3-Day Serengeti and Ngorongoro Group Safari from Arusha

Serengeti National Park: the endless plains

The Serengeti covers about 14,750 square kilometres of grassland, acacia woodland and granite kopjes in northern Tanzania and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Its name comes from the Maasai word for endless plains, and that is what you see from the pop-up roof: grass to the horizon, dotted with wildebeest, zebra and gazelle, and lions resting on the rocks. A Serengeti safari from Arusha reaches the central Seronera area, where the river valleys keep water all year and predators are seen most often, including leopards in the sausage trees.

You enter through the Naabi Hill gate on day one for an afternoon game drive and spend the whole of day two inside the park, with an early start when the light is soft and the cats are active. Wildlife sightings are never guaranteed, but the Seronera valley offers some of the most reliable game viewing in Africa, and our driver-guide knows where the recent sightings have been. Keep your voice low near animals and never ask the driver to leave the tracks.

The Great Migration and the best time to visit the Serengeti

Over a million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebra move around the Serengeti ecosystem in a yearly loop that follows the rain. From December to March the herds gather on the short-grass plains in the south-east around Ndutu for the calving season; in April and May they move north-west; from July to October they cross the Grumeti and Mara rivers in the north; and in November they return south. The central Serengeti where this safari goes has resident wildlife all year, so there is no bad month.

If you want to see the migration itself, tell us your dates and we will say honestly where the herds are likely to be; a three-day safari cannot chase them to the far north. The best time to visit the Serengeti for general game viewing is the dry season from June to October, when grass is short and animals gather at water. The green season from November to May is quieter, with lower prices and dramatic skies.

Ngorongoro Crater: a day on the crater floor

The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest intact volcanic caldera in the world, about 260 square kilometres across its floor and 600 metres below the rim, where you camp on the second night at around 2,300 metres. It was listed by UNESCO in 1979 and lies inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, where the Maasai still graze cattle alongside the wildlife. On the last morning you descend the steep rim road at first light for a game drive among lions, elephants with huge tusks, buffalo, hyena clans and the rare black rhino.

Is the Ngorongoro Crater worth visiting after the Serengeti? Yes, because the wildlife here is concentrated in a natural bowl: the Lerai yellow-fever-tree forest, the Gorigor swamp with its hippos and the soda lake Magadi with flamingos in season are all within a short drive. Vehicles are allowed about six hours on the floor, so you have lunch at the picnic site by the hippo pool and climb out early in the afternoon for the drive back to Arusha.

Camping safari: tents, the chef and life at the campsites

This is a camping safari, which keeps the cost down and brings you closer to the bush. You sleep in dome tents with sleeping mattresses at public campsites in the Serengeti and on the Ngorongoro rim; the chef and the driver-guide set everything up while you relax. The campsites have shared toilets and showers, and the chef prepares breakfast, a packed or hot lunch and a three-course dinner, with bottled water throughout. Dietary needs, including halal and vegetarian, are handled if you tell us at booking.

Nights are cold on the crater rim, often close to 5°C, so bring a warm layer; the Serengeti nights are mild. Animals wander near the camps, which is part of the adventure, and our team briefs you on simple safety rules. The joining format means you share the vehicle with up to five other travellers, which also makes the safari more sociable.

The road from Arusha and the Ngorongoro highlands

The drive from Arusha to the Serengeti takes most of day one, but it is scenic the whole way. You cross the Maasai steppe, pass the turn-off to Lake Manyara and the town of Karatu, and climb through the misty forest of the Ngorongoro highlands to the crater rim viewpoint, where the whole caldera opens out below you. From the rim the road drops across the Malanja depression and the short-grass plains past Olduvai Gorge, the archaeological site where some of the oldest hominid fossils were found.

How to get to the Serengeti from Arusha without a long drive is a common question; there are flights to Seronera airstrip, but the road lets you see three ecosystems in a day and is included here. The journey is about 330 kilometres and takes roughly seven hours including the stops. Our driver-guide times the day so you still have a game drive in the Serengeti before reaching camp.