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Practical · 8 min read

Tanzania park fees: what you pay, and where the money goes

What you are paying for when a day in the Serengeti costs what it does.

Active Kili Top · Arusha · Updated 3 October 2026
Guests and guides with two Active Kili Top vehicles at the Serengeti National Park gate
At the Serengeti National Park gate.

Tanzania park fees are the largest fixed cost in any safari, and the one cost no operator can change. They are set by the government, charged per person for each 24 hours, and paid to the park authority before you reach the gate. On a mid-range safari they can come to a quarter or more of the price, which is why two quotes for the same route never differ by much unless something has been left out.

This guide sets out the rates from the official tariffs, with VAT added, at the time of writing (October 2026). It explains the rules that catch people out, works through three real examples, and reports what the authorities themselves publish about how the money is used. Each fee appears as its own line on our quotes, as our answers on what a price includes explain.

The short answer

A non-resident adult pays USD 82.60 per 24 hours in the Serengeti, USD 59.00 in Tarangire or Lake Manyara and USD 70.80 to enter the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, all including 18% VAT. A crater descent adds USD 295 per vehicle, and each night inside a park adds a concession or camping fee.

At a glance: Tanzania park fees for non-residents

National park rates are the TANAPA tariff plus 18% VAT; Ngorongoro rates are as NCAA publishes them. Children under five are free. Checked October 2026; fees can change without notice.
FeeAdult, 16 and overChild, 5 to 15
Serengeti or Nyerere, per 24 hoursUSD 82.60 (USD 70.80 from 15 March to 15 May)USD 23.60
Tarangire, Lake Manyara or Arusha National ParkUSD 59.00 (USD 53.10 from 15 March to 15 May)USD 17.70
Kilimanjaro, per day on the mountainUSD 82.60USD 23.60
Ruaha or MikumiUSD 35.40USD 11.80
Ngorongoro Conservation Area entryUSD 70.80USD 23.60
Ngorongoro Crater service feeUSD 295 per vehicle, per descentCharged per vehicle
Concession fee, a night in a Serengeti lodge or campUSD 70.80 July to September, USD 59.00 otherwiseUSD 11.80
Next: How the fees work ↓Contents ↑

How Tanzania park fees work: who sets them and who pays what

Two bodies collect almost every fee on a northern safari. Tanzania National Parks, known as TANAPA, runs the national parks, among them the Serengeti, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Ruaha and Nyerere. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority, NCAA, runs the crater and the highlands around it. Each publishes a tariff with separate columns for East African citizens, who pay in shillings, for foreign residents of Tanzania, and for everyone else, who pays in US dollars.

The main charge is the conservation fee, which is the entry fee under another name. It is charged per person, with one rate from the age of 16, a lower rate for children of five to 15, and nothing for children under five. On top of it comes a fee for each night you sleep inside a park, a small fee for the vehicle, and extra charges for walks, night drives and boat trips where a park offers them.

One detail explains most of the confusion online. TANAPA prints its rates before tax and notes that all charges exclude 18% VAT, so the Serengeti’s USD 70 becomes USD 82.60 when it is paid. NCAA’s published figures match its base rates with the tax already added. The newest schedule on TANAPA’s tariff page is headed 2023/2024, and its October 2024 reference guide repeats the same rates. We found no later schedule on the official site.

Next: Serengeti and the north ↓Contents ↑

Serengeti, Tarangire and Lake Manyara park fees

The Serengeti and Nyerere carry the highest safari rate: USD 82.60 per adult for each 24 hours, falling to USD 70.80 between 15 March and 15 May. Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Arusha National Park cost USD 59.00, or USD 53.10 in those same eight weeks. The southern and western parks are cheaper. Ruaha and Mikumi are USD 35.40 all year, which is one reason a southern safari can cost less than a northern one.

Sleeping inside a park adds a second fee. Guests of a lodge or permanent camp pay a concession fee, which in the Serengeti is USD 70.80 a night from July to September and USD 59.00 in other months, and USD 47.20 in Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Arusha. Campers on a public campsite pay USD 35.40 a night instead. So one August night in a Serengeti camp costs each adult USD 153.40 in fees before the room, the vehicle or the guide.

TANAPA’s tariff describes two permits. A day permit is valid for twelve daylight hours and a sleep-over permit for 24 hours, and both allow more than one entry within that time. The clock starts when you check in at the gate, so an itinerary that enters at midday and leaves before midday two days later pays for two periods, not three. Planning around those hours is ordinary good practice, and it is how we time the drive in from Tarangire or the crater.

Next: Ngorongoro ↓Contents ↑

Ngorongoro fees and the crater service fee

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is not a national park, and its fees are separate. Entry costs USD 70.80 per adult and USD 23.60 per child of five to 15. A descent into the crater adds the crater service fee of USD 295, charged per vehicle for each trip down, so it is shared between everyone in the car. Two adults on a crater day trip therefore pay USD 436.60 in fees between them.

NCAA’s rule is stricter than TANAPA’s. Its tariff states that a permit, once issued, is valid for one entry within 24 hours only. The main road from Arusha to the Serengeti runs through the conservation area, so you pay the entry fee on the way out and again on the way back, even if you never go down into the crater. Flying one way removes one of those payments, though the flight costs more than the fee it saves.

A night on the crater rim adds a concession fee of USD 59.00 per adult at a lodge or camp, or USD 35.40 on a public campsite. Smaller charges cover a guide for walks in the highlands, a visit to Olduvai Gorge, and entry to one of the area’s cultural bomas, which is USD 20 per vehicle. The tariff page ends with a warning that rates may change without prior notice.

Next: Kilimanjaro ↓Contents ↑

Kilimanjaro park fees for a climb

On Kilimanjaro the fees are charged by the day and the night, so a longer route costs more. The conservation fee is USD 82.60 per adult per day. Each night in a tent on the camping routes costs USD 59.00, and each night in the huts on the Marangu route costs USD 70.80. A rescue fee of USD 23.60 is paid once per climb. All of these are the TANAPA rates with VAT added.

Take our seven-day Machame route. Seven days of conservation fees come to USD 578.20, six nights of camping to USD 354.00, and the rescue fee brings the total to USD 955.80 per climber. An eight-day route adds one more day and one more night, a further USD 141.60.

This arithmetic is the quickest test of a cheap climb. If a seven-day Machame climb is advertised for little more than its park fees, the saving has to come from somewhere, and on a mountain it usually comes from food, equipment or what the crew are paid. Our guide to what a porter carries explains what to ask.

Next: Where the money goes ↓Contents ↑

Where the park fees go

Neither authority publishes a breakdown of where each dollar of a visitor’s fee is spent, so we will not offer one. What TANAPA does publish is what its parks do with their budgets. Its 2024 guide to the northern parks lists the work: maintaining roads and trails, ranger patrols against poaching, controlling invasive plants and bush encroachment, and improving visitor accommodation.

The same document reports on the money that reaches neighbouring villages. Over the ten years to 2023/2024, the five parks of TANAPA’s northern zone, which are Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Lake Manyara, Mkomazi and Tarangire, paid for 112 projects proposed by the communities themselves in 108 villages, worth about TZS 7.7 billion. Most were classrooms, health facilities, water supplies and roads. Over those years the same parks earned about TZS 1.07 trillion.

Ngorongoro works differently, because people live there. The conservation area was set up as a multiple-use area in which Maasai pastoralists graze cattle alongside the wildlife, and NCAA is responsible for both. Its tariff page does not say how revenue is divided, and the future of the residents is a contested question that a fee table cannot settle. If it matters to you, ask your guide on the road, and expect a long answer.

Next: Fees on your quote ↓Contents ↑

Why park fees are the same with every operator

Park fees are fixed by government notice and paid through the government’s electronic payment system, by card or bank transfer, before the vehicle reaches the gate. Cash is not taken there. No operator receives a discount, and none can pass one on. The fees are also non-refundable once paid, which is one reason a late change of route can cost money even when the camps are flexible.

What does vary between quotes is how the fees are shown. Some operators fold them into a single price, some quote them before VAT, and a few leave out the concession fees or the crater service fee and present them later as extras. Ask for the fees as a separate line, per person and per day, and add them up yourself against the official tariff. We itemise them on every quote for that reason.

The costs you can change are the others: the camps, the season, and how many people share the vehicle. The crater service fee is a good example, because USD 295 divided between six is less than USD 50 each. Our piece on joining a group or travelling privately looks at that trade-off, and the safari plans show which parks each itinerary pays for.

Next: Questions ↓Contents ↑

Questions people ask

For a non-resident adult, including 18% VAT: USD 82.60 in the Serengeti, Nyerere and Kilimanjaro, USD 59.00 in Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Arusha National Park, USD 35.40 in Ruaha and Mikumi, and USD 70.80 to enter the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Accommodation and vehicle fees are added to these.

Usually, yes, but check how. A full quote includes conservation fees, concession or camping fees, the crater service fee and vehicle fees, with VAT. Ask for them as a separate line so you can compare them with the official tariff. Ours are itemised on every quote.

TANAPA’s tariff states that all charges exclude 18% VAT, so its USD 70 Serengeti fee is USD 82.60 when paid. The figures on the Ngorongoro authority’s tariff page, such as USD 70.80 for entry, match its base rates with VAT already added. Check which version a quote is using.

Entry to the conservation area is USD 70.80 per non-resident adult and USD 23.60 per child aged five to 15. Going down into the crater adds a service fee of USD 295 per vehicle for each descent, shared between the passengers. An overnight stay adds a concession or camping fee.

No. TANAPA’s tariff says payment is made through the government electronic payment gateway, online or by bank card and mobile payment, and cash is not accepted at gates. On an organised safari your operator pays in advance and the driver carries the permits, so you do not handle this yourself.

Only a little, and only in five parks. From 15 March to 15 May the adult fee falls to USD 70.80 in the Serengeti and Nyerere and to USD 53.10 in Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Arusha. Serengeti concession fees are also lower outside July to September. Ngorongoro and Kilimanjaro fees stay the same all year.

Children under five enter free. Children aged five to 15 pay a reduced rate: USD 23.60 in the Serengeti, Kilimanjaro and Ngorongoro, USD 17.70 in Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Arusha, and USD 11.80 in Ruaha. From 16 the adult rate applies. Carry passports, because proof of age can be asked for at the gate.

TANAPA’s tariff states that fees once paid are non-refundable. Operators normally pay them shortly before travel, so a change made well ahead costs nothing in fees, while a change made on the road can mean paying twice. Ask your operator when the fees for your trip are paid.

Sources we checked

Fees, entry rules and medical advice change. Figures were checked in October 2026; confirm them with the official source before you travel.

Last updated 3 October 2026

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