Tanzania Safari Company in Arusha

Why being based here matters

Arusha is where northern Tanzania's safari industry actually operates from. The road west to Tarangire, Lake Manyara, the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti starts here, Kilimanjaro is an hour east, and the international airport that most safari travellers fly into sits between the two.

Plenty of companies sell Tanzanian safaris from other countries and subcontract the driving to an operator here. There is nothing dishonest about that, but it puts a layer between you and the people running your trip, and it shows up in the small things. How quickly a question gets answered, whether anyone knows that a particular road is washed out this week, whether the camp you were promised has changed hands since the brochure was written.

We are the operator. The vehicles, the guides and the person answering your email are all here.

Getting to Arusha

Most visitors arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), which sits between Arusha and Moshi and is about an hour's drive from Arusha town. It is the practical arrival point for both a northern circuit safari and a Kilimanjaro trek.

Arusha Airport (ARK) is a smaller airfield much closer to town, used mainly for light aircraft, including flights into the Serengeti airstrips and on to Zanzibar. If your itinerary includes a fly-in or fly-out leg, this is usually where it starts.

Some travellers arrive instead through Dar es Salaam or overland from Nairobi. Both work. Both are longer. Tell us how you're arriving when you enquire, because it changes what the first and last days of an itinerary can sensibly contain.

What we run from here

Private safaris across the northern parks, and treks on Kilimanjaro. Every trip leaves from Arusha or from your hotel near the airport, in its own four-wheel-drive Land Cruiser with a viewing roof and its own driver-guide.

The parks are close together. Tarangire is a morning's drive, the Serengeti a long day or a short flight. So a four or five day safari is genuinely worthwhile from here in a way it wouldn't be from most other African gateways. That proximity is the northern circuit's single biggest practical advantage.

Arriving early or leaving late

The day you land and the day you fly out are usually written off, and they don't have to be. Arusha National Park is the closest park to town and works well as a half or full day at either end of a trip. Forest, the Momela Lakes, Mount Meru behind, and walking is allowed, which it mostly isn't elsewhere on the circuit.

There are also day trips out toward Moshi and the Kilimanjaro foothills. If you have a spare day, ask us instead of spending it at the hotel pool.

Planning from abroad

Almost all our trips are planned by email over a few weeks before arrival. That is the sensible way to do it: park accommodation genuinely fills months ahead in the peak season, and the itinerary usually goes through two or three drafts before it's right.

If you're already in Arusha and want to arrange something, call or send a WhatsApp message. We will tell you honestly what's available at short notice, which in July and August may not be much.