9-Day Private Budget with Walking Safari & Kilimanjaro

You will be picked up from either Kilimanjaro or Arusha Airport and dropped off at Karibu Heritage House. If time allows (depending on your arrival), you will have the option to do an Arusha city tour, visiting the famous art gallery, the Cultural Heritage Centre, the local market, and the Maasai market. Overnight at Karibu Heritage House • Budget hotel located in or near Arusha.

Kilimanjaro is Africa's highest mountain at 5,895 m and the highest free-standing peak in the world. Today you trek between camps, gaining altitude slowly to acclimatise, accompanied by your senior guide team, cook and porters.

Distance varies by day from 5 to 15 km. The mantra on Kili is pole pole, slowly slowly: a steady pace, plenty of water, three hot meals a day and an honest pulse-oximeter check every evening to track your acclimatisation.

Where you sleep tonight

Karibu Heritage House

Guesthouse in Arusha

Warm, owner-run guesthouse in Arusha — the trusted first/last-night base for our camping and trekking guests.

Your guide will pick you up from your hotel at 7:45 am and drive for an hour to the park’s entry gate. Arusha National Park has an awe-inspiring blend of vegetation which includes swamps, grasslands, and montane forest. The mountain slopes of Meru are swathed in tropical rainforests. It is home to the black-and-white colobus monkeys and flamingos at Momella Lake. It’s a unique ecosystem that attracts thousands of animals and birds including flamingos. A walking safari will get you up close to the animals. You will later drive back to Arusha for dinner and overnight. Overnight at Karibu Heritage House • Budget hotel located in or near Arusha.

Arusha sits at 1,400 m at the foot of Mount Meru, a green coffee town and the gateway to the Northern Circuit. Today is for resting, sorting kit and meeting your guide properly.

If you arrive early there is time to walk the coffee plantations, browse the Maasai market or visit a local Tinga Tinga art studio. Otherwise simply enjoy the gardens, the pool and a quiet first dinner under the African sky.

Where you sleep tonight

Karibu Heritage House

Guesthouse in Arusha

Warm, owner-run guesthouse in Arusha — the trusted first/last-night base for our camping and trekking guests.

After breakfast, we pick you up from your hotel at 8 am and drive for 2 hours and 20 minutes to Tarangire National Park. The park is well known for its large elephant herds and abundance of ancient baobab trees (the largest trees on the continent). From the open roof of the vehicle, we will experience the seasonal swamps, savannah, and Tarangire River which is full of wildlife ranging from a large variety of birds to giraffes, impalas, zebras, lions, leopards, elands, warthogs and elephants. The picnic site has a spectacular view. We will have our picnic lunch there and proceed with game viewing before continuing to the camp for dinner and overnight. Overnight at Budget camping • Inside Tarangire NP.

Tarangire is the elephant capital of northern Tanzania. In the dry season the Tarangire River is the only permanent water for miles, and herds of up to 250 elephants come down to drink, calves tumbling between their mothers' legs.

You spend the day on a private game drive through baobab-studded floodplains: lions resting in the shade, giraffe browsing acacia tops, fringe-eared oryx and the strange dwarf mongoose colonies. We pack a hot picnic lunch so you can stay in the park while the light is good.

Where you sleep tonight

Budget camping inside Tarangire NP

Public campsite, Tarangire NP

Authentic public campsite inside Tarangire — dome tents, bush kitchen, elephants drinking from the river below.

Wake up early in the morning for a sunrise game drive. After breakfast, we will continue our game drive in Tarangire in the morning and will then depart for Mto Wa Mbu to have lunch and participate in a cultural tour. The afternoon will focus on visiting the local tribes, banana farms, rice plantations, artworks, forests, and waterfalls of the area. You can choose to have a walking or a bike tour. Dinner and overnight will be at Fig Tree Lodge. Overnight at Fig Tree Lodge & Camp • Budget hotel located in or near Mto wa Mbu.

Tarangire is the elephant capital of northern Tanzania. In the dry season the Tarangire River is the only permanent water for miles, and herds of up to 250 elephants come down to drink, calves tumbling between their mothers' legs.

You spend the day on a private game drive through baobab-studded floodplains: lions resting in the shade, giraffe browsing acacia tops, fringe-eared oryx and the strange dwarf mongoose colonies. We pack a hot picnic lunch so you can stay in the park while the light is good.

Where you sleep tonight

Fig Tree Lodge & Camp

Lodge & camp near Tarangire NP

Family-run lodge and camp just outside Tarangire's main gate, with simple chalets, pool and bush dinners under the figs.

After breakfast, we will proceed to Serengeti. A long and bumpy road will take you on a 4- to 5-hour fascinating game drive, driving up the crater highlands toward the vast plains of Serengeti. We will stop for a picnic lunch at Naabi Hill Gate in Serengeti before we check in at the park for an afternoon drive. After catching the sunset, we will proceed to Lala Salama Serengeti Camp for dinner and overnight. Overnight at Lala Salama Serengeti Camp • Mid-range tented camp located inside Central Serengeti.

The Seronera valley is the heart of the Serengeti and a year-round game-viewing area. Permanent water, rocky kopjes and short-grass plains create the highest density of big cats in Africa: roughly 1 lion per 10 km², and the best leopard sightings on the circuit.

Mornings start before sunrise to catch the cats while they are still active; midday is a slow picnic in the shade of an acacia. In the afternoon we work the riverine fig trees for leopards and the kopjes for resting prides. Distances are long but every stop is worth it.

Where you sleep tonight

Lala Salama Serengeti Camp

Tented camp, Serengeti

Classic tented camp pitched in the heart of the Serengeti — warm hosting, hearty bush meals and easy access to the plains right from your tent flap.

Today, we will spend the whole day in the park. We head out and start to explore at sunrise and return to the campsite for breakfast. We then pack our lunch and go for a full-day game drive exploring the beautiful scenery of Serengeti, searching for the Big 5. There is more to Serengeti than only large mammals. More than 500 bird species were recorded here, ranging from the oversized ostriches and bizarre secretary birds of the open grassland, to the black eagles that soar effortlessly above the savannah. We will continue to search for the Serengeti’s wildlife and return to camp at sunset for dinner and overnight. Overnight at Lala Salama Serengeti Camp • Mid-range tented camp located inside Serengeti NP.

The Seronera valley is the heart of the Serengeti and a year-round game-viewing area. Permanent water, rocky kopjes and short-grass plains create the highest density of big cats in Africa: roughly 1 lion per 10 km², and the best leopard sightings on the circuit.

Mornings start before sunrise to catch the cats while they are still active; midday is a slow picnic in the shade of an acacia. In the afternoon we work the riverine fig trees for leopards and the kopjes for resting prides. Distances are long but every stop is worth it.

Where you sleep tonight

Lala Salama Serengeti Camp

Tented camp, Serengeti

Classic tented camp pitched in the heart of the Serengeti — warm hosting, hearty bush meals and easy access to the plains right from your tent flap.

Today we will leave the campsite early (at around 6 am) for a sunrise game drive and to spot the animals when they are most active. We will then stop at a picnic site to enjoy breakfast in the bush and continue with the game drive before returning to the camp for a hot lunch. We will load the vehicle, depart from the camp and continue to Ngorongoro where we will have dinner and overnight at Simba Campsite. Overnight at Budget camping • Inside Ngorongoro Highlands.

The Seronera valley is the heart of the Serengeti and a year-round game-viewing area. Permanent water, rocky kopjes and short-grass plains create the highest density of big cats in Africa: roughly 1 lion per 10 km², and the best leopard sightings on the circuit.

Mornings start before sunrise to catch the cats while they are still active; midday is a slow picnic in the shade of an acacia. In the afternoon we work the riverine fig trees for leopards and the kopjes for resting prides. Distances are long but every stop is worth it.

Where you sleep tonight

Ngorongoro Simba Campsite

Public campsite, crater rim

Legendary crater-rim public campsite — dome tents pitched on the very edge of Ngorongoro at 2,400 m.

Today, we will board the safari vehicle at 6 am and descend to the crater with our packed breakfast. This stunning place will offer you almost every species of wildlife indigenous to East Africa including the rare black rhino, and if we are lucky, we might spot one. Measuring an area of 260 square kilometers and extending about 20 kilometers in diameter, we will need about 5 to 6 hours to explore it. Ascend back to the campsite for lunch and drive to Karibu Heritage House in Arusha for dinner and overnight. Overnight at Karibu Heritage House • Budget hotel located in or near Arusha.

The Ngorongoro Crater is a 260 km² collapsed caldera with 600 m walls, and the highest density of large mammals on Earth. Inside the crater floor live around 25,000 large animals, including the densest population of black-maned lions and one of the last strongholds of the eastern black rhino.

We descend at first light when the floor is still in shadow and the cats are working. A picnic breakfast on the rim, a full morning circuit past the soda lake's flamingos and Lerai Forest's elephants, then a climb back up the escarpment in time for a late lunch.

Where you sleep tonight

Karibu Heritage House

Guesthouse in Arusha

Warm, owner-run guesthouse in Arusha — the trusted first/last-night base for our camping and trekking guests.

Depart from your hotel in Arusha and drive to the Kilimanjaro National Park gate. You’ll be captivated by the countryside, coffee and banana plantations, and driving through Marangu village with Kilimanjaro rising majestically ahead of you. We’ll register you at the Marangu Gate and begin the hike. The hike to Mandara Hut is around 3 hours. You will have time to rest your legs and have a picnic lunch at the hut. After your short break, take the short but challenging walk to the Maundi Crater. You will then descend to Marangu gate and drive to Kilimanjaro Airport or Arusha to end your tour with us. Marangu Gate (1,800m/5,905ft) to Mandara Hut (2,743m/9,000ft). Elevation gain: 915m/3,000ft.

Kilimanjaro is Africa's highest mountain at 5,895 m and the highest free-standing peak in the world. Today you trek between camps, gaining altitude slowly to acclimatise, accompanied by your senior guide team, cook and porters.

Distance varies by day from 5 to 15 km. The mantra on Kili is pole pole, slowly slowly: a steady pace, plenty of water, three hot meals a day and an honest pulse-oximeter check every evening to track your acclimatisation.