We collect you in Arusha after breakfast and drive southwest to Tarangire National Park, arriving in time for a picnic lunch under the acacias. Tarangire is elephant country, and the dry season concentrates enormous herds along the Tarangire River, alongside giraffe, zebra, buffalo and the park's famous ancient baobabs. You spend the afternoon on a game drive through the river valley before we exit the park and climb the escarpment to Karatu, a green highland town of coffee farms on the edge of the Ngorongoro Highlands. Dinner and overnight in Karatu.

After an early breakfast we drive across the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, stopping at the crater rim viewpoint, then descend onto the open plains beyond. We enter the Serengeti through Naabi Hill Gate around 11am and stop for a picnic lunch, with a short climb up the kopje for a first look at plains that run to the horizon. The rest of the day is a game drive as we travel into the Seronera valley, watching for lion on the rocks, cheetah on the grassland and resident plains game. Dinner and overnight in the central Serengeti.

Today we go where the herds are. We set off early and drive north through the Serengeti, game viewing the whole way, as the landscape shifts from open plain to rolling hills and wooded valleys. The northern Serengeti sees a fraction of the vehicles the central plains do, and as you approach the Mara River the first columns of wildebeest and zebra appear, strung out for miles. We game drive into the late afternoon, tracking the herds and the predators that shadow them. Dinner and overnight in the north Serengeti.

A full day with the migration and no distance to cover. Crossings cannot be scheduled, so we spend the day with the herds, moving between the known crossing points on the Mara River and waiting where the wildebeest are massing on the banks. When a crossing comes it is sudden and chaotic, with crocodiles waiting in the current and thousands of animals plunging in at once. Between crossings we game drive the surrounding country, which holds strong numbers of lion, leopard, elephant and giraffe. Picnic lunch in the bush. Overnight in the north Serengeti.

We turn south, game driving the whole way rather than simply transferring. The route takes you back through varied country, from the northern woodlands to the classic Serengeti of open plain and granite kopjes, and the journey itself is one of the best game drives of the trip. The central Serengeti's Seronera valley is the richest big-cat area in the park, with a permanent river supporting resident lion prides and one of Africa's best chances of a leopard. Afternoon game drive in the valley. Dinner and overnight in the central Serengeti.

An early breakfast and a final morning game drive across the Seronera plains as the light comes up, then we leave the Serengeti and drive southeast to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. After lunch we descend the crater wall to the floor, six hundred metres below the rim, for an afternoon game drive inside an intact volcanic caldera. The crater holds a dense resident population year-round: black rhino, big-maned lion, elephant, buffalo and vast flocks of flamingo on Lake Magadi. We climb out in the early evening and continue to Mto wa Mbu for the night.

A relaxed final morning at Lake Manyara National Park, a short drive from Mto wa Mbu. Manyara is small but strikingly varied, moving from groundwater forest full of blue monkeys and baboons to open floodplain, with the Rift Valley escarpment rising behind it and flamingos massed on the soda lake. It is best known for its tree-climbing lions, unusual behaviour found in very few places on earth. After a morning game drive and lunch, we drive back to Arusha, dropping you at your hotel or continuing to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your flight.