5-Day Ndutu Safari in Tanzania

Your driver-guide collects you in Arusha in the morning and heads south-west to Tarangire National Park, home to Tanzania's largest elephant population, with herds of 50 to 100 gathering along the Tarangire River among the park's famous scattered baobabs.

You'll spend the day on a game drive through the park before continuing to Eileen's Trees Inn in Karatu for your first night.

After breakfast, you'll drive up through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, crossing the highlands before descending onto the open short-grass plains of the Ndutu area, on the southern edge of the Serengeti.

You'll have a game drive on the way to camp, with lion, cheetah and the large herds of zebra and wildebeest that gather on these plains at the right time of year. You'll spend the night at Serengeti Ndutu Heritage Tented Camp.

A full day is spent exploring the Ndutu plains, woodlands and lakeshores, one of the best areas in Tanzania for big cats and, depending on the time of year, huge herds of wildebeest and zebra. Calving season is typically from January to March, when predators are most active.

You'll return to the same tented camp for a second night, with a packed lunch enjoyed out on the plains.

A final morning game drive on the Ndutu plains before you begin the drive back east, climbing up out of the Serengeti and over the Ngorongoro highlands to Karatu.

You'll spend the night at Eileen's Trees Inn, ready for an early start into the Ngorongoro Crater the next morning.

After breakfast, you'll descend into the Ngorongoro Crater — a collapsed volcano 600 metres deep and 260km² wide, home to more than 30,000 animals and the highest density of lions in Africa, alongside resident black rhino and large bull elephants.

After your crater game drive and a picnic lunch, you'll climb back up to the rim and begin the drive back to Arusha, arriving in the afternoon and marking the end of your tour.