12-Day Bush to Beach Luxury Escape

Arrival in Arusha, the gateway town to Tanzania's northern safari circuit, is followed by the transfer to Kahawa House, a luxury lodge set among coffee gardens on the edge of town. Mount Meru rises behind it, and on a clear afternoon its summit stands sharp against the sky.

The first evening is deliberately unhurried, with nothing planned before the safari begins in the morning. It is a chance to rest, enjoy dinner and sleep off the journey.

The road runs south from Arusha across open Maasai country to Tarangire National Park, for a full day among its baobabs, open grassland and river country. The baobabs are enormous and many centuries old, and the elephants that move between them gather along the Tarangire River in some of the largest herds in Tanzania.

Lion, giraffe, zebra and a wide variety of plains animals are all likely through the day. The night is at Lake Burunge Tented Lodge, beside a lake less than an hour from the park.

Lake Manyara National Park is the next stop, for a day of game viewing in a remarkably varied landscape. The road enters through a lush groundwater forest, busy with baboons and blue monkeys, before opening onto the lake shore, where elephant, giraffe and buffalo graze beneath the towering Rift Valley escarpment.

The park's famous tree climbing lions are sometimes found resting in the branches, and in the right season the lake is lined with flamingos. The night is at Ngorongoro Marera Mountain View Lodge, in the highlands above.

The road climbs through the Ngorongoro highlands and then drops west onto the Serengeti, where the land opens into grassland that runs to every horizon. Two nights in the Central Serengeti begin here, an area known for its abundant resident wildlife and excellent predator sightings.

Game drives begin on arrival, among the herds and the granite kopjes. The night is at Dove Serengeti Camp, a luxury tented camp inside the park.

The second Serengeti day ranges wider, following the Seronera valley, where the riverine woodland of fig and sausage trees is a favourite resting place for leopards, often seen draped along a branch through the heat of the day.

Out on the open grassland, cheetah use termite mounds as lookouts over the plains, and lion prides rest on the kopjes. Morning and afternoon drives give the best chance of seeing all three of the big cats in a single day.

The road heads east again, back toward the highlands, for a descent into the Ngorongoro Crater, a natural amphitheatre with an astonishing concentration of wildlife inside its walls: lion and buffalo, black rhino and hippo, and great herds of zebra and wildebeest.

After the crater, the final evening of the safari is spent at Ngorongoro Marera Mountain View Lodge, in the cool air of the highlands.

A short flight carries the journey from the northern circuit to Zanzibar, trading dry plains for humid, palm lined roads and the scent of the spice island. A transfer runs north to Nungwi, at the island's tip, where white sand and calm, reef sheltered water mark the start of five nights at a very different pace.

The night is at Z Hotel, in Nungwi, with the ocean right on the doorstep.

A day at leisure in Nungwi, where the beach shelves gently into clear, reef sheltered water that is ideal for swimming at any tide.

For anyone who wants to be in the water rather than beside it, snorkelling trips out to the nearby coral gardens can be arranged locally, with turtles and bright reef fish among the regular sights.

Another open day on the coast. Stone Town, Zanzibar's old trading quarter, is a short drive away for anyone ready for a change from the beach: a half day excursion wanders its narrow lanes, past carved wooden doors, old merchant houses and a working spice market full of colour and scent.

Back in Nungwi, the afternoon is free to spend by the water.

The sea sets the pace. After a slow morning on the beach, a traditional dhow is available in the late afternoon for anyone who wants to be on the water as the light turns. Sunset over the channel, watched from the deck of a dhow, is one of Nungwi's best known sights.

The last full day on the coast, with the reef and the beach still the main attractions. A final swim, a last long lunch and the sun going down over the water make a gentle end to twelve days that began in the bush.

After breakfast, the onward transfer leaves Nungwi for the airport and the departure from Zanzibar, closing a journey from bush to beach.