor carries wildebeest, zebra, eland and both Grant's and Thomson's gazelle in permanent residence, with flamingo working the soda shallows of Lake Magadi. The suggested standard is luxury. Citrus will identify the available property and contracted services before confirmation.
Overnight: Ngorongoro
Day 5
This activity is a planning option and only forms part of the day when it appears in the written quotation. The next leg links the two destinations, tarangire is the closest circuit park to Arusha and the first stop on most northern itineraries. The drive is short and the arrival is dramatic — open woodland dotted with ancient baobabs, termite mounds standing like chimneys, and the Tarangire River drawing a green line through country that is otherwise parched for much of the year. The catalogue suggests a premium camp or lodge here. The exact property, suite and services remain subject to availability and quotation.
Overnight: Tarangire
Day 6
This outline leaves the final morning available for the confirmed transfer plan. In the dry season Tarangire holds the largest elephant concentrations on the northern circuit, drawn from a huge surrounding area to the only permanent water for miles. Herds of several hundred gather along the riverbed, digging for water in the sand and moving between the baobabs in long files. It is the most reliable elephant viewing in Tanzania and the reason the park earns its place. Arusha is the working end point, with the final transfer stated in the written proposal.
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
Manyara Tree Lodge + Four Seasons + The Manor + Lemala Mpingo Ridge
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
Groundwater forest beneath the Rift escarpment
ExploreTanzania
Endless plains and the engine of the Great Migration
ExploreTanzania
A collapsed volcano holding its own complete ecosystem
ExploreTanzania
Baobabs, a life-giving river and the circuit's greatest elephant numbers
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.
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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.