Northern Circuit · Nine Days

Christmas and New Year on the plains

Tarangire, the Ngorongoro Crater, the Seronera valley and two nights at Ndutu with the herds back on the southern plains — the northern circuit in its green weeks, paced for a family, and booked a year ahead because that is how long the beds last.

Days

Nights

Parks

Dec–Jan

Dates

I · Overview

The route, and why this shape

The northern circuit over Christmas and New Year, with the last two nights at Ndutu where the herds are.

The last fortnight of December and the first of January are the hardest dates of the year to get a bed for on the northern circuit, and the reason is not the weather. It is that the migration has come back to the southern plains, the country is green, the schools are out, and the good camps at Ndutu and Seronera have thirty tents between them. They fill a year ahead. That is the whole argument for booking early, and we would rather say it plainly than watch you find out in September.

The route is the classic loop with the last two nights moved to where the herds are. Arusha first, so nobody starts in the dark. Two nights in Tarangire, green and quiet. A night on the crater rim and the floor at first light. Two nights in the Seronera valley for the resident cats. Then south to Ndutu for two nights on the short-grass plains, with off-track driving and, if your dates run late enough, the first calves.

It is paced for a family and works for anyone: one long drive rather than three, two nights at every stop that matters, and a morning off in the middle if you want it. The short rains have usually finished by mid-December. What a camp does on Christmas Day is its own decision, and we will tell you what yours has planned rather than promise it here.

Length

9 days / 8 nights

Country

Tanzania

Start / end

Arusha → Arusha

Tour type

Private safari — classic or family

Minimum age

6 years on game drives

Group size

Private — 1 to 6 guests per vehicle

Meal plan

Full board on safari; dinner and breakfast in Arusha

Best months

Mid-December to end of January

Festive supplement

Included — priced at festive-season rates

Activity level

Easy — vehicle-based

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 nine

Every day opens. Two nights in Tarangire, one on the rim, two at Seronera, two at Ndutu. See every lodge and camp we use

Day

Arrival

Kilimanjaro International, in the green

03°22′S 36°41′E

Dinner

Kilimanjaro International, in the green

03°22′S 36°41′E

You land at Kilimanjaro International and the first thing you notice in December is the colour. The short rains have usually finished by the middle of the month and the country between the airport and Arusha is as green as it gets, with Meru clear above it in the mornings and cloud on it by noon. Your guide meets you at the door and drives you the fifty kilometres west into town, which takes about an hour.

Nothing is scheduled tonight, and over the festive weeks that matters more than usual. Flights into JRO in late December are full and often late, and a family that has crossed six time zones does not want to be driven straight to a park in the dark. Arusha sits at 1,400 metres; the evenings are warm at this time of year rather than cold. Eat early and sleep.

One piece of admin before bed: repack into soft bags for the vehicle, and put the day bag together with the things you will want on the road tomorrow. Your guide will run through the nine days over dinner if you want him to, including which night is Christmas and which is New Year, because where those fall depends on the date you started.

Meals

Dinner

Travel

JRO to Arusha · about 50 km · about 1 hour

Highlight

A night in Arusha before the parks, whatever time you land

Meet at Kilimanjaro International

Arusha, 1,400 m

No game drive today

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Kahawa House

★★★★☆

Arusha, garden lodge on the edge of town

Quiet, en-suite, a lawn for children to run on after the flight, and dinner served early.

LUXURY

Legendary Lodge

★★★★★

Arusha, coffee-estate lodge outside town

Cottages among the coffee with a pool and a proper dinner, for the one evening you will not be in a park.

Day

Tarangire

South to the river, with the grass up

03°50′S 36°00′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

South to the river, with the grass up

03°50′S 36°00′E

A late breakfast, then south-west on the Great North Road and east onto the Rift floor. This is the shortest transfer on the circuit and the reason Tarangire is first: mostly tarmac, and the last stretch before the gate is already game country. Children usually see their first giraffe from the road, which settles the question of whether the animals are really there.

Tarangire in December is not the Tarangire of the brochures. In the dry months the river is the only water for a hundred kilometres and the elephants stand on it in their hundreds. After the short rains the herds spread out, because there is water everywhere, and you will work a little harder for them. What you get in exchange is the park at its most handsome: baobabs in leaf, grass to the axles, and the light after an afternoon shower that photographers come for.

The afternoon drive runs the river circuit close to the gate. Elephant are still the likeliest large animal, with the calves born in the rains tucked into the middle of the family. You are back before the gate closes at six, and the evening is warm enough to eat outside.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Arusha to Tarangire gate · about 120 km · about 2 hours

Highlight

Elephants among green baobabs, and the first giraffe from the tarmac

Short transfer

River circuit at four

Green-season Tarangire

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Mbali Mbali Tarangire River Camp

★★★★☆

Tarangire, tented camp outside the park boundary

En-suite tents under the acacia, family tents where they exist, a pool, and a short run to the gate in the morning.

LUXURY

Lemala Mpingo Ridge Lodge

★★★★★

Tarangire, lodge on the escarpment above the river

Rooms facing down over the river valley, and a deck where the elephants cross below you at the end of the afternoon.

Day

Tarangire

A full day, and the swamps to the south

03°55′S 36°05′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

A full day, and the swamps to the south

03°55′S 36°05′E

Out early with breakfast in a box, because the two hours after sunrise are worth the rest of the day put together, and in December the mornings are the clear part before the cloud builds. Then the shape of the day is yours. That is what a private vehicle buys over the festive weeks: if the children are done by half past ten you go back to camp and swim; if they are watching a lion, you stay.

The second night is here for the swamp circuit, two hours south of the gate, which most nine-day itineraries never reach. The Silale swamp holds the biggest tuskers left in the north and a lion population that sees few vehicles. In the green months the tracks down there can be soft after a storm; your guide will read the sky and decide in the morning whether it is a swamp day or a river day, and either is a good one.

Look up as well as out. The rains bring the migrant birds in and Tarangire holds more breeding species than any habitat of its size: lovebirds, hornbills, the ashy starling that lives nowhere else, and Eurasian rollers that have flown further than you have. Tarangire is also one of the parks licensed for night drives, and one can be added this evening for guests of sixteen and over.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Full day in the park · no transfer

Highlight

Silale swamp, and a day that runs to your own clock

Dawn departure

Southern swamps, weather permitting

Night drive possible

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Mbali Mbali Tarangire River Camp

★★★★☆

Tarangire, tented camp outside the park boundary

Second night at the same camp: no packing, no transfer, and the whole day inside the park instead.

LUXURY

Lemala Mpingo Ridge Lodge

★★★★★

Tarangire, lodge on the escarpment above the river

Second night. Staying put lets you sit out the last hour of light at the river rather than driving to a new bed.

Day

Transfer

Up the Rift wall to the crater rim

03°14′S 35°29′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Up the Rift wall to the crater rim

03°14′S 35°29′E

Out of Tarangire after breakfast and north-west to the foot of the Rift escarpment, past Lake Manyara without going in. The road climbs the wall in switchbacks to Karatu at about 1,500 metres, farming country that is at its greenest in December, and there is a viewpoint at the top of the climb that everyone stops at. Lunch is in Karatu, then the last forty minutes up through the highland forest to the Ngorongoro rim.

The rim sits at about 2,300 metres and the first sight of the crater from the top is the one moment on this route that reliably outperforms the photographs: a caldera roughly nineteen kilometres across with its own weather. In the green months there is often cloud pouring over the western wall while the floor stays clear below it. It is cold up here after dark in every month, and in December it is also damp. Bring a proper fleece.

You sleep on the rim rather than down in Karatu, and over the festive weeks that is worth the premium twice over. It puts you at the descent road at first light, an hour ahead of the vehicles that stayed below, and on the crater floor between Christmas and New Year an hour is the difference between an empty track and a queue.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Tarangire to the Ngorongoro rim via Karatu · about 150 km · about 3 hours

Highlight

First sight of the caldera from 2,300 m

Rift escarpment climb

Rim at 2,300 m — cold

Crater viewpoint

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Pakulala Safari Camp

★★★★☆

Ngorongoro Conservation Area, crater rim

On the rim, with a fire lit in the evening and a short descent in the morning rather than a drive up from Karatu.

LUXURY

Entamanu Ngorongoro

★★★★★

Ngorongoro Conservation Area, crater rim

Rim-facing rooms with the crater floor below the window, blankets and hot-water bottles on the beds.

Day

Ngorongoro

Down into the crater, then west onto the plains

03°10′S 35°35′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Down into the crater, then west onto the plains

03°10′S 35°35′E

You descend at first light, six hundred metres in a few kilometres, and are on the floor before the light has properly arrived. Vehicles are limited to six hours down there, so the morning is timed tightly. What the crater has that nowhere else on this route does is black rhino: a few dozen animals, usually at a distance, and this is the most reliable place in Tanzania to see one. Add the highest lion density on the continent, the old bull elephants with the heaviest ivory in East Africa, and flamingo on Lake Magadi, all inside a closed bowl of about 260 square kilometres. For children it is the easiest game viewing of the trip: everything close, nothing hidden in long grass. Lunch is at the hippo pool, eaten inside the vehicle because the kites take sandwiches out of hands.

Then the long day begins, and we will not pretend otherwise. You come up the ascent road around midday and drive west across the Conservation Area, past Olduvai Gorge if there is time for the museum, and through Naabi Hill gate onto the Serengeti proper. From Naabi the last two hours to Seronera are a game drive whether or not anyone calls them one.

This is the one drive on the route that cannot honestly be kept short, and it is why the crater is done in a morning rather than a day. If the family would rather not, a light aircraft from the Manyara airstrip below Karatu reaches Seronera in about an hour; it costs the crater morning or adds a night, and we will tell you which is better for your dates.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

600 m descent · crater floor until midday · rim to Seronera about 190 km · 4 hours with game driving

Highlight

Black rhino in the morning, Naabi Hill gate by late afternoon

Dawn descent

Six-hour limit on the floor

Longest day on the route

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge

★★★★☆

Central Serengeti, Seronera valley

Tented, en-suite, inside the park, so tomorrow’s drive starts at the tent flap rather than at a gate. Family tents where they exist.

LUXURY

Lemala Ewanjan Tented Camp

★★★★★

Central Serengeti, Seronera valley

Fewer tents, further from the main track, with a pool and the field breakfasts a private vehicle makes possible.

Day

Serengeti

The Seronera valley, and a slow start if you want one

02°26′S 34°49′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

The Seronera valley, and a slow start if you want one

02°26′S 34°49′E

A full day with no transfer, which is the most valuable thing on any safari itinerary and the first thing cut when a trip is compressed. After yesterday you have earned the choice: out at six with breakfast in the vehicle, or nobody woken, a late breakfast and the pool, and the drive at three when the heat has gone off. Five days in, most families take the second, and a morning spent watching giraffe from a sun lounger is not a wasted morning.

The Seronera river holds water all year and carries the highest year-round predator density in the ecosystem. The resident prides live on the kopjes and do not go anywhere. Leopard are likely if your guide knows the individual fig and sausage trees, which is a real skill and the main thing separating a good guide from an adequate one. Cheetah hunt the open ground south of the river before the heat. Nothing on this list is promised, and in the green months the grass is taller than in July, so the guide’s eyes matter more.

Balloon flights leave from near here at first light and can be added. Over the festive fortnight the balloon books out months ahead, like everything else on this page, so ask when you book rather than when you arrive. Minimum age is set by the operator, usually seven.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Full day in the park · no transfer

Highlight

Resident lion on the kopjes, leopard in the sausage trees

Rest morning optional

Leopard country

Balloon by prior booking

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge

★★★★☆

Central Serengeti, Seronera valley

Second night. The value of two nights here is the choice: a dawn drive from inside the park, or a morning off.

LUXURY

Lemala Ewanjan Tented Camp

★★★★★

Central Serengeti, Seronera valley

Second night, with the option of breakfast set out in the grass if the family is up for it.

Day

Transfer

South to Ndutu, where the herds are

03°00′S 34°58′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

South to Ndutu, where the herds are

03°00′S 34°58′E

A game drive south out of the Seronera valley after breakfast, through the Moru kopjes if the tracks are dry, and onto the short-grass plains. The transition is complete within an hour: the acacia thins, the ground flattens, and the horizon becomes the whole point. Somewhere on this road you meet the wildebeest.

By late December the migration is usually back on the southern plains, drawn by the short rains to the grass around Ndutu and Lake Masek, on the border between the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Usually is the honest word. The herds follow rain, not a calendar, and in a late year they can still be strung out to the north-west in the third week of December. What we can say is that this is where they are meant to be, and where the camps are placed to find them.

Ndutu sits on the Conservation Area side of the line, which matters for one practical reason: off-track driving is permitted here and not in the national park. Your guide can leave the road and sit with a cheetah on the open plain, which is the thing Ndutu does better than anywhere else on the circuit. You are at camp by mid-afternoon with time for a drive around the lake before dark.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Seronera to Ndutu · about 90 km · 2–3 hours

Highlight

The short-grass plains, and wildebeest to the horizon

Game drive south

Migration usually here by late December

Off-track driving permitted

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Masek Tented Lodge

★★★★☆

Ndutu, tented camp on the edge of the acacia woodland

Canvas under the acacia between the lake and the plains, en-suite, full board, with the herds often within sight of the mess tent.

LUXURY

Serian's Serengeti South

★★★★★

Ndutu, seasonal camp on the short-grass plains

A camp that stands here only for these months, placed for the herds, with the space to run a private vehicle from dawn to dark.

Day

Ndutu

A full day on the plains

03°02′S 35°00′E

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

A full day on the plains

03°02′S 35°00′E

Out at dawn with breakfast in the vehicle. The plains at first light in the green season are the best photographic conditions of the year: storm cloud on the horizon, wet grass, low sun, and several hundred thousand animals spread across it. The wildebeest are grazing rather than moving, so the vehicle can sit still and let them come past.

Cheetah are the reason to be here rather than at Seronera. The open ground around Ndutu holds the highest concentration on the circuit, and because off-track driving is allowed your guide can position the vehicle for a hunt rather than watch it from a road. Lion and hyena follow the herds south, and the marsh at the lake edge holds resident prides. If your trip runs into the last week of January the calving has usually begun: half a million calves born inside about three weeks, most of them at dawn, with everything that eats meat in attendance. Earlier than that, you are watching the herds arrive and settle, which is quieter and no less worth seeing.

Back for lunch and a rest through the heat, then out again at four. This is the last full day of the trip, so if there is something the family has not yet seen, tell the guide at breakfast. It is a short list by now.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner

Travel

Full day around Ndutu and Lake Masek · no transfer

Highlight

Cheetah on open ground, and the first calves if you are late enough

Cheetah country

Calving from late January

Last full day

Where you sleep

COMFORT

Masek Tented Lodge

★★★★☆

Ndutu, tented camp on the edge of the acacia woodland

Second night. The value of two nights at Ndutu is the dawn drive from the middle of the herds rather than a drive to reach them.

LUXURY

Serian's Serengeti South

★★★★★

Ndutu, seasonal camp on the short-grass plains

Second night, and the last on safari. Ask for the fire to be lit early.

Day

Departure

The long road east, and the flight home

03°22′S 36°41′E

Breakfast · Lunch

The long road east, and the flight home

03°22′S 36°41′E

A short drive at first light if the flight allows it, then east across the Conservation Area: past Olduvai, over the rim with a last look into the crater, down the Rift wall through Karatu and back to Arusha on the tarmac. It is about 270 kilometres and it is a long day in the vehicle; we say so here rather than let you find out on the morning. Lunch is on the road.

The alternative is to fly. Light aircraft leave the Ndutu airstrip in the morning and are at Arusha in a little over an hour, with connections on to Kilimanjaro International or straight to Zanzibar. For a family at the end of nine days it is the better shape, and it is the extension most guests on this route take. It is priced separately, and over the festive weeks the seats go early.

Your guide, or the transfer driver if you flew, takes you to Kilimanjaro International in time for the evening departures. If your flight is not until late, a day room in Arusha can be added for a shower and a pool before the airport. If you are going on to Zanzibar for the beach half of the holiday, the shape of that is below.

Meals

Breakfast · Lunch

Travel

Ndutu to Arusha about 270 km · 5–6 hours, or fly from Ndutu in about 1 hour · or fly from the Ndutu airstrip

Highlight

One last drive across the plains, then Arusha or JRO

Long drive or a short flight

Onward to Zanzibar possible

Evening departure

Where you sleep

Departure day — no overnight

III · Rates

What it costs, by group size

Festive nights carry a camp supplement and a minimum stay. 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	$9,660	$9,660
2 guests	1 room	$6,840	$13,680
3 guests	2 rooms	$6,930	$20,790
4 guests	2 rooms	$6,200	$24,800
5 guests	3 rooms	$6,380	$31,900
6+ guests	3 rooms	$5,990	$35,940

Festive supplement

Included

Applied by the camps over Christmas and New Year — supplement to confirm

Single supplement

$1,550

Added when a guest does not share a room

Child, 6 – 11 years

30% off

Sharing with two adults — child rate to confirm

Deposit

30%

Deposit and payment schedule to confirm — festive bookings are held only against a deposit

Luxury rates by group size, per person and group total
Group size	Rooms	Per person	Group total
1 guest	1 room	$19,560	$19,560
2 guests	1 room	$14,160	$28,320
3 guests	2 rooms	$15,110	$45,330
4 guests	2 rooms	$13,520	$54,080
5 guests	3 rooms	$14,220	$71,100
6+ guests	3 rooms	$13,310	$79,860

Festive supplement

Included

Applied by the camps over Christmas and New Year — supplement to confirm

Single supplement

$4,120

Added when a guest does not share a room

Child, 6 – 11 years

30% off

Sharing with two adults — child rate to confirm

Deposit

30%

Deposit and payment schedule to confirm — festive bookings are held only against a deposit

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

All game drives in a private 4×4 with a roof hatch
A professional guide throughout, English-speaking
All accommodation as listed: full board on safari, dinner and breakfast in Arusha
All national park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area fees, including the crater service fee
Airport transfers, Kilimanjaro International, both ways
Drinking water in the vehicle throughout
Festive-season meals at each camp
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, per person including children
Travel insurance, which we ask every guest to hold
The flight out of Ndutu on day 9, if you choose it
Balloon flight over the Serengeti
Night drive in Tarangire, if you add one
Drinks at the lodges, beyond what is listed, including anything served on Christmas Day or New Year's Eve
Tips for your guide and lodge staff
Personal spending and souvenirs

V · Add-ons

Worth adding, if you have the days

Priced separately. The flight out of Ndutu on day 9 is the one most guests take.

Ndutu airstrip to Arusha · a little over 1 hour

Fly out of Ndutu on day 9

Replaces the 270-kilometre drive east with a morning flight, and connects on to Kilimanjaro or straight to Zanzibar. For a family on the last day it is the better shape. Seats over the festive weeks go early.

USD 380 per person

Seronera · day 6 · at dawn

Balloon over the plains

An hour over the Serengeti at first light, landing to a breakfast set out in the grass. Weather-dependent, minimum age 7, and over Christmas and New Year it books out months ahead.

USD 750 per person

Tarangire · day 3 · after dark

Night drive in Tarangire

Tarangire is one of the few national parks licensed for night drives. A spotlit drive after dinner for genet, civet, bushbaby and lion on the move. Usually 16 and over.

USD 190 per person

After day 9 · 3–5 nights

Zanzibar for New Year

The most common shape for a festive trip: Christmas on safari, New Year on the coast. Flights from Arusha, Ndutu or JRO take under two hours. Beach hotels over New Year fill as early as the camps do, and most set a minimum stay.

From USD 1,340 per person, 3 nights

VI · The ground

Where this itinerary takes you

Three parks, one ecosystem, from the Rift floor to the short-grass plains.

Tarangire National Park

2,850 square kilometres along a single permanent river. In December the herds are more spread out than in the dry months, because there is water everywhere, and the park is green, quiet and full of migrant birds. Two nights, so there is time for the swamp circuit if the tracks are dry.

Ngorongoro Crater

The largest intact volcanic caldera in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Around 25,000 large animals on 260 square kilometres of crater floor, including the most reliable black rhino in Tanzania. A night on the rim and a morning on the floor, at first light, ahead of the festive queue.

Serengeti National Park

14,750 square kilometres of plain, kopje and riverine forest. The Seronera valley in the centre holds water all year and the resident lion, leopard and cheetah that go with it. Two nights here for the cats, then two at Ndutu on the southern edge, where the migration is usually back on the short grass by late December.

The question everyone asks

Where will the herds be over Christmas?

Late Dec

Herds usually settled on the southern plains

By the second half of December the migration has usually come back south to the short-grass plains around Ndutu, drawn by the short rains and the mineral-rich grass. Usually is the honest word. The herds follow rain, not a calendar, and in a year where the short rains are late they can still be strung out to the north-west when you arrive. Anyone who promises you the herds on Christmas morning is selling something they do not control.

What is predictable is roughly where, which is why the last two nights of this route sit at Ndutu rather than at Seronera. Calving usually begins in the last week of January and runs into February; a trip that starts around the twentieth of January may see the first calves, a trip over Christmas will not, and we would rather say so than let the word calving drift onto the page. If the calving is the point, the Ndutu calving itinerary is built for it. Tell us your dates and we will say plainly where the herds are likely to be, and if they are not at Ndutu, your guide will drive to wherever they are.

VII · Season

The best time to travel

One window, mid-December to the end of January, and why it sells out a year ahead.

This is a route for one window: from about the middle of December to the end of January. The short rains usually finish by mid-December, leaving the country green, the air clear and the days warm, with the odd afternoon shower rather than a washout. The migration is back on the southern plains, Tarangire is quiet, and the crater is at its greenest.

What makes these weeks different from any other on the calendar is not the weather but the demand. Camps at Ndutu and Seronera have a handful of tents each and they are sold for Christmas and New Year a year in advance. Most apply a festive supplement over those nights, and most ask for a minimum stay. If you want these dates, the time to ask is the January before.

The calendar decides where Christmas falls on your route. A trip that starts on the twentieth of December puts Christmas Day at Seronera and New Year’s Eve at the end, back in Arusha or on the coast; start on the twenty-second and Christmas is on the crater rim. Tell us which night matters to you and we will build the start date around it. What each camp does on the night itself is the camp’s own decision and it varies from a dinner to nothing at all.

The same route runs well into February, with the calving in full swing, and it is cheaper without the festive uplift. Late November and early December are a risk: the short rains can still be falling and the herds may not have arrived. April and May are the long rains and we do not recommend this route then.

VIII · Flights

Getting there and back

Fly into Kilimanjaro International. Festive flights fill as early as the camps; book both the same day.

Fly into Kilimanjaro International (JRO), not Dar es Salaam. It is about an hour from Arusha and the itinerary is built around it. Most European routings connect through Doha, Istanbul, Amsterdam or Addis Ababa. Over the festive fortnight the long-haul flights into JRO fill as early as the camps do, and fares rise with them; book the flight the day the safari is confirmed, not after.

Day 1 is deliberately empty so that an evening arrival still works. If your flight lands late at night, or you want a margin against a lost bag before Christmas, add a night in Arusha before you start.

Coming home, day 9 is a long drive or a short flight from Ndutu, and either way it is built for an evening departure from JRO. Tell us your flight time and we will build the last day to it. If you are going on to Zanzibar for New Year, the flight from Ndutu connects to the coast in the same morning.

Tanzania requires a visa for most passports, for children as well as adults: USD 50, or USD 100 for United States citizens, valid up to 90 days. Apply online in advance. The immigration queue after an evening flight in the week before Christmas is the longest of the year.

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 per person — 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 in the week before Christmas 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 person per trip

We ask every guest to travel insured. Medical cover and evacuation are the parts that matter here: the nearest hospital to Ndutu is a flight away, not a drive.

Festive bookings carry deposits that are rarely refundable, so check the cancellation cover as well as the medical. 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. Camp staff are away from their own families over Christmas, which some guests choose to recognise.

Guide tips are usually handled at the end of the trip; lodge staff tips go into a shared box at reception so that housekeeping and kitchen are included, not only the people you see.

Drinks

USD 3 – 20 at the lodges

Drinking water in the vehicle is included throughout. Everything at the lodge bar is charged to your room unless your camp is explicitly all-inclusive, and most on this route are not. Anything a camp opens on Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve is charged the same way unless we have told you otherwise.

Personal spending

Entirely up to you

Souvenirs, the curio stall at Olduvai, laundry at the lodges, and anything you forgot to pack. Cash in small US dollar notes is more useful than a card once you leave Arusha; the Ndutu 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

We will tell you when the beds are gone

Festive dates sell a year ahead and we check availability before we quote, not after you have paid. If your camp of choice is full, we say so and offer the one that is not, rather than hold a booking we cannot fill.

The last two nights where the herds are

Most nine-day festive circuits end at Seronera because it is convenient. Ours end at Ndutu because in late December that is where the wildebeest are, and off-track driving there is the best cheetah viewing on the circuit.

One long day, said out loud

The drive from the crater to Seronera cannot be kept short, so we say so on that day rather than print a smaller number. Everywhere else gets two nights. The flight out of Ndutu is there for anyone who wants to end on a short day.

Arusha-based, and Tanzanian-owned

The vehicles, the guides and the office are ours, in Arusha. When the herds are forty kilometres from where the camp expected them on Christmas morning, we are the people who change the plan.

XI · Questions

Frequently asked

What guests ask before booking this itinerary.

How much does a festive season safari in Tanzania cost?

More than the same route in February, because the camps apply a supplement over Christmas and New Year and most ask for a minimum stay. The table above sets out the per-person shape for every group size from one to six. Our rates for this itinerary are set out in the table above and the festive supplement is already included in those rates — ask us with your dates and we will quote exactly rather than give you a range.

How far ahead do we need to book?

A year, for the camps you would choose. The good camps at Ndutu and Seronera have a handful of tents each and their festive nights are usually gone by the January before. Six months ahead something can still be built; it will not be the first choice at every stop. Our early booking page sets out what confirming early gets you. Deposits are 30% at booking, with the balance 60 days before arrival.

Will we see the migration over Christmas?

Usually. By the second half of December the herds are normally back on the southern plains around Ndutu, which is where the last two nights are. In a year with late short rains they can still be arriving, and no one can promise you a date. Calving begins in the last week of January, so a Christmas trip sees the herds settled rather than calving; see the calving itinerary if the calves are the point.

What happens at the camps on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve?

It is the camp’s decision, and it varies: some lay on a dinner and a fire, some do a little, some do nothing beyond the usual. We will tell you what your camps have planned once they are confirmed rather than promise it here. Anything served beyond the normal board is arranged with each camp.

What is the weather like in late December?

Warm, green and mostly dry. The short rains usually finish by mid-December, leaving afternoon cloud and the occasional shower rather than a washout. Days on the plains reach the high twenties; the crater rim is cold and damp after dark in every month. Pack a light rain layer and a proper fleece for the rim. If the rains run late, some Tarangire swamp tracks close and your guide will work the river instead.

Is this safari suitable for children?

Yes, and it is built with families in mind. Serengeti game drives have a minimum age of 5 and we apply 6; the camps we use on these dates take children from six, with family tents where they exist. Day 5 is long and we say so; the rest morning on day 6 is there to recover from it. The family itinerary is the same length with a different shape if the herds matter less to you than short drives. Child rates are 30% below the adult rate for children sharing with two adults.

How much driving is there?

Two long days and the rest short. Day 5 is the crater floor in the morning and then about 190 kilometres to Seronera. Day 9 is about 270 kilometres back to Arusha, or a flight of a little over an hour from Ndutu, which most families choose. Every other transfer is well under three hours. Exact drive times are shown on each day above — we will give you a realistic figure rather than an optimistic one.

Can we do Christmas on safari and New Year in Zanzibar?

Yes, and it is the most common shape for a festive trip. A start around the twentieth of December puts Christmas in the Serengeti and has you on the coast by the twenty-ninth. Beach hotels over New Year fill as early as the camps and most set a minimum stay of several nights. See bush and beach and the festive season page. Rates are from USD 1,340 per person for three nights.

Can we run the same route in January or February instead?

Yes, and it is cheaper. From the first week of January the festive supplement falls away, the herds are still at Ndutu, and from late January the calving begins. The same nine days in late January are the better wildlife trip; the festive dates are the better holiday if the calendar is fixed by the school.

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.

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