Serengeti · Ten Days

Ten days in the Serengeti, with your guide only

One guide, one vehicle, and no fixed schedule — a crater morning, three nights in the centre, three in a remoter region chosen by the month, and every day decided over coffee before dawn.

Days

Nights

Parks

Guide throughout

I · Overview

The route, and why this shape

Two parks, two camps of three nights each, and a schedule that is decided each morning.

Most safari itineraries are a list of places with a day attached to each. This one is a list of nights, and what happens in the days between is decided each morning by you and your guide. One guide, one vehicle, no other party to consult, and no timetable except the park gates. If a leopard is in a tree, you stay. If yesterday’s pride had cubs, you go back. If you would rather drive forty kilometres to ground you have not seen, you do.

The shape is simple. A night in Arusha, a night on the Ngorongoro rim for the crater at first light, and then through Naabi into the Serengeti: three nights in the centre at Seronera for the resident cats, and three nights in a remoter region chosen by the month — Lobo and the north from July to October, Ndutu and the southern plains from December to March, the Grumeti corridor in June. You fly out of the Serengeti to Arusha rather than drive two days back.

This is not a criticism of joining trips, which are cheaper and suit a great many people well. It is a different product. What you are paying for is control of the day — where the vehicle goes, when it stops, how long it waits — and the rates reflect that. If your budget is the fixed thing, the joining northern circuit is the better buy. If your time is the fixed thing, this is.

Length

10 days / 9 nights

Country

Tanzania

Start / end

Arusha → Arusha

Tour type

Private guided safari

Group size

Private — 1 to 6 guests per vehicle

Meal plan

Full board

Best months

June – October; a Ndutu version runs December – March

Activity level

Easy — vehicle-based, long days in the field

Vehicle

Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4 with a pop-up roof, a window seat for every guest, charging points and a cool box

II · The days

Day by day, all ten

Every day opens. One crater morning, three nights at Seronera, three in a remoter region chosen by the month. See every lodge and camp we use

Day

Arrival

Arusha, and the first conversation

03°22′S 36°41′E

Dinner

Arusha, and the first conversation

03°22′S 36°41′E

You land at Kilimanjaro International, fifty kilometres east of Arusha, and the person who meets you at the door is the person who drives you for the whole trip. That matters more on this itinerary than on any other we sell, because from tomorrow the plan is made each morning between the two of you, and it helps to have started talking tonight.

Nothing is scheduled. Arusha sits at 1,400 metres under the southern side of Mount Meru, and most long-haul routings put you down in the evening. Eat, and then spend twenty minutes with your guide over the map. Tell them what you have seen before and what you have not. Tell them whether you would rather sit with one leopard for an hour or cover ground. There is no wrong answer, but the trip is built from it.

Repack into a soft bag — the light aircraft on day 9 will not take a hard case, and neither will the space under the bench seats. Agree the tipping arrangement now and change money for it. Then sleep; the rim is a morning’s drive away.

Meals

Dinner

Travel

JRO to Arusha · 50 km, about 1 hr

Highlight

Meeting the guide who is yours for the next nine days

Meet at Kilimanjaro International

Your guide from the door

No game drive today

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Kahawa House

★★★★☆

Arusha, garden lodge on the edge of town

En-suite rooms in a garden, dinner and breakfast, and a short run to the road west in the morning.

LUXURY

Legendary Lodge

★★★★★

Arusha, coffee-estate lodge

Cottages among old coffee trees below Meru, a proper dinner, and somewhere quiet to talk through the map.

Day

Transfer

West to the Ngorongoro rim

03°14′S 35°29′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

West to the Ngorongoro rim

03°14′S 35°29′E

Tarmac west out of Arusha, past the turn for Tarangire, and up the Rift wall above Lake Manyara. The viewpoint at the top of the escarpment is worth the stop — the soda lake below, the groundwater forest along its western edge, the floor of the Rift running south. Karatu is farmland at 1,900 metres and is where lunch is.

Here is the first place a private vehicle changes the day. There is no other party to keep to a timetable, so if you want an hour in the Manyara forest on the way, or a stop in Karatu, or to skip both and reach the rim early, you say so and it happens. On a joining trip the schedule is fair to everyone; here it is simply yours.

Through the Lodoare gate and up to the rim at about 2,300 metres. The first look at the crater floor from the top is the one thing on this route that outperforms the photographs. It is properly cold up here after dark. Pull a fleece out before dinner and be in bed early; the crater is best in the first hour of light and you will want to be at the descent road when it opens.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Arusha to the Ngorongoro rim · about 190 km, 3½–4 hours

Highlight

The crater from the rim, with the afternoon to yourselves

Rift escarpment viewpoint

Karatu highlands

Crater rim overnight

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Pakulala Safari Camp

★★★★☆

Ngorongoro Conservation Area, rim

On the rim, which means a short descent in the morning rather than an hour’s drive up from Karatu before the gate opens.

LUXURY

Entamanu Ngorongoro

★★★★★

Ngorongoro Conservation Area, rim

Rim-facing rooms with the crater floor below the window, and fires lit in the evening.

Day

Ngorongoro

The crater floor, then Naabi and the plains

03°10′S 35°35′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

The crater floor, then Naabi and the plains

03°10′S 35°35′E

Down the descent road as it opens. The floor of the crater is six hundred metres below the rim, nineteen kilometres across, and holds roughly twenty-five thousand large animals on 260 square kilometres because the walls are steep enough that most of them never leave. The first hour, before the cloud lifts and the other vehicles come down, is the best of the day.

It is the most reliable place in Tanzania for black rhino — a few dozen, usually distant, so bring the binoculars. Old bull elephants on the Lerai flats carry some of the heaviest ivory left in East Africa. Vehicles are limited to six hours on the floor, and how you spend those six is your call: some guests want the rhino and nothing else, some want to sit by the hippo pool for an hour.

Up the ascent road by late morning, then west across the short-grass plains past the Olduvai turn to the Serengeti gate at Naabi Hill. The gate is where the plains open, and the last two hours to the Seronera valley are a game drive whether or not anyone calls them one. It is a long day, and it is the price of a crater morning on a trip that is really about the Serengeti.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

600 m descent · then about 3–4 hours from the rim to Naabi and the plains

Highlight

Black rhino at first light, the Serengeti by evening

Black rhino

Six-hour limit on the floor

Naabi Hill gate

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge

★★★★☆

Central Serengeti, Seronera valley

Tented, en-suite, inside the park, so tomorrow starts at the tent flap rather than at a gate.

LUXURY

Lemala Ewanjan Tented Camp

★★★★★

Central Serengeti, Seronera valley

Fewer tents, further from the main track, with breakfast packed for the vehicle whenever you ask for it.

Day

Serengeti

Seronera, the whole day, on your terms

02°26′S 34°49′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Seronera, the whole day, on your terms

02°26′S 34°49′E

This is the first day the itinerary stops telling you what to do. You leave at first light with lunch in the vehicle and you come back when the light goes, and what happens between is decided by you and your guide, in the vehicle, as the morning unfolds. The Seronera River holds water all year, the fig and sausage trees along it are the most dependable leopard habitat in the country, and the granite kopjes are where the lion prides keep their cubs.

A private vehicle earns its keep at exactly this point. If a leopard is in a tree, you can stay there for two hours waiting for it to come down, and no one in the back seat is checking a watch. If cheetah are hunting on the open ground south of the river, you can go and sit at a distance and wait. Lunch happens wherever you are when you are hungry.

Leopard is likely if your guide knows the trees. It is not promised, and one of the honest advantages of three nights here is that a blank morning costs you nothing. Balloon flights leave from near the valley at dawn and can be added to any of the next two mornings.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Full day in the park · picnic lunch

Highlight

A picnic under a tree, and staying out until the light goes

Leopard country

Picnic in the field

Your schedule

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge

★★★★☆

Central Serengeti, Seronera valley

Second night. Staying put means the early morning is spent with the cats rather than at a gate.

LUXURY

Lemala Ewanjan Tented Camp

★★★★★

Central Serengeti, Seronera valley

Second night. Dinner can be held for you if the light is good and you come in late.

Day

Serengeti

Follow yesterday's tracks, or go elsewhere

02°20′S 34°50′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Follow yesterday’s tracks, or go elsewhere

02°20′S 34°50′E

Over coffee before dawn, the question is simple. Yesterday’s pride had cubs and had not eaten; do you go back to see whether they hunted overnight, or do you drive out to the Moru kopjes in the south-west, forty kilometres of ground you have not seen, where the granite stands higher and the Serengeti’s small rhino population sometimes shows? Both are good answers. You pick.

Moru is worth describing because most short itineraries never reach it. The kopjes are bigger than Seronera’s, there is a rock with Maasai paintings and a hollow boulder that rings when struck, and the ground between them is open enough for cheetah. It is quieter than the valley by a wide margin.

Or the Retima hippo pool north of the river, or the Maasai kopjes east of the road, or simply the same tree as yesterday. The point of three nights in one place with one vehicle is that none of these choices costs you anything. You are not moving camp, so a day spent on one thing is not a day lost from a list.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Full day in the park · picnic lunch

Highlight

The morning’s decision, made over coffee

Moru kopjes

Retima hippo pool

No transfer today

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge

★★★★☆

Central Serengeti, Seronera valley

Third night. By now the guide knows which prides are where and which trees the leopards are using this week.

LUXURY

Lemala Ewanjan Tented Camp

★★★★★

Central Serengeti, Seronera valley

Third night, with a bush breakfast set out in the field if the camp offers one.

Day

Transfer

To the remoter region — chosen by the month

01°55′S 34°55′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

To the remoter region — chosen by the month

01°55′S 34°55′E

The second half of the trip leaves the centre for somewhere with fewer vehicles, and where that is depends on the month. From July to October you go north through Lobo, where the hills and long grass take over and the herds are between the Lobo kopjes and the Mara River. From December to March you go south to Ndutu, on the short-grass plains, where the wildebeest calve. In June the Grumeti corridor to the west is where the herd is moving through.

We say this plainly because it is the honest way to sell a Serengeti trip: the park is 14,750 square kilometres and the migration is in one part of it at a time. The card for this journey lists June to October, and that is when we run it most; the Ndutu version in December to March is a separate build with its own camps, and we will say so when you ask for those dates.

Whichever direction, the move is driven as a game drive with a picnic, and it takes the day. The coordinates above are for the Lobo hills. The north is roughly 150 kilometres of gravel to the Mara; Ndutu is about 80 kilometres back south-east past Naabi; the Grumeti is 100 kilometres west along the corridor.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Driven as a full-day game drive · about 6–8 hours

Highlight

North, south or west, depending on when you travel

Lobo, Ndutu or Grumeti

Driven as a game drive

Fewer vehicles from here

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Lemala Mara & Ndutu Tented Camps

★★★★☆

Northern Serengeti (Lobo or Kogatende), or Ndutu, or the Grumeti corridor, by season

A tented camp in whichever region the month puts you in, en-suite and full board, and a long way from the main track.

LUXURY

Lemala Kuria Hills Lodge

★★★★★

Northern Serengeti, Ndutu or the Grumeti, by season

A smaller camp with fewer tents, or a permanent lodge with a pool where one exists in the region you are in.

Day

Serengeti

First full day in the remoter region

01°55′S 34°55′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

First full day in the remoter region

01°55′S 34°55′E

In the north from July to October the day is about the herd: columns walking through the Lobo hills, and, if you push on to Kogatende, the Mara River and its crossing points. A crossing cannot be scheduled and we will not pretend it can. What a private vehicle gives you is the freedom to sit at one bank for four hours with the engine off, which is what it usually takes.

At Ndutu from December to March the day is about the calving. Half a million wildebeest are born on the short-grass plains in about three weeks, and the predators that follow are dense and easy to find. Ndutu lies in the conservation area, not the national park, and off-road driving is allowed there, which changes what a guide can do with a cheetah sighting.

In the Grumeti in June, the herd is moving west and north through the woodland along the river, and the river holds some of the largest crocodile in Tanzania. It is the least visited of the three and the one most likely to give you a morning with no other vehicle in sight. Wherever you are, you go out at first light and come back when the light goes.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Full day · picnic lunch

Highlight

Whatever the region does in this month

Migration by season

Off-road at Ndutu only

Out until dark

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Lemala Mara & Ndutu Tented Camps

★★★★☆

Northern Serengeti, Ndutu or the Grumeti, by season

Second night in the region. No packing, and the camp knows where the herd was yesterday.

LUXURY

Lemala Kuria Hills Lodge

★★★★★

Northern Serengeti, Ndutu or the Grumeti, by season

Second night, with a bush dinner where the camp can arrange one.

Day

Serengeti

The last full day, the guide's call

01°55′S 34°55′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

The last full day, the guide’s call

01°55′S 34°55′E

By the third morning in one region you have a map in your head. You know where the herd was leaning, which pride had the cubs, which tree the leopard used. The last full day is for going back to the thing that was unfinished — or, if the week has been kind, for the thing you have not done yet.

In the north that might be a walk with an armed ranger where the camp can arrange it, usually for guests aged sixteen and over. At Ndutu it might be the lake shore at first light for the flamingo and the lion that hunt along it. In the Grumeti it might be a morning on the river with the crocodile. Night drives are not permitted anywhere in the Serengeti or the crater, so the day ends when the park does, at six.

Then a last sundowner wherever you are. Pack tonight — soft bags only, fifteen kilograms or so per person for the aircraft, and the camp will tell you the exact limit. Tip your guide in the morning at the airstrip, not tonight; it is easier for both of you.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Full day · picnic lunch

Highlight

Going back for what was unfinished

Third full day

Walk with a ranger, where offered

Last night in the bush

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Lemala Mara & Ndutu Tented Camps

★★★★☆

Northern Serengeti, Ndutu or the Grumeti, by season

Third and last night. Bags weighed for the flight before dinner.

LUXURY

Lemala Kuria Hills Lodge

★★★★★

Northern Serengeti, Ndutu or the Grumeti, by season

Third night. Ask the camp to hold breakfast for a last early drive on the way to the strip.

Day

Flight

Fly out of the Serengeti, one night in Arusha

03°22′S 36°41′E

Breakfast · Dinner

Fly out of the Serengeti, one night in Arusha

03°22′S 36°41′E

A short drive at first light on the way to the airstrip, which in practice is the best hour of the day. Each of the three regions has a strip within a short drive of the camps — Kogatende or Lobo in the north, Ndutu in the south, Grumeti in the west — and the aircraft lands on gravel with the plains in view.

The flight to Arusha takes you across the length of the park, usually with a stop or two at other strips, and it replaces two long days of driving back the way you came. That is what pays for the third night in the remoter region. Some schedules land at Kilimanjaro International direct, and if your international flight leaves tonight we can route you straight there instead of the Arusha night. Tell us the departure time before we book the hop.

The Arusha night, if you take it, is for a shower with pressure, a slow dinner, and a last evening with the guide who has driven you for nine days. It also protects the international connection: light aircraft do get delayed by weather, and an overnight buffer means that never becomes your problem.

Meals

Breakfast · Dinner

Travel

Serengeti airstrip to Arusha by scheduled light aircraft · about 1–2 hours with stops

Highlight

The plains from the air, and an evening to unwind

Serengeti airstrip

Light aircraft to Arusha

Or straight to JRO

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Kahawa House

★★★★☆

Arusha, garden lodge on the edge of town

Back where you started, with an easy run to the airport in the morning.

LUXURY

Legendary Lodge

★★★★★

Arusha, coffee-estate lodge

A last dinner among the coffee trees, and the airport an hour away.

Day

Departure

Kilimanjaro International, and home

03°26′S 37°04′E

Breakfast

Kilimanjaro International, and home

03°26′S 37°04′E

Breakfast at whatever hour your flight allows. The road to Kilimanjaro International is about an hour east of town, and your guide drives it with you, which means the trip ends with the same person it started with.

If you are going on to Zanzibar, the connection is made from Arusha or JRO the same morning, and three or four nights on the east coast is the usual shape after nine days of five o’clock starts. If you are flying home, most European departures leave in the evening, and the day in Arusha can be spent at the coffee estate or at the cultural heritage centre on the edge of town.

One thing worth saying before you go. Some of the best sightings of this trip will have been the ones nobody planned — the hour with the leopard that was not on any list, the morning you chose to go back rather than on. That is the thing a private guide sells, and it is not an extra; it is the whole product.

Meals

Breakfast

Travel

Arusha to JRO · 50 km, about 1 hr

Highlight

An hour to the airport, or the connection to Zanzibar

Kilimanjaro International

Onward to Zanzibar possible

Same guide to the door

Where you sleep

Departure day — no overnight

III · Rates

What it costs, by group size

A safari gets cheaper per person as the vehicle fills. Choose a tier to see the table.

Comfort rates by group size, per person and group total
Group size	Rooms	Per person	Group total
1 guest	1 room	$12,170	$12,170
2 guests	1 room	$8,810	$17,620
3 guests	2 rooms	$9,010	$27,030
4 guests	2 rooms	$8,120	$32,480
5 guests	3 rooms	$8,380	$41,900
6+ guests	3 rooms	$7,890	$47,340

Single supplement

$1,980

Added when a guest does not share a room

Child, 6 – 11 years

30% off

Sharing with two adults; under 6 not accepted on this route

Peak season uplift

Included in the rates above

July – September, and the northern camps’ high-season rates

Luxury rates by group size, per person and group total
Group size	Rooms	Per person	Group total
1 guest	1 room	$20,860	$20,860
2 guests	1 room	$15,230	$30,460
3 guests	2 rooms	$16,180	$48,540
4 guests	2 rooms	$14,540	$58,160
5 guests	3 rooms	$15,250	$76,250
6+ guests	3 rooms	$14,300	$85,800

Single supplement

$4,250

Added when a guest does not share a room

Child, 6 – 11 years

30% off

Sharing with two adults; under 6 not accepted on this route

Peak season uplift

Included in the rates above

July – September, and the northern camps’ high-season rates

All figures in US dollars, per person sharing unless stated. Valid for travel until 30 June 2027. Park fees, guiding, vehicle, accommodation and full board are included — see what is and is not covered below.

IV · Included

What is in the price, and what is not

Stated in full, both ways.

What is included

A private 4×4 with a roof hatch and your own guide, days 1 – 9 — no other guests
A professional guide throughout, English-speaking
All accommodation as listed, full board
All national park and conservation area fees, including the crater service fee
Picnic lunches in the field on every full day in the parks
Light aircraft, Serengeti to Arusha or JRO, on day 9 — scheduled flight, soft bags up to 15 kg
Airport transfers, Kilimanjaro International, both ways
Drinking water in the vehicle throughout
A licensed, English-speaking professional guide, trained in wilderness first aid
Round-the-clock support from our Arusha office, and a first-aid kit in every vehicle

What is not

International flights to and from Tanzania
Tanzania visa — USD 50, or USD 100 for United States passports
Travel insurance, which we ask every guest to hold
Balloon flight over the Serengeti
Walking safari fees, where arranged in the north
Drinks at the camps, beyond what is listed
Tips for your guide and camp staff
Personal spending and souvenirs
Anything listed under optional extras below

V · Add-ons

Worth adding, if you have the days

Priced separately and arranged on request.

Seronera · at dawn

Balloon over the Serengeti

An hour over the plains at first light, landing to a breakfast set out in the grass. It replaces one of your three Seronera mornings, and on a private trip that is an easy trade to make. Minimum age <span class=”it-todo”>7, to confirm</span>. Weather-dependent.

USD 750 per person

Day 9 · one more night

A fourth night in the remoter region

The single most useful thing you can add. Three full days in the north or at Ndutu is good; four is the difference between hoping for a crossing or a calving morning and being fairly likely to get one.

USD 1,350 per person, for 2 guests

Days 2 – 3 · two nights

Tarangire, before the crater

This route drives past Tarangire without going in. Two nights there before the rim adds the dry-season elephant herds and a night drive, which the Serengeti does not permit, at the cost of two more days.

USD 1,820 per person, for 2 guests

After day 10 · 3–5 nights

Zanzibar, afterwards

The connection to the coast is made from Arusha or JRO the same morning. Three or four nights on the east coast after nine days of five o’clock starts is the usual shape.

From USD 1,340 per person, 3 nights

VI · The ground

Where this itinerary takes you

Two parks, one ecosystem, and a third leg that moves with the season.

Ngorongoro Crater

The largest intact volcanic caldera in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Around 25,000 large animals live on 260 square kilometres of crater floor, including the most reliable black rhino in Tanzania. One morning here, at first light, with the six hours on the floor spent however you choose.

Serengeti, Seronera and Moru

The year-round core of the park. The Seronera River holds water in every month, the fig and sausage trees along it carry the highest leopard density in the ecosystem, and the Moru kopjes to the south-west are quieter, bigger, and hold the park’s small rhino population. Three nights, one camp, no transfers.

Serengeti, the remoter region

Lobo and the Mara River in the north from July to October; Ndutu and the short-grass plains in the south from December to March, where off-road driving is permitted; the Grumeti corridor in the west in June. Three nights in whichever one the month puts the herd in, and fewer vehicles in all of them.

The question everyone asks

What does a private guide actually change?

Fixed departure times after day 1 — the schedule is yours

The honest answer is: the schedule. On a joining trip the vehicle leaves camp at a set time, lunch is at a set place, and when one guest has had enough of the leopard, the vehicle moves, because that is fair to the other five. None of that is wrong. It is why joining trips cost what they cost, and for a first safari on a budget it is a good deal.

On this trip the vehicle leaves when you are ready, which on most mornings will be before the gate opens, and it comes back when the light goes. Lunch is a box under a tree wherever you happen to be. If the leopard is still in the tree after two hours, you are still under it. If your guide hears on the radio that cheetah are hunting thirty kilometres away, you can go, or not. Nine days of that with one person who learns what you like is the product. The animals are the same ones everyone else sees; the difference is how long you get to look at them.

VII · Season

The best time to travel

June to October is the main window; December to March is a separate Ndutu build.

June to October is when we run this route most, and it is the dry season: clear skies, short grass, animals concentrated on the water. From July to October the remoter region is the north — Lobo, and the Mara River at Kogatende — where the herd is, and where crossings happen but cannot be booked. August and September are the peak, the busiest, and the most expensive.

June is the odd one out. The herd is usually moving through the western corridor toward the Grumeti River, so the remoter region is the west, which is the least visited part of the park and the one most likely to give you a morning with no other vehicle in sight. Early June can still be wet on the corridor roads.

December to March is the other window, and it is a different trip. The herd is on the short-grass plains around Ndutu for the calving, and the remoter region is the south. It is the green season: storm light, dust settled, newborn animals, and afternoon rain that rarely stops a game drive. We build it with different camps and quote it separately.

April and May are the long rains, and November is the short rains. The Serengeti is open, the rates are lowest, and the centre still holds its cats, but the remoter regions are wet and some camps close. We would rather build you a centre-only trip in those months than sell this one and have half of it compromised.

VIII · Flights

Getting there and back

Fly into Kilimanjaro International; fly out of the Serengeti on day 9.

Fly into Kilimanjaro International (JRO). It is about an hour from Arusha and it is the airport this itinerary is built around. Nairobi works if you can find a good connection to JRO or Arusha; Dar es Salaam adds most of a day.

Arrive the day before if you can. Days 2 and 3 are the two long transfers of the trip, and starting them on no sleep costs you the crater morning, which is the first thing you paid for.

On day 9 you fly out of the Serengeti — from Kogatende or Lobo in the north, Ndutu in the south, or the Grumeti strip in the west — to Arusha, usually with a stop or two on the way. Some schedules land at JRO direct, and if your international flight leaves that evening we can route you straight there and drop the Arusha night. Give us the departure time before we book the hop.

Light aircraft carry a soft-bag limit, usually fifteen kilograms per person. Tanzania requires a visa for most passports — USD 50, or USD 100 for United States citizens, valid up to 90 days. Apply online in advance.

IX · Other costs

What else you will spend

Visas, insurance, tips and drinks — set out so there is no surprise on the ground.

Visa and entry

USD 50 — USD 100 for US passports

Tanzania issues a tourist visa online (eVisa) or on arrival at Kilimanjaro. Applying in advance is faster and avoids the queue at immigration, which after an evening arrival can be long.

A yellow fever certificate is required only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is endemic. Coming directly from Europe or North America, it is not.

Travel insurance

Typically USD 60 – 150 per trip

We ask every guest to travel insured. Medical cover and evacuation are the parts that matter — the remoter regions of the Serengeti are a long way from a hospital, and the way out is by air.

Check that your policy covers safari activity, light-aircraft flights and any add-on you have booked. Balloon flights are excluded by some insurers.

Tips

Usual range USD 10 – 25 per guest per day

Tipping is customary in Tanzania and it is genuinely optional. The figures below are what guests commonly give, not what is expected of you, and no one will treat you differently for giving less.

Your guide is with you for ten days, which is longer than most trips, and is usually tipped at the airport on the last morning. Camp staff tips go into a shared box so that housekeeping and kitchen are included, not only the people you see.

Drinks

USD 3 – 20 at the camps

Drinking water in the vehicle is included throughout. Everything at the camp bar is charged to your tent unless your camp is explicitly all-inclusive — some of the luxury-tier camps are, and we will tell you which.

Personal spending

Entirely up to you

Laundry at the camps, curios, and anything you forgot to pack. Cash in small US dollar notes is more useful than a card once you leave Arusha — the remoter camps have little or no connection, and cards fail more often than they work.

Notes dated before 2009 are refused across Tanzania. Bring newer ones.

X · Why us

Why book this with us

The schedule is yours, and we mean it

No departure time after day 1, no set lunch stop, no one else in the vehicle. If you want to sit with one leopard for the whole morning, that is a good morning and nobody will hurry it.

Three nights in each place, not one

Two camps in the Serengeti, three nights each. Staying put is what lets a blank morning cost nothing and lets your guide build a map of where the animals are this week.

The remoter region follows the month

North from July to October, south from December to March, west in June. We tell you which before you book, and we do not sell the north in February or the south in August.

One guide from the airport to the airport

The same person from day 1 to day 10. By the third morning they know whether you would rather cover ground or wait, and the trip is shaped around that without your having to ask.

XI · Questions

Frequently asked

What guests ask before booking this itinerary.

How much does a 10 day private Serengeti safari cost?

The rate depends on your group size and which accommodation tier you choose, and a private vehicle and guide for nine days is the main cost after the camps. The table above sets out the per-person price for every group size from one to six. Our rates for this itinerary are set out in the table above — ask us and we will quote for your exact dates rather than give you a range.

What is the difference between this and a joining safari?

On a joining trip you share the vehicle with up to five other guests on a fixed route and a fixed timetable, and it is cheaper for that reason. Here the vehicle, the guide and the schedule are yours: when you leave, where you go, how long you stay. Both are good products for different people — see joining or private and our seven-day joining northern circuit.

Where is the remoter region, and who decides?

It depends on the month, and we decide it with you before you book. July to October is the north, Lobo and the Mara River. December to March is Ndutu and the southern plains. June is the Grumeti corridor in the west. See the migration month by month for why.

Will we see a river crossing or the calving?

Only if your dates and the region line up, and even then neither can be promised. Crossings on the Mara happen from late July to October and are not scheduled events; the calving at Ndutu is concentrated into about three weeks in late January and February. Three full days in the right place is a fair chance, not a guarantee — see why crossings cannot be booked.

Can we change the plan once we are there?

Yes, within the parks and the nights booked. The camps are fixed because they are paid for, but what you do between them is decided each morning with your guide. Changing region mid-trip is usually not possible at short notice because the remoter camps are small and full in season.

Is this safari suitable for children?

It is private, so it can be, and a private vehicle is honestly the best way to take children on safari because the day bends around them. The Serengeti’s minimum age for game drives is five and we apply six; several luxury camps set their own limits at twelve. Child rates are 30% below the adult rate for children sharing with two adults.

How much driving is there?

Two long transfer days — Arusha to the rim, and the crater morning followed by the run to Seronera — and one full-day game drive to the remoter region. The other five park days are spent in the field with no transfer, and day 9 is a flight. Exact drive times are shown on each day above.

Can we walk, or drive at night?

Night drives are not permitted in the Serengeti or the crater. Walking with an armed ranger can be arranged through several northern camps, usually for guests aged sixteen and over, and some Ndutu and Grumeti camps offer it too. Fees are about USD 30 – 60 per person, set by each camp.

Why fly out instead of driving back?

Because the remoter regions are two long days from Arusha by road and a morning by air. Flying is what pays for the third night out there. The aircraft lands at Arusha for a last night, or at JRO direct on some schedules if your flight home leaves that evening. Flight details are confirmed with your booking, once the airline sets the schedule for your dates.

XII · Your trip

Request your personalised safari proposal

Tell us how you like to travel and we will put together a personalised proposal for this route — dates, camps and a firm price per person. No payment is required at this stage.

WhatsApp+255 785 558 736 Emailinfo@placesofafricasafaris.com Reply timeWithin one working day

Your name

Your email address

Phone number

Where are you from?

Choose type of trip

Choose duration of your trip

Budget p.p. (excl. flights)

Estimated arrival date

Number of adults from 16 years and above

Number of children below 16 years

Your message

No payment is required at this stage. We reply by email and WhatsApp within one working day.