7-Day Serengeti, Lake Natron and Ngorongoro

You'll leave Arusha after breakfast for the drive south west to Tarangire National Park, roughly two and a half hours on a mix of tarmac and dirt roads. The park sits along the Tarangire River, and its baobab-studded plains support one of the largest elephant populations in northern Tanzania, with herds often gathering at the riverbanks in the heat of the day.

You'll arrive in time for lunch at Tarangire Safari Lodge, perched above the river valley, then head out for an afternoon game drive. Your guide will work the riverine tracks and open grassland, where elephant, giraffe and buffalo are common, along with the chance of lion resting in the shade of an acacia. You'll return to the lodge as the light softens over the valley.

You'll take one more game drive in Tarangire before checking out, using the cooler morning hours when animals are more active around the river and swamp edges. From there it is a shorter drive, around ninety minutes, north to Lake Manyara National Park, which sits at the base of the Great Rift Valley escarpment.

Manyara's groundwater forest gives way quickly to open lake shore, and the park is known for its tree-climbing lions and dense hippo pools near the water's edge. Depending on rainfall, you may find flocks of flamingo working the shallows. You'll check in to Lake Manyara's Secret for the night, with an afternoon drive through the forest and along the lake shore before dinner.

After breakfast you'll climb out of the Manyara basin and up the Rift Valley escarpment towards Ngorongoro, a drive of around two hours that gains significant altitude, from roughly 1,000 metres at the lake to over 2,300 metres on the crater rim. The temperature drops noticeably as you climb through montane forest thick with olive trees and elephant grass.

You'll check in to Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge, positioned on the crater's eastern rim with views down into the caldera on clear afternoons. The rest of the day is free to settle in, with time for a short walk around the lodge grounds or simply to watch the light change over the crater floor below before an early dinner, ahead of tomorrow's descent.

You'll descend into the Ngorongoro Crater at first light for a morning game drive across its floor, roughly 600 metres below the rim and one of the most concentrated wildlife areas in Africa. Black rhino, dense wildebeest and zebra herds, and flamingo lining the edges of Lake Magadi are all part of the crater's draw, with lion often resting in the open grassland.

After lunch at the Ngoitokitok picnic site you'll climb back out and begin the long drive north east towards Lake Natron, descending through Maasai grazing lands and dry acacia country as the road drops from highland to rift floor. Lake Natron sits at under 600 metres, beneath the active volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai. You'll arrive at Lake Natron Camp by early evening.

This is a full day to explore the Lake Natron area, one of the least visited corners of the northern circuit. In the morning your guide will lead a walk to the waterfalls in the escarpment above the lake, wading through a shallow gorge to reach pools where you can swim in cool, clear water, a contrast to the caustic red shallows of the soda lake below.

In the afternoon you'll have the option to walk out onto the lake flats for closer views of the flamingo flocks that breed here, with Ol Doinyo Lengai's dark cone often visible across the plain. A guided visit to a nearby Maasai village is also possible. You'll spend a second night at Lake Natron Camp.

You'll set off early for the long drive to the Serengeti, five to six hours depending on road conditions, tracking south west across the Loliondo plains and Maasai grazing country before climbing back through the Ngorongoro highlands and dropping onto the Serengeti's short-grass plains near Naabi Hill Gate.

Once through the gate the landscape opens into the wide horizons the Serengeti is known for, with resident herds of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle scattered across the grassland depending on the season. You'll continue on to Serengeti Serena, arriving in time for a late lunch, followed by an afternoon game drive through the surrounding plains as the light lengthens and predators begin to move.

You'll have a full morning game drive through the Seronera area, the heart of the Serengeti's central plains, where riverine woodland and open grassland attract lion, leopard and cheetah alongside the resident herds. Your guide will track fresh tracks and circling vultures as clues, working the drainage lines where big cats often rest through the morning.

After a final breakfast or lunch at the lodge you'll transfer to the airstrip for a scheduled flight back to Arusha, cutting what would otherwise be a full day's drive down to under an hour in the air. From Arusha you'll connect onward to your next destination or international flight home.