8-Day Mara River Migration Safari

Arrive in Arusha, transfer to your lodge and meet your guide for a briefing on the days ahead.

This is a transit and rest day. There is time to repack, catch up on sleep, and prepare for the next leg, and your guide will confirm the following day's timings with you before you turn in.

Drive south-west to Tarangire for an afternoon game drive along the river, where the dry season concentrates elephant in remarkable numbers.

The river is the whole story here in the dry season: it is the only permanent water for a considerable distance, so elephant concentrate along it in numbers matched almost nowhere else in Tanzania. Baobabs give the park a character quite unlike the Serengeti, and the birdlife along the watercourse is exceptional. Lion are resident, and leopard are seen in the riverine trees more often than most visitors expect.

Cross the Ngorongoro highlands and descend to the Serengeti, arriving in the central plains for an afternoon drive in the Seronera valley.

Game viewing begins the moment you pass the gate, with the plains widening as you drive in. Your guide will track where the migration currently sits and shape the coming days around it, whether that means the southern calving grounds or the northern river crossings.

Move north through the park, following the herds towards the Mara River. Game viewing continues throughout the transfer.

The Seronera valley holds water year-round, which is why lion, leopard and cheetah are all resident here rather than seasonal. Days are spent working the kopjes, where lion lie up on the warm rock, and the river lines where leopard rest through the heat. The scale takes time to absorb: the plains genuinely run to the horizon in every direction.

A full day along the Mara River. Crossings happen on the herds' own terms and cannot be scheduled, but the waiting is part of it, and the density of game and predators through these months is exceptional.

Game viewing begins the moment you pass the gate, with the plains widening as you drive in. Your guide will track where the migration currently sits and shape the coming days around it, whether that means the southern calving grounds or the northern river crossings.

A second full day in the north, either returning to the river or exploring the surrounding country, which holds resident lion, elephant and good numbers of giraffe.

The Seronera valley holds water year-round, which is why lion, leopard and cheetah are all resident here rather than seasonal. Days are spent working the kopjes, where lion lie up on the warm rock, and the river lines where leopard rest through the heat. The scale takes time to absorb: the plains genuinely run to the horizon in every direction.

Travel south, stopping at Olduvai Gorge, and climb to the crater rim in the afternoon for views over the floor below.

The rim sits at over two thousand metres, so evenings are genuinely cold and the views across the caldera at dusk are the reason to be up here. Your descent is timed for first light, when the floor is at its most active and before the day's vehicles arrive.

Descend into the crater at first light for a morning game drive, then continue via Lake Manyara and on to Arusha, arriving in the evening.

The park changes character every few kilometres, which is its appeal: dense groundwater forest at the entrance, then open floodplain, then the alkaline lake shore. The tree-climbing lions are the headline, resting in acacia branches through the heat, though they are never guaranteed. Baboon troops here are among the largest in Africa.