6 days
The Nayara Classic
Tarangire's elephants, the Ngorongoro Crater floor and two full days in the central Serengeti. If you have one week and one shot at…
$2,780per person, from
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Arusha, Tanzania · Safaris across East Africa
The plains remember
everyone who crosses them
We are a Tanzanian safari company, born at the foot of Mount Meru. We design journeys through the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, up Kilimanjaro and out to Zanzibar — and then we run them ourselves.
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0Years in Arusha
0Trips run
0Summit rate, 8-day Lemosho
0Average review score
2012Founded in Arusha, and still there
Karibu Tanzania
We live eight hours from the Serengeti gate
That is not a marketing line. It is the reason our guides know which road is washed out this week, which camp has changed hands, and where the herds were yesterday rather than last season.
Nayara Africa was started in 2012 by two guides and a Land Cruiser with 380,000 kilometres on it. We still operate from Arusha — our own vehicles, our own guides, our own mountain crew — which means that when something changes on the ground, the person fixing it works in the same building as the person who sold you the trip.
We work across East Africa: the Tanzanian northern and southern circuits, Zanzibar and the coast, and crossings into Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda for gorillas and the Mara. But the northern circuit is home, and it is what we know street by street.
Four ways to travel
Choose how you want to meet East Africa
Most of our guests combine two of these. Almost all of them wish they had added a third.
Wildlife safaris
The Northern Circuit
Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Manyara — built around the herds, the light and how much time you actually have.
Trekking
Kilimanjaro & Meru
Seven routes to Uhuru Peak, run by our own mountain crew with the acclimatisation days that make the difference.
Indian Ocean
Zanzibar & the coast
Stone Town's alleys, Mnemba's reef and the long flat beaches of the north. The right way to finish a safari.
Half & full day
Cultural & day tours
Coffee on the Chagga slopes, a dawn hunt at Lake Eyasi, a crater day trip — all from Arusha or Moshi.
Safari itineraries
Journeys we build most often
6 days
8 days
Serengeti River Crossings
July to October in the far north, camped within twenty minutes of the Mara River. We move with the herds, not to a fixed schedule…
$4,690per person, from
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7 days
Ndutu Calving Season
Roughly 8,000 wildebeest are born a day in February on the short-grass plains around Ndutu. Where there are calves there are…
$3,950per person, from
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4 days
Northern Circuit in Four Days
The shortest route that still does the northern circuit justice: Manyara's forest, Tarangire's elephants and a full morning on the…
$1,340per person, from
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7 days
Family Safari, Properly Planned
Shorter drives, camps with pools, guides who are good with children, and a pace that leaves room for a swim at three o'clock. Built…
$2,980per person, from
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10 days
Plains & Islands Honeymoon
Five nights of safari with a balloon flight and a private bush dinner, then four nights on the north-east coast of Zanzibar. The…
$6,450per person, from
ViewThe northern circuit
Six parks, four hours apart
Tanzania's northern circuit packs the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire, Manyara, Arusha National Park and Kilimanjaro into a loop you can drive. Nowhere else in Africa concentrates this much in so little distance.
The endless plains
Serengeti
14,763 km² of grass, granite kopjes and the greatest terrestrial mammal migration on earth.
The crater
Ngorongoro
The world's largest intact volcanic caldera, holding around 25,000 large animals on a 260 km² floor.
Elephants and baobabs
Tarangire
2,850 km² of baobab country holding the densest dry-season elephant population in northern Tanzania.
Forest, cliff and soda lake
Lake Manyara
A narrow 330 km² strip between the Rift wall and an alkaline lake — and a park you can walk, cycle and drive at night.
Meru's shoulder
Arusha
552 km² on Arusha's doorstep: a crater, seven lakes, a 4,566m volcano — and no lions, so you can walk.
The roof of Africa
Kilimanjaro
1,688 km² around a free-standing volcano rising from farmland at 800m to glaciers at 5,895m.
Why Nayara
The difference is mostly invisible — until it isn't
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Our guides are employees, not day hires
Every guide on our team is salaried, licensed by the Tanzania Tourist Board and has worked for us for at least three seasons. They are not sourced the week before your trip.
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We own the vehicles we send you out in
Fourteen Land Cruisers, serviced in our own workshop in Njiro every 5,000 kilometres. Fridge, inverter, charging points, beanbags and a roof that actually opens.
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Quotes that itemise every fee
Park fees, concession fees, crater permits, VAT. You see exactly where a third of your money goes, because it goes to conservation and we would rather you knew.
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Someone answers at 3am
A delayed connection, a lost bag, a change of plan at the gate — there is a WhatsApp number in your dossier and a real person on the other end of it, in Arusha, in your time zone.
When to come
There is no bad month — only different months
The dry season from June to October is the classic: easy game viewing, sparse vegetation, animals bound to water. But February on the southern plains means 8,000 wildebeest calves born a day and a fraction of the vehicles, and the green season brings rates down by up to 40%.
This is the northern circuit at a glance. Every park page carries its own chart.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Prime time
Good, fewer vehicles
Green season · lowest rates
Based on game viewing, weather and vehicle numbers across the northern circuit.
In their words
Nine hundred trips, and counting
“We have been on six safaris across four countries and Nayara ran the best of them. Emmanuel found us a leopard with a kill on our first afternoon and then, more impressively, knew when to leave a sighting alone. The whole trip was calm, unhurried and beautifully judged.”Margaret & David Hulme · Bristol, UK · 8-day northern circuit
“I climbed Lemosho with them in August and summited on my first attempt at 61. The pacing was maddeningly slow and completely correct. The crew were paid properly, fed properly and treated as colleagues — you can tell within an hour whether that is true.”Jan Verhoeven · Utrecht, Netherlands · 8-day Lemosho
“They planned a ten-day trip for our family of five, including two teenagers who claimed in advance that they would be bored. They were not. The Mto wa Mbu day and the balloon flight were the two things they still talk about a year later.”The Okonkwo family · Lagos, Nigeria · Family safari & Zanzibar
“What sold me was the quoting. Every park fee, every concession fee, everything itemised, and no pressure at all. Three other operators sent me a single number and a stock photo. Nayara sent me a plan I could actually check.”Priya Raman · Singapore · 6-day Nayara Classic
“Our February trip to Ndutu was extraordinary — calving in every direction and a cheetah hunt on the second morning. Green season, half the price, and we saw maybe four other vehicles all week.”Tom & Alicia Brenner · Denver, USA · 7-day calving season
From the journal
Field notes and 2026 planning
Migration
Where the Great Migration Will Be, Month by Month in 2026
The herds do not read calendars, but they do repeat themselves. Here is where 1.3 million wildebeest are likely to be in each month of 2026 — and where you should sleep to be near them.
Emmanuel Loibanguti
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Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro in 2026: Which Route Gives You the Best Summit Odds
Seven routes, wildly different success rates, and one variable that matters more than all the others. An honest comparison from the operator's side of the gate.
Neema Mollel
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Planning
Tanzania Safari Costs in 2026: What $3,000, $6,000 and $12,000 Actually Buy
Park fees, vehicle costs, camp rates and margins, laid out plainly. Three real budgets for two people over eight days, itemised line by line.
Sarah Kileo
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Start somewhere
Tell us what you have in mind
Two weeks or five days, first safari or fifth, a honeymoon or a family of six — send us the rough shape of it and an Arusha specialist will come back within one working day with a real itinerary and an itemised price.