5 Day Tanzania Safari: Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro

Arusha to Tarangire National Park

You leave Arusha after breakfast and watch the farms fall away — about two hours to the baobabs, the park gate and the river. Tarangire is the beginning, not a transfer with a short game drive tacked on. You ride a private Land Cruiser, pop-up roof up, window seat yours for the whole trip.

Call it elephant country and you are right. In the dry months, whole families use the Tarangire River and the Silale swamp. Giraffe work the acacias; lion use the shade of the same giants you came to photograph. Picnic in the park so you are still there when the light tilts and the herds move toward water.

Which track is quiet that week is a question for your Super Luxury Safaris' Guide, not a distant call centre convoy. The Super Luxury Safaris Team remains on WhatsApp after dinner.

Overnight: in the Karatu highlands, in the camping, mid-range, luxury or high-end lodge named on your

Tarangire to Central Serengeti

The horizon opens as you climb through Iraqw farmland, stop at the Ngorongoro viewpoint, and drop through Naabi onto the Serengeti. Grassland this wide rearranges how you think about space. Afternoon is for the Seronera River — lion on the kopjes, leopard in the sausage trees if the day is kind, zebra and gazelle on the open grass.

Most guests have held this moment since they booked. We do not rush it. A picnic or a late lodge lunch, then a slower drive, so camp is reached with the sun still on the plains.

Dinner and overnight in the Serengeti, in the camp or lodge class named on your quote.

Overnight: in the Serengeti, in the camp or lodge class named on your quote

Full day in Serengeti National Park

No long transfer today. That is the point of sleeping in the Serengeti instead of driving through it. We leave in the cool, carry a picnic, and stay with whatever the morning offers — a hunt, a crossing of resident herds, a kopje that has a leopard on it if you sit still.

In the dry months we work the riverine strips. From December to March we can lean south toward Ndutu when the calves are on the short grass. A balloon at first light is there if you want it; it is not hidden inside the base package. The rest of the day is yours, in your own vehicle, with a Super Luxury Safaris' Guide who would rather you see one pride well than ten animals from a traffic jam.

Dinner and overnight in the Serengeti, in the camp or lodge class named on your quote.

Overnight: in the Serengeti, in the camp or lodge class named on your quote

Serengeti to Ngorongoro

Game-drive east toward the crater highlands after a last dawn on the plains. This transfer is not empty tarmac. The conservation area still holds giraffe, eland and Maasai herds on the open slopes.

If the lodge class you chose sits on the edge, the caldera is below you. Evening is on the rim or in Karatu. Sleep early. Tomorrow is the descent.

Overnight: on the Ngorongoro rim or in Karatu, depending on the lodge class you chose

Ngorongoro Crater to Arusha

While the grass is still cold we drop roughly 600 metres onto the crater floor. That is the morning that sells the northern circuit. Zebra, wildebeest and buffalo pack the short grass; hippo hold the pools; lion are often in the open. Black rhino are never guaranteed, and we never pretend they are, yet this closed caldera is the fairest chance you will have.

You will talk about this day for years. Picnic lunch stays on the floor, not a rushed snack at the gate. We climb out with time to wash off the dust and pace it so you are still looking, not watching the clock.