Serengeti & Ngorongoro
Tanzania
Two million animals moving in one direction
Remote destinations — A light aircraft or a very long drive, and the good camps are hours from a road
Photo by Jorge Tung on Unsplash
Photos by Dawn Westveld, Dmitrii Zhodzishskii, Uzuri Safaris Tanzania and Samson Simon on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Tanzania
June to October (dry), January to February (calving)
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 190mm in Apr
Where it is
2.33°S, 34.83°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Weeks of it- Follow the migration between the Seronera and the Mara river
- Descend into the Ngorongoro Crater at dawn
- Take a balloon flight over the plains
- Visit Olduvai Gorge and the hominid site
- Spend an evening with a Maasai community, arranged properly and paid fairly
Serengeti & Ngorongoro travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Tanzania
Very expensivePark fees are quoted and often payable in dollars by card, and cards are now mandatory at the main gates. Exchange shillings in Arusha for tips and village purchases. Bring dollar notes issued after 2013 — older ones are refused outright.
ATMs & cards
Withdraw in Arusha before you go — CRDB, NMB and Exim are reliable there. There are no machines inside the parks, and none between them. Take more cash than the trip appears to need, for tips and for anything that goes wrong.
Avoid these
- relying on anything inside the parks — there are no machines at all
Use these instead
- CRDB
- NMB
- Exim (all in Arusha)
Draw all your cash in Arusha before leaving. Park fees are card-only at the gates, but tips, village purchases and anything unexpected are cash.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Tanzania
SafeThe wildlife is genuinely wild and the rules exist because people have died ignoring them: stay in the vehicle unless your guide says otherwise, never walk between tents after dark without an escort, and zip the tent. Malaria is the real medical risk and prophylaxis is strongly advised. Crime is not a meaningful concern inside the parks.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (5 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Serengeti National Park — inside the lodges and fenced camps
- Arusha — the base town, by day
Worth more attention
- Leaving the vehicle anywhere in the park
- Walking to your tent at night without the guard, in an unfenced camp
- Ngorongoro Crater — the crater rim road in fog, which is where the accidents are
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Tanzania visa rules
e-Visa requiredup to 90 days$50 ($100 for US passports)
Available on arrival too, but the queue at Zanzibar and Kilimanjaro is long and the e-visa avoids it. Compulsory travel insurance is now sold on arrival in Zanzibar (~$44) unless you hold a qualifying policy.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Apply at visa.immigration.go.tz, allowing up to ten working days. Yellow fever certificates are checked if you are arriving from an endemic country, including via a long layover.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Tanzania
Evacuation likelyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate if arriving from a country where yellow fever is present — including via a layover of more than 12 hours in one
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Malaria prophylaxis — Zanzibar is a genuine malaria area
- Rabies for longer stays
- Cholera for extended rural stays
Getting treated
The weakest on this list. Zanzibar has clinics that handle minor problems and a private hospital in Stone Town, but anything serious means an evacuation flight to Dar es Salaam or Nairobi. Travel insurance with air-evacuation cover is genuinely essential here, not a formality.
Malaria is the real risk and prophylaxis is strongly advised — take it as prescribed and use repellent and nets. Do not drink the tap water. Watch the yellow-fever transit rule closely, because it catches people connecting through Nairobi or Addis.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
GoodAlmost all eating is at your camp and included. In Arusha, nyama choma with ugali is the meal to have, and Kilimanjaro beer with it.
Getting around
Car needed- From the airport
- Kilimanjaro airport to Arusha $50–60 by shuttle
There is no road transport to arrange and nothing to hail. Everything moves in the operator’s vehicle, and the bush flights between airstrips are booked with the camp.
Time zone and your working day
Africa/Dar es Salaam — 7 hours ahead of you
1 hour of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–10:00 your time, 16:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 02:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 02:00–10:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Tanzania
Why these are Tanzania's numbers and not Serengeti & Ngorongoro's
Home broadband — Fair. Video calls and streaming for one or two people — fine for a holiday, thin for a household working. Broadband here runs at 32% of the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fair. Maps, calls and streaming; tethering a laptop works for an hour, not a day. Mobile runs at 30% of the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Serengeti & Ngorongoro, so these are medians for all of Tanzania. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Tanzania, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Swahili
- HelloHabariha-BA-ree
- PleaseTafadhalita-fa-DHA-lee
- Thank youAsantea-SAN-teh
- Yes / NoNdiyo / Hapanan-DEE-yo / ha-PA-na
4 more phrases
- Excuse meSamahanisa-ma-HA-nee
- How much is it?Bei gani?bay GA-nee
- The bill, pleaseBili tafadhaliBEE-lee
- No problemHakuna matataha-KOO-na ma-TA-ta
Jambo is the tourist greeting; habari is what locals actually say to each other. Using it changes how you are received.
Religion
Muslim on Zanzibar, split on the mainland
The mainland is roughly half Christian and half Muslim; Zanzibar is around 99% Muslim and noticeably more conservative. Cover shoulders and knees in Stone Town, and swimwear stays on the resort beach.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Cover shoulders and knees away from beach resorts — Zanzibar is conservative and predominantly Muslim
- Greet with habari and take the time for it; greetings are extended here
- Use the right hand to eat, give and receive
- Ask before photographing anyone
Don't
- Do not wear swimwear off the beach, including walking through Stone Town
- Do not show public affection, including between couples
- Do not eat or drink publicly during daylight in Ramadan
- Do not use the left hand for anything social; it is the toilet hand
Where to stay in Serengeti & Ngorongoro
No Holistay rentals in Serengeti & Ngorongoro yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Serengeti & Ngorongoro on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Kilimanjaro JRO
8hfrom the airport· 277 km as the crow flies
A light aircraft to an airstrip in the park, or eight hours by road.
Also worth pricing: Arusha ARK — where the bush flights leave from.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
