From the Serengeti to Stone Town

Six days of safari on Tanzania’s northern circuit, from Tarangire to the Ngorongoro Crater and the plains of Seronera, in the Serengeti; and four days on Zanzibar, with the coral-stone houses of Stone Town, the spice farms, Jozani forest and the sea of the island’s north, where the tide changes the beach less than on the east coast.

Day by day Open the itinerary in the app

Serengeti → Zanzibar · 10 days

The route on the map, in the itinerary’s order.

TanzaniaSerengeti
Days
6
When
Jan–Feb · Jun–Oct
Per person/day
Average 388,000 TZSMid-range · per person/day
Cost scope
Per person per day: accommodation, meals, urban transport, visits and a small allowance for extras. Flights excluded; larger purchases vary. Editorial estimate, not a quote.
TanzaniaZanzibar
Days
4
When
Jan–Feb · Jun–Oct
Per person/day
Average 110–170 USDMid-range · per person/day
Cost scope
Per person per day: accommodation, meals, urban transport, visits and a small allowance for extras. Flights excluded; larger purchases vary. Editorial estimate, not a quote.

Who it is for

For a first trip to Tanzania that wants the full northern-circuit safari and, after it, a historic town and a beach on the Indian Ocean.

Not for anyone with fewer than ten days: the safari needs six, because the road of about 325 km to the Serengeti eats time, and Zanzibar asks for another four.

The strategy

The trip starts at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), about 60 km from Arusha, with a night in Arusha before the safari. The circuit is done in a 4x4 with a driver-guide from a licensed operator: a day in Tarangire, a day crossing Ngorongoro and Olduvai to the Serengeti, a full day in Seronera, a day that depends on the month, the return to the crater rim and a morning on the crater floor before heading back to Arusha. From Arusha airport, the base for domestic flights in small planes, fly on to Zanzibar, whose airport is about 7 km from Stone Town. The island gets four days: Stone Town on foot, the spices with Jozani, the north and a free day. Tanzania’s electronic tourist visa covers the islands, but Zanzibar also requires the travel insurance of the state insurer (ZIC), about US$ 44, bought on the official portal, and travellers coming from a country with yellow fever risk need the vaccination certificate. Both ends share two windows: June to October, the dry season, with the migration in the west and then the north of the Serengeti; and January and February, with the herds on the Ndutu plains and the calving in February. Avoid April, the wettest month in both places.

What you will see

Seronera, Serengeti. The Seronera river valley is the heart of the Serengeti and the best bet for anyone with few days: the valley and the surrounding kopjes keep a resident population of lions, leopards, cheetahs, buffalo and impalas all year, even when the migration is far away.
Christ Church Anglican Cathedral, Zanzibar. Built from 1873 on the site of the slave market closed that same year, in the Mkunazini neighborhood.