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Christmas and New Year in the Serengeti, and on the coast afterwards. The most requested fortnight of the year, and the one that books furthest ahead.
COL-04 · Jan, Dec
Late December is a genuinely good time to be in Tanzania — the herds are back on the southern plains, the short rains have usually eased, and the light is excellent. It is also the fortnight every camp in the country is full.
Game viewing
How reliably you see a lot, without luck.
Weather
Dry, clear and predictable, versus not.
Few vehicles
How much of a sighting you get to yourself.
Value
What the same itinerary costs against peak.
The case for it
By late December the migration has come down through the eastern Serengeti onto the southern plains, ahead of the calving. You are ahead of the crowds who come for February.
The short rains have generally eased by late December, leaving green country without the sustained wet of March and April.
Late December and January is high season on Zanzibar for a reason — hot, dry and clear. A festive itinerary that ends on the coast is the strongest bush-and-beach case in the calendar.
Christmas dinner under canvas is a real thing and the camps take it seriously. It is not a gimmick and it is one of the reasons these dates repeat.
Inside the window
Christmas, New Year and the week after are priced, staffed and populated completely differently. Knowing which one you are booking is most of the decision.
The short rains have usually eased, the herds are back on the southern plains, and the camps are not yet full. Some of the best value in the calendar sits in these three weeks, and almost nobody books them.
Every good camp on the northern circuit is full, most apply a compulsory supplement, and many hold a minimum stay. Camps make a genuine occasion of it — Christmas dinner under canvas is not a gimmick. This is the fortnight that books twelve months ahead.
The festive crowd leaves within days and rates fall sharply, while the wildlife and the weather are essentially unchanged. If your dates are flexible by one week, this is where to put them.
In this collection
Every one is a starting shape we rebuild around your party and your exact dates. Nothing here is a fixed departure.
JAN – MAR
Half a million calves born in a few short weeks on the southern short-grass plains, and every predator in the ecosystem waiting for them.
Per guest, from:
$3,750$625 per night
WILDLIFE WONDER
The crater floor at first light, before the day vehicles descend, then the highland forests and the Maasai grazing land above the rim.
Per guest, from:
$2,290$458 per night
MOST REQUESTED
The northern circuit, then a short flight to the coast. Six nights of game viewing and four of doing nothing at all, in that order.
Per guest, from:
$5,440$544 per night
AGES 6+
Private vehicle throughout so the day runs to your children's clock, shorter drives, and camps that actually want families rather than tolerating them.
Per guest, from:
$4,940$618 per night
FOR TWO
Small camps, a private vehicle, and a beach at the end of it. We write to every property in advance — camps are generous to honeymooners when somebody asks.
Per guest, from:
$5,570$619 per night
7 DAYS ON THE MOUNTAIN
The most walked route to Uhuru Peak, and rightly — it climbs high and sleeps low, which is what gets people to the summit.
Per guest, from:
$2,330$333 per night
BEST ACCLIMATISATION
Longer, quieter and with the highest success rate of the popular routes. An extra day on the mountain buys more than any amount of training.
Per guest, from:
$2,650$331 per night
SHARED VEHICLE
A set departure shared with up to six others. The same guide and the same parks as a private trip, at the price that sharing a vehicle makes possible.
Per guest, from:
$3,780$630 per night
GROUP CLIMB
A scheduled group climb. Climbing with others is not a compromise on Kilimanjaro — a bigger group is a stronger one on summit night.
Per guest, from:
$2,310$330 per night
Before you commit
Most camps apply a compulsory festive supplement over Christmas and New Year, often including a set dinner. Ours are shown in the quote rather than added afterwards. Confirm your festive supplement policy and typical amounts
Camps release festive allocations early and hold them briefly. State how far ahead you can hold festive space and what deposit it takes
International seats into Kilimanjaro over Christmas go earlier and harder than camp space, and a held camp is worthless without a way to reach it. Fix the flights first, then let us build the itinerary around the dates you actually hold.
Most family windows force a compromise on season. The festive fortnight does not: the herds are on the southern plains, the short rains have usually eased, and the coast afterwards is at its best. That alignment is the real reason these dates repeat.
Honestly
Telling you a season is wrong for you costs us one booking and saves you a disappointing trip. Both columns are worth reading.
Right for you if
Probably not if
Common questions
Twelve months is not an exaggeration for the northern Serengeti. Nine months is workable if you are flexible on camps. Under six, expect compromises.
Many camps apply one. State the minimum-stay rules you are held to, and over which dates
It is one of the best. The school holiday aligns with a genuinely good wildlife month, which is not true of most family windows.
Because supply is fixed and demand is concentrated into fourteen days. A camp with twelve tents has twelve tents on 25 December, and the northern circuit's good camps are the same ones everyone wants. There is no mechanism that creates more space closer to the date.
For most people, yes. The wildlife and the weather in the second week of January are essentially identical to the last week of December, the camps empty within days, and the rates fall sharply. If your dates can move by one week, that is the single best-value decision on this page.
Taken seriously. A long table, a fire, a set menu the chef has planned for weeks, and usually the whole camp eating together rather than at separate tables. It is one of the reasons these dates repeat with the same guests.
The camps are full, which is not quite the same thing. The Serengeti is enormous and the southern plains in late December are not crowded in the way the northern Serengeti is in August. The Ngorongoro Crater floor is the exception and is busy.
It sounds absurd in the middle of the year and it is the single most useful thing you can do about these dates.
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