Fly-In Safaris

A fly-in safari uses scheduled light aircraft, rather than road transfers, to move between parks and camps, cutting what would be a seven- or eight-hour drive from Arusha to the Serengeti down to under an hour in the air. This category suits travellers short on time, uncomfortable with long stretches on unpaved roads, or heading to more remote areas such as private conservancies and southern circuit parks like Ruaha or Nyerere, where road access is impractical within a typical trip length. Domestic carriers such as Coastal Aviation and Auric Air run scheduled routes connecting Arusha and Kilimanjaro to airstrips at Seronera, Kogatende, Lake Manyara, Tarangire and beyond, usually on small 12- to 16-seat aircraft with luggage weight limits worth checking in advance. Flying between camps also means more time actually on safari rather than in transit, which matters if you've only got five or six days available. The trade-off is cost — flights add up compared with a road-based itinerary sharing a vehicle — but for many travellers the time saved and added comfort are worth it, particularly when combining several parks or adding on Zanzibar. We plan the flight schedule alongside the game-drive itinerary from the start, since arrival and departure times at each airstrip affect how much of a day you'll actually get on the ground.