The northern circuit is the most travelled route in Tanzania, and with good reason. Within a few hours' drive of Arusha sit the Serengeti plains, the Ngorongoro Crater, the baobab country of Tarangire and the Rift Valley escarpment above Lake Manyara — four completely different landscapes, and some of the densest wildlife concentrations anywhere in Africa.
It is also the circuit built for a first visit. The parks connect by road, the lodges range from mobile camps to serious luxury, and the Great Migration moves through the Serengeti in a broadly predictable annual cycle. Everything here can be combined with Kilimanjaro or a finish on Zanzibar.
Arusha, reached via Kilimanjaro International Airport.
June to October for dry-season game viewing; January to March for the calving season.
All five are possible, with black rhino most reliably seen on the Ngorongoro crater floor.
Road transfers between parks, with fly-in options to the Serengeti airstrips.
Eight destinations across the northern circuit, from the Serengeti plains to the hot springs below Kilimanjaro.
Introductory text on this page was written for the site; the destination pages it links to carry their own detail.
The northern circuit works all year, but what you see changes month to month. From December to March the herds are on the short-grass plains around Ndutu, and calving season brings the most intense predator activity of the year.
From July to October the migration is in the north, and the Mara River crossings are the draw. The long rains in April and May are the quietest and cheapest time to travel, with green landscapes and some camps closed.
Every route here can be lengthened, shortened or combined with Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar. Tell us your dates.
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