7-Day Serengeti Wildebeest Migration Safari

Welcome to Tanzania. On arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport, or any other arrival point, your safari driver guide will greet you with a warm meet-and-greet service and drive you comfortably by road to your lodge on the outskirts of Arusha.

Settle in, unwind after the long journey and join your guide for a briefing on the safari ahead. The lodge is a tranquil spot, and on clear days there are magnificent views of the rugged peaks of Mount Meru, Tanzania's second-highest volcanic mountain.

Enjoy a relaxed dinner and your first night's stay in Africa.

After breakfast at around 08:00, your safari driver guide will collect you for the drive to the Serengeti by way of Olduvai Gorge, the Cradle of Mankind. Along the way you will stop at the Kigeni (Shifting) Sands, a black volcanic sand dune, magnetic in nature, that stands around 9 m high and 100 m long and creeps westwards across the Ngorongoro Conservation Area by about 17 m every year.

Visit Olduvai Gorge and the Olduvai Museum, among the world's most important archaeological sites, with priceless evidence of prehistoric man and the other creatures that lived here millions of years ago.

After a picnic lunch, enjoy an exhilarating game drive on the way to your camp in the heart of the Serengeti, where dinner and your first night in the African wilderness await.

After breakfast at around 08:00, your guide will collect you for the first of two days that promise great sightings. Drive through the northern part of the park in search of the wildebeest migration and immerse yourself completely in the beauty of the wild.

The Serengeti is famed for its sheer wealth of hoofed animals, and antelopes are true icons of Africa. Today you enter their world for close encounters with these graceful, brisk creatures – admire their vast range of horns and the rich colours and intricate patterns of their coats.

Lunch is enjoyed out in the bush, and dinner and the night are spent at your camp in the northern Serengeti.

A second day in the north gives you more time with the migration. Set out after breakfast to follow the movement of the herds across the rolling plains and towards the Mara River, where the most dramatic scenes of the migration unfold.

Your guide will read the grasslands and the herds for you, and between the great columns of wildebeest and zebra there are plenty of encounters with antelope and the predators that trail the migration. Enjoy a picnic lunch on the plains.

Return to your camp in the northern Serengeti for a second evening in the African bush.

After breakfast at around 08:00, your guide will drive you back to the central part of the park for another thrilling day of game viewing. This part of the Serengeti holds a sheer wealth of wildlife: large parades of savannah elephants feeding, prides of lions lazing under acacia trees after a feast, spotted hyenas patrolling for a carcass or a fresh kill, and perhaps a leopard with its prey hoisted into a tree.

Keep watch for small packs of African wild dogs on the hunt, bat-eared foxes playing near their dens, elegant serval cats and rare glimpses of small spotted cats darting across the grassland before vanishing. Antelope are here in profusion, and don't forget the giant Nile crocodiles basking on the mudflats and sandbanks with their jaws wide open to shed excess heat.

Enjoy a picnic lunch, then dinner and an overnight stay at your camp in the central Serengeti.

After breakfast at around 08:00, your guide will collect you for the drive to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, with game viewing along the way. Descend to the floor of the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater, a huge volcanic caldera with a permanent water supply.

The crater supports a rich variety of wildlife, from dark-maned lions – a sign of their strength and good health – to heavily wrinkled old tuskers, and it is home to the Big Five among many other eye-catching species. Enjoy a picnic lunch and a short, thrilling final game drive.

Afterwards, continue to your lodge in Arusha for dinner and a well-earned night's rest.

Enjoy a final, unhurried breakfast at your lodge. Depending on your flight schedule, your safari driver guide will collect you and transfer you comfortably by road to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your onward flight home.

This marks the end of your safari – or, if you would like to keep the adventure going, you can extend your journey to the dazzling white-sand beaches of Zanzibar for a few days by the Indian Ocean. The whole Gip Adventure team wishes you a safe journey home, full of long-lasting memories.