Wild North: Lake Natron, Serengeti, Ngorongoro & Lake Eyasi

Transfer ~1 hr
Karibu Tanzania! Your guide meets you at Kilimanjaro International Airport and takes you to Arusha, about an hour's drive away.

This is a trip with some rough roads and hot days ahead, so use the afternoon to rest. Your hotel is a comfortable base before you head into the wilder parts of the north.

In the evening, your guide runs through the plan for the week, including what to wear for the walks at Lake Natron and the early start with the Hadzabe at Lake Eyasi.

Meals: Dinner

Drive 4–5 hrs
After breakfast, drive west to Mto wa Mbu, then turn north onto a rough track along the floor of the Great Rift Valley. The landscape becomes drier and more dramatic, passing Maasai villages, acacia plains and the extinct Gelai volcano, with the perfect cone of Ol Doinyo Lengai rising ahead.

Arrive at Lake Natron in the early afternoon and check in to your camp near the village of Engare Sero. After lunch, rest through the heat of the day.

In the late afternoon, walk with a Maasai guide across the plains to the lakeshore. Watch lesser flamingos feeding in the shallows, with Ol Doinyo Lengai glowing in the evening light behind them. Return to camp for dinner under a sky full of stars.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Walks 2–4 hrs
Start early to avoid the heat. Walk with your guide to the Engare Sero footprint site, where hundreds of human footprints, thought to be thousands of years old, are preserved in volcanic mud. Your guide explains how the site was found and what it tells us about the people who made them.

Return to camp for lunch and a rest. In the afternoon, hike up the Engare Sero gorge, following the river between steep cliffs. The walk involves wading through the river and climbing over rocks, ending at a beautiful waterfall with a natural pool where you can swim.

Return to camp in the early evening for dinner. If you have booked the optional Ol Doinyo Lengai climb, you will rest in the evening and set off around midnight.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Drive 6–7 hrs with game viewing
After breakfast, leave Lake Natron and climb the steep western wall of the Rift Valley, with amazing views back over the lake and the Rift Valley. Drive through the remote Loliondo area, a landscape of Maasai settlements and acacia woodland.

Enter the Serengeti at Klein's Gate in the north-east, a part of the park that few visitors see. Picnic lunch along the way.

Game drive through the eastern and central Serengeti towards your camp, watching for lions, cheetahs, elephants and giraffes along the way.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Full-day game drives
A whole day to explore the Serengeti with no long transfers. Head out early, when lions and cheetahs are most active and the plains glow in the first light.

Your guide chooses the route based on the season and recent sightings, perhaps the kopjes of the central Serengeti, where lions lounge on the rocks, or the river valleys, where leopards rest in the trees. Keep an eye out for elephants, giraffes, hyenas and herds of topi and gazelle. Lunch is a picnic on the plains.

Return to camp in the late afternoon to freshen up before dinner.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Drive 4–5 hrs with game viewing
After an early game drive, start making your way out of the Serengeti, heading south-east across the plains.

Once you enter the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, you can stop at Olduvai Gorge, a key site in the story of human evolution, or meet a Maasai family at their boma (optional).

In the afternoon, drive up to the highlands to your lodge on the crater rim or in Karatu, ready for the crater tomorrow.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Crater tour ~6 hrs · Drive ~2 hrs
Rise early to descend into the Ngorongoro Crater for a morning game drive, with excellent chances of seeing black rhino, lion, elephant, buffalo, hippos and flamingos. Enjoy a picnic lunch on the crater floor.

In the afternoon, climb out of the crater and drive south-west, about 2 hours, to Lake Eyasi, a shallow soda lake at the foot of the Eyasi escarpment, lined with palm trees.

Check in to your camp, and in the evening, your guide explains the plans for tomorrow's early start with the Hadzabe.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Cultural visits ~4 hrs · Drive 4–5 hrs
Wake before dawn and drive a short distance to meet a group of Hadzabe, one of the last hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa. Join them around the fire as they prepare for the day, then follow them into the bush as they hunt with bows and arrows and gather berries, roots and honey. You can try your hand at archery and fire-making.

Next, visit a Datoga family. The Datoga are skilled pastoralists and blacksmiths, and you watch them forge arrowheads and jewellery from scrap metal, as the Hadzabe trade with them for arrowheads.

Return to camp for a late breakfast, then drive back to Arusha, about 4 hours, with a stop for lunch. Continue to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your evening flight. Kwaheri!

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Overnight: End of tour