8-Day Ngorongoro Crater Rim Trek with Tarangire, Serengeti and Lake Manyara

At 6 am you have a cup of coffee and drive to a Maasai boma, where, depending on the season, you watch the livestock head out in the early morning and meet the elders, young warriors, women and children, who explain family ranks, traditions and beliefs. You are back at camp at 8 am for breakfast, then drive to Ngorongoro and descend 610 metres for six hours on the crater floor with a picnic lunch, looking for black rhino, lions and elephants.

After breakfast you drive about a kilometre from Simba Campsite, with picnic lunches packed, to the start of the walk on the northern rim. You set off on foot through acacia forest with a Maasai warrior guide, armed rangers and donkeys to carry the luggage, with views down into the crater. The day covers about 17 km, and you may see giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, bushbuck and many birds along the way.

Another early start with picnic lunches for about 17 km on foot along the northern crater rim from Leyanai to Ilkiepusi, with your Maasai guide, the donkeys and an armed ranger. It takes five to six hours to cross the acacia forest, with views of the crater from the top of the rim. Buffaloes, zebras, wildebeest, elephants, giraffes and many birds all live in this forest, so keep your camera ready.

After breakfast you walk about half a kilometre to meet the vehicle, then spend the whole day on a game drive to the Serengeti plains with a picnic lunch. On the way you stop at the small but fascinating museum at Olduvai Gorge, where the Leakeys made their famous finds of early human ancestors. Watch for lions, zebras, wildebeest, giraffes and buffaloes as you cross the plains, and drive to camp after sunset.

At 5:30 am you have a cup of coffee and head out for a sunrise game drive, returning to camp for breakfast at 8 am. Then, with a picnic lunch, you spend the whole day on the Serengeti plains, home to a huge variety of animals and birds. Your guide searches the trees and kopjes for leopard and cheetah, and, in season, finds the wildebeest migration. You stay out for a sunset drive before returning to camp.

After an early breakfast you set out on a full-day game drive with a picnic lunch, leaving the Serengeti and crossing the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, where there is more wildlife to see along the way. In the afternoon you come down to Mto wa Mbu, a small, lively town below the Rift Valley escarpment where you can stop at the supermarket for anything you need. Dinner and the night are at your campsite in town.

After breakfast you spend the day in Lake Manyara National Park with a picnic lunch. The park packs giant fig trees, mahogany and acacia woodland, grassy flood plains, the soda lake and the Rift Valley wall into a small area. Look for elephants, hippos, impalas, giraffes, warthogs, blue monkeys and buffaloes, and for the tree-climbing lions. More than 400 bird species have been recorded here. In the late evening you drive back to Arusha.