Tanzania family safari, with Zanzibar at the end

On safari together with your own guide and jeep, spotting animals the children will still talk about years later, and then resting on the beaches of Zanzibar. We build a family safari in Tanzania and Zanzibar around the ages of your children and the pace of your family.

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14

Days, at your own pace

20,000+

Travellers, many of them families

1000+

Animals to spot through young eyes

Holiday Tanzania and Zanzibar with the family

Highlights of this Tanzania safari with kids

Your own jeep, with room for the whole family. You travel with your own guide and your own Landcruiser with an open roof. Stopping when a child has had enough, staying longer at that one elephant, or pausing for a while, you set the pace and nobody else does.
A day with the Maasai, for the children too. You walk their land with a Maasai guide, and the children meet others their own age who are growing up very differently. For children that is often the day that stays with them.
Safari in Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. Three parks that feel nothing alike, from the elephants and flamingos of Manyara to the lions in the crater. Looking for animals turns into a game children lose hours in.
A family room in our own camp. At Kimbilio, our own camp in the quiet northern Serengeti, you sleep together in a family room. The sounds of the bush at night, and breakfast together in the morning looking out over the plain.
Winding down on Zanzibar with the kids. A short flight brings you to the beach. Shallow, warm water to splash in, time when nothing has to happen, and the reward after a full week of safari, for the children and for you.

Download the family itinerary, with the day-by-day and the price

You get the complete 14-day family trip in your inbox, worked out day by day, with the price per season. Treat it as a starting point, because we build the trip around the ages of your children and the pace of your family.

The whole route day by day, from Moshi to Zanzibar
The accommodation, with family rooms and our own Kimbilio camp
The guide price per person, per season, children included
How we work, with your own guide and your own jeep
Practical tips for travelling with children

Yes, send me the family itinerary

Makasa Tanzania Safaris Sample itinerary Familytravel

Tanzania and Zanzibar family holiday with children

We have taken our own children on safari their whole lives

Selma and Ngomi live in Tanzania with their three children, who were going on safari while they were still babies. By now they know the parks the way other children know their own back garden, and they can tell you where the lions are in the morning. Because we do this ourselves, and have for years, we know from experience what makes a trip with children work.

When a day is running long and it is better to stop. When an afternoon at the pool is worth more than one more game drive. And how to keep a toddler, a school child and a teenager happy on the same day.

And there is something you feel here straight away, Tanzanians love children. Everywhere you go, in the lodges and on the road, they are welcome and they are taken in with open arms.

We live here, and that changes everything

We live in Tanzania with our own children, so we know from experience what a trip with children needs. Which lodges have real family rooms, which days should not run too long, and where children have room to be children for a while.

Your own guide, not a stranger

Everyone who drives for Makasa is someone we know personally and chose ourselves, patience with children included. They do more than point out the animals, they turn it into a game and answer every question. By the end of the trip they are often the family favourite.

You sleep in our own camp, in the quiet north

At Kimbilio, our own camp near Lobo, you sleep together in a family room, far from the crowds. The sounds of the bush at night, and breakfast together in the morning with game on the plain in front of you. For children, an adventure they never forget.

Nothing off the shelf, all of it built around you

We build the trip around the ages of your children and the pace of your family. More beach or more safari, more active or quieter, short days for the little ones or more adventure for teenagers. All of it is possible. A luxury family holiday in Tanzania is not about marble and butlers, not to us. It is about your own guide, your own vehicle, and the time to stop when one of the children sees something.

Your journey through Tanzania, from the first savannah to the beaches of Zanzibar

Fourteen days, built at a pace that works with children. A gentle landing first, then the country and its people, then deeper into the wild, and finally rest by the ocean.

Arrival Kilimanjaro

You land at Kilimanjaro Airport, where your guide is waiting for the family. The first night you sleep in Moshi, a green, unhurried town at the foot of the mountain. Time to recover from the flight, settle into the rhythm, and look up at Kilimanjaro filling the whole horizon together. That way nobody starts the safari tired, not the children and not you.

A day with the Maasai

West of Kilimanjaro you spend one night at a Maasai lodge. The Maasai meet you on arrival, in colourful robes and with traditional singing, and on a clear day Kilimanjaro rises behind the valley. You sleep in your own hut, built the way the Maasai build, with real beds, hot water and a pool over the plain.

For children this is one of the best places on the trip. They learn to throw a spear the way the Maasai hunt, and ride a donkey into the savannah, not twenty metres but half an hour. Goat roasts over the fire, and there is a separate menu for the little ones. This is not a show for tourists, it is the Maasai world up close, and the kind of day children still talk about years later.

Your first safari day in Lake Manyara

This morning your own guide is waiting at your Landcruiser with the open roof, and that first moment of climbing in, knowing the safari has started, is one nobody forgets. Lake Manyara is small and green, with elephants close by and thousands of flamingos turning the lake pink.

The first time you see an elephant for real, that close and that large, stops children and adults alike. A gentle, varied first day, exactly right for letting the eye adjust. Give a child a pair of binoculars, and the searching begins.

The Serengeti, away from the busy routes

Everyone knows the Serengeti from photographs, and you see why at once, grass plains to the horizon and herds as far as you can look. With your own guide and the roof open you find the animals at your own pace, and in season you watch the great migration crossing. At night you sleep at Kimbilio, our own camp in the quiet north, in a family room with nothing but canvas between you and the wilderness.

No fence, no wall, and the lions you hear in the distance as the children fall asleep. Sleeping in the middle of the Serengeti is the moment the trip becomes unforgettable.

The Ngorongoro Crater

Early in the morning you drop to the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater, down steep walls with the whole plain far below you. At the bottom you are standing in one of the few places on earth where this many animals live together all year, inside the walls of an extinct volcano. Thousands of them close together, from rhinos to lions, from elephants to flamingos at the lake. For children it feels like an enormous zoo with no fences, except real, and every animal at once in a single morning.

Winding down on Zanzibar with the kids

A short flight takes you from the dust and the early mornings to the beach. After a week of sitting still in the jeep the children are finally let loose, splashing in shallow, warm water, building sandcastles, swimming as long as they like. No more alarm clock, no programme, just a lie-in and whatever the day brings.

Anyone who wants more goes snorkelling over the colourful reefs, takes a boat trip, or learns to dive in the clear water. And anyone who feels like it wanders an afternoon through the narrow streets of Stone Town, with its smell of spices and its old wooden doors. The earned reward after a full week of safari, for the children and for you.

So in two weeks you travel from Kilimanjaro, by way of Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, to the beaches of Zanzibar, at a pace that suits the children. This is the trip in outline, the full day-by-day, the accommodation and the price per season are in the family itinerary.

Why I believe in travelling with children

Some parents ask me, is there any point, they will not remember any of it anyway. I see it differently.

Our own children went into the Serengeti while they were still babies, and every time I see again what it does to them.

Children still look without judging. Where we see a lion and think of danger straight away, they see an animal lying asleep.

They ask the questions we have unlearned, why is he doing that, where is he going, what does he eat.

They pick up words in another language, make friends without speaking the same one, and learn that the world is bigger and kinder than they thought.

And there is something else. A few weeks without a screen, with the days led by the light and the animals instead of by a phone.

Children settle in nature, and you watch them change in front of you.

Will they remember every day of it later? Perhaps not. But I do not believe being shaped is the same thing as remembering. What a child feels and sees young sinks in somewhere and stays. It changes how they look at the world, even when they no longer know where it started. I am sure of that, because I see it in my own children.

Selma, mother of three and founder of Makasa together with my husband

Trip of a lifetime with Makasa

Makasa organized a beautiful safari for our family group of 6 (ranging in age from 25-75). Selma was responsive and flexible during the planning process, attending to every detail. We feel that we got excellent value.

Kathleen Hall

Great family experience with Makasa

The whole trip was very well thought-out put together. From the different places we stayed to the children’s car chairs for our two little companions of 2 and 4. We had a very pleasant journey thanks to Makasa.

Nick Ericson

The best safari experience with Makasa

We had such a great time and made memories for a life time. All the places Makasa arranged for us were great. If you want to make an unforgettable journey you have to book with Makasa. I'm sure you won't regret it!

Laura Brown

The same two people, from your first email to your flight home

Booking a trip this far away with children, from a company on the other side of the world, feels like a leap for most parents. So you are never dealing with an anonymous office here. Zara answers every English enquiry, from Moshi. She thinks it through with you, replies in your language, and knows your trip from the first question to the last day.

Selma runs Makasa from Moshi with her husband Ngomi, and is raising three children there herself. The person planning your trip and the people running it on the ground live in the same town, so your question always lands in the right place. Whether it is the right age, a slower pace, or what to do if a child comes down with something on the road, you are talking it through with people who have been there themselves.

Zara

Zara came out to visit Selma in Tanzania in 2024. In early 2025 she moved from Australia to Moshi with her two young children, so when she tells you which days run too long with small children, she is talking about her own. She knows the drives, the seasons and the lodges from living here, not from a brochure. Zara looks after every English enquiry, from your first question to the day you fly home.

Selma

Selma moved from the Netherlands to Tanzania in 2009 and has run Makasa since 2010 together with her husband Ngomi. They live there with their three children, who are growing up among the parks and went on safari from the time they were babies. Selma knows from her own experience what a trip with children needs. While Zara plans with you, Selma makes sure your trip in Tanzania runs the way it is meant to.

Your family holiday in Tanzania, all arranged

Book a call for free travel advice

Settled before you pay, from your deposit to your flight home

A trip this far with children raises extra questions, and we understand that. So we have answered the most important ones here, which means you can book with your mind at rest.

Your money goes to a company, not a person

Makasa is a licensed Tanzanian operator with TALA, and a member of TATO, and you pay into the company account.

Everything confirmed in writing

Before you pay the balance you get written confirmation naming every camp, every date and your vehicle.

One contact, start to finish

You arrange your trip with Zara in Moshi, and your guides on the ground speak excellent English.

Safe on safari with children

You are always with an experienced guide who knows how to run a safari with children. Follow his instructions and there is hardly any risk.

Healthy on the road

Tanzania is a malaria risk area. Your doctor or a travel clinic will advise you what suits the ages of your children.

A country that likes children

We set no minimum age. Children are welcome everywhere in Tanzania, and the lodges are set up for families. Your child is taken in with open arms.

Your trip leaves something behind

We live in Tanzania, so this country is not our market, it is our home. You notice it in the small choices we make every day. Our own camp Kimbilio runs on solar power, and the packed lunches you take on the road use materials that break down, so we leave nothing behind in the nature you came for. We look at the accommodation the same way, at what flows back to the people who live there. The Maasai lodge is a good example of that, a place that supports the community around it. And the people we work with, our guides and colleagues, are Tanzanians, many of them trained by Ngomi himself. So most of what you spend on your trip stays in the country, with the people who make your trip possible.

This is an example, your trip becomes yours

The trip you just read is one of our best Tanzania family safaris, but it is a starting point, not a fixed package. More safari or more beach, shorter days for the little ones or more adventure for the teenagers, more active with a walk in between or plenty of rest. All of it is possible. We build the trip around the ages of your children and the pace of your family, and the itinerary gives you a picture of the options and the price.

Yes, send me the family itinerary