Northern Tanzania Circuit

Katambuga House is an elegant and stylish 6 room lodge set in expansive grounds, on the Endurance Estate near Arusha. With attention to detail, caring staff and excellent dining, Katambuga house is a destination in its own right.

Wayo Manyara Green Camp sits on the edge of a dry river bed beneath the crashing Endabash Waterfall. Set deep inside Lake Manyara National Park and well away from the game drive tracks, it is one of only a handful of camps within the park. Bush babies call through the trees after dark, and elephants, lions, and hyena fill in the rest of the night. The tents stand on raised wooden decks, each with an en-suite bathroom and a king-size bed that can be arranged as twins. The structure and interiors are locally crafted, part of Wayo's commitment to empowering local people, and much of the woodwork has been reclaimed from an earlier camp. The gauze roof retracts automatically, opening the tent to the stars. The best of Manyara is experienced out of the vehicle. Canoe safaris on the lake, walks up into the Marang Forest and onto the top of the rift, a treetop walkway, and night drives that head out after supper with the guiding team. The camp team will also take you up to the waterfalls, the same cascades the camp sits beneath. Insider's Tip: Take the lakeshore walk in the morning. Your guide reads the tracks left overnight and pieces together everything that moved through while you slept.

Entamanu Ngorongoro sits on the remote rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, reached via one of Tanzania's most dramatic private drives and positioned well away from the main tourist circuit. The camp occupies a site where the crater drops away on one side and the Serengeti plains stretch out on the other, with Maasai pastoralist life continuing in the valleys below as it has for generations. The highland climate is part of what makes the experience here distinct, with crisp air, sharp light and the kind of ephemeral energy that comes from sitting on the edge of an ancient caldera. The camp was built entirely from locally sourced materials. Cottages sit on wooden platforms with private verandas facing the crater, en-suite bathrooms with double sinks and power showers, and indoor heating and soft textiles chosen to make the most of cold highland evenings. Two-bedroom cottages accommodate families or groups of friends, and the central lounge encourages conversation around the fire after long days on the crater floor. Game drives descend into the crater soon after dawn, often arriving before tourist vehicles from the lodges below. The crater floor supports around 25,000 mammals year-round, including the Big Five, and the camp's rim position ensures a more private experience. Highland walks with Maasai scouts thread through ancient acacia woodland around the camp, reading tracks and sharing knowledge of a landscape they have known since childhood. Cultural visits to the neighbouring Maasai boma offer a window into pastoral life, and if you want to go further, a walk from the crater rim across to the Serengeti plains is one of the most extraordinary ways to move through this part of Tanzania on foot. Insider's Tip: Giraffes are not frequent visitors to the crater floor, which makes Entamanu's rim position unexpectedly rewarding for sightings. The acacia woodland directly around the camp is home to a healthy resident population, and spotting them on foot or from the veranda feels like a bonus to what is an extraordinary location.

Imagine endless horizons, skies stretching over the grassland as far as the eye can see … Every species in the Serengeti lives in perfect harmony with the one beside it. It is this balance, ‘usawa’ in Kiswahili, that ensures this phenomenal ecosystem functions in perfect symbiosis. In northern Tanzania, Africa’s greatest spectacle unfolds. Two million wildebeest, zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, eland and other migratory animals graze, breed, and birth on the Serengeti’s plains; following the rains, moving as one. Prides of lion split the herds, taking down wildebeest and zebra. Cheetah chase down and tyre out gazelles while crocodiles prey on the brave; those who dare to cross the rivers first. This scale of wildlife, of predator-prey interaction is found nowhere else on Earth. Far from the crowds, Wilderness Usawa Serengeti's mobile camps are strategically located, moving to areas where the herds are as they follow the rain. With a number of sites available, positioned as close as is feasible to the action, in luxurious safari tents that leave no impact on the plains. Insider's Tip: Pack your walking shoes. All Wilderness Usawa Serengeti sites are positioned within designated walking zones, allowing walking safaris to begin right from camp.

Imagine endless horizons, skies stretching over the grassland as far as the eye can see … Every species in the Serengeti lives in perfect harmony with the one beside it. It is this balance, ‘usawa’ in Kiswahili, that ensures this phenomenal ecosystem functions in perfect symbiosis. In northern Tanzania, Africa’s greatest spectacle unfolds. Two million wildebeest, zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, eland and other migratory animals graze, breed, and birth on the Serengeti’s plains; following the rains, moving as one. Prides of lion split the herds, taking down wildebeest and zebra. Cheetah chase down and tyre out gazelles while crocodiles prey on the brave; those who dare to cross the rivers first. This scale of wildlife, of predator-prey interaction is found nowhere else on Earth. Far from the crowds, Wilderness Usawa Serengeti's mobile camps are strategically located, moving to areas where the herds are as they follow the rain. With a number of sites available, positioned as close as is feasible to the action, in luxurious safari tents that leave no impact on the plains. Insider's Tip: Pack your walking shoes. All Wilderness Usawa Serengeti sites are positioned within designated walking zones, allowing walking safaris to begin right from camp.