A 10-day Tanzania safari across the north of the country. You start with Tarangire’s elephants and the Ngorongoro Crater, then spend four nights on the Mara River, where the herds cross.
Most migration trips fly you straight to the river. We think that wastes the build-up. This route travels with the story: first the elephant country of Tarangire, then the world’s largest intact caldera, then the central plains where the big cats live all year.
By the time you reach the Mara River you have spent six days learning how the bush works, so the four nights you spend waiting at the crossings mean much more. At the end, a light aircraft flies you home and you skip the ten-hour drive back.
About 650 km by road, all of it with your own guide, and one flight home. Tap a stop to see where it sits on the map.
Arrival, coffee farm, trip briefing
Baobabs and elephant herds, then up to the highlands
A dawn descent to the crater floor, then west to the plains
Big-cat country in the Seronera Valley
The Mara River crossings at Kogatende and Lamai
This is how the trip usually runs. Your guide will adjust each day around the weather, the wildlife and what you most want to see.
Your guide meets you at Kilimanjaro International Airport with a cold towel and your name on a board. On a clear evening Kibo’s snow cap floats above the clouds as you drive west to a lodge on a working coffee estate.
Over dinner your guide takes you through the whole route. Tell them what you want: big cats, birds, photography or quiet time.
In the dry season the Tarangire River is the only water for miles, and elephant herds of several hundred walk down to it between the ancient baobabs. This is your first full game drive. Lunch is a picnic under a sausage tree.
Late in the afternoon you climb the Rift Valley escarpment to Karatu, a cooler farming town on the crater highlands.
Look up into the baobabs. Tarangire’s pythons and yellow-collared lovebirds both use the hollows.
You leave before sunrise so you are among the first vehicles down the 600-metre wall. The crater floor holds some of Africa’s densest wildlife: lions in the grass, flamingos at Lake Magadi, and your best chance of black rhino on the whole trip.
After a picnic at the hippo pool you climb out. The road passes Olduvai Gorge and opens onto the endless southern plains, with game drives along the way to camp.
The Seronera River keeps water all year, so the resident predators never leave. You spend the whole day out with a packed breakfast and lunch, following lion prides across the kopjes and checking every sausage tree for a leopard’s tail.
Back at camp you can shower under canvas and eat dinner by the fire while hyenas call across the plain.
If you choose it, a hot-air balloon lifts off at first light and drifts over the plains for about an hour. It lands with a champagne bush breakfast. If you’d rather stay on the ground, go out early with your guide while the cats are still active.
In the afternoon you explore the Simba and Gol kopjes, granite islands where cheetah climb up to watch the plains.
The balloon flight costs about US$599 per person. Book it when you confirm the trip, because July–October flights sell out.
Today you drive the length of the park, through the rolling Lobo hills where hardly any other vehicles go. The grass gets longer and the herds get bigger. Around mid-afternoon you see the green line of the Mara River for the first time.
Your camp is on a ridge above the river, and on a quiet night you can hear the wildebeest from your tent.
These three days are why you came. Each morning your guide reads the herds: where they are bunching, which bank they are facing, and how nervous they look. Then you wait at a crossing point, engine off, sometimes for hours.
When the first animal jumps, the rest follow in a rush of dust and noise, with crocodiles waiting in the river. Between crossings you explore the Lamai Triangle and Bologonja springs, some of the least-visited country in the Serengeti.
Nobody can promise you a crossing. Four nights at the river gives you the best odds we know, and our guides share sightings by radio all day.
You have a final early game drive along the river, then head to Kogatende airstrip for a light-aircraft flight back to Arusha over the whole route you’ve driven. A day room and a transfer to Kilimanjaro Airport are arranged for your evening flight home, or on to Zanzibar.
We picked each camp for where it sits. Every one puts you close to the first light of the next morning’s drive.
Northern Serengeti · Kogatende · 4 nights on this trip.
Plantation-house suites among the coffee bushes, 20 minutes from town.
Farmhouse cottages in rose gardens, perfectly placed for a dawn crater descent.
Classic tented camp on a quiet kopje, right in the resident big-cat territory.
Glass-fronted tents on a ridge above the Mara River, minutes from the crossing points.
Camps are shown “or similar”. If one is full we’ll swap in a camp of the same standard in the same area, and you’ll approve it first.
Around two million animals move in a clockwise loop through the year. This itinerary follows the northern part of that loop, from July to October.
| Month | Where the herds are | What’s happening | This trip |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | SouthNdutu plains | The herds graze the short, rich grass of the southern plains. | — |
| February | SouthNdutu plains | Calving season. Thousands of calves are born every day. | — |
| March | SouthNdutu plains | Calves grow stronger while lions and cheetahs hunt close by. | — |
| April | South → CentralMoru & Seronera | The long rains start and the columns begin to move north. | — |
| May | CentralSeronera | Mating season. Long lines of wildebeest head west. | — |
| June | WestGrumeti River | First river crossings, with big crocodiles in the Grumeti. | — |
| July | NorthKogatende | The first Mara River crossings of the year. | This trip |
| August | NorthMara River | Peak season. Crossings happen almost every day. | This trip |
| September | NorthMara River & Lamai | Huge herds cross back and forth over the river. | This trip |
| October | NorthLobo & Mara | The last crossings, then the herds turn south. | This trip |
| November | CentralLobo → Seronera | The short rains arrive and the herds stream south. | — |
| December | SouthNdutu plains | The herds are back on the green southern plains. | — |
| Price per personYour group | Only datesCrossing seasonJuly – October |
|---|---|
| 2guests | $3,968USD per person |
| 4guests | $3,062USD per person |
| 6guests | $2,760USD per person |
| Check dates → |
Travel as a bigger group and save. Six guests pay up to 30% less each than two, because you share the vehicle and guide.
Prices are in US dollars, per person, for 2, 4 or 6 guests sharing one private vehicle and guide. This itinerary runs only between July and October. For other months, ask us about a different route.
No honest operator can promise one. Crossings depend on rain, grazing and the herds’ own nerves. With four nights on the river in season, most of our guests see at least one, and many see several. Our guides stay in radio contact all day so you can move quickly when a crossing starts.
Yes. Every trip is private, so you can add nights, upgrade camps, skip Tarangire to get to the river sooner, or finish with a few days on Zanzibar. Tell us what matters most and we’ll adjust the route.
Yes, for ages 6 and up. The vehicle is yours, so you can stop whenever you need a break, and most of the camps offer family tents. See our family safari guide for more.
The longest days, Day 3 and Day 6, are about five hours on the road, but those hours are game drives, not highway travel. The flight on Day 10 saves you the long drive back.
River camps for August and September fill up a year ahead. Send us your dates and we’ll reply within 24 hours with availability and a tailored quote.
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