9-Day Ultimate Tanzania Luxury Safari (Tarangire, Ngorongoro, Serengeti, Mto wa Mbu)

On arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport, or any other arrival point, a member of the Gip Adventure team welcomes you to Tanzania and drives you to your lodge in Arusha, the city often called the Geneva of Africa.

Our safari coordinators brief you on the days ahead. Take a stroll through the peaceful lodge gardens, look out for the rugged summit of Mount Meru, and enjoy your first dinner in Tanzania before a restful night.

After breakfast at around 08:00 your guide drives you to Tarangire National Park, some 120 kilometres south-west of Arusha. The park covers 2,850 square kilometres and is famous for the animals that gather along the Tarangire River, which rises in the Kondoa highlands of central Tanzania and winds for around 120 kilometres through the park before emptying into Lake Burunge.

You game-drive your way through the park, with a picnic lunch along the way and a thrilling afternoon drive among the elephants, giraffes and baobabs. In the evening you arrive at your lodge in Tarangire for dinner and your first night in the African bush.

Today is a full day of exploring with your expert guide, who knows exactly where to look. This is the day to uncover Tarangire's hidden treasures: rare packs of African wild dogs, elusive kudu, gerenuk standing motionless behind the bushes, great dark-skinned elephants, lions lazing in the shade and, if you are lucky, a python coiled in a tree. Spotted hyenas may be seen squabbling over a carcass, while the tall termite mounds shelter families of dwarf and banded mongoose.

After a picnic lunch and a short afternoon game drive you return to your lodge. In the evening, gather round a crackling campfire beneath a starry sky with a hot or cold drink, swap stories of the day and enjoy a night in the bush in true style.

After breakfast you drive about 70 kilometres to Lake Manyara National Park, game-viewing as you go. The park is named after its shallow soda lake, which covers some 200 square kilometres depending on the season and which Ernest Hemingway described as the loveliest lake in Africa. Flocks of pink flamingos filter-feed in its shallows alongside waterfowl, waders and many other birds.

A few kilometres from the main gate, the hippo pool viewpoint reveals large pods of hippos, while zebras, warthogs, buffalo and troops of baboons roam the forests and grasslands. The Rift Valley wall towers 600 metres above, and at its foot lie hot springs hot enough, at over 60°C, to boil an egg in 30 minutes. The park sits beside the busy market town of Mto wa Mbu, where further activities can be arranged.

After a picnic lunch and a short game drive you climb the Rift Valley wall to your lodge in Karatu for dinner and the night.

After breakfast you set off for the Serengeti, game-viewing on the way. You visit Olduvai Gorge, the cradle of mankind, and the Shifting Sands, a great black dune of magnetic volcanic ash, and stop at a Maasai boma to say hello to the people who live on these plains.

After a picnic lunch you cross into the central Serengeti, with its golden, open plains and rolling landscape, a land that seems to run on forever. This is the stage for the great wildebeest migration, the herds always moving in search of fresh grazing and good calving grounds, followed by spotted hyenas, African wild dogs and other predators.

After a short game drive you arrive at your camp in the heart of the Serengeti for dinner and a night in the African bush.

After breakfast at around 08:00 you venture deep into the Serengeti for a full day of game drives. Depending on the season, the plains are a green carpet after the rains or a golden-brown one in the dry months, and the park is full of superb spots for watching wildlife.

Depending on the season, the plains may be filled with vast herds of wildebeest and zebra. At the right time of year they gather on the banks of the 395-kilometre Mara River, which rises in central Kenya and empties into Lake Victoria, and plunge across while huge Nile crocodiles lie in wait beneath the surface. It is the cycle of life at its rawest: the weak and the stragglers fall to the predators that shadow the herds.

After a long, rewarding day you return to your camp for dinner and a night in the heart of the bush.

A second full day in the Serengeti lets you follow up on yesterday's sightings or explore new areas. Your guide may head for the kopjes where lions and leopards rest, the rivers where crocodiles bask, or wherever the herds have moved overnight.

The Serengeti is home to the Big Five and to the scavengers that follow them, and every drive brings a new scene. Enjoy hearty meals in the bush, a picnic lunch on the plains and a last evening at your camp in the heart of the African wilderness.

After breakfast you game-drive out of the central Serengeti to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and descend 610 metres into the crater, the world's largest intact, unflooded volcanic caldera. Its 260 square kilometres of floor are a natural sanctuary teeming with life, ringed by steep walls dotted with volcanic rock and centred on a salty lake rich in birdlife.

Your guide tracks down the crater's treasures: black rhino, dark-maned lions in their prime, large herds of buffalo and wildebeest, and hippos wallowing in the pools. Listen for the deep booming call of the ostrich, the world's largest and strongest flightless bird.

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

After breakfast you drive down to Mto wa Mbu, the village known as 'Mosquito Creek', for a day immersed in local life. Join the villagers in their daily activities: cook local dishes, herd the cattle, visit the farms and enjoy a bike ride towards Lake Manyara National Park.

Savour local food and drink, pick up a little of the language and listen to the community's traditional stories. In the late afternoon you drive back via Arusha to Kilimanjaro International Airport in time for your international flight home (transfer timing depends on your flight schedule). The Gip Adventure team wishes you a safe journey and a lifetime of memories.