Travel Advice & Access
Tanzania / Serengeti & Zanzibar
Migration routes, then the Indian Ocean.
By air. Kilimanjaro International (JRO), opened in December 1971 between Arusha and Moshi, is the gateway to the northern circuit, with direct services from Amsterdam, Doha, Istanbul, Addis Ababa and Nairobi. Julius Nyerere International (DAR) serves the southern circuit. Abeid Amani Karume International (ZNZ) now takes direct European and Gulf flights, which lets a safari-then-beach routing finish without backtracking. Arusha Airport (ARK) is the light-aircraft hub.
Light aircraft. Coastal Aviation and Auric Air run the internal network on Cessna Caravans and almost every itinerary uses it. The limit is 15 kilograms per person in soft bags with no rigid frame or wheels, enforced at the aircraft: put it in the client documents in bold and store hard cases in Arusha. Circuits touch down at several strips before yours, so a two-hour sector on paper can be a three-hour morning.
Access and flying times by area
Area
Access
Notes
Central Serengeti
Seronera airstrip
About 1 hr 20 mins from Arusha. By road, a full day via the crater.
Northern Serengeti
Kogatende airstrip
Roughly 1 hr 45 mins to 2 hrs from Arusha. Base for Mara crossings, July to October.
Western Corridor
Grumeti airstrip
About 1 hr 30 mins from Arusha. Relevant May to July only.
Ngorongoro / Karatu
Road from Arusha
Around 3 to 3.5 hrs on tar. Lake Manyara sits on the way, 126 km out.
Tarangire
Road from Arusha
Under 2 hrs on tar; the natural first stop.
Nyerere / Ruaha
Charter from DAR
Roughly 45 mins to Nyerere; about 2 hrs to Ruaha's Msembe strip.
Zanzibar
ZNZ
About 1 hr 15 mins from Arusha, and direct from Serengeti strips in season.
On the ground. Game drives here are in closed 4x4 vehicles with roof hatches rather than open Land Cruisers, a real difference from southern Africa that photographers should hear about first. Off-road driving is prohibited in the national parks, so vehicles hold to tracks at sightings. Roads beyond the crater rim are unsurfaced and slow, and self-drive is a poor idea: the guide is the substance of what a client pays for.
Routing advice. Fly into JRO, work the northern circuit south to north — Tarangire, the crater, then the Serengeti region that matches the month — and fly out of a Serengeti strip to Zanzibar. Ending on the coast cuts the flying. For repeat clients, run DAR into Nyerere and Ruaha and finish on Mafia or Pemba. Allow twelve to eighteen months for northern Serengeti camps in the crossing season.
Practicalities. Most nationalities need a visa: US$50 single entry, or US$100 for the multiple-entry visa United States passport holders must buy. Apply for the eVisa in advance. Zanzibar additionally requires inbound insurance from the Zanzibar Insurance Corporation, currently around US$44 per person, which does not replace the client's own policy. Currency is the shilling; US dollars are used for fees and tips, but notes printed before 2009 are refused.
Health. Malaria is present across the country, Zanzibar included, and prophylaxis is standard advice; risk falls with altitude and the higher camps on Kilimanjaro are effectively free of it. A yellow fever certificate is required only from travellers arriving from a yellow fever country, which includes Kenya and Uganda — a trap on combined East African itineraries.