Safaris
You visit: Ngorongoro · Serengeti · Tarangire
4 Days Budget Camping Safari – Tarangire, Serengeti & Ngorongoro
- Days
- 4
- From
- $925pp
- Style
- Budget
The route
5 stops · about 1,040 km by road
Drawn from the itinerary below: drives on the main safari roads, flights as dashed arcs, climbs as a dotted footpath. Distances are approximate.
A 5-day budget camping safari through Tarangire, the Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro Crater, finishing with a guided day tour at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, travelling privately in a 4x4 with a professional English-speaking driver-guide.
This 5-day budget camping safari pairs Northern Tanzania’s classic wildlife circuit with a rewarding day at the foot of Africa’s highest mountain. Over five days you explore Tarangire National Park, the Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro Crater before finishing with a guided Kilimanjaro day tour. You travel privately in a 4×4 safari Land Cruiser with a pop-up roof, accompanied throughout by a professional English-speaking driver-guide.
The safari begins among the elephant herds and baobabs of Tarangire, continues across the game-rich plains of the Serengeti in search of big cats and great herds, and descends into the Ngorongoro Crater for a chance to see the Big Five on the crater floor. The final day heads to the base of Mount Kilimanjaro for a coffee-plantation visit, waterfalls, mountain views, and a cultural stop at a Chagga village and its historic caves.
Nights on safari are spent under canvas at tented campsites on a full-board basis, with a comfortable guesthouse night in Arusha before the Kilimanjaro excursion. It is a great-value, adventure-style trip for travellers and small groups of up to six guests sharing one vehicle.
Pickup from your Arusha hotel at 08:30 and drive to Tarangire National Park, home to large elephant herds and ancient baobab trees, with wildlife gathering along the Tarangire River. After a picnic lunch and an afternoon game drive among elephants, giraffe, and lions, return to Panorama Campsite for dinner and overnight. Approx. 2.5 hours driving.
After breakfast, depart for the Serengeti National Park. Enjoy a game drive across the plains in search of large predators and the great herds of herbivores they follow, before dinner and overnight at your Seronera campsite. Approx. 4.5 hours driving.
After breakfast, enjoy a morning game drive in the Serengeti, then drive toward the Ngorongoro highlands with a picnic lunch. An optional Maasai village visit and a stop at Olduvai Gorge are available en route at extra cost. Dinner and overnight at Simba campsite on the crater rim.
After an early breakfast, descend into the Ngorongoro Crater for around six hours of game viewing on the crater floor, home to lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and buffalo. Later, ascend from the crater and drive back to Arusha for overnight at Parachichi House. Approx. 3.5 hours driving.
After breakfast, leave Arusha at 07:30 and drive to the base of Mount Kilimanjaro for a guided day tour. Visit a coffee plantation, waterfalls, and a Chagga village with its historic caves while taking in views of the mountain, before returning to Arusha where the safari ends.
Every day of this itinerary is tailor-made and can be shaped around your dates, pace and budget. When you are ready, our team handles every detail - you simply arrive and enjoy.
Kilimanjaro is a non-technical trek – no ropes or climbing skills are needed – but it is a serious high-altitude challenge. A good level of general fitness and some hill-walking preparation make it far more enjoyable. Determination matters as much as fitness.
Longer routes (7-8 days) give your body more time to acclimatise and significantly improve your summit chances. We help you choose the route – Machame, Lemosho, Marangu or Rongai – that best fits your experience, budget and time.
Your guides are trained in altitude first aid, monitor you twice daily with pulse-oximeter checks, and carry emergency oxygen. “Pole pole” (slowly, slowly) is the golden rule – a steady pace is the key to summiting safely.
Your climb includes park fees, mountain accommodation, all meals on the mountain, a professional crew (guides, cook and porters) and group equipment. Porters carry your main duffel; you carry only a daypack. We send a full packing list and can arrange gear rental.
The main seasons are January-March (colder, quieter, often clearer) and June-October (dry and popular). We generally avoid the long rains of April-May. Full-moon dates are popular for summit night.
A deposit secures your climb dates and permits; the balance is due before you arrive. Once booked we send a detailed packing list, training tips and pre-departure guidance.
You visit: Ngorongoro · Serengeti · Tarangire
You visit: Lake Manyara · Ngorongoro · Serengeti · Tarangire
You visit: Lake Eyasi · Ngorongoro · Serengeti · Tarangire
Tell us your dates and what matters most - our team designs every journey by hand and replies within 24 hours, seven days a week.
Tarangire is the park people tend to underrate until they get there. It is a land of huge, ancient baobab trees, wide grassy swamps and the Tarangire River, which keeps flowing when the rest of the region dries out. In the dry season that river pulls in wildlife from far around, and the result is some of the biggest elephant herds you will see anywhere in northern Tanzania. It is also close to Arusha, which makes it an easy first stop on safari.
Elephants are the main reason to come. Families of dozens are a normal sight, walking in single file down to the river or dusting themselves under the baobabs. Alongside them you can expect buffalo, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, impala, waterbuck and dik-dik, plus lions that know the herds will come to drink. Look out for species that are harder to find further north, such as fringe-eared oryx and lesser kudu. Tarangire is also excellent for birds, from colourful lovebirds and hornbills to big ground birds like the kori bustard and ostrich.
Even in the wetter months, Tarangire is worth a day if it is on your way. Our Tanzania weather guide explains what each month is like.
Tarangire is roughly two to two and a half hours from Arusha by road, almost all of it on tarmac, heading south towards Babati. That means you can leave Arusha after breakfast and be on a game drive before lunch. It is also a simple drive on to Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro highlands afterwards.
We often start a Northern Circuit safari here. A night or two in Tarangire, then Ngorongoro, then the Serengeti is a classic route that builds as you go. If you have only a few days after climbing Kilimanjaro, Tarangire and the crater make a strong short safari with no flights needed. You can then fly from Arusha to the coast for a few days on Zanzibar.
There are lodges and tented camps both inside the park and on its edges. Camps inside put you close to the river for early starts, while some of those outside the boundary can offer guided walks and other activities, depending on the camp and local park rules. We will suggest which suits you, depending on how much time you have and how you like to travel.
The Serengeti is big, open country. Its name comes from the Maasai word for plains that seem to run on forever, and once you are out on the short grass south of Seronera you will see why. The park covers about 14,750 km² and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but numbers do not say much. What matters is that this is one of the few places left where very large herds still move freely, and the lions, cheetahs, leopards and hyenas that follow them are part of everyday life on a game drive.
Wildebeest and zebra get the headlines, but they are only one part of it. Expect giraffe, buffalo, elephant, topi, hartebeest, Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelle, and a long list of birds, from secretary birds striding through the grass to vultures circling a kill. The central Seronera area, with its river valley and rocky kopjes, is well known for big cats, and leopards are often found resting in the sausage trees along the watercourses. Black rhino live here too, but they are rare and you should treat a sighting as a bonus.
There is no bad month in the Serengeti, only different ones. The herds follow the rain in a rough loop through the year:
The pattern shifts every year with the rains. Our Great Migration tracker shows where the herds are likely to be month by month, and the Tanzania weather guide explains the seasons in more detail.
By road, central Serengeti is a full day from Arusha, roughly seven to eight hours with stops, passing Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro highlands on the way. Most travellers break the drive with a night near the crater. If time is short, light aircraft fly from Arusha to several Serengeti airstrips in about one to two hours, depending on which part of the park you are heading for and how many stops the plane makes.
Most of our Northern Circuit safaris build towards the Serengeti and give it at least two or three nights, because the distances inside the park are large. A common shape is Tarangire, then Ngorongoro, then the Serengeti, then a flight back to Arusha or straight to the coast. After a Kilimanjaro climb, a few days sitting in a vehicle watching lions is a very good way to rest tired legs.
You can choose between permanent lodges, fixed tented camps and seasonal mobile camps that move to follow the herds. Mobile camps put you close to the action in migration season, while lodges in the central area suit families and first-time visitors. We will match the camp to the month and to where the animals are likely to be.
The Ngorongoro Crater is the floor of an old volcano that collapsed in on itself, leaving a bowl about 260 km² across and roughly 600 m deep. Standing on the rim on a clear morning, you look down onto grassland, a soda lake, swamps and patches of forest, all ringed by steep green walls. Because so much wildlife lives inside such a small space, a single day on the crater floor can show you more species than a week in many other places. It is part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where Maasai families still graze their cattle alongside the wildlife on the highlands around the crater.
The crater is one of the best places in Tanzania to look for black rhino, although they are shy and usually seen at a distance. Lions and spotted hyenas are common, and you are likely to see buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, Grant’s gazelle, warthog and hippos at the pools. Large bull elephants wander the swamps and the Lerai forest. Flamingos gather on the shallow soda lake when water levels suit them, and the birdlife around the marshes is rich all year.
The crater is good in every season because most animals live there year round. June to October is dry, with clear views and the most visitors. The green months from November to May bring fresher scenery and fewer vehicles, with the heaviest rain usually in April and May. Whatever the month, the rim sits at well over 2,000 m, so mornings and evenings are cold. Bring a warm layer. See our Tanzania weather guide for more on the seasons.
The drive from Arusha to the crater rim takes about three to four hours on a good tarmac road through farmland and the town of Karatu, with the option of stopping at Lake Manyara or Tarangire on the way. Descending to the crater floor takes around half an hour down a steep, winding track. We aim to be on the floor early, when the light is soft and the animals are most active.
Ngorongoro sits naturally between Tarangire or Lake Manyara and the Serengeti, so it slots into almost every Northern Circuit route. Many travellers spend one full day in the crater, then continue west to the Serengeti or south to Ndutu in calving season. It also works well as a short safari after climbing Kilimanjaro, since it is close to Arusha and needs no flights. Have a look at our safari ideas to see how we build it in.
You have three broad choices. Lodges on the crater rim give you the view and the shortest drive down in the morning, but they cost more and the nights are chilly. Camps and lodges around Karatu, among coffee farms and forest about forty minutes away, are often better value and a little warmer. There is no accommodation on the crater floor itself, so every visit is a day trip from above.
Kilimanjaro has been at the heart of what we do since 2012. At 5,895 m, Uhuru Peak on the Kibo crater rim is the highest point in Africa, and the mountain stands alone above the plains rather than as part of a range. You do not need ropes or climbing experience to reach the top. What you need is enough days, steady walking and a crew who keep the pace slow. Along the way you pass through farmland, rainforest, heather and moorland, high alpine desert and finally the cold, stony summit zone with its glaciers.
The higher you go, the less oxygen there is in each breath, and your body needs time to adjust. Climbing too fast is the main reason people feel unwell on the mountain. So our guides walk slowly, the Swahili pole pole, encourage you to drink plenty of water, and plan routes where you climb higher in the day and sleep lower at night. They check on you every day, and if your health needs it, going down is always the right call. Adding a day to your climb is the single most useful thing you can do.
The main climbing seasons are January to March and June to October, when the weather is drier and clearer. January to March tends to be a little warmer and quieter. June to October is cooler and busier. April, May and November are wetter, though climbs still run. Our Tanzania weather guide has more detail.
Most people who are reasonably fit and walk regularly can reach the summit if they give themselves enough days. You do not need to be an athlete. Training on long hill walks with a daypack in the months before is the best preparation. Summit night is the hardest part, usually starting around midnight so you reach the top near sunrise.
Kilimanjaro International Airport sits between Arusha and Moshi, and the route gates are roughly one to two hours’ drive from Arusha. Many of our travellers climb first, then rest their legs on a private safari and finish on the beach in Zanzibar, from the summit to the sea. Read more about our climbs on the Kilimanjaro page.
Panorama Safari Camp sits on the Rift Valley escarpment near Mto wa Mbu, with panoramic views over Lake Manyara. It is a budget base used at the start of a camping safari, well placed for Lake Manyara and the road north.
This is a basic camp offering simple beehive-style bungalows or permanent tents with shared bathroom facilities. Comfort is modest, and the appeal is the setting and the views rather than luxury.
There is a restaurant, a bar and a curio shop on site, and on a camping safari the crew handles tents and meals. It should be understood as a budget camp, not a lodge.
Serengeti Seronera Camp is a basic public campsite in the central Seronera area of the Serengeti, in the heart of the park’s wildlife. It is used on camping safaris for its central position and quick access to game drives.
This is a shared public campsite rather than a lodge, with simple facilities and no hotel-style comforts. Guests sleep in the safari operator’s tents, and the site is shared with other groups.
Meals, tents and camp support are handled by the safari crew, not the campsite. It should be presented honestly as a budget wilderness camping stop in the middle of the Serengeti.
Parachichi House is a modern bed-and-breakfast in Arusha, a short drive from Arusha Airport. It is a practical town base at the start or end of a northern-circuit safari rather than a wilderness property.
Rooms are comfortable and air-conditioned, with free Wi-Fi, and the property has a full-service spa with a steam room. There is a multi-cuisine restaurant and a bar on site.
A buffet breakfast is included, and the central location makes airport transfers and pre-safari logistics easy. It suits travellers who need a comfortable, well-connected overnight in town.
