DAY 1: ARRIVAL – TARANGIRE

Explore one of Tanzania’s most rewarding national parks, a land of big baobab trees, big elephants and big cats. No wonder this ends up being the favorite park in Tanzania for many visitors. Sightings of wildebeest, giraffes, hippos, buffaloes, baboons, vervet monkeys and zebras are also almost guaranteed. Lions are plentiful here – Tarangire is home to one of Tanzania’s healthiest lion populations. While you’ll have to work a little harder to see a cheetah or leopard, it will only enhance your excitement when you do. You can also look forward to classic safari scenery – savannah plains, river woodlands and rocky hills.

DAY 2: SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

Welcome to the Unesco World Heritage–listed Serengeti, one of Africa’s top safari destinations. While you’re here, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll see leopards along the dry riverbanks, cheetahs out on the grasslands, and elephants, giraffes and all kinds of antelopes everywhere across the park. Watch also for the Serengeti’s famous lion prides. And that’s just the start. Some of the largest and most diverse wildlife populations on the planet roam the Serengeti, not to mention millions of wildebeest and zebras who migrate across the plains every year.

DAY 3: CENTRAL SERENGETI

When you explore the Central Serengeti, you’re enjoying one of the best wildlife destinations in northern Tanzania. Here you’ll find the big populations of wildlife for which the Serengeti is famous. You’ll also have a good chance of seeing big cats. This area has plenty of northern Tanzania’s iconic acacia trees, as well as seemingly endless Serengeti horizons.

DAY 4: CENTRAL SERENGETI – NGORONGORO HIGHLANDS

Today you will continue enjoying central Serengeti and go for sleep over in Ngorongoro.

DAY 5: CRATER – ARUSHA

Your first sight of Ngorongoro Crater is likely not one you’ll easily forget. As seen from the crater rim, this natural bowl, both vast and intimate, is one of Africa’s most beautiful natural features, stretching 19 green kilometers (12 miles) from one side to the other. Down in the crater itself, you’ll explore an astonishingly rich, self-contained ecosystem that is protected by high crater walls. Here, lions and hyenas hunt wildebeest and Grant’s gazelle within sight of elephants and black rhinos. Your day spent here will reveal a surprising variety of habitats, from the real Forest and salty Lake Magadi to the plains that rise and fall gently all across the valley floor.