Land at Kilimanjaro International, and an Afromaxx driver is already waiting. From there it's a short run — around 45 minutes — into Moshi, where Chanya Lodge sits quietly on the edge of town. It's an easy, low-key start: a convenient base for safaris and excursions in the Kilimanjaro region, and a good place to shake off the flight before the real driving begins tomorrow.

Breakfast, then west — roughly three hours of road before the gates of Lake Manyara. This is where the safari roof goes up for the first time, and it's a generous introduction: monkeys and elephants in the forest, large herds out on the flood plains, water birds working the shallows of the salt lake, and the tantalising chance of lions stretched along a branch overhead. Afterwards, continue to Pembeni Rhotia for the night.

Today the landscape does the talking. After breakfast you climb through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the road winding past hills, dormant volcanoes and vegetation that changes character by the mile, before dropping you at Nabi Gate and into the Serengeti proper. Between January and March, this is migration country — great herds of wildebeest and zebra moving across the plains. A game drive rounds off the afternoon before you settle into the Central Serengeti for two nights.

An early start, and a whole day given over to the Serengeti. This is the big-cat day: lions, cheetahs and leopards across plains that seem to have no far edge, with wildebeest and zebra scattered through them. Your guide will read the day and call it — either one long 6–7 hour drive covering 80–100km, or two shorter outings of around three and a half hours each. Either way, you're out there while the light is good.

Out early for one more Serengeti game drive, then the slow turn east towards Ngorongoro. This isn't a transfer so much as a moving safari — roughly 150km and anywhere from three to six hours, with the vehicle stopping whenever something's worth stopping for, and your guide talking you through what you're looking at. Plenty of camera time. Overnight at Ang'ata Ngorongoro Camp, where nature walks and hikes can be arranged from camp with an armed ranger.

The morning everyone remembers. You drop down onto the crater floor — an enclosed world with one of the highest wildlife densities anywhere — and spend the game drive among it. The endangered black rhino is the headline here, alongside the rest of the Big Five. In the afternoon you climb back out and head for Tarangire National Park, checking into Tarangire Simba Lodge on a full board basis.

One last morning in the vehicle. After breakfast you head out into Tarangire for a final 3–4 hour game drive — this is a park known for its birdlife, and a fine place to fill the last of the memory cards with both wildlife and landscape. Lunch, then the road: roughly 230km and around four hours back towards Moshi.