The Great Migration

The journey, day by day

This is the shape; your specialist adjusts regions and lodges to your travel month before anything is booked.

1. Day 1

   Arrive Kilimanjaro

   Met at the aircraft steps, then thirty minutes to a coffee-farm lodge outside Arusha. Sleep off the flight properly — the safari starts rested.

   Coffee-estate lodge, Arusha

2. Day 2

   Tarangire

   Two hours west and you are among the elephant herds beneath the baobabs. Afternoon game drive; sundowner over the river valley.

   Tented camp inside the park

3. Day 3

   Into the highlands

   Morning drive in Tarangire, then up the Rift wall to the Ngorongoro rim through Mto wa Mbu’s markets. Fires lit at the lodge — the rim is 2,300 m and pleasantly cold.

   Crater-rim lodge

4. Day 4

   Crater at dawn, Serengeti by dusk

   Through the gate at 6:00 sharp for three golden hours on the crater floor before the day-trippers arrive — lions, huge-tusked elephants, and a real chance of black rhino. Out by noon, across the short-grass plains into the Serengeti.

   Serengeti camp — placed by season

5. Days 5–6

   With the herds

   Two full days in the migration’s current region: calving on the southern plains (Dec–Mar), the western corridor (May–Jun), or the Mara River in the north (Jul–Oct). Picnic breakfasts out; no doubling back; crossings waited for with coffee and patience.

   Same camp — no wasted packing days

6. Day 7

   The Serengeti at your pace

   Optional balloon flight at dawn ($599, booked ahead) with champagne breakfast where you land. Or simply another unhurried day among the cats of Seronera.

   Serengeti camp

7. Day 8

   Fly out — or fly on

   Light aircraft from the nearest airstrip to Kilimanjaro for your flight home — or 90 minutes further to Zanzibar, where most guests wisely add four nights.