12-Day Tanzania Safari & Zanzibar Holiday

After breakfast you drive about two and a half hours west to Tarangire National Park. The Tarangire River is the only permanent water for miles around, and in the dry months it draws some of the largest elephant herds in Tanzania. You spend the day game driving among giant baobabs, looking for buffalo, giraffe, zebra, lion and the shy lesser kudu, with a picnic lunch in the park. The night is at a lodge or tented camp near the park.

A short drive north brings you to Lake Manyara National Park, set beneath the steep wall of the Rift Valley. The track starts in groundwater forest, where baboons and blue monkeys move through the fig and mahogany trees, and then opens out onto the lakeshore, where flamingos and pelicans feed in the shallows. Watch the acacias for the park's tree-climbing lions. In the evening you check in near the park, at Mto wa Mbu or up on the Karatu highlands.

Today you climb onto the Ngorongoro highlands, pass the forested rim of the crater and drop down onto the short-grass plains that lead into Serengeti National Park. The drive itself is a game drive once you reach the plains, with gazelle, zebra and wildebeest often in sight. You reach the central Serengeti in the afternoon and spend the last hours of daylight looking for lions on the kopjes before dinner at camp.

This whole day belongs to the Serengeti. You head out with a picnic lunch and follow the rivers and kopjes of the central plains, where resident lions, leopards in the riverine trees and cheetahs on the open grass are all possible. Depending on the month, your guide may also go looking for the great herds of the wildebeest migration. You return to camp as the light fades, with time to talk over the day's sightings at dinner.

You leave the Serengeti early and drive back to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, then descend about 600 metres onto the crater floor for an afternoon game drive. The crater is one of the best places in Tanzania to see black rhino, and lion, elephant, buffalo, hippo and flamingo share the grassland, swamps and soda lake. In the late afternoon you climb out to your lodge on the crater rim, where the evenings are cool.

Breakfast comes with a view over the crater before you drive back down through the farmland of Karatu and past Lake Manyara to Arusha, arriving in the early afternoon. The rest of the day is free. You can browse the markets and craft shops in town, or simply rest at your hotel and repack for the beach. Your specialist will confirm tomorrow's flight time and transfer.

After breakfast you are driven to the airport for the short flight to Zanzibar. On landing, your driver meets you and takes you to your beach hotel on the north coast, around Nungwi or Kendwa, where the sea stays deep enough to swim at every state of the tide. The afternoon is for settling in, a first swim in the Indian Ocean and watching the dhows sail past at sunset.

You have three days to enjoy the island in your own way. Spend a morning in Stone Town, a World Heritage Site of carved doors, narrow lanes and busy markets. Walk through a spice farm and taste the cloves, cinnamon and vanilla that made Zanzibar famous. Look for the rare red colobus monkeys in Jozani Forest, or sail out to Prison Island. Or simply stay on the beach and snorkel over the reef. Your specialist can book any of these trips for you.

Enjoy a last swim and a slow breakfast. Depending on your flight time, there may be a chance for a final walk along the beach or some souvenir shopping in Stone Town. Your driver then collects you from the hotel and takes you to Zanzibar's airport for your onward flight. If you would like to stay longer on the island, your specialist can add extra nights before you book your flights.