Build Your Safari

The best wildlife viewing months in Tanzania are during the dry season from late June to October. The best chance of seeing the wildebeest migration in the Serengeti is during June and July and the time to see the wildebeest calving is late January to February. The southern and western circuit parks are best visited during the dry-season (June to October), unlike the more popular northern circuit parks that can be visited year-round. Tarangire is the only exception, since its wildlife viewing is considerably better in the dry-season as well. 

Arusha National Park is a small park measuring only 53 square miles (137 square km), but it has a  remarkable range of habitats. 16 miles northeast of Arusha, this national park is one of the most easily accessible. Located between Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru, this park features a miniature volcanic crater (Ngurduto Crater), a river (Jekukumia River), a highland rain forest, acacia woodlands and a string of crater lakes (Momella Lakes). Wildlife found in the park includes Colobus monkeys, velvet monkeys, buffalo, hippos, elephants, and giraffe. Waterfowl is abundant here as well. Arusha National Park offers many beautiful panoramic views, including spectacular views of both Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru.

Lake Manyara is a lovely scenic park on the road from Arusha to the Ngorongoro Crater, famous for its tree climbing lions, good elephants and baboons. The lake itself takes up much of the park, and is home to huge flocks of flamingos.  While very beautiful it serves best as a break in the drive on route to one of the more famous parks, such as Ngorongoro and Serengeti.According to the regional migration pattern, Manyara's official peak season is from July to October.  However, for such a small park this should not be a deciding factor; if you are in the area and have time, Lake Manyara is consistently good as a soft game viewing park at any time of the year.

Tarangire National Park is located in the Manyara region of Northern Tanzania, just a few hours drive from Arusha. It is the ninth largest wildlife Park in Tanzania covering 2600 sq km.  During the dry season (August – October) Tarangire has one of the highest concentrations of wildlife, all seeking the waters flowing through Tarangires river, which is one of the only permanent water sources available at this time of year.  In addition to the largest concentration of elephants in Africa, Tarangire has spectacular landscapes of rolling hills, ravines, and forests of the ancient African Baobab trees, and arcadia woodlands. In addition to the larger animals, it is also home to three rare bird species – the fringed -eared Oryx, the Greater Kudu and the Ashy Starling.June to March are the dryer months with June to October the prime time to visit.The Park is home to a wide variety of animals’ year - round, including African elephants, lions, cheetahs, buffaloes, leopards, giraffes, zebras, hyenas, a wide range of antelopes and warthogs. Migration The first migrating animals start to arrive in the park during early June, and will remain in the park until November – just before the start of the short rainy season – when the migration moves north again. This annual wildlife Tarangire migration makes for fantastic safari game viewing in the dry season.Don’t fret if you cannot coincide your trip with the annual migration period – many animals including African elephants, lions, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras, a wide range of antelopes and warthogs – stay in the park all year - round.  Although the park offers many animals to be seen during the rainy season – you will however have to contend with lush vegetation, rain and the plentiful insect population.

Serengeti National Park is a World Heritage site, and considered Africa’s most popular safari destination, famous for the annual wildebeest migration and excellent wildlife viewing throughout the year.  It is located 335km (208 miles) from Arusha, stretching north to Kenya and bordering Lake Victoria to the west. It covers 14,763 sq km (5,700 sq miles) with a variety of scenery from spectacular grassland plains in the southeast, the valleys and rivers in the west and the hilly and rocky scenery in the northern region.  Wherever one visits in the Serengeti the scenery is stunning. Serengeti's scenery is renowned for its grassland plains in the southeast. The northern part is more hilly and rocky. To the west, valleys, rivers and forest can be found. The scenery is stunning and feels like untamed wilderness.To follow the wildebeest migration, December-July. To see predators, June-October.

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a protected area and a World Heritage Site located 180 km west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. The area is named after Ngorongoro Crater, a large volcanic caldera within the area.  The Ngorongoro Crater and surrounding highlands together form one of Africa’s most beautiful regions.  Volcanic craters form stunning backdrops to some of the most fertile and richest grazing grounds in Africa.  It is home to the highest density of big game in Africa, including all the big five and plenty of predators.  Ngorogoro is justifiably one of the continents most famous safari destinations.  It is the best place in Africa to see the black rhino along with some of the largest tusker elephants left in Africa.  While there are a few limited areas in the park where it is possible to get out of the vehicle to picnic, just outside the park, where there is a wide range of activities on offer, including walking, trekking, excursions to Olduvai Gorge and visiting the Maasai and other tribes.  Visitors should include a visit to the Hadzabe Bushmen, the Backsmith Tribes, Maasai.Since the wildlife mainly stays in the crater all year - round, there is really no good or bad time to visit.  However, given that the crater floor does get busy with vehicles, it can be more pleasant to visit during low season.  Higher water levels in Lake Magadi (in the centre of the Crater) also result in higher concentrations of flamingos.  Whenever you visit to Ngorongoro, you are guaranteed excellent safari action.

Lake Natron
Located just seventy miles northwest of Arusha is the alkaline Lake Natron bordering Kenya. A small part of the lake is also accessible from the Shompole wilderness in southern Kenya. As you plan your Natron lake tour of northern Tanzania, you may discover the great myth surrounding the lake -- that it has the ability to turn animals into stone. Lake Natron a prime destination for bird lovers on an avian holiday in Africa. Ol Doinyo Lengai is a volcanic attraction here at Natron.The scenery around Lake Natron is what attracts visitors to the region during their active-adventure travels in East Africa. In addition to these activities, you may also trek to the southern shores of the lake to see human footprints that date back 120,000 years, and the camp also offers trekking by camel, a very exciting adventure for your wilderness trip to Lake Natron.

Oldoinyo Lengai
"Oldoinyo Lengai" means “The Mountain of God” in the Maasai language. The summit of this strato-volcano is 2962 metres above sea level, and affords direct views into the caldera of Tanzania’s only officially-certified active volcano, and the world’s only carbonatite volcano; records of eruptions have been maintained since 1883, the largest of which deposited ash 100 kilometres away in Loliondo on the Kenyan border to the north west.

Lake Eyasi
Lake Eyasi is a seasonal shallow lake on the floor of the Great Rift Valley at the base of the Serengeti Plateau, just south of the Serengeti National Park and immediately southwest of the Ngorongoro Crater in the Crater Highlands of Tanzania. Seasonal water level fluctuations in the lake are dramatic, though the northwestern shore is constrained by the cliffs of the Serengeti Plateau. During the dry season the lake may dry up almost entirely, especially in drier years, so that Datoga herders and Hadza foragers will cross the lake on foot, but in El Niño years it may flood its banks and attract hippopotamus from the Serengeti. It is a seasonal stop for migrating flamingos. The lake supports minor local fishing in wet years, but more often catfish and lungfish are taken from the streams and springs that feed the lake. Even during wet periods, lake depths typically remain less than one metre.

Olduvai Gorge & Laetoli
Over the last thirty years or so, it has become increasingly apparent that Africa is probably the "Cradle of Mankind". From Africa they spread out to populate the rest of Earth. Remains of the earliest humans were found in Oldupai Gorge.Olduvai Gorge is a site in Tanzania that holds the earliest evidence of the existence of human ancestors. Paleoanthropologists have found hundreds of fossilized bones and stone tools in the area dating back millions of years, leading them to conclude that humans evolved in Africa.Olduvai is a misspelling of Oldupai, a Maasai word for a wild sisal plant that grows in the area. The gorge is located in the Great Rift Valley, between the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti National Park. It is 30 miles from Laetoli, another fossil-rich area. Olduvai Gorge was formed about 30,000 years ago, the result of aggressive geological activity and streams.The steep ravine is about 30 miles (48.2 km) long and 295 feet (89.9 meters) deep, not quite large enough to be classified as a canyon. A river cuts through several layers to form four individual beds, with the oldest estimated at about 2 million years old.At Laetoli, west of Ngorongoro Crater, hominid footprints are preserved in volcanic rock 3.6 millions years old and represent some of the earliest signs of mankind in the world. Three separate tracks of a small-brained upright walking early hominid. Australopithecus afarensis, a creature about 1.2 to 1.4 meters high, were found. Imprints of these are displayed in the Oldupai museum.More advanced descendants of Laetoli’s hominids were found further north, buried in the layers of the 100 meters deep Oldupai Gorge. Excavations, mainly by the archaeologist Louis and Mary Leakey, yielded four different kinds of hominid, showing a gradual increases in brain size and in the complexity of their stone tools. The first skull of Zinjanthropus, commonly known as ‘Nutcracker Man’ who lived about 1.75 millions years ago, was found here. The most important find include Home habilis, Zinjathropus and the Laetoli footprints.

Mount Meru
At 4566m, Mount Meru is the fifth highest mountain on the African continent and the second highest in Tanzania. About 250 000 years ago, a massive volcanic blast blew away the entire eastern flank of the mountain and left it with the characteristic and distinctive appearance it has today. Last eruption: 1910At 4566m, Mount Meru is the fifth highest mountain on the African continent and the second highest in Tanzania. About 250 000 years ago, a massive volcanic blast blew away the entire eastern flank of the mountain and left it with the characteristic and distinctive appearance it has today. The Mt Meru ascent passes through many different vegetation zones. The dry forest of the lower region gives way to a dense mountain rainforest, which then turns into a scrubland. Towards the top of the mountain, the vegetation consists of heath and moorland and is then finally replaced by the stunning baron alpine deserts. As the flora changes the wildlife does so too, which is diverse and equally impressive. During the ascent, you will regularly come across large game such as elephants and buffalos but you may also come across leopards. Due to this, it is obligatory to be accompanied by an armed park ranger on any tour.

Kilimanjaro National Park
Kilimanjaro National Park covering an area of some 75,575 ha protects the largest free standing volcanic mass in the world and the highest mountain in Africa, rising 4877m above surrounding plains to 5895m at its peak. With its snow-capped peak, the Kilimanjaro is a superlative natural phenomenon, standing in isolation above the surrounding plains overlooking the savannah.Mount Kilimanjaro is one of the largest volcanoes in the world. It has three main volcanic peaks, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. With its snow-capped peak and glaciers, it is the highest mountain in Africa. The mountain has five main vegetation zones from the lowest to the highest point:  Lower slopes, montane forest, heath and moorland, alpine desert and summit. The whole mountain including the montane forest belt is very rich in species, in particular mammals, many of them endangered species.  For this combination of features but mostly its height, its physical form and snow cap and its isolation above the surrounding plains, Mount Kilimanjaro is considered an outstanding example of a superlative natural phenomenon. (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/403)

The Hadzabe are the indigenous inhabitants of the lake. They are found along most of the perimeter, though camps are few along most of the Serengeti, which is Maasai territory. The Datoga inhabit the Yaeda Valley to the southeast, the Isanzu the south, and the Sukuma across the Sibiti River in the southwest. The Lake Eyasi region is unique for the stone age, iron age and modern human cultures coexisting within the same space. It is an often overlooked cultural jewel of East Africa.