After arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) in Arusha, you’ll meet your expedition leaders Piritta and Niina and local wildlife guides. It’s just a 30-minute transfer to the charming Rivertrees Country Inn, a lush oasis outside the safari capital of Arusha, where you can unwind after the flight.

Rivertrees is an old coffee estate in the foothills of Mt Meru, surrounded by a secluded forest and river: both monkeys and birds love the spot. Depending on your arrival time, you can laze by the swimming pool, indulge in a massage, or explore the paths meandering by the river for photographing monkeys and birds.

Al-fresco lunch or candle-lit dinner at own cost, depending on your arrival time (all other days on this safari are full-board including breakfast, lunch, and dinner).

Accommodation: Rivertrees Country Inn (B&B)

After breakfast, we will embark towards a lesser-visited Maasai boma in the lush rainforest of Monduli Juu area, just 50 km northwest of Arusha. Today’s main destination is Tarangire National Park where we’ll have our first afternoon game drive spotting elephants and other wildlife before checking in to our camp inside the national park.

Our drive from Arusha through Monduli Juu to Tarangire is one of the visual joys of the day, and we’ll have many exciting photo ops on the way. You will have your own row in the safari vehicle with plenty of room to move around, store your camera gear, and access both sides of the vehicle. We often stumble upon wildlife while transiting between two safari destinations – there’s never a dull moment!

First, we’ll linger through the safari capital of Arusha, taking in the bustle of the city and its colorful markets. Hopefully, we’ll also get great shots of Mount Meru and snow-capped Kilimanjaro, towering upon the cityscape.

Visiting Maasai villages has become so popular that the cultural experiences nearby national parks aren’t authentic or rewarding for the photographers. Thus, we’ll take you off the beaten path to the highlands of Monduli Juu to meet the Maasai. You can freely take photos of the Maasai as they show us around their homes, and the chief explains their pastoralist culture. The visit will end traditionally in the form of adumu, the world-famous jumping dance that translates into vibrant photos.

We’ll enjoy a packed, hot lunch at a scenic spot in the highlands of Monduli Juu. On a clear day, the views toward Mount Meru and the Rift Valley are gorgeous, and the birding is excellent, too!

On our way to Tarangire National Park, we pass more Maasai settlements, and probably also wildlife that coexists here with the pastoralists. In Tarangire, we enjoy a long afternoon game drive, when our guides search for the best wildlife sightings to photograph. Our guides are some of the best of their profession, so they will tell us a lot about the species we encounter – and they are always up to any questions you may have. We will experience the African bush to the fullest from the first day, and check in the lodge for sundowners and dinner.

Tarangire National Park has the greatest concentration of wildlife in Tanzania, ranging from a large variety of birds to lions, leopards, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, buffaloes, antelopes, and elephants. The Tarangire River is a magnet for thirsty wildlife, especially in the dry season.

Tarangire is particularly known for its huge herds of elephants and provides unique chances to observe the interaction between elephant families and the function of their complex societies, led by the matriarchs. This is also the place in Tanzania where dry-country antelope such as oryx and gerenuk, also known as giraffe gazelle, can be spotted.

Tarangire’s ancient baobab trees and breathtaking views of the Maasai Steppe provide spectacular setting for a safari – and we have interesting landscapes to photograph in addition to the wildlife.

We’ll stay two nights in Tarangire Safari Lodge, a luxurious tented camp known for its prime location inside the national park and panoramic views. The classic safari tents introduce you to the fascinating life in the African bush with all the needed modern comforts, but feeling at one with nature. Hopefully, lion roars and hyena calls would lull us to sleep, or elephants would visit the camp during the lazy midday hours!

We still have time until the afternoon to chase all the missing frames and wildlife sightings in Tarangire National Park. In late afternoon, we’ll check-in to charming Ngorongoro Farmhouse for a relaxed evening, getting ready for tomorrow’s epic adventures in Ngorongoro and Serengeti.

We recommend grabbing early morning coffee and snacks before a long morning drive. Then, you can either return to the lodge for hot breakfast and lunch and search for the best sightings for the rest of the time or you can spend the whole day on game drives with picnic breakfast and lunch.

We’ll depart Tarangire in the afternoon. It’s a 2-hour drive to our next destination, Karatu, just outside the gate of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We will pass scenic Lake Manyara National Park and the village of Mto wa Mbu with an option to explore the colorful local market and the culture around it.

After hectic days in Tarangire National Park, you will have the opportunity to relax for the late afternoon hours in the beautiful Ngorongoro Farmhouse, an old coffee plantation. Lounge by the swimming pool, stroll through fragrant gardens spotting birds, or get to know coffee producing process. It’s time to gather energy and prepare our gear for early morning crater descent to one of the most spectacular natural places in the world – the Ngorongoro Crater.

In the evening we will enjoy a sunset over extinct Oldeani volcano to be followed with a delicious dinner and maybe some bush stories around the fire, under the stars.

Accommodation: Ngorongoro Farmhouse (full-board: BLD)

After early breakfast at Ngorongoro Farmhouse, we will descend to the Ngorongoro Crater for a long game drive at the crater floor, and then proceed through Ngorongoro Conservation Area to Central Serengeti. It will be an exciting full-day game drive, and you can expect to capture both magical wildlife sightings and sceneries.

The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest unfolded and unbroken caldera in the world – about 20 kms across, 600 meters deep, and 300 sq km in total. It’s the 7th Wonder of the World, and also known as the Eden of Africa.

Already from the crater rim, we can begin to pick out the familiar shapes of elephant and buffalo on the crater floor, mingled with zebra, wildebeest, and gazelles. The Ngorongoro Crater has some of Africa’s greatest concentrations of big predators like lions, leopards, and hyenas, and it’s the best place in Tanzania to see the endangered black rhinos. We’ll break the game drive by enjoying packed lunch by a hippo pool. If we’re lucky, we might even see flamingos in the crater’s lakes.

In the afternoon, we will drive cross the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to the Serengeti National Park. The drive meanders by the volcanos and Maasai settlements, and we can stop anytime to take photos of the landscape or wildlife. On our way to the camp, we will have a late afternoon game drive with photo opportunities in the beautifully diminishing, filtered light.

After arriving at the luxurious Serengeti Sametu Camp in Central Serengeti, it’s time for a good dinner. We’ll stay 2 nights in this unfenced camp, surrounded with wildlife roaming through the open grassland all around us. At night, only canvas walls separate us from nature, and we can hear the calls and cries of the savanna.

Accommodation: Karibu Sametu Camp (full board: BDL)

A full day of unlimited game drives in the central Serengeti National Park.

Serengeti means “endless plains” in Swahili, and when you drive out to the open savanna, you will see how this place truly lives up to its name.

The Central Serengeti, also called Seronera, lies at the heart of this iconic national park. Abundant resident wildlife and quintessential acacia-studded savanna makes Seronera a fantastic year-round destination for photographers and nature enthusiasts.

Seronera area is rich in lions, leopards, and cheetahs – and often all of them may be spotted in one day of game drives. Nothing is still guaranteed in the wild but that is exactly what makes it so interesting – you never know what you will see when you head out to the game drive. And the bush sure can surprise you!

In the varied habitats of rivers, swamps, kopjes, and grasslands we can also find elephants, hippos, crocodiles, buffalos, impala, topic, jackals, and even bat-eared foxes. The area nearby our camp has large numbers of big cats and is particularly famous for its cheetah population.

We recommend the same, field-tested formula: early morning coffee and snacks at the camp to be followed with a proper morning game drive, then full breakfast and lunch in the camp and relaxing for the hottest hours before returning to the game drive loops in the afternoon. But we are open to your personal wishes and can adapt the schedule to the groups’ likings. For example, after a hearty breakfast in the camp, you will have the opportunity to depart again to the bush and come back for lunch around 12AM-1.30PM. After lunch, you can browse through photos or have some precious “DNA moments” (DNA stands for: “Do Nothing At All”) before heading out again for evening game drive around 3.30-4 PM. It’s also possible to do a full-day game drive with packed breakfast and lunch.

On our last evening in Seronera, we’ll enjoy complimentary sundowners in the bush before returning to the camp for dinner.

Accommodation: Karibu Sametu Camp (full-board: BLD)

After breakfast, we will drive from the Central Serengeti to the northern part of the park, towards the Mara River.

It’s approximately 140 kilometers and about 4-hour drive but certainly not just a transit: it’s an utmost privilege to witness the endless plains of Serengeti from south to north. We consider it as one long game drive, searching for animals on our route.

After arrival in the luxurious Karibu Mara River Camp, we will enjoy a late lunch and some downtime before the evening drive. We’ll stay the next 3 nights in this stunning location, just a stone throw from the Mara River, where the iconic wildebeest crossings happen.

Around 3.30-4 PM, we will explore the shores of the Mara River for the first time in search of the Great Migration and the hungry predators. We will then return to camp after sunset to have some cold drinks and a great dinner.

Accommodation: Karibu Mara River Camp (full-board: BLD)

Accommodation: Karibu Mara River Camp (full-board: BLD)