Tanzania

A classic northern safari

Most travellers start here, and for good reason.

Three or four nights in the Serengeti with two in the Ngorongoro area covers the great set pieces, and Tarangire adds elephants and baobabs if there is time. It is the most reliable introduction to African wildlife anywhere, and it works beautifully as a first safari.

A wilder southern or western journey

Others want fewer vehicles and more wilderness.

Ruaha and Nyerere deliver space, excellent guiding and the chance to walk or take to the water, while Mahale offers chimpanzee tracking on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. These are quieter, more demanding and often more memorable.

A safari and beach combination

Many travellers want both halves.

A week on safari followed by five or six nights in Zanzibar is the most popular shape of trip in the country, and taking the bush first and the beach second is what makes it work.

The key is deciding how much wilderness you want, and how much comfort.

Timing matters more in Tanzania than in almost any destination, because the wildlife moves with the seasons.

The dry months from June to October offer the best general game viewing, as vegetation thins and animals gather at water, and this is also when the migration reaches the northern Serengeti and the Mara River crossings take place. January to March is the calving season on the southern plains, with enormous herds and a great deal of predator activity. The long rains from April to May are the quietest period and some camps close, although rates are at their lowest and the landscape is green and beautiful.

For the migration in particular the month matters as much as the park, and the two need to be chosen together.

A safari is easy to overfill, and Tanzania is a country where that shows.

Camps are reached by light aircraft, and each move costs a morning or an afternoon of game viewing. Three nights in a camp allows the guiding to find its rhythm, while two feels rushed and a single night is rarely worth the transfer. Two or three camps across ten days, rather than four or five, is what makes a safari feel unhurried.

Building in a few nights on the coast at the end is the other thing that helps. After early starts and long days in a vehicle, arriving in Zanzibar with nothing planned is exactly the right way to finish.