10-Day Great North Safari Experience

Your safari driver-guide meets you at Kilimanjaro International Airport, welcomes you warmly to Tanzania and transfers you comfortably to your hotel in Arusha, where you can recover from the long journey. Later our coordinators brief you on the adventure ahead across the great northern circuit.

Relax in the grounds and, on a clear day, admire the rugged peaks of Mount Meru, one of Africa's highest mountains. Savour a hearty dinner and your first night.

After breakfast at around 08:00, your guide collects you for the drive to Tarangire National Park, a magnificent 2,850-square-kilometre park about 120 km south-west of Arusha. It is famous for its game viewing in the dry months, when most of its mammals gather along the Tarangire River, which winds for about 120 km through the park and is the main source of water at that time.

Keep your eyes peeled for rare African wild dogs and elusive kudu. After a picnic lunch, a short game drive leads you on to your lodge in Karatu for dinner and the night.

After breakfast at around 08:00, you drive into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and descend to the floor of the magnificent Ngorongoro Caldera. With water all year round it supports a remarkable range of animals and plants: dark-maned lions in their prime, big-tusked elephants, healthy herds of buffalo, zebra and wildebeest, and a wide variety of birds.

Savour the panoramic views and varied habitats over a picnic lunch, then take a short game drive out of the crater to your lodge in Karatu for dinner and the night.

After breakfast at around 08:00, you head for the Serengeti by way of Olduvai Gorge, the 'Cradle of Mankind'. There is ample time at the Kigeni Shifting Sands, a black, magnetic volcanic dune that creeps westwards across the conservation area by about 17 metres a year, before returning to visit Olduvai Gorge and its museum. Discovered in the 1930s, the gorge is now a vital archaeological site, holding evidence of early humans and animals that lived here millions of years ago.

Continue to a Maasai boma for a genuine taste of African culture, mingling with the local people, then drive on into the Serengeti with a picnic lunch on the way. Dinner and the night are at your camp in central Serengeti, and there is time for a beautiful evening game drive.

Today is a full day of game driving across the Serengeti, following its dusty tracks to uncover the hidden treasures lying behind every bush and kopje. Lions resting in the shade, cheetahs scanning the plains and great herds of grazers are all part of the picture.

Lunch is a picnic out in the park, so you can make the most of the day before returning to your camp in central Serengeti for dinner and the night.

A third night in the park means another unhurried day of exploration. Head out early, when the predators are most active, and let your guide follow the latest sightings across the Serengeti's endless grasslands and woodlands.

Enjoy a picnic lunch in the bush and take your time with every encounter, then return to your camp in central Serengeti for dinner and your last night on the plains.

After breakfast at around 08:00, you leave the Serengeti and drive to Lake Natron. Lake Natron is a vast soda lake of around 1,040 square kilometres, some 57 km long and 22 km wide, known for its harsh, caustic waters and as the place where more than 75% of the world's lesser flamingos are born.

On the way you may glimpse Ol Doinyo Lengai, the Maasai 'Mountain of God', looming in the distance. It is the only active volcano known to produce natrocarbonatite lava, and its ash makes the surrounding grasses especially nutritious, drawing grazing animals and nursing mothers to the area.

Enjoy a welcome lunch when you reach your camp, then head out for a short game drive in the evening before dinner and the night at your tented camp.

In the early morning you set out on a thrilling four-hour trek on Ol Doinyo Lengai, the 'Mountain of God', with breakfast served as a picnic along the way.

After descending, you return to camp for lunch and a relaxing break, then take a short walk to the waterfall near the lake. Dinner and the night are at your tented camp.

After breakfast at around 08:00, you drive to Lake Manyara National Park, nestled at the base of the Great Rift Valley escarpment. It is famed for its tree-climbing lions, its evergreen groundwater forest, some of Africa's largest troops of olive baboons and a long, high canopy walkway, with permanent springs flowing from the foot of the escarpment, fed by water from the Ngorongoro highlands seeping through the porous rock.

Birdlife is abundant, with thousands of pink flamingos and large flocks of pelicans making the park a magnet for bird lovers. After a picnic lunch and a short game drive, continue to your lodge near Lake Manyara for dinner and the night.

After breakfast at around 08:00, your guide drives you towards Kilimanjaro International Airport, stopping on the way at the Meserani snake park, where you can learn about many reptiles that are very hard to spot in the wild.

From there you continue to the airport for your flight home. If you wish, you can extend your adventure to the spice islands of Zanzibar, Pemba or Mafia.