Day 1 - Arusha, Tanzania

Land at Kilimanjaro International Airport today and meet the private guide who will be with you for the duration of your journey. Transfer by private car to Arusha, the gateway to Tanzania’s top national parks.  Check in to your hotel and enjoy time to relax after your flight. This afternoon, your guide will take you to an open-air market, where the locals come to buy everything from fruits and vegetables to kitchenware and shoes. Take in the sights and sounds as you wander among the stalls, and learn from your guide how to determine the quality of the merchandise—and how to barter in Swahili. (D)

Days 2-3 - Tarangire National Park

After an early breakfast, meet your guide and travel by private vehicle to Tarangire National Park, a vast wilderness area that’s often overlooked by safari-goers. Along with large herds of elephants, the park is home to substantial populations of wildebeest, zebra, impala, giraffe, eland and buffalo, as well as unusual species like the gerenuk and fringe-eared oryx. The primary landscape is dry, open woodland scattered with hundreds of Africa’s prehistoric “trees of life”—the baobab tree. Spend the day exploring the park in your private vehicle, observing wildlife and stopping for a picnic lunch in a scenic spot. Settle into your camp for the evening.

The next day, head out on safari in Tarangire’s remote southern section, where wildlife is plentiful and visitors are few. Travel through landscapes that vary between open plains, swamps, majestic baobab trees and riverine forest, with the dramatic backdrop of the Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano in the distance. Take part in walking safaris and nocturnal game drives, which are often not possible in other national parks. (B, L, D)

Days 4 - Lake Manyara National Park / Ngorongoro Highlands

Leave Tarangire and travel into the Great Rift Valley, where the shifting of tectonic plates has left a stunning landscape of extinct volcanoes, steep escarpments, and alkaline soda lakes. Our destination is Lake Manyara National Park, set on the valley floor with a backdrop of forested slopes. Here, flamingos flock to the shallows to feed, and all manner of wildlife come to drink, including Tanzania’s only tree-climbing lions. Keep an eye out for hippos, Cape buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, leopards, and colorful birds as you drive through the park with your private guide. Ascend the escarpment in the afternoon and head for your accommodation in the Ngorongoro Highlands. (B, L, D)

Days 5 - Ngorongoro Crater

Awaken early in order to be on the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater in the quiet of dawn, when the wildlife is busy with morning routines. With a diameter of up to 12 miles and a depth of some 2,000 feet, this is the world’s largest intact and unfilled caldera, and it’s teeming with diverse species. There are dense populations of predators and herbivores, and the crater walls create a natural barrier, making predator-prey interactions unusually frequent. Spend up to six hours on safari in the crater, observing a wide range of wildlife, from marabou storks and crowned cranes to cheetahs and rare black rhinos. (B, L, D)

Day 6-8 - Serengeti National Park

Say goodbye to your private guide and vehicle and hop on a light aircraft for a morning flight to the central section of Serengeti National Park. This region’s mix of acacia woodlands and grassy plains is dotted with kopjes, or rocky hills—ideal lookouts for observing wildlife. An underground river feeds numerous watering holes, drawing ungulates and plenty of big cats. The Serengeti also hosts over 500 different bird species, including a variety of bustards, bright lilac-breasted rollers, and iridescent starlings. During your time in the Serengeti, set out on shared morning and afternoon game drives from your camp, taking a break at midday for a leisurely lunch and time to unwind. In the late afternoons, take part in the safari tradition of the sundowner, pausing your game drive to raise a toast as the fiery sun sinks below the horizon. (B, L, D)

Day 9 - Depart for home

After a final morning game drive, head to the airstrip for the short flight to Kilimanjaro, where you’ll connect to your international flight home. (B)