Famous locations

Tanzania is home to an incredible range of renowned safari areas, including Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Manyara.

           Overland safari

Serengeti is one of the few parts of Africa which are still usually explored as a private-guided overland expedition.

          Serengeti migration

The great wildebeest and zebra migration is a year-round spectacle, with highlights including river crossings Jun-Oct and calving Dec-Mar.

          Volcanic scenery

The north of Tanzania is dotted with enormous volcanoes, include Mount Kilimanjaro and the collapsed caldera of the Ngorongoro Crater.

          Tribal peoples

The country is populated by dozens of different tribes, the most visible being the traditionally-dressed Maasai.

         Remote reserves

The south and west of Tanzania are home to some fabulous remote savanna reserves, including Ruaha, Selous (Nyerere) and Katavi.

            7-11 nights

If you are planning to visit Tanzania for safari only, then your trip could be as short as 7-11 nights. At the shorter end you would most likely focus on one region only, at the longer end you might start to combine two regions.

           12 to 18 nights

Most of our guests tend to spend 12 to 18 nights in Tanzania, which is enough time to combine two regions well. The most popular combinations are Serengeti and Ruaha (for longer safaris) or Serengeti and Zanzibar (for safari and beach combinations).

             19 to 28 nights

For longer trips, a few very experienced safari travellers may spend the whole time on safari, but most people will start to either combine three or more regions within Tanzania, or more likely start to combine with other countries across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The cost of Tanzania safari tours

Safari in Tanzania ranges from surprisingly good value to rather pricey, certainly less than Botswana, on a par with Kenya and Zambia, but significantly higher than South Africa, Zimbabwe and Nambia. You can expect to spend around USD 400 to 2000 per person per night.

We are more than happy to work across this range of prices. The only important thing is that we help you find the very best safari to suit your budget.

The two dominant price factors are the length of time that you spend on safari and the specific lodges that you choose to include in your trip. Deploying more time in town, rural and beach locations can bring the total cost down dramatically.

If you have a higher budget, we will help you determine which camps do actually deliver elevated levels of service and experience. We will also highlight other subtle ways in which your trip can be raised to another level, including the use of whole camp bookings, private guides and vehicles, helicopter explorations of remote areas etc.

If you have a medium budget, the best way to keep a lid on costs is to carefully choose lower-cost lodges.  You can also reduce the number of core safari nights and deploy time in more cost-effective beach, town and rural locations. We will help you understand where to trim and where to splash in order to achieve the best overall experience.

If you have a lower budget, then we can always look at other fundamentally less pricey safari countries.

Uganda

For gorilla and chimp tracking experiences, we usually look towards Uganda, with Rwanda being an alternative for very high-end trips. Both locations can be combined a safari in Tanzania, with flights to the respective capitals Entebbe and Kigali direct from Serengeti.

Kenya

Although it is usually better to simply extend your safari in Tanzania, some people like to combine with famous Kenyan reserves such as Maasai Mara,  Amboseli and Samburu.

Zanzibar

The coast of Tanzania is blessed with endless tropical beaches. Zanzibar is a very popular location with a great choice of lodges, whilst the other islands of Pemba and Mafia are much more peaceful backwaters, all with great diving.

The best Tanzania safari lodges

Tanzania has around 200 safari lodges, of which over 120 are located in the Serengeti. Other top safari areas like Ruaha and Selous contain less than a dozen small properties each.

Similarly, there are almost 200 lodges on Zanzibar Island, but less then a dozen on each of Pemba and Mafia islands.

We are able to include any of these properties in your trip. We ones most like to recommend fall into two categories …

Firstly, there are the truly high-end lodges, which are in the very best locations and offer the highest levels of guiding, hospitality and consistency, suitable for demanding guests.

Secondly, there are the relatively good value camps, which are also in excellent locations and also take their guiding very seriously, but which typically offer lower levels of luxury and have the potential to be slightly less consistent in their delivery, suitable for more easy-going guests.

The properties that we generally prefer to avoid in Tanzania are the larger and more commercial ‘sausage factory’ lodges, that just shuffle people along the busy main safari routes and dramatically limit the quality of a trip.

You can always expect absolute honesty from us when describing the various lodges and camps. Our primary motivation is simply to figure out which ones will suit you the best.

Luxury trips

Our luxury trips to Tanzania combine lodges which are in prime locations, where high levels of comfort and service are guaranteed. This does not necessarily mean infinity pools and spa facilities, but it does always mean that you will be hosted and guided by the very best people in the country. That is how to truly guarantee the quality of a safari.

Adventure trips

In our adventure trips to Tanzania, we use a much wider range of lodges, still in fabulous locations and offering authentic safari experiences, but often at considerably lower cost. More strenuous activities, like walking safari, are likely to feature more prominently. These cool, sometimes edgy lodges tend to be best suited to guests who are a little more outdoorsy and forgiving.

When to go on safari in Tanzania

The safari areas of Tanzania are very seasonal. Extremely detailed knowledge of every single camp is needed to properly plan a great safari.  When thinking about seasonality it is important to consider the four aspects of weather, wildlife movements, visitor traffic and prices.

May-Oct : Dry season

The May-Oct dry season is the classic time to be on safari in Tanzania.

The weather throughout this period is really good, although evenings can be a little cool at the front and and days can be rather warm in southerly areas into October.

Throughout this period, the wildlife is obliged to migrate into and remain around the few permanent water sources, leading to rich and intense wildlife viewing.

In Serengeti, the migration is on the northern plains from late July, with big river crossings.

Visitor numbers peak Jul-Sep. August is definitely worth avoiding if you can, May and October are much quieter.

The prices in Tanzania are not particularly seasonal, but there are unlikely to be any discounts during this period.

Nov-Feb : Early green season

The Nov-Feb early green season is generally considered to still be a good time to safari in Tanzania.

The Short Rains are notoriously unreliable. They may come any time Oct-Jan, or may not materialise at all. The weather conditions tend not to be too much of an issue for safari.

However, if there are significant rains, the effect on wildlife movements can be pronounce. In Serengeti, we need to plan for the migration being virtually anywhere, whilst in all other areas we have to accept that the animals may become more dispersed, as they start to migrate away from permanent water.

Visitor numbers start very low, but peak again for two weeks in Dec-Jan. After that, only the Serengeti remains reasonably busy, as we enter the famous migration calving season on the southern plains.

Some of the top lodges offer really significant discounts in the quieter parts of this season, particularly November.

Mar-Apr : Rainy season

The Mar-Apr period is generally considered to be a no-go time for Tanzania, but we love the potentially adverse weather and incredibly low visitor numbers.

There is little doubt that you would encounter significant rains in the Serengeti region at this time, probably enough to make life on safari a lot more challenging. But temperatures continue to be pleasant and sunshine hours remain high.

The migration remains in the south of Serengeti, but now with the herds starting to mass and move north, as the rut commences.

Elsewhere, the wildlife is dispersed across vast hinterlands, sustained by rainwater pools. The grasses are also longer. All in all, wildlife viewing is a lot more challenging. But the bush is verdant, filled with wildflowers and baby animals.

Visitor numbers can rise over Easter, but are otherwise deliciously low, making this is popular time with very experienced and purist safari travellers.

Many lodges are closed at this time, but those top lodges that remain open sometimes offer really significant discounts.

Expert

Our safari experts are uncommonly knowledgeable and experienced

765,000

The number of superb safaris we have  so far created

Seamless

Arranging your trip should be almost as much fun as actually going on safari  

Value

Your trip should cost you no more than if you booked all the components directly

Tailored

Your trip will be perfectly tuned to meet your requirements

What our guests say

“We’ve used many different travel organizers and agents, but one truly stands like a giraffe, head and shoulders above all others.”

Linda Goddard  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

“ATR are the experts in their field and I wouldn’t trust anyone else.”

Tara Stewart  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

“ATR are honest in their appraisal of individual lodges. You can trust their judgement.”

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1999

The year that we started to build great safaris

Serengeti

Serengeti is the mother of all safari reserves, a most extraordinary place, best known for its enormous wildebeest and zebra migration, but with prolific wildlife year round. Guest accommodation is in a fabulous range of over 100 camps and lodges, offering a range of safari and cultural activities.

The migration is a year-round spectacle, with river crossings Jun-Oct and calving season Dec-Mar.

Ngorongoro Crater

Situated immediately to the south of Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater is an mind-bogglingly amazing place, packed with wildlife year round. Guest accommodation is in a diverse range of camps and lodges, offering a range of safari and cultural activities.

We always say that driving through the Ngorongoro Crater is an incredible way to get from A to B, but it should not be a major focus of your trip, there is too much vehicle traffic and too many restrictions for this to be a quality safari area.

Ruaha

Set 500km inland from Dar es Salaam in the south of Tanzania, Ruaha is the second largest wildlife reserve in the country, an intense and hypnotic place to go on safari. It's wonderfully remote, receives only around 5% of the visitor traffic into Serengeti and contains just a handful of small and very high quality camps, offering top quality safari guiding.

Ruaha is something of an afterthought for many people, but it is our favourite reserve in East Africa, somewhere that you can easily spend 9-12 nights. The walking safari is some of the best in Africa.

           Overland or flying

If you are outdoorsy and adventurous, you will enjoy the overland style of safari of the Serengeti region. If you prefer an easier and more relaxed approach, then a flying safari in the south may be more suitable.

           Visitor traffic
 
The core areas in the most popular safari areas in Tanzania can get uncomfortably busy in high season. If this bothers you, we can easily focus on more out-of-the-way areas or travel at quieter times of year.

           Backtracks

In the Serengeti region, almost all the safari traffic is focused on one main road. We regularly explore all the backtracks, to provide you with unusual routing options, which will totally transform your safari experience.

           Special people

Ultimately it will be the people you meet who will make your trip. Don’t underestimate the importance of owner-hosted camps and guides for whom the safari areas are their tribal homelands.

           Embrace the rain

There is no bad month to be in Tanzania. The famously rainy month of April is our personal favourite time to be in Serengeti, with no one else around and massive migration herds all to ourselves.

          Other islands 

Zanzibar is by far the most popular island, but Pemba and Mafia and the Mainland Coast are also gorgeous and experience dramatically lower visitor numbers.

          Chimpanzees

In the far west, Mahale Mountains is a truly magical place that offers the best primate interaction experience in Africa.

          Tropical beaches

The coastline of Tanzania is lined with fabulous tropical beaches, notably on the alluring islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia.

          Mount Kilimanjaro

The great volcano, with its famous equatorial icesheets, is one of the greatest outdoor challenges in the world, taking 5-9 nights to ascend.

Selous / Nyerere

Set 200km inland from Dar es Salaam in the south of Tanzania, Selous (Nyerere National Park) is the only major wildlife reserve on the humid coastal plateau and has a uniquely languid and tropical feel, with a good range of wildlife, notably including wild-dogs and excellent motorboat safari.

In recent years, the Selous has been hampered by the construction of a major dam and intense animal poaching caused by the demise of hunting safaris, but solutions to both are on the way and the reserve remains a great place to visit.

Mahale Mountains

Set in the far west of Tanzania, Mahale Mountains is not only an incredibly scenic location on the distant shores of Lake Tanganyika, but it also happens to be the best location in Africa for chimpanzee tracking. In fact this is almost certainly the ultimate primate experience, even better than gorilla tracking. Guest accommodation is in just a couple of very remote camps.

Due to its remoteness, Mahale Mountains is very expensive to visit, but for the lucky few who are able to get here, it is a truly fabulous experience.