Starting and ending in Arusha, this short Tanzania Camping Safari explores the game-rich Northern Tanzania Safari Circuit. This affordable Tanzania Safari is ideal for travelers with limited time and budget.
Start your affordable African safari with the diverse Lake Manyara National Park, one of the most beautiful game reserves in Tanzania. Take a 4x4 game drive in the scenic Lake Manyara National Park, best known for its tree-climbing lions, baboon troops, rich birdlife, and elephant herds. Next, explore the legendary Serengeti National Park, home to prolific predators and the seasonal Great Migration. Finally, go game viewing in the world-famous Ngorongoro Crater, hosting Africa's Big 5 and an abundance of other wildlife.
This private Budget Tanzania Safari offers a spectacularly scenic and wildlife-rich journey through one of Africa's best safari regions!
This 4-day Budget Tanzania Safari explores three of Tanzania's best wildlife parks. First, you'll travel to Lake Mayara, then Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, all of which are located on the Northern Tanzania Safari Circuit.
Our Tanzania Camping Safari starts with a short tour briefing in Arusha before we set off west to Lake Manyara National Park. Our first Tanzania safari destination, this compact national park is one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in Tanzania. Our drive takes us through the scenic landscapes of northern Tanzania, via the diverse village of Mto wa Mbu, into the Great Rift Valley.
This afternoon we embark on the first wildlife adventure of our Tanzania Safari. We explore the beautiful Lake Manyara Park on a 4x4 game drive, enjoying the stunning scenery and spotting wildlife. This national park lies in the Great Rift Valley, along the base of the steep Rift Valley escarpment, incorporating shallow soda lake and woodland areas. Our game drive is conducted in an open-topped safari vehicle, ideal for wildlife and bird watching. The diverse national park is dominated by Lake Manyara, an alkaline Great Rift Valley lake. Lake Manyara attracts a wide variety of waterbirds with over 400 bird species recorded here. Sightings include migrant species and water birds, such as cormorants, geese, pelicans, and storks. In some seasons, flamingoes flock to the lake in the thousands.
Lake Mayara National Park is famous for its tree-climbing lions, massive baboon troops, and abundance of elephants, including big bull elephants with impressive tusks. Other animals that we might come across include buffalos, cheetahs, wildebeest, zebras, Masai giraffes, hippos, monkeys, and various antelope species. There are also plenty of warthogs, hippos, mongooses, monkeys, and some elusive leopards.
In the late afternoon, we leave lovely Lake Manyara and drive to our first overnight camp in the village of Mto wa Mbu.
Day two begins with breakfast at our camp in Mto wa Mbu. Then our Tanzania Safari travels to Serengeti National Park via the highlands of Tanzania.
At about noon we enter Tanzania's top wildlife park and get our first taste of the legendary Serengeti Plains. Tanzania's largest and most famous national park, the Serengeti National Park is often rated as the best safari destination in Africa. This diverse wildlife park hosts prolific animal life throughout the year. It incorporates a diversity of vegetation zones, habitats, and landscapes in northern Tanzania, bordering Masai Mara in Kenya. En route to our camp, we drive through some of the many habitats of Serengeti, which range from grassy plains and savannahs to dense scrub, wetlands, and lakes. You'll see the strange rocky outcrops (known as kopjes) dotting the open plains where wildlife abounds.
Depending on the time of year you may witness the Great Migration in Serengeti National Park. This world-famous wildlife spectacle sees thousands of herbivores move between Serengeti and Masai Mara every year. If you are on safari during the short rainy season in November and December you may see the herds migrating from the northern hills to the southern plains. This movement of the herds depends on the rainfall in any given year and thus both the exact locations and the timing of the migration varies. Your experienced guide takes you to the best places in Serengeti to see wildlife at the time of your safari, ensuring that you get the most out of your time, whether or not you catch the migration.
Tonight we camp in central Serengeti, a region renowned for its big cat sightings and abundant wildlife.
On day three of our Budget Tanzania Safari, we venture back out into Serengeti on a thrilling early morning game drive. Witness a serene sunrise over the wide Serengeti Plains while we watch wildlife roaming the bush in the early morning light.
In the Seronera region of central Serengeti herds of wildebeest, zebras, and other grazers are often seen nearby prowling predators. With luck, we may spot lions, cheetahs, and even leopards while in Serengeti National Park.
After our rewarding game drive, we return to our campsite for a hearty breakfast. Then we make our way out of Serengeti, scanning the plains for wildlife as we go. Leaving the magnificent Serengeti Plains we drive up into the highlands and our final Tanzania safari destination, the famous Ngorongoro Crater. This afternoon we reach the crater rim and survey the spectacular scenery. Then we settle in at our camp on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater, soaking up the views of this 600 m deep caldera (unflooded volcano) as the sun sets.
On the last day, we have an early breakfast at our camp overlooking the crater. Then we drive down into the famous Ngorongoro Crater for the final 4x4 wildlife adventure of our Budget Tanzania Safari. The forests of the steep crater slopes soon give way to acacia-studded savannahs teeming with wildlife. You will quickly see why the Ngorongoro Crater is known as Africa's Garden of Eden.
Ngorongoro is part of the Serengeti ecosystem, teeming with African wildlife. It is a massive caldera spanning an impressive 18 km in diameter with walls as high as 600m. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to the densest mammalian population in Africa, with around 25,000 large animals. The diverse habitats found on the fertile crater floor support a wide variety of wildlife, including elephants, monkeys, hyenas, jackals, hippos, and herds of zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, and other antelope species.
The Ngorongoro Crater hosts the Big 5 of Africa, boasting one of the highest concentrations of lions in the world. Almost all of the wild animal species found on the savannahs of East Africa are represented in this compact crater. Ngorongoro Crater offers world-class game viewing and is considered one of the best places to capture the endangered black rhino on film
After an action-packed morning of game viewing, we stop for a picnic lunch in the Ngorongoro Crater. Then we ascend the steep crater walls and leave the cool highlands behind. We travel back to Arusha where this affordable Tanzania camping safari started. En route we drive through the Great Rift Valley, known for its beautiful scenery and abundant wildlife, stretching over 6000 km north to south from Syria to Mozambique in Southern Africa.
In the early evening, we arrive back in Arusha, where this unforgettable journey on the Northern Tanzania Safari Circuit ends.
This short and affordable Tanzania Safari is the ideal add-on to Zanzibar Holiday Trips or Tanzania Hiking Tours. For more details contact African Budget Safaris.
Please note that the Wildebeest Great Migration is seasonal. As a natural wildlife phenomenon, it is fluid and unpredictable. For this reason, seeing the Great Migration cannot be guaranteed.
The wildebeest and other wild herbivores migrate between Masai Mara in Kenya and Serengeti in Tanzania. These herds move in a massive circular route covering some 1200 miles (1931km). It is a continuous movement of wildlife that can be seen in different areas at different times of the year. During certain phases of this annual trek the animals disperse or slow down, whilst at other times the migration picks up speed, with the herds becoming larger and denser. Not only does the Wildebeest Great Migration vary from place to place and season to season but the movement of these large wildlife herds varies from year to year.
Please talk to a travel expert from African Budget Safaris about seeing the Wildebeest Great Migration on your safari to find out more. Also, check out our detailed article about the Great Migration in Serengeti and Masai Mara.
This tour does not take children.
This itinerary may have some long travelling days, and we would therefore not recommend this group safari for young children.
Families with younger children who are confident and comfortable with travelling long distances, are welcome on a private safari basis only.
Please contact African Budget Safaris for information regarding private tours and quotations.
All Arusha Departures | All Tanzania Tours | All Africa Camping Safari trips
A super cheap Zanzibar vacation. This short Zanzibar beach, Stone Town and spice tour combines culture, island spices and a tropical Zanzibar beach resort.
More on 4 Day Zanzibar Vacation - Beach, Stone Town & Spice Tour
This 6-day Tanzania Hiking Tour is a guided hike that climbs Mount Meru in Tanzania. This budget hike is an ideal add-on to Tanzania Safaris or to train for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
Climb Kilimanjaro Hiking Tour via Marangu Route is a fully-inclusive, affordable guided hike staying in huts on the easiest Kilimanjaro hiking trail.
Our team has the destination knowledge to help you plan an unforgettable African adventure. We're based in Cape Town and ready to help.
We can also plan you an affordable private group or tailor-made tour. We built our business on turning luxury travel into affordable travel.