We collect you early from your hotel in Arusha or Moshi — time to meet your driver-guide and the group before the road south to Tarangire, roughly two to two and a half hours away. The change at the park gate is sudden: baobabs rise out of the savannah, the Tarangire River cuts a green line through the dry country, and the first animals are usually in view before you've settled into your seat. Elephants are the headline here — in the dry season the river draws them in by the hundred, alongside giraffe, zebra, impala, warthog and a birdlist that runs past 550 species. You've got the whole afternoon to work the main circuit, then you exit as the light goes gold and drop down to Mto wa Mbu for the night, a busy little town just outside the gate. Dinner's included and the camp's an easy base for the long Serengeti drive tomorrow.

After breakfast you'll set off on the long, scenic drive to the Serengeti, climbing up and over the Ngorongoro Highlands before the land opens out into the short-grass plains that give the park its name — Serengeti comes from the Maasai word for "endless plains." The drive takes the better part of the morning, with stops along the way, and you'll usually be entering the park gates around midday. Once inside, the afternoon is yours for game viewing as you make your way towards the central Seronera area. The Serengeti's open plains and scattered acacias are prime territory for big cats — lions lounging in the shade, cheetahs watching from termite mounds, and leopards draped in the riverine trees. Depending on the season, you may also catch the great wildebeest migration, when over a million animals move across the plains. You'll spend the night at a public campsite in the Seronera area, in the heart of the park, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner included.

An early start gives you the best of the Serengeti — the cool morning hours are when the big cats are most active and the light is at its finest. You'll spend the morning on a game drive through the Seronera area, with time to follow whatever the plains turn up before returning to camp for breakfast and packing up. In the afternoon you'll leave the Serengeti and drive back east towards the Ngorongoro Highlands, with a game drive en route as you cross the plains and climb towards the crater rim. As the road rises, the open grasslands give way to cool, mist-covered montane forest, and you'll arrive at the highlands in time to settle in before the temperature drops. Tonight's camp sits up near the crater rim — bring a warm layer, as the nights here are genuinely cold. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all included.

After an early breakfast on the crater rim, you'll begin the descent into the Ngorongoro Crater — one of those moments that's hard to describe until you're in it. The crater floor is a self-contained ecosystem, 19 kilometres across and sheltered by walls rising up to 600 metres, which means the wildlife has everything it needs and little reason to leave. The density of animals down here is remarkable. Lions are commonly seen resting on the open plains, and black rhino — one of the most endangered large mammals in the world — are sighted more reliably here than almost anywhere else in East Africa, alongside elephant, buffalo, hippo, and vast herds of wildebeest and zebra. After a picnic lunch and a final game drive, you'll ascend out of the crater and begin the drive back to Arusha or Moshi, where the safari ends. Breakfast and lunch are included on this final day, and airport transfers to Arusha, Moshi, or Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) are available on request.