Route Details

Touching down in the shadow of the continent’s highest mountain is quite the arrival: welcome to Africa. We’ll fast-track you through Kilimanjaro Airport to Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge, voted one of the Top 5 Hotels in Africa 2020 by Travel + Leisure, where the stresses of travel will lift as soon as you’re shown your elegant suite, tucked into this leafy and aromatic working plantation.

Simply, it’s huge. An endless-seeming swathe of short-grass plains, braided with life-giving streams, speckled with rocky kopjes, riffled by occasional hills, rich in Masai culture, absolutely teeming with life. And while you can revel in the bigger picture, it’s also the place to embrace the individual moments: the will-they-won’t-they tension of a lion pack on the hunt; the shock of a crocodile bursting from the river; the white-knuckle charge of an angry bull elephant; the dazzle of the sun subsiding into plains with no end.

We’ll deliver you to your lodge in time for lunch, though the exact lodge depends in part on the season. We might introduce you the bygone-luxe tents of Serengeti Pioneer Camp, perched on a kopje in the south of the park. As well as being renowned for its immense wildebeest herds, the area is rich in prehistoric paintings while nearby Lake Magadi is popular with flamingos.

Alternatively, we’ll take you to the sophisticated stilted tents of Serengeti Migration Camp, further north. This peaceful part of the park sees few other visitors; you’ll feel you’ve arrived in your own private wilderness. The variety of wildlife here is remarkable, the drama intense – especially when the Great Migration passes through: the camp is perfectly placed for watching the herds run the gauntlet of the Mara River. 

It’s well worth the early breakfast when you’re about to head into the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. Measuring over 20km wide and 600m deep, Ngorongoro Crater is a natural volcanic amphitheatre, a geological marvel, a festival of wildlife. Its acacia thickets, riverine forest and glittering lakes throng with around 30,000 animals: one of the highest densities of wildlife in Africa. Safaris here can be overwhelming, in the very best way.

Spend a full day in Ngorongoro – our expert guides will introduce you to its vast cast of characters: lions, elephants and buffalo, cheetah and serval cats, hyena, jackal and black rhino. Plus The Manor has special permission to host beautiful bush lunches in a private part of the crater, away from the crowds. You can picnic in exclusive style without missing a wildlife-packed minute.

The Manor, quite possibly the most enviable address on the safari circuit, this handful of Cape Dutch-styled cottages sits within the lush gardens of a working coffee farm, near the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater. You’ll arrive in time for high tea, taken with views over the rippling forest, while your butler sorts the luggage. Then soak in your Victorian bathtub, cosy up by your suite’s open fire, enjoy a delicious dinner, maybe have a game of billiards and retire for the night.

Sundowners and dinner back at The Manor will be abuzz, as you exchange stories with your fellow travellers about what you’ve seen on this once-in-a-lifetime day.