6 days across Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro, with proper beds, good food and lodges that sit where the wildlife is. 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 mid-range standard: comfortable tented camps and established safari lodges. The balance most travellers settle on — proper beds, en-suite bathrooms and well-run lodges in good positions, without the premium that the top end of the market commands. 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
This planning outline starts in Arusha and continues towards the first park; the meeting point and timing are confirmed in the final proposal. Today's drive brings you to the foot of the Rift Valley escarpment, where springs emerging at the base of the cliff feed a genuinely lush groundwater forest. After the dry acacia country elsewhere on the circuit, the density and greenness of Manyara comes as a surprise. Tree-climbing lion are what Manyara is known for, and the acacia woodland along the middle stretch of the park is where to look. The behaviour is real but opportunistic — the lions climb when it suits them — so it is best treated as a possibility rather than an expectation. The park's other strengths, particularly the forest and the birdlife, stand on their own. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Lake Manyara
Day 2
Leaving the previous stop behind, the road to the Serengeti climbs the Ngorongoro highlands and crosses the conservation area before descending onto the plains, and the moment of arrival is hard to mistake — the country simply opens, grass running unbroken to a horizon with nothing on it. The Maasai name, siringet, means the place where the land runs on forever, and it is a straightforwardly accurate description. 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. This outline assumes a comfortable safari stay near the route. The named property remains a suggestion until quoted.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 3
Between the large predators there is a great deal else. Bat-eared fox and serval hunt the short grass, secretary birds stride through it, and agama lizards blaze orange and blue on the kopjes. Your guide will stop as readily for a serval hunting in long grass as for a lion, and on a good day that is exactly the right call. A full day in the Serengeti means covering distance, and that is no hardship. Between sightings the plains themselves hold attention — grass moving in wind, kopjes standing out of it, and the sense of space that no other park in East Africa quite matches. Your guide will usually pack lunch and stay out through the middle of the day, when many vehicles return to camp and the tracks empty. The suggested standard is mid-range. Citrus will confirm the property and contracted services in writing before booking.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 4
The route then continues onward, today's route brings you up into the Ngorongoro highlands, where the temperature drops with the altitude and cloud sits in the forest along the rim. The conservation area is shared with Maasai pastoralists, and you will pass cattle and manyattas on the way — it is one of the few places where people and wildlife share protected land by design. The descent road drops six hundred metres to the floor, and the transition from cold, misty rim to warm open grassland takes about twenty minutes. Down there the crater feels less like a park than an enclosure — walls rising on every side, weather moving across in visible fronts, and animals concentrated at a density that takes some adjusting to. The catalogue suggests a comfortable mid-range stay here. The exact lodge, room basis and meals are confirmed in the quotation.
Overnight: Ngorongoro
Day 5
This activity is a planning option and only forms part of the day when it appears in the written quotation. This travel day carries the route onward, today's route brings you into baobab country. The drive from Arusha crosses cultivated land and Maasai rangeland before the park gate, and once inside the landscape settles into something unmistakable: huge, swollen-trunked trees scattered across open ground, with elephant moving between them towards the river. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Tarangire
Day 6
Citrus will time the last day around the agreed end point and onward arrangements. The park's character comes from its trees. Baobabs — some of them well over a thousand years old, several scarred where elephants have stripped the bark for moisture — dominate the open woodland, and the late-afternoon light through them is the signature photograph of any northern circuit trip. Lion are common here and occasionally rest in the branches, as they do at Lake Manyara. The final road section is planned towards Arusha. Citrus will confirm the exact end point and time.
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 Serena + Kubu Kubu + Ngorongoro Serena + Tarangire Sopa
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.