5 Day Tanzania Northern Circuit Safari: Tarangire, Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro

‹›

A 5 day Tanzania safari is the sweet spot of the northern circuit. You see Tarangire, Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater without rushing every day.

We run it as a private trip in a pop up roof 4×4 with a Tanzanian driver guide. You choose camping, a mid range lodge or a luxury lodge and the same route fits all three.

Below you will find the day plan, price tiers by group size, honest fee breakdowns and advice on choosing between camping and lodges. Tell us your dates on WhatsApp for a written quote.

Highlights

• Four parks in five days, with a private 4×4 and driver guide
• Tarangire elephants and Lake Manyara birds before you head to the Serengeti
• A full game drive day on the Serengeti plains, from sunrise to sunset
• A descent into the Ngorongoro Crater on the last morning
• Camping, mid range or luxury options on the same route
• All park fees and the crater service fee in the quoted price

Day by day plan

1. Day 1

   Arusha to Tarangire National Park

   You leave Arusha at about 8 am and reach Tarangire in two and a half hours. After a picnic lunch you spend the afternoon among elephants, baobabs and big herds along the river. Leopards sometimes rest in the sausage trees. You sleep inside or beside the park. It is a gentle first day that gets you into the rhythm of game drives.

2. Day 2

   Tarangire to Lake Manyara and Karatu

   After a short morning game drive you head to Lake Manyara, about an hour and a half away. The park is small and green, with a groundwater forest, hippos and thousands of birds. Baboons and blue monkeys line the road. If conditions suit, flamingos stand on the lake edge. You sleep in or near Karatu on the highlands, where evenings are cool.

3. Day 3

   Karatu to the Serengeti

   Today is a travel day with wildlife on the way. You pass the Ngorongoro rim, stop at Olduvai Gorge and enter the Serengeti through Naabi Hill gate. Game drives begin as soon as you cross the plains. Expect zebra, wildebeest, gazelles and often lions on the kopjes. You reach camp by late afternoon and eat dinner under a huge sky.

4. Day 4

   Serengeti sunrise drive and the Ngorongoro rim

   You start with a sunrise game drive in the Seronera valley, the best area for leopard and cheetah. After breakfast you pack and drive out to the Ngorongoro rim, arriving mid afternoon. Mist often rolls over the crater, so wrap up warmly. Dinner is early. You fall asleep to the sound of wind in the highland forest.

5. Day 5

   Ngorongoro Crater and back to Arusha

   You enter the crater at first light and spend about six hours on the floor. Lions, hippos, hyenas, jackals, zebra and elephants share the soda lake and swamp. Black rhino are the special prize. You picnic by the hippo pool. After climbing out you drive four hours to Arusha, reaching town by about 5 pm.

5 Day Tanzania Safari, guide price per person sharing, USD, low season

• Guide price per person sharing, confirmed in writing on WhatsApp before any payment
• Low season, Apr to Jun and Nov, is shown. Jul to Oct and the festive weeks add about USD 200 to 500 per person
• Camping includes tents, mattresses, a cook and meals. Lodge tiers include full board
• Single travellers pay a supplement in lodge tiers, ask for the exact figure

Get my exact price on WhatsApp

What a 5 Day Tanzania Safari Really Gets You

Five days is the point where Tanzania stops feeling like a sprint. A 5 day Tanzania safari gives you one park for each of the first two days, one big Serengeti stretch and a crater morning to finish.

Compared with a three or four day loop, you spend less time rushing and more time watching. You can stay at a kill for an hour. You can wait for a leopard to climb down. That patience is what makes a safari memorable.

How Much Is a 5 Day Tanzania Safari?

Our guide prices start at USD 1,590 per person for six people on a camping tier. Four people in a mid range lodge pay about USD 2,490 each and two people in a luxury lodge pay about USD 4,150.

Private operators often list five day trips between USD 2,859 and USD 4,509 per person, depending on group size. Our camping rate is below that band because camps cost less than lodges and our lodge rates sit inside it.

We confirm every price in writing on WhatsApp before any payment. For a wider comparison open our Tanzania safari packages and prices page.

Camping or Lodge on a 5 Day Tanzania Safari

Camping is the cheaper, rawer choice. You sleep in a tent with a mattress, eat food from a travelling cook and hear hyenas at night. Public campsites in the Serengeti have basic washrooms and no fences.

Lodges give you a real bed, hot showers, a bar and often a pool. For crater nights, the rim is cold and a heated room is a gift. Families and older guests usually pick lodges. Younger travellers and budget groups often pick camping.

Many guests mix the two, with camping in the Serengeti and a lodge on the crater rim. Tell us your comfort limit and we match the tier.

• Camping: lowest cost, closer to the bush, basic washrooms
• Mid range lodge: private bathrooms, good food, reliable power
• Luxury lodge: suites, spa or pool, excellent service, best views
• Mixed plan: camp in the Serengeti, lodge on the Ngorongoro rim

Park Fees on a 5 Day Tanzania Safari

Fees decide the base price. Tarangire and Lake Manyara cost about USD 59 per adult per day each. The Serengeti is about USD 82.60 per 24 hours. Ngorongoro Conservation Area is about USD 82.60 per adult, with a crater service fee of about USD 295 per vehicle.

At four people, expect about USD 380 to 460 per person in fees on this 5 day Tanzania safari, depending on the number of 24 hour blocks in the Serengeti. Campsite fees are extra and we include them in the camping tier.

Our Tanzania park fees guide explains how the blocks work.

Tarangire and Lake Manyara: The Warm Up Parks

Tarangire hosts huge elephant herds from June to October, when the river is the only reliable water. Baobabs make the landscape look prehistoric. Pythons, leopards and lions turn up for those who look hard.

Lake Manyara is smaller and quieter. The hippo pool, the forest and the bird life make it a gentle second stop. Tree climbing lions are rare, so treat them as a bonus.

If your focus is elephants only, our Tarangire National Park safari is a simpler trip.

The Serengeti and Ngorongoro: The Main Event

The central Serengeti around Seronera has resident lions, leopards and cheetahs, so a 5 day Tanzania safari works in any month. The migration herds add drama in some seasons. See the Great Migration calendar for where the wildebeest are on your dates.

The Ngorongoro Crater is the finale. Its floor holds about 25,000 large animals in a bowl 260 square kilometres wide. You descend for six hours at most, so make the early slot count.

Best Time for a 5 Day Tanzania Safari

June to October is dry and the best for most visitors, with easy roads and plenty of wildlife near water. January and February are green and good for calves in the south. March to May is the long rains, with fewer vehicles and lower prices.

November is the short rains. It can be lovely or damp. The northern circuit is a real year round destination, but camping in April and May is wet. Our best time to visit Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda page compares months.

Getting to Arusha from Nairobi

The shuttle to Arusha takes about six hours via Namanga and costs about KES 4,855. A flight to Kilimanjaro Airport costs about KES 38,000 to 40,000 return. Plan a night in Arusha before you start your 5 day Tanzania safari.

If Kenya is your base, our Tanzania safaris from Nairobi page shows the routes and the border steps. Add a Mara trip first with the 6 day Kenya Tanzania safari if you want both countries.

What to Pack and Know Before You Go

Pack for hot days and cold nights. A warm jacket, hat, sunscreen, closed shoes and binoculars are essential. Our safari packing checklist covers the rest.

Tanzania has banned single use plastic bags. Carry your yellow fever card, since Tanzania asks for it when you arrive from Kenya. We confirm visa rules when you book.

Tip your driver guide about USD 15 to 25 per day for the group and a few dollars for camp staff. Our safari tipping guide helps.

Book Your 5 Day Tanzania Safari

Send us your dates, group size and your preferred tier on WhatsApp at +254 720 731957. We reply with a written quote and a lodge shortlist.

A deposit holds your dates and you can pay the balance in instalments before travel. Pay by card on our secure Pesapal checkout, by Mpesa or by bank. See how to book and pay.

How to book your 5 day Tanzania safari

Booking your 5 day Tanzania safari with us takes about five minutes of your time. The rest is our job. Here is exactly what happens, step by step, so there are no surprises along the way.

1. Send your dates. Message us on WhatsApp with your travel dates, how many people are coming and the ages of any children. Tell us if you have a budget in mind. We plan with it, not around it.
2. Get a written quote. We reply with a clear price per person, what it includes and what it does not. No hidden park fees and no vague extras. If a cheaper camp or a shorter route makes more sense, we say so.
3. Tweak it until it fits. Change a camp, add a night or swap a park. Ask as many questions as you like. Changes cost nothing until you confirm.
4. Confirm with a deposit. A deposit holds your vehicle, guide and rooms. You get a written confirmation with every detail and the date the balance is due.
5. Travel day. Your driver guide meets you at your hotel or the airport with a name board. You have their number and ours for the whole trip.

What every trip with us includes

Every 5 day Tanzania safari plan we put together comes with the basics done properly. You ride in a safari vehicle with a pop up roof, with a professional driver guide who knows the parks. Water is in the cooler box and park fees are sorted in advance so you do not stand in a queue at the gate.

We also stay reachable. If something changes on the road, a flat tyre, a closed route or a sudden storm, we sort it and keep you posted on WhatsApp.

Paying safely

We share payment details in writing only and every payment gets a receipt. The payment options and the balance date sit on your written quote, so nothing is left to memory or a phone call.

Why book with a Nairobi team

We live here. We drive these roads all year, we know which camps are honest about their photos and we know when a park is too busy to enjoy. That local knowledge is what turns a good 5 day Tanzania safari into a great one. Our Google rating sits at 5.0 from 46 reviews and we plan to keep it that way.

Ready when you are. Send us a message and we will put a plan together for you shortly.

Questions people ask

Official information: Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA).

You may also like

Tanzania Safaris from Nairobi: Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire6 to 10 days depending on routeFrom USD 1,950Tanzania Park Fees 2026: Serengeti, Ngorongoro and TarangireRead time 9 to 10 minutesFrom USD 59Serengeti and Ngorongoro6 daysFrom USD 1,950Serengeti migration safari7 daysFrom USD 2,290Kenya vs Tanzania Safari: Which Is Better?Read time 10 minFrom USD 850Zanzibar beach and safari5 daysFrom USD 990