10-Day Serengeti, Ngorongoro & Materuni Waterfalls Safari

Karibu Tanzania. Your guide meets you at Kilimanjaro International Airport and drives you about 45 minutes to Moshi, the green town at the foot of Kilimanjaro. On a clear afternoon the mountain's snowy summit rises right behind the town. You check in to The Maridadi Hotel, a quiet boutique hotel with a garden and pool. Your guide runs through the ten days ahead with you over dinner.

Where you sleep: Budget: Weru Weru River Lodge · Mid-range: The Maridadi Hotel · Luxury: Kilimanjaro Luxury Camp

Meals: Breakfast and dinner

Guide's tip: Look out at sunrise. Kilimanjaro is usually clearest in the early morning, before the clouds build.

After breakfast you drive about 45 minutes up to Materuni village on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro. A local Chagga guide leads you on a walk of about an hour through banana and coffee farms to the Materuni waterfall, which drops some 80 metres into a cool pool where you can swim. Back in the village you join a family for a coffee experience: picking, roasting and grinding the beans by hand, with songs, before tasting the cup. In the afternoon you drive about 1.5 hours to Arusha for the night.

Where you sleep: Budget: Kibo Palace Hotel · Mid-range: Four Points by Sheraton Arusha · Luxury: Gran Meliá Arusha

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Guide's tip: Wear trainers with a good grip; the path to the falls is muddy after rain. Bring a swimsuit under your clothes.

After breakfast you drive about two hours to Tarangire National Park. You spend the day among giant baobabs and big elephant families, with lion, giraffe, zebra, buffalo and more than 500 bird species. From June to October the Tarangire River draws animals from far away. In the afternoon you check in to Sangaiwe Tented Lodge, on a ridge just outside the park with views over Lake Burunge and the plains.

Where you sleep: Budget: Burunge Tented Lodge · Mid-range: Sangaiwe Tented Lodge · Luxury: Tarangire Kuro Treetops Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Guide's tip: Sangaiwe's deck is one of the best sunset spots in the area. Ask for a sundowner there before dinner.

A short drive of about 1.5 hours brings you to Lake Manyara National Park, beneath the Rift Valley wall. You drive through cool groundwater forest with blue monkeys and baboons, then out to acacia woodland and the lake shore, with elephants, buffalo, giraffe, hippos and some 350 bird species. Manyara's lions sometimes climb trees. In the afternoon you continue up to Karatu for the night.

Where you sleep: Budget: Bougainvillea Safari Lodge · Mid-range: Ngorongoro Coffee Lodge · Luxury: Ngorongoro Oldeani Mountain Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Guide's tip: Ask your guide about the Manyara treetop walkway. It is a short, gentle walk in the forest canopy and a good leg stretch.

After breakfast you cross the Ngorongoro highlands and descend to the Serengeti plains, about 5 hours with game viewing all the way. You arrive in the Central Serengeti, around the Seronera River, which has water all year and the park's highest number of big cats. After an afternoon game drive you check in to your camp for two nights.

Where you sleep: Budget: Sueños de África Camp · Mid-range: Arukore Simba Camp · Luxury: Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Guide's tip: On the drive in, stop at the Olduvai Gorge viewpoint if you are interested in human history. It is only a short detour.

A full day in the Central Serengeti with morning and afternoon game drives. The plains and kopjes are home to lion prides, leopards in the riverside trees and cheetahs hunting on the short grass. From November to June the migration herds can be close by; from July to October they are further north, but resident wildlife is excellent all year. An optional sunrise balloon flight is possible this morning.

Where you sleep: Budget: Sueños de África Camp · Mid-range: Arukore Simba Camp · Luxury: Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Guide's tip: Take a full-day drive with a picnic rather than returning to camp at noon. The middle of the day is often when cheetahs hunt.

After breakfast you drive out of the Serengeti to the Ngorongoro Crater, about 3 hours, and descend 600 metres to the crater floor for a game drive. The crater is the best place in Tanzania for black rhino, and it also holds lion, buffalo, elephant, zebra, wildebeest, hyena and flamingos. After a picnic lunch at the hippo pool you climb back to the rim and drive to Marera Valley Lodge in the highlands for the night.

Where you sleep: Budget: Marera Valley Lodge · Mid-range: Ngorongoro Coffee Lodge · Luxury: Ngorongoro Meliá Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Guide's tip: Ask to stop at the rim viewpoint on the way out. The view back over the whole crater is the best of the day.

An early start of about 1.5 hours takes you to Lake Eyasi, a long soda lake below the Rift Valley wall. You join the Hadzabe, one of the last hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa, as they go out hunting with bows and arrows and look for honey and roots. Later you visit a Datoga family, pastoralists and skilled blacksmiths who make arrowheads and jewellery from scrap metal. After lunch you return to the highlands for the night.

Where you sleep: Budget: Marera Valley Lodge · Mid-range: Ngorongoro Coffee Lodge · Luxury: Ngorongoro Meliá Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Guide's tip: Ask questions. The Hadzabe are proud of their skills, and our guide translates from Swahili so you can talk with them.

After a relaxed breakfast you drive about 3 hours back to Arusha, stopping at the Mto wa Mbu market for fruit and crafts. The afternoon is free for shopping at the Maasai market or the Cultural Heritage Centre, a coffee tasting or simply a rest at the hotel. You spend your last night at Kibo Palace Hotel.

Where you sleep: Budget: Kibo Palace Hotel · Mid-range: Four Points by Sheraton Arusha · Luxury: Gran Meliá Arusha

Meals: Breakfast and dinner

Guide's tip: If you want to buy tanzanite or Makonde carvings, the Cultural Heritage Centre in Arusha has fixed prices and certificates.

After breakfast your guide drives you to Kilimanjaro International Airport, about an hour away, for your flight home or onwards to Zanzibar.

Where you sleep: No overnight: transfer to the airport

Meals: Breakfast

Guide's tip: If you have room in your bag, take home some Kilimanjaro coffee from the Materuni farmers. It is a gift people remember.