With the first rays of the sun and the early birdsong, we’ll be up to welcome our second safari day. We’ll also enjoy our first safari breakfast before heading out to the great Serengeti.

Along our route, we’ll break up the drive with a relaxing picnic lunch.

Then we will arrive at the famous Serengeti – the almost treeless plains with its vast expanse of wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, impala, thousands of lions, and leopards.

Look here as well for the over 50,000 buffalo, dotting the immense grasslands.

Drive 215 km 4 hours

As you enjoy your game drives throughout the day, you’ll soon appreciate how the Serengeti has come to be called one of the “Seven Natural Wonders of Africa”, with its millions of predators and grazers, roaming under a canopy of 500 bird species.

Even the name Serengeti comes from the Maasai phrase “siringet”, meaning “endless plains”, a testament to this immense world of wildlife discovered throughout our time here.

We’ll break up the day with a hearty lunch to fortify ourselves for the active game drives over these great plains. The balance of the day will bring us tracking more wildlife like monkey, baboon, wild dog, and honey badger.

In the park’s forest areas, look for hippo and even crocodile in its meandering rivers.

There is nothing like awakening to the dawning colours of the sun breaking over the African plains. Perhaps we’ll do some early morning exploring before pausing for a safari breakfast.

Then it’s time to jump into our 4 x 4 Jeep and set out for the Ngorongoro Crater.

On the way, we’ll pause at one of the most unique spots on the planet – Oldupai Gorge where significant artifacts of early man were discovered. The site is a trove of insights into our ancestors dating back hundreds of thousands of years.

Then we’ll drive up to the crest of the extinct volcanic crater that is Ngorongoro. The planet’s largest intact caldera, it hosts its own world of big cats, elephants, gazelles, zebras – over 25,000 animals in a self-contained valley-like plain at the core of the extinct volcano.

This is where we will spend our next day exploring.

In addition to the wonderful views here, you can also take an optional visit to a nearby Maasai boma. This is a local destination of indigenous Maasai villagers, where for a small fee you can learn about their culture and their traditions.

Drive 160 km 3 hours

After breakfast, we’ll get into the 4 x 4 and head down the crater wall into the heart of the caldera. This is a green world of grasslands, marshes, and acacia forest boasting the highest density of predators on the continent.

But in addition to lions and leopards, you can find endangered black rhinos in this marvelous eco-system and even pink flamingoes!

Amidst this wildlife splendor, we’ll stop and refresh with a picnic lunch before continuing with more drives looking for everything from golden jackals to hippos.

Come late afternoon, we’ll ascend back up the crater wall after a full day of animal spotting.

Let’s enjoy breakfast with the light breaking over this fascinating volcanic landscape before we embark to Tarangire National Park.

We’ll make a lunch stop along the way and arrive around midday.

Elephants may well be Tarangire’s calling card – over 3,000 of these majestic creatures roam this compact but vibrant park. But sightings of lions are not uncommon.

Another distinctive attraction of the reserve is the great stands of baobab trees that populate its savannahs. These distinctive trees with their fat trunks and short branches are picturesque sentinels seemingly guarding these ancient plains.

Drive 150 km 3 hours

Breakfast and now it’s time once again to climb into our 4 x 4 and hit the road.

We’ll break up our drive back with a lunch stop at a comfortable restaurant and perhaps share thoughts about our safari week. Heading to Moshi for overnight and dinner.

Drive 210 km 4 hours

After the early breakfast, transfer to Kilimanjaro National Park will take around 1 hour. You will be driven to the western side of the mountain and up through the forests to the Londorossi Gate, at an altitude of 2,100m, where the hike begins. The ascent is over 1,000m, moving steadily up through tropical montane forests, home to a variety of animals and birdlife. With the help of your guide, you may spot colobus monkeys, crested turacos and more. Your hike takes you up to the vast Shira Plateau, at 3,400m, a 500,000-year-old volcanic caldera that is now a World Heritage Site. You can stop for lunch here, or continue on to Shira 1 Camp, Lion Gorge and the foothills of the Shira Pinnacles. Kilimanjaro’s iconic snow-covered table top, Kibo Peak, should be visible from here. For those with limited fitness or mobility, it is possible to drive all the way up to the Shira Plateau and then gently explore the surrounding areas on foot. Reasonable levels of fitness would be ideal for the longer hike. Then, at the end of the Shira Plateau day hike, most walkers are driven the full way back to the accommodation.

After breakfast and check out you will be taken to the Kilimanjaro International airport for your flight.