The northern circuit is the famous one. The southern parks are bigger, emptier and reached by air. They suit different trips and often different people.
The north
Tarangire, Lake Manyara, the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, all within a day’s drive of Arusha. This is where the migration is, where the crater is, and where most of the beds are.
It is drivable, which keeps costs down, and it packs four genuinely different habitats into a week. It is also where everybody else is, particularly between July and October.
The south
Ruaha and Nyerere, reached by light aircraft from Dar es Salaam. Ruaha is the largest park in the country with very large lion prides and baobab country. Nyerere is built around the Rufiji river system, which makes boat safaris and walking genuinely central rather than novelties.
You will see fewer vehicles. On many days, none.
The honest comparison
- Density of game: north, in the dry season, by some margin.
- Solitude: south, comfortably.
- Variety of activity: south — boats and walking are restricted in the north.
- Cost of getting around: north is drivable; south needs flights.
- The migration: only the north.
- Rhino: realistically only the north, in the crater.
- Wild dog: much better odds in the south.
Who should go south
People who have already done the northern circuit. People who want to walk. People who react badly to twenty vehicles at a leopard. Photographers who want space. Anyone travelling in April or May, when the north is wet and the south is also wet but much emptier.
Who should go north
First-time visitors, almost always. The crater and the migration are genuinely exceptional and it is reasonable to want to see them first. Families, because driving beats flying with children and luggage. Anyone on a tighter budget, because you can drive it.
Or both
Twelve days or more can do a northern circuit and then fly south for three or four nights. It is the best safari either of them offers, and it costs what you would expect.
