13-Day Arusha, Manyara, Ngorongoro & Selous Safari

A private transfer meets the flight into Kilimanjaro International Airport and follows the road west to a lodge on the edge of Arusha National Park. Giraffe and buffalo often graze in sight of the verandah, and Mount Meru rises behind, so the safari feels as if it has already begun.

The evening is free, for rest after the journey.

Arusha National Park is so close to town that many visitors overlook it, and a full day shows what they miss. The Momella Lakes, shallow and alkaline, draw flamingos and waterbirds, their colours changing with the light, while the forested Ngurdoto Crater, seen from its rim, shelters buffalo and troops of black and white colobus monkeys.

Giraffe, zebra and warthog graze the open glades, and on a clear day both Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro stand above the park, a view few other parks can match.

The road leaves Arusha and runs west, descending into the Great Rift Valley to Lake Manyara National Park, which is reached in time for lunch. The escarpment rises sheer behind the park, and the lake stretches out below it.

The afternoon is spent at the lodge, which stands in the park's mahogany forest. From the deck, the sounds of the forest drift through the trees: birdsong, the calls of baboons, and occasionally the rustle of elephants moving past.

A full day in Lake Manyara National Park, a place of surprising variety. The drives start in the groundwater forest, where baboon troops cross the track and blue monkeys leap between the branches, and then open onto grassland along the lake shore, where elephant, giraffe, buffalo and hippo are all easily seen.

Manyara is famous for its tree climbing lions, sometimes found stretched along a branch above the track. The lake draws flamingos and pelicans in the right season, and the escarpment wall rising behind it all makes a dramatic backdrop.

One last game drive in Manyara makes the most of the morning, and then the road climbs up the escarpment and on into the Ngorongoro highlands, through farmland and forest, to the rim of the crater. Lunch is taken on arrival.

The afternoon is left free, and the lodge's view is the main event: the vast caldera spread out below, its floor two thousand feet down. The air on the rim is cool, and the evenings are often misty.

The descent starts early, before most vehicles arrive, when the morning light is soft and mist may still be lifting off the crater floor. Down there, lion, black rhino, buffalo and great herds of zebra and wildebeest share the enclosed grassland, with hippo wallowing in the pools and flamingos on the soda lake.

After a half day game drive the road climbs back up to the rim, and the afternoon is free to enjoy the lodge and the ever changing view into the crater.

A flight from Manyara airstrip carries the safari north west to the private Grumeti Reserve, bordering the western Serengeti. From the air the land flattens into open plains, woodland and the winding line of the Grumeti River.

The rest of the day is left free at camp. Grumeti is a private concession, which means very few vehicles and a sense of space and quiet that the busier parts of the Serengeti cannot offer.

The first of two full days on the reserve's private concession. The Grumeti River runs through it, and between May and July the migrating wildebeest pass through on their way north, crossing its waters, where large crocodiles lie in wait.

The rest of the year, the resident herds of zebra, topi and gazelle fill the plains, followed by lion, leopard and cheetah. The drives, morning and afternoon, have the land almost to themselves.

A second day on the concession, with the freedom that comes from having so few other vehicles around. The drives cover the plains, the hills and the riverine forest, following lion prides, cheetah on the hunt and leopards in the trees.

Sightings here are rarely shared, and the guide can stay with an animal for as long as it is worth watching. The evening is the last in the north before the flight south.

A flight south carries the safari to the Selous, Africa's largest protected wilderness area, over a landscape shaped by the Rufiji River and its chain of lakes. After the open plains of the north, the Selous looks entirely different: palm fringed lakes, sand rivers and open woodland.

The afternoon game drive gives the first look at it, with elephant, giraffe and buffalo coming down to the water.

The Selous is best known for its African wild dogs, and a full day of drives goes looking for them. A pack on the move, fast and tightly knit, is one of the most exciting sights in Africa. The reserve also holds large lion prides, big herds of buffalo and elephant, and some of Africa's largest numbers of hippo and crocodile.

Drives run in the morning and afternoon, with the rivers and lakes drawing the wildlife in through the heat of the day.

The final full day in the Selous closes the safari on the water. A boat trip on the Rufiji River glides past hippo pods, huge crocodiles basking on the sandbanks, elephants coming down to drink, and a wealth of birdlife, from fish eagles to kingfishers.

It is a peaceful way to see the reserve, and a memorable one, and a fitting end to a safari that has crossed some of Tanzania's finest wildlife country.

A flight returns to Dar es Salaam in time for the onward international connection.