Travels through Northern Tanzania with Nimali Africa – November/December 2025

Helen escorted a group of tour operators to visit Nimali Africa to discover Tarangire and Serengeti National Parks, staying at Nimali Africa Camps.  Travelling in late November and into early December it was wonderfully quiet, we regularly did not see another vehicle and had some extraordinary sightings to ourselves.  This was mainly due to the fantastic guiding by the Nimali guides, it is low season of course but it was other worldly to travel all day and not see another soul and be able to sit at a sighting and soak in the wildlife in peace and quiet.  The wildlife experiences were fantastic and it really showcased why you should encourage your guests to travel out of high season.

Our Highlights: 

The Hide at Tarangire

Our guides – Jimmy and his infectious enthusiasm, Daniel with his fantastic knowledge and story telling and Benson for the Lion King sunset in Northern Serengeti

Sundowners out on the plains by Nimali Tarangire, situated in its own slice of conservancy

A delicious lamb curry at Nimali Tarangire

Leopard, huge lion prides and cheetah in Central Serengeti as well as watching 4 giraffe drinking, legs akimbo.  Tales about Sausage Trees from Daniel 😊

Serengeti Balloon – dreamy to drift over those vast plains

Sundowners on the Rock at Nimali Mara

Last night champagne at Nimali Mara – what a finale

My amazing trip all started in Arusha with a quick overnight at Arusha Coffee Lodge – a beautiful established coffee plantation with lots of lovely experiences to keep guests entertained, delicious food and a space to reset.

We gathered together here before heading to the office for a quick hello with the Nimali team at Butter and Scotch in Sable Square (just opposite Arusha Airport) and the perfect spot to pick up some last minute bits (sadly KLM had managed to leave some luggage in Arusha☹).

Some beautiful treats were eaten before we were off to explore Tarangire.  We were met by Jimmy who was to be our guide whilst staying at Nimali Tarangire. An easy 1.5 hour drive brought us straight to Camp and lots of excitement from our 2 safari virgins.  I do love to revisit those first moments through their eyes, it is just infectious.

Nimali Tarangire has such a heart and the team have a very special working relationship that creates a wonderful feeling and made our stay here a real highlight.

There have been some changes – swapping the lounge for the dining room now and the layout works so much better, some lovely new furnishings and lights too.  A mini bar and hair dryer in every room.  The rooms were beautiful, everyone loved the family rooms and the lodge worked on every level!!  The team here work so well together – the dream team!

Activities:  Walking – we had an early morning walk with Jimmy, accompanied by a Tnapa ranger.  Lots of fun and knowledge about reading the bush with plenty of dung and track stories, followed by some baobab hugging.  Did you know that there are no new baobabs growing anymore? This may be the very last of their generation.  The night drive was fun and we saw some lovely wildlife – bat eared foxes, jackals, African kangaroos, ha ha.  The Hide was a definite highlight with elephants coming to drink and spraying us whilst they enjoyed the waterhole.  We went into Tarangire National Park to visit the stunning marsh area.  They have had no short rains this year so the swamps have dried up considerably and the wildlife was gathered in and around the swamps which made for some great game viewing.  Elephants, lion, buffalo, giraffe, plains game galore (no crocs found here so the wildlife could wallow away) and some particularly memorable ostrich sightings.

F&B and Surprises:  Lunch is family style where they lay out lots of dishes and everyone can help themselves and we had dinner on the deck with a surprise Masai Dancing (an optional extra)  A Bush Breakfast after the walk with bubbles – always a treat.  Sundowners out on the plains with lanterns in the trees and bush surround sound – just magical.

The group commented that Nimali Tarangire would make an amazing final stop, the camp and team, the hide, the pool and the beauty of the area and activities all make for a wonderful finale.

2 nights are definitely not enough time to do this area and lodge justice but on we went, just a 2 hour drive to Lake Manyara Airstrip with a quick stop at the viewpoint. The Lake is so high at the moment after the considerable rains of the past 2/3 years, but sadly no flamingos seen this time.

After a packed coffee and muffin up at the airstrip, it was time for the 35 min flight from Lake Manyara to Serenora

Nimali Serengeti has really settled in now. The pool was a highlight and the fans have made a huge difference to cooling the rooms.  Peter was our waiter and a real superstar here and everyone enjoyed his huge smile as well as Faradda who both looked after us so wonderfully.    Family style lunches once more and we had a wonderful surprise moment up on Sunset Hill (very sadly the clouds did not part for a sunset but we still enjoyed the view and moment) which was followed by a private dinner on the deck in front of the lounge, both were lovely extras.

Serengeti Balloons provided a wonderful treat and gently floating above the Serengeti remains one of the most memorable and beautiful of moments.  What a pleasure.

Seronera remains busy busy busy but the airport and area felt cosmopolitan after being in Tarangire.  There was still plenty of traffic but our guide Daniel was calm and thoughtful, another gem.  He avoided the crowd, kept us away from the dust and traffic as much as he could and we had amazing cat sightings including 4 giraffe drinking, leopard, cheetah and 34 lions!  At one sighting where we were sitting peacefully with just one other vehicle, we saw the worst of a bad guide screeching to a halt at our sighting for 5 mins and then speeding off to the next with music blaring and loud chatting.  Even the lion looked relieved that they did not hang around!  Good guiding is essential in this area of the Park and luckily we were able to stay quite close to the Camp and our quieter area of the park, where we saw no one else for much of our experience.

The 2 nights flew by and off we went again, it is a 25 min flight Seronera to Kogatende.

Nimali Mara remains one of the most beautiful of the Nimali Camps, the views and the setting is exquisite.  We all absolutely loved the rooms and the Camp but sadly, in true fam trip style, we did not have enough time in Camp to enjoy it but of course we made the most of it.  Baths, pools dipped in, time on the swing beds, sleeping with the curtains open to enjoy the sunrise and long lunches overlooking the plains and zebra below.

Lovely to see Reuben, who used to be at Nimali Tarangire, up here at Nimali Mara.  We were so well looked after here by Happiness (so true to her name) and Nora as well as Solomon and Jacob of course.

Benson took us up to the Kenya / Tanzania border and then we spent one morning completely off road looking for rhino.  We had a Lion King moment watching the sunset with a beautiful lioness posing and her cubs playing below.  The Mara River is always striking and it was helpful to understand how it works during the crossings. It sounds like some good suggestions have been put forward to Tnapa for 2026.

We didn’t see another vehicle our until the last morning on our way back to the airport.  What a delight.

A bush breakfast and sundowners on the rock, sharing stories and laughter.  What a great team and memorable moments by Nimali, thank you!