The Ultimate Big 5 Safari Experience

Karibu Tanzania! On arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport, or any other arrival point, your safari driver guide will be waiting to greet you and settle you into the vehicle for the comfortable road transfer to your lodge in Arusha.

Once you have had time to unwind after the journey, our safari coordinators will brief you on the days ahead. You will have plenty of time to rest and recover from your long journey. Stroll through the peaceful lodge gardens and, if the sky is clear, catch a glimpse of the rugged peaks of Mount Meru before a hearty dinner and your first night in Tanzania.

After breakfast at around 08:00 your safari driver guide collects you for the drive to Lake Manyara National Park. Its great lake – described by Ernest Hemingway as the loveliest lake in Africa – is often fringed with pink flamingos, with the Rift Valley wall rising dramatically behind.

Explore the tall, closed canopy of the groundwater forest, look for the park's rare tree-climbing lions and enjoy a terrain and variety of habitats that give you a true sense of the wild.

After a picnic lunch, a short game drive leads you out of the park and up to your lodge in Karatu for dinner and the night.

After breakfast at around 08:00 you set off for the Serengeti through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. On the way you stop at the Shifting Sands, a huge black volcanic dune that moves steadily westwards each year, and visit Olduvai Gorge and its museum – the cradle of mankind – to learn about the discoveries buried in its four layers of rock.

Game viewing continues as you head into the central Serengeti, the heart of the park, arriving at your camp for a freshly prepared dinner.

Tonight you sleep in the wild beneath a sky full of stars, perhaps hearing the distant calls of animals in the dark – sounds of power, dominance and territory.

After breakfast at around 08:00 your safari driver guide takes you into the heart of the park for a full day of game drives, searching the bush, woodlands, forests and savannahs for the treasures they hide.

The Serengeti is a famous haven for the Big Five, all thriving in their natural habitat, and home to the millions of wildebeest that form the greatest concentration of game on earth, consuming thousands of tons of grass every day. Feel the essence of Africa – dream wild, go wild and become part of the wild.

Enjoy a picnic lunch out on the plains, then game drive back to your camp for dinner and the night.

After breakfast at around 08:00 you leave the Serengeti with game drives en route to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, then descend into the world's most celebrated volcanic caldera – the largest intact and unflooded crater on earth – to explore its 260 km² floor.

Admire the magnificent crater walls, where African fish eagles perch. Your guide may at any moment find a black rhino, a rare species living naturally here, alongside lion prides, buffalo herds, dazzles of zebra and groups of hippos. Listen out for the booming call of the Maasai ostrich, the world's largest and fastest flightless bird.

After a picnic lunch you drive to your lodge in the small town of Karatu for dinner and the night.

After breakfast at around 08:00 you drive to Tarangire National Park, famous for its huge, dark-skinned tuskers, tree-climbing pythons and rarer carnivores such as the cheetah, as well as the ruthless hunters of savannah and woodland – spotted hyenas and African painted dogs.

Follow the Tarangire River, the park's lifeline, where animals concentrate in great numbers during the dry season, and look for elusive kudus among the thickets.

After a picnic lunch you return to your lodge in Arusha for a hot shower, a well-earned dinner and the night.

After breakfast at around 08:00, and depending on your flight time, your safari driver guide transfers you to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your international flight home.

Alternatively, extend your journey with a few days on the dazzling white beaches and crystal-clear waters of Zanzibar, Pemba or Mafia – the perfect way to unwind after your safari.