Classic Northern Circuit — Tarangire, Ngorongoro & Serengeti
Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti
Cost
On request
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Tanzania: Northern Circuit
Tanzania, known properly unhurried by design
Small, guide-led safaris across the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire. One country, driven every week by the people who grew up on these roads.
Who we are
Let us be your guide to one country, properly
Humble Cat is a Tanzanian-owned safari outfit based in Arusha. We do not sell Kenya, Botswana or Namibia. We drive these roads every week, we know which Serengeti kopjes the cheetah favour in March, and we will tell you when the month you have picked is the wrong one.
Credentials
Why travel with Humble Cat
Licensed and bonded
Tanzania Tourist Board licence, TATO membership, and full public liability cover on every vehicle we run.
Guides, not drivers
Every guide holds a Wildlife Management Authority certificate and has worked the northern circuit for at least eight years.
Rated by travellers
5.0 on TripAdvisor, and every review is left by someone who actually travelled with us.
Tanzanian owned
The money stays here. Local ownership, local staff, local suppliers, and no involvement in trophy hunting, ever.
Itineraries
Our popular adventures
Priced honestly, park fees included. Every route below can be reshaped: different camps, extra days, a different month.
Great Migration — Mara River Crossings in the Northern Serengeti
Serengeti (Kogatende and Lamai), Ngorongoro Crater
Cost
On request
View
Unhurried Serengeti — Five Nights, One Park
Serengeti (Seronera and Moru or Ndutu)
Cost
On request
View
Short Escape — Tarangire & Ngorongoro in Four Days
Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater
Cost
On request
View
Tanzania Express — Four Northern Parks in Five Days
Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti
Cost
On request
View
Plains and Then the Sea — Northern Circuit & Zanzibar
Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti, Zanzibar
Cost
On request
View
Family Safari — Northern Tanzania with Children
Arusha National Park, Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti
Cost
On request
View
Where we go
The northern circuit
Four parks within a day of each other, each with a different character and a different best month.
Timing
Best time to go
Tanzania spans a wide range of altitudes and climates, so "when" has five different answers depending on what you are optimising for. Pick the one that matters to you.
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Feb
June to October for classic dry-season game viewing: short grass, thin bush, animals concentrated on the water that is left. February is the other answer: half a million wildebeest calve on the Ndutu plains in about three weeks, and every predator in the ecosystem turns up. If you want hunting rather than grazing, come in February.
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Dec
- Jan
July to September on the northern circuit, plus the fortnight either side of Christmas. Camps in the northern Serengeti sell out six to nine months ahead and festive-season rates apply from about 20 December. The southern and western circuits stay far quieter through the same months.
- Apr
- May
- Nov
April and May, and to a lesser extent November. Rates drop substantially and you can have a sighting to yourself. The trade is real: tall grass hides cats, some camps close, and Tarangire roads get difficult. Late May and November are the value sweet spots: genuinely good, genuinely cheaper.
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
June to September. Little or no rain, clear mornings, and daytime highs around 24-25°C on the northern circuit. Bring a fleece regardless. The Ngorongoro rim sits at 2,300m and dawn there is near 10°C, which catches almost everyone out.
- Mar
- Apr
- May
The long rains, late March to May, with April the wettest. Rain here is heavy and prolonged rather than a passing shower. It is the one period we will usually talk a first-time visitor out of, not because nothing is possible, but because you would be paying for a compromised version of the trip you imagined.
Climate chart
Temperature and rainfall by area
| Wildlife area | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serengeti | 27°C 81°F 91 mm | 27°C 81°F 100 mm | 27°C 81°F 141 mm | 26°C 79°F 141 mm | 25°C 77°F 71 mm | 25°C 77°F 30 mm | 24°C 75°F 13 mm | 25°C 77°F 23 mm | 26°C 79°F 30 mm | 27°C 81°F 43 mm | 27°C 81°F 95 mm | 26°C 79°F 109 mm |
| Tarangire | 29°C 84°F 79 mm | 29°C 84°F 81 mm | 29°C 84°F 127 mm | 27°C 81°F 166 mm | 25°C 77°F 57 mm | 25°C 77°F 5 mm | 24°C 75°F 0 mm | 25°C 77°F 0 mm | 27°C 81°F 4 mm | 29°C 84°F 14 mm | 29°C 84°F 71 mm | 29°C 84°F 110 mm |
| Ngorongoro | 25°C 77°F 87 mm | 25°C 77°F 104 mm | 25°C 77°F 137 mm | 23°C 73°F 140 mm | 21°C 70°F 60 mm | 21°C 70°F 12 mm | 21°C 70°F 6 mm | 22°C 72°F 7 mm | 24°C 75°F 7 mm | 25°C 77°F 27 mm | 24°C 75°F 85 mm | 24°C 75°F 113 mm |
| Lake Manyara | 28°C 82°F 73 mm | 28°C 82°F 76 mm | 28°C 82°F 134 mm | 27°C 81°F 195 mm | 24°C 75°F 73 mm | 23°C 73°F 9 mm | 22°C 72°F 0 mm | 24°C 75°F 0 mm | 26°C 79°F 5 mm | 27°C 81°F 21 mm | 27°C 81°F 89 mm | 27°C 81°F 104 mm |
| Gombe | 25°C 77°F 163 mm | 25°C 77°F 153 mm | 25°C 77°F 176 mm | 25°C 77°F 212 mm | 26°C 79°F 80 mm | 26°C 79°F 8 mm | 26°C 79°F 4 mm | 27°C 81°F 5 mm | 28°C 82°F 29 mm | 27°C 81°F 83 mm | 26°C 79°F 153 mm | 25°C 77°F 188 mm |
| Katavi | 31°C 88°F 159 mm | 32°C 90°F 152 mm | 31°C 88°F 165 mm | 32°C 90°F 126 mm | 31°C 88°F 19 mm | 30°C 86°F 0 mm | 30°C 86°F 0 mm | 31°C 88°F 0 mm | 32°C 90°F 0 mm | 34°C 93°F 18 mm | 33°C 91°F 122 mm | 32°C 90°F 201 mm |
| Nyerere | 30°C 86°F 200 mm | 30°C 86°F 191 mm | 29°C 84°F 236 mm | 28°C 82°F 224 mm | 28°C 82°F 72 mm | 27°C 81°F 12 mm | 26°C 79°F 5 mm | 27°C 81°F 7 mm | 29°C 84°F 11 mm | 30°C 86°F 69 mm | 31°C 88°F 69 mm | 30°C 86°F 145 mm |
| Ruaha | 28°C 82°F 155 mm | 28°C 82°F 141 mm | 28°C 82°F 138 mm | 28°C 82°F 66 mm | 27°C 81°F 6 mm | 26°C 79°F 0 mm | 26°C 79°F 0 mm | 28°C 82°F 0 mm | 28°C 82°F 0 mm | 30°C 86°F 7 mm | 30°C 86°F 39 mm | 29°C 84°F 151 mm |
Long-run averages for daytime high and monthly rainfall, not a forecast. A dry month on paper can still produce an afternoon storm, and the Ngorongoro rim runs several degrees colder than these figures at dawn because of its altitude.
TripAdvisor
What travellers said
5.0
5 reviews
Written on TripAdvisor, and loaded from TripAdvisor the moment you ask for them. We do not retype reviews onto our own pages. A review belongs where the person wrote it, where we cannot touch it.
Our footprint
What your trip pays for
Placeholder figures. Replace these with your audited numbers before launch.
41
Tanzanians on the payroll, full time
100%
Of our guides are Tanzanian nationals
2100+
Trees planted around Arusha since 2021
$18k
To anti-poaching units in 2025
6
Students sponsored through secondary school
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+255 756 327 132
Email
info@humblecatsafaristanzania.com
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