Overview
Our 6 Day Ultimate Northern Circuit Safari is the most comprehensive, most diverse, and most deeply rewarding northern Tanzania safari experience available — a breathtaking six-day journey through all four of Tanzania’s most iconic and most celebrated northern circuit destinations combining the elephant paradise of Tarangire National Park, the world-famous tree-climbing lions of Lake Manyara National Park, the legendary Serengeti National Park — home of the Great Wildebeest Migration — and the extraordinary Ngorongoro Conservation Area with its magnificent volcanic caldera in one perfectly designed and perfectly managed complete northern Tanzania safari adventure departing from Arusha with Serengeti Scent Adventures.
Highlights
- Olduvai Gorge — the legendary Cradle of Mankind
- Flamingo flocks — spectacular pink concentrations on Lake Manyara’s shores
- Leopard in acacia trees — the Seronera Valley’s finest leopard viewing area
- Breathtaking Serengeti sunsets — among the most beautiful in all of Africa
The 6 Day Ultimate Northern Circuit Safari is the definitive and most comprehensive northern Tanzania safari experience — a beautifully crafted six-day journey that visits all four of Tanzania’s most celebrated northern circuit national parks, delivering an extraordinary combination of completely different and equally rewarding wildlife experiences, breathtaking landscapes, and deeply memorable personal safari moments that together create the most complete and most satisfying northern Tanzania adventure available.
Distance: 120 km — approximately 1.5 to 2 hours
Meals: Lunch & Dinner
Overnight: Tarangire area
Depart your Arusha hotel at 7:00 AM and drive southward through the beautiful Arusha highlands toward Tarangire National Park. Enter the park and begin your first extraordinary game drive through the iconic ancient baobab landscape — searching for enormous elephant herds, giraffe, lion, leopard, buffalo, zebra, and wildebeest along the beautiful Tarangire River corridor. Bush picnic lunch in the field. Afternoon game drive through the park’s diverse woodland habitats. Sundowner stop before dinner and overnight.
Distance: 80 to 120 km within park
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight: Tarangire area
A full and deeply rewarding day exploring Tarangire National Park. Dawn game drive along the Tarangire River — the most productive time for elephant viewing and predator activity. Search for lion prides, African wild dog packs, and the park’s remarkable greater kudu in the remote Boundary Hill area. Bush picnic lunch beneath an ancient baobab. Afternoon game drive through the northern Lemiyon area and beautiful Silale Swamp — exceptional for buffalo, elephant, and the park’s extraordinary endemic bird species. Sundowner before dinner and overnight.
Distance: 380 km — approximately 5 to 6 hours
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight: Serengeti National Park
After breakfast depart northward to Lake Manyara National Park for a morning game drive through the extraordinary groundwater forest — searching for black and white colobus monkeys, blue monkeys, and the world-famous tree-climbing lions. Visit the famous hippo pools at close range. Bush picnic lunch overlooking the beautiful lake. After lunch depart westward through the stunning Rift Valley escarpment and Ngorongoro Conservation Area highlands toward the legendary Serengeti National Park — entering through the Naabi Hill Gate for an extraordinary late afternoon first game drive across the famous open plains. Sundowner on the Serengeti before dinner and overnight under the African stars.
Distance: 100 to 150 km within park
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight: Serengeti National Park
A full and deeply extraordinary day exploring the vast wilderness of Serengeti National Park. Dawn game drive across the open plains — lion prides active on the grassland, cheetahs scanning the horizon, and the extraordinary Serengeti landscape at its most beautiful and most alive. Visit the famous Seronera River — Tanzania’s finest leopard viewing area — searching for these extraordinary cats resting in the branches of ancient acacia trees. Search for Serengeti wild dog packs and the extraordinary kopje lion prides. Bush picnic lunch in the field. Afternoon game drive across the vast plains as the most breathtaking Serengeti sunset of the entire itinerary paints the African sky in extraordinary shades of gold and crimson. Dinner and overnight in the Serengeti wilderness.
Distance: 145 km — approximately 2.5 to 3 hours
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight: Ngorongoro crater rim
After breakfast depart the Serengeti eastward toward the breathtaking Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Stop at the extraordinary Olduvai Gorge — the legendary Cradle of Mankind where 1.8 million year old human fossil discoveries permanently changed our understanding of human evolution — for a fascinating guided museum visit. Continue to the breathtaking Ngorongoro Crater rim arriving in the beautiful afternoon light for the most overwhelming and most emotionally powerful panoramic view of the magnificent caldera. Dinner and overnight at your crater rim lodge with extraordinary crater views stretching in every direction below.
Distance: 180 km — approximately 3 hours return
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight: Return to Arusha
Early morning descent into the extraordinary Ngorongoro Crater at first light for the most dramatic and most rewarding game drive of the entire itinerary. Search the crater floor for the critically endangered black rhinoceros, enormous lion prides, massive buffalo herds, spotted hyena clans, hippo pods, spectacular flamingo flocks on Lake Magadi, and the magnificent old tusked elephant bulls of the crater. Bush picnic lunch on the crater floor. Ascend from the crater and drive back to Arusha arriving approximately 6:00 to 7:00 PM — concluding six extraordinary days of ultimate northern Tanzania wildlife adventure.
- ✅ Hotel pickup and drop-off in Arusha
- ✅ All transport in a private 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser with pop-up roof
- ✅ Professional English-speaking Serengeti Scent Adventures guide for all 6 days
- ✅ All park fees — Tarangire NP (2 days), Lake Manyara NP (1 day), Serengeti NP (2 days) & Ngorongoro CA (1 day) including crater descent fee
- ✅ Olduvai Gorge entry & guided visit — Day 5
- ✅ All meals as specified throughout
- ✅ Bottled drinking water throughout
- ✅ All fuel costs
- ✅ Snacks & refreshments during game drives
- ✅ Sundowner drinks
- ✅ Government taxes & levies
- ❌ International flights to and from Tanzania
- ❌ Tanzania visa fees (USD 50 per person)
- ❌ Travel insurance (strongly recommended)
- ❌ Tips & gratuities (recommended USD $15 to $20 per day for guide)
- ❌ Personal items & souvenirs
- ❌ Alcoholic beverages
- ❌ Optional hot air balloon safari — Serengeti Day 4 (available on request)
- ❌ Optional walking safari — Serengeti or Tarangire (available on request)
- ❌ Any expenses of a personal nature
Frequently Asked Questions
The 6 Day Ultimate Northern Circuit Safari is our most highly recommended itinerary for first-time Tanzania safari visitors who want to experience the very best of the northern circuit in a comprehensive and deeply satisfying single journey. It covers all four major northern circuit destinations delivering an extraordinary variety and quality of wildlife experiences that consistently exceeds every expectation.
Yes — our expert Serengeti Scent Adventures guides always position guests in the most productive Migration areas for their specific travel dates. With 2 full days in the Serengeti the probability of extraordinary Migration encounters — whether river crossings, calving season, or main herd movements — is significantly higher than on shorter itineraries
Absolutely — the 6 Day Ultimate Northern Circuit Safari combines perfectly with a 3 to 5 day Zanzibar beach extension creating the ultimate complete Tanzania safari and beach adventure. Contact Serengeti Scent Adventures to add Zanzibar to your itinerary.
This is one of our most recommended itineraries for photography enthusiasts — the combination of Tarangire’s extraordinary baobab landscape, Lake Manyara’s dramatic Rift Valley escarpment setting, the Serengeti’s iconic open plains, and the Ngorongoro Crater’s overwhelming natural amphitheatre delivers an extraordinary variety of photographic landscapes, wildlife subjects, and lighting conditions across six completely different and completely rewarding shooting environments.
