The four parks west of Arusha that hold most of northern Tanzania's wildlife, close enough together to combine on a short trip.
"Northern circuit" is the name for the run of parks west and south of Arusha: Tarangire, Lake Manyara, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti. It's where most Tanzanian safaris take place. The reason is proximity. The parks sit close enough together that a four-day trip is genuinely worthwhile here, where the same four days in the south or west of the country would be mostly spent travelling.
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Most trips head west from Arusha and take the parks roughly in order.
Tarangire comes first, about two hours out. Lake Manyara sits below the Rift Valley escarpment on the same road, and it is often a half day, not an overnight stop. The road then climbs to the Ngorongoro Crater rim and carries on across the conservation area, past Olduvai Gorge, and down into the Serengeti.
On the way back, many trips fly out of a Serengeti airstrip instead of repeating the drive. That buys back most of a day.
The Serengeti is the one to give time to. It is very large, and the difference between one night and three is the difference between seeing it and passing through. Ngorongoro is the opposite: the crater floor can be covered thoroughly in a single day, and most itineraries allow exactly that. Tarangire justifies a full day in the dry season and rather less in the wet. Manyara is small and works well as a few hours.
Four days covers the crater and a taste of the Serengeti. Six gives the Serengeti proper time. Eight or nine allow an unhurried pace, a wider loop, and the flexibility to sit still when something is happening instead of moving because the schedule says so.
The northern circuit is four main parks plus a conservation area, arranged along a single road running west from Arusha, and understanding the shape of it makes every other decision easier.
Tarangire is first, two hours out on tarmac. A river park, best from July to October when game walks in from a much wider area, and the only one on the circuit with baobabs in numbers.
Lake Manyara is next, small and stacked between the lake and the Rift escarpment, with groundwater forest at the entrance and the best bird list on the circuit.
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area follows, with the crater as its centrepiece. The floor covers 260 square kilometres, with some of the highest game density in Africa, and a six-hour limit on every vehicle that descends.
The Serengeti is the far end and the largest by an order of magnitude, around 14,750 square kilometres, with regions a full day's drive apart.
Everything else, Olduvai, Ndutu, Lake Eyasi, Mto wa Mbu and Lake Natron, sits between or beside those, which is why they can be added without adding much driving.
The standard direction is west from Arusha and back, and the order isn't arbitrary.
Tarangire or Manyara first works because they're close to Arusha, so the first day is a short drive and a real game drive, not a transfer. Starting with the Serengeti means a full day in the vehicle before you see anything.
The Serengeti in the middle gives it the days it needs and puts the longest drives at the point in the trip where you're settled into the rhythm, not jet-lagged.
The crater near the end is the right way round for a reason people rarely articulate: after days of open plains, dropping onto an enclosed floor with walls all around you is a genuine change of register. Doing the crater first makes the Serengeti feel diffuse by comparison.
The exception is a short trip. On four days, taking the crater on the way home is simply the efficient route and the ordering argument is a luxury.
If you're flying a leg, which makes sense on anything over a week, fly out to the Serengeti and drive back, so the long transfer is replaced at the point where it costs a whole day.
Distances on the northern circuit look small on a map, and they take much longer than the kilometres suggest. Arusha to the central Serengeti is a full day of driving, not an afternoon.
The roads are good tarmac between Arusha and Mto wa Mbu, and corrugated gravel after that. Inside the parks the tracks shake hard at anything above walking pace. If you have a back or neck problem, tell us when you enquire. It changes how far it is sensible to drive in a day, and it may change which itinerary suits you.
Park entry is charged per person per 24-hour period. Crater entry is charged per vehicle as well as per person, by a different authority. These are the biggest fixed costs on the circuit, and they are revised from time to time. Treat any figure you read online as provisional until it is confirmed for your dates. That includes a figure in a quote from last season.
Most camps have no mains power. Mobile coverage is patchy away from Seronera. You cannot use cards in the parks, so bring cash in small notes for tips and curio stalls.
On a trip of up to about a week, driving the whole circuit is usually right. The road legs between Arusha, Tarangire, Manyara and the crater are short, the drives are scenic, and flying adds cost without saving you much time.
Past a week the sums change. Arusha to the central Serengeti is a full day of driving each way. Seronera to Kogatende in the far north is about eight hours. Flying those legs turns a whole day into under an hour, and the fare is often less than the extra vehicle days it saves.
The usual compromise is to drive out and fly back. You go Tarangire, Manyara, the crater and into the Serengeti by road, then fly from a Serengeti airstrip to Arusha or straight to Zanzibar. You see the country on the way out and you do not lose a day going home.
Flying also makes the far north realistic on a seven to nine day trip. By road it is not.
There are three trade-offs. The luggage limit is 15 kilograms in a soft bag and it is strictly enforced. Weather can delay flights in the wet season. And you lose the drive itself, which is a genuine part of the experience the first time you do it.
Park entry is charged per person for each 24-hour period and is paid by your operator as part of the trip cost, along with concession fees at camps inside park boundaries. Crater entry is charged separately, per vehicle as well as per person, by a different authority. It's the largest single daily fee on the circuit.
All of these are revised periodically. Treat any figure you read online, including one in a quote from last season, as provisional until confirmed for your dates.
Roads are tarmac between Arusha and Mto wa Mbu and corrugated murram thereafter. Distances take much longer than the kilometres suggest.
There is no mains power in most camps inside the parks: solar, limited charging hours, no hair dryer. Mobile coverage is patchy away from Seronera.
Cards aren't usable in the parks. Bring cash in small denominations for tips and curio stalls.
Off-road driving is prohibited in the Serengeti except in designated areas. Night driving is banned in the parks between seven in the evening and six in the morning, except where night drives are specifically allowed. Lake Manyara is the main one.
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