8 Days Tanzania Family Safari
Arusha · Arusha National Park · Tarangire National Park · Serengeti National Park · Ngorongoro Crater · Lake Manyara National Park
Duration
8 days / 7 nights
Starts
Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO)
Ends
Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO)
Safari style
Mid-range
Group
Private — families, with family tents or adjoining rooms
Best time
June to October, and late January to March
Safari overview
Safari works brilliantly for children, provided the trip is built for them rather than sold to them. This one is.
The driving days are shorter and broken up. The middle of every day is back at camp with a pool, because that is when the animals rest and when a nine-year-old stops caring about ungulates. Arusha National Park opens the trip with a walking safari and canoeing — there are no lions there, which is exactly why both are possible — so the first wildlife day is active rather than seated.
We only propose camps that take children and have family tents or adjoining rooms, and we tell the guides in advance. A good guide will have a nine-year-old identifying tracks by day three.
Tell us the ages when you enquire. Some camps set minimums and a few activities are 12+, and knowing early saves rebuilding the whole thing later.
- Usa River — 35 km, 30 minutes
- Usa River — 60 km, 1 hour each way
- Tarangire — 145 km, 2 hours 30
- Central Serengeti — 200 km, 4 hours, broken with stops
- Ngorongoro rim — 145 km, 3 hours plus game viewing
- Karatu — 60 km, Crater morning, then 1 hour
- Kilimanjaro International Airport — 230 km, 4 hours in total
Safari highlights
Day by day
Every day below can be moved, lengthened or dropped. This is how we would run it.
A deliberately short first transfer — thirty minutes, not two hours — to a farmhouse with big gardens and a pool. After a long-haul flight with children, the shortest possible drive to somewhere they can run around is worth more than a better view.
- Airport meet-and-greet
- Safari briefing while the children swim
- Drive
- 35 km
- Travel time
- 30 minutes
- Overnight
- Usa River
- Meals
- Dinner
Tonight · Lodge · Classic
Or a similar camp of the same standard, such as Mount Meru Game Lodge, depending on availability.
The best possible first wildlife day with children, because it is not spent sitting down. Arusha National Park has no lions, which is precisely why walking with a ranger and canoeing on the Momella Lakes are both allowed here and almost nowhere else on the circuit.
Giraffe at close range, buffalo, black-and-white colobus in the forest, and flamingo on the lakes with Kilimanjaro behind them if the cloud lifts.
- Walking safari with an armed ranger
- Canoeing on the Momella Lakes
- Colobus monkeys in the Ngurdoto forest
- Ngurdoto Crater viewpoint
- Drive
- 60 km
- Travel time
- 1 hour each way
- Overnight
- Usa River
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Tonight · Lodge · Classic
Or a similar camp of the same standard, such as Mount Meru Game Lodge, depending on availability.
Elephants are the reason to bring children to Tarangire. Herds here run to a hundred and more in the dry months, with calves running between the legs of aunts — and a family of elephants is far more legible to a child than a distant cat asleep in a tree.
Afternoon game drive, then camp before dark. Family tents available here.
- Afternoon game drive along the river
- Elephant herds and baobabs
- Camp fire before dinner
- Drive
- 145 km
- Travel time
- 2 hours 30
- Overnight
- Tarangire
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Tonight · Tented camp · Luxury
Or a similar camp of the same standard, such as Maramboi Tented Lodge, depending on availability.
The longest driving day of the trip, broken by the Olduvai Gorge museum and a proper picnic. Two nights follow so that nobody has to get back in the vehicle the morning after arriving.
Both camps here have pools, which is not a frivolous detail: the middle of the day is hot, the animals are asleep, and four hours by a pool is what makes the 6am drive the next morning possible.
- Olduvai Gorge and museum
- Morning and late-afternoon game drives
- Pool and downtime in the middle of the day
- Balloon flight — usually 7+ only, ask us
- Drive
- 200 km
- Travel time
- 4 hours, broken with stops
- Overnight
- Central Serengeti
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Tonight · Tented camp · Luxury
Or a similar camp of the same standard, such as Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge, depending on availability.
East across the plains with a game drive as you go, then up onto the rim. Bring warm layers out of the bags tonight — at 2,200 metres the evening is genuinely cold, which surprises everyone and delights most children.
- Game drive leaving the Serengeti
- Crater rim viewpoint at sunset
- Drive
- 145 km
- Travel time
- 3 hours plus game viewing
- Overnight
- Ngorongoro rim
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Tonight · Lodge · Luxury
Or a similar camp of the same standard, such as Ngorongoro Oldeani Mountain Lodge, depending on availability.
The single best morning of the trip for a child. You descend six hundred metres into a collapsed volcano and within twenty minutes have seen lion, hyena, hippo, elephant and several thousand wildebeest, without driving far.
We come up in the early afternoon rather than staying to the last minute — six hours is plenty, and there is a pool at the other end.
- Morning game drive on the crater floor
- Picnic lunch at the hippo pool
- Afternoon at the lodge
- Drive
- 60 km
- Travel time
- Crater morning, then 1 hour
- Overnight
- Karatu
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Tonight · Lodge · Classic
Or a similar camp of the same standard, such as Marera Valley Lodge, depending on availability.
Rather than a long drive straight to a departure lounge, the last morning is spent on the Chagga smallholdings below Kilimanjaro: a short walk to the Materuni waterfall, then a coffee farm where the whole family picks, husks, roasts and grinds by hand — and the children usually do it better than the adults.
- Materuni waterfall walk
- Coffee farm, hands-on
- Local lunch
- Airport transfer
- Drive
- 230 km
- Travel time
- 4 hours in total
- Overnight
- Kilimanjaro International Airport
- Meals
- Breakfast, Lunch
Where you stay
These are the camps we would book. If any are full on your dates we substitute something of the same standard — and we tell you what changed and why.
Rivertrees Country Inn
An old farmhouse on the Usa River below Mount Meru, with big gardens and river-facing rooms. One of the nicest arrival nights…
Honeyguide Tarangire Camp
A tented camp in northern Tarangire under a stand of large trees, with family tents available.
Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge
Large permanent tents on rising ground in the central Serengeti, each with a private deck facing the plains.
Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Built into the crater rim itself, with rooms looking straight down onto the floor. The location is the whole point.
Farm of Dreams Lodge
A small lodge in the coffee and maize country outside Karatu, with long views across the highlands.
Prices
| Season | Solo | 2–3 guests | 4–5 guests | 6+ guests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low season 01 April – 31 May The long rains. Lowest prices, greenest landscape, some camps closed. | US$3,210 | US$2,580 | US$2,215 | US$2,031 |
| Shoulder season 01 March – 31 March Also 01 November – 19 December. | US$3,500 | US$2,810 | US$2,415 | US$2,215 |
| High season 01 June – 30 June Also 01 January – 28 February and the month of October. | US$3,820 | US$3,070 | US$2,635 | US$2,415 |
| Peak season 01 July – 30 September Also 20 December – 02 January. Book nine to twelve months ahead. | US$4,105 | US$3,300 | US$2,835 | US$2,600 |
All prices are per person sharing, in USD.
Supplements & child rates
| Single supplement For guests travelling alone or wanting a room to themselves. | US$690 per stay |
|---|---|
| Child sharing with two adults Children under 3 travel free of our costs; park fees may still apply. Ages 3–11 | US$1,460 per person |
| Room upgrade — luxury tier Upgrade the safari camps to the next comfort level throughout. | US$855 per person |
What is and is not included
Included
- Private 4×4 Land Cruiser with a pop-up roof and a guaranteed window seat
- Professional English-speaking Tanzanian driver-guide throughout
- All national park and conservation area entry fees
- All accommodation as listed, or a camp of the same standard
- All meals on safari, on a full-board basis
- Drinking water in the vehicle throughout
- Airport meet-and-greet and all ground transfers
- Unlimited game drives within park operating hours
- All government taxes and levies
- Emergency evacuation cover (Flying Doctors) for the safari days
- 24-hour contact with our Arusha office for the whole trip
Not included
- International flights to and from Tanzania
- Tanzanian visa — currently obtained on arrival or online in advance
- Travel and medical insurance, which we require you to hold
- Tips for your guide and camp staff
- Alcoholic and soft drinks unless stated
- Laundry, telephone and other personal expenses
- Optional activities such as balloon flights and cultural visits
- Anything not specifically listed under what is included
Worth adding
Maasai community visit
A morning with a Maasai family, arranged directly and paid directly.
Canoe safari
Paddling on Lake Momella or the Momella lakes system, water levels permitting.
Coffee farm and waterfall tour
Half a day on the Chagga smallholdings below Kilimanjaro.
Hot-air balloon safari
One hour over the Serengeti at sunrise, followed by a bush breakfast.
Questions we get asked
Yes. You have your own vehicle, your own guide and your own schedule. We do not put unrelated guests together unless you specifically ask us to, in order to share costs.
That is rather the point. Every itinerary on this site is a starting draft. Add nights, drop a park, change the comfort level, start from Zanzibar instead — tell us what you want and we will rebuild it and re-cost it.
A Toyota Land Cruiser adapted for safari: pop-up roof, charging points, a cool box, and enough space that nobody sits in a middle seat. Windows open fully on both sides.
For July to September, nine to twelve months if you want the better camps. For the green season, three to four months is usually enough. We can occasionally do much shorter notice — ask.
It is customary but not compulsory. As a guide, most guests give their driver-guide around US$20–30 per vehicle per day, and leave something in the camp staff box.
There is no single answer. Around five upwards usually works well for a trip shaped like this one. Below that, the driving and the early starts tend to outweigh what a child gets from it.
Some of the time, yes — that is true of adults too. We manage it by keeping drives shorter, breaking them with stops, giving each child their own binoculars and a checklist, and choosing a guide who enjoys the job. The pool in the afternoon does a lot of work.
You always do. That matters more with children than without: you stop when someone needs to, and nobody else is waiting.
Request this safari
Tell us your travel dates and group size. We will adjust the itinerary and send you an exact quote.
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