Things to Do in Tanzania

The Serengeti is scale itself — plains that run past the curve of the earth, home to the great wildebeest migration and one of the densest lion populations in Africa. Big cats, elephants and giraffe are often seen; the migration's river crossings, roughly June to September on the northern rivers, are nature's most famous gamble.

However many documentaries you have watched, the first hour inside still rearranges you.

One of the largest intact volcanic calderas on Earth, Ngorongoro's walls enclose a natural amphitheatre dense with wildlife — lions, elephants, buffalo and hyena are often seen in a single morning, and black rhino live here too, sighted with patience and luck.

Go at first light: the crater floor belongs to the early.

Zanzibar's UNESCO-listed Stone Town is the Swahili coast's grandest chapter — carved doors, spice markets, rooftop views over dhow harbours, and a history that runs through Oman, Persia and Portugal. Beyond town, the island's east and north coasts hold some of the Indian Ocean's most photographed beaches.

It is the classic full stop to a northern-circuit safari.

Africa's highest mountain rises alone from the plains — a glacier-capped summit at 5,895 metres that fit trekkers reach without technical climbing, on routes of five to nine days. The success factor everyone underestimates is time: longer routes acclimatise better.

Not climbing? The foothill villages offer waterfall walks and coffee farms with the summit as a backdrop.

Tarangire is the northern circuit's elephant park — big herds moving between ancient baobabs, with the Tarangire River drawing wildlife into the open as the dry season deepens. Lions and leopards are often seen without the crowds of more famous neighbours.

In dry-season months it rivals anywhere in Africa for elephants per hour.

Compressed between the Rift wall and its soda lake, Manyara packs groundwater forest, hippo pools, elephants and seasonal flamingo flocks into a narrow, beautiful strip. Its famous tree-climbing lions are real and elusive — seeing them is luck, not a promise.

Its compact size makes it the gentlest of the big-park days.

Twenty minutes from safari's capital town, one compact park runs from the Ngurdoto Crater's forest bowl to the Momella Lakes under Mount Meru. Giraffe, buffalo and colobus monkeys are often seen — and this is one of the few parks offering ranger-led walking safaris and canoeing.

Being on foot below giraffes recalibrates the whole safari.

Nyerere National Park — carved from the Selous — anchors one of the largest protected wildernesses in Africa, threaded by the Rufiji River. Boat safaris drift past hippos and crocodiles, walking safaris are a speciality, and other vehicles are the rarest sighting of all.

It is Tanzania for the second visit — or the traveler allergic to crowds on the first.

The Olduvai Gorge, between Ngorongoro and the Serengeti, is where the Leakeys' finds pushed the human story back millions of years. The small museum and the gorge viewpoint turn a transit day between parks into a pilgrimage.

Few stops on any safari route carry this much weight per hour spent.

Alkaline, blistering and blood-red in season, Lake Natron is the great breeding ground of the lesser flamingo — vast flocks against the silhouette of Ol Doinyo Lengai, the Maasai's 'Mountain of God' and an active volcano. Waterfall hikes in the nearby gorges cool the day.

Remote, raw and unforgettable — the northern circuit's wildest detour.