8 days to discover the Serengeti

A trip to Tanzania takes preparation. With national parks, encounters with the Masai people, the Ngorongoro Crater and Kilimanjaro, the country has a lot to offer. In fact, travellers like to combine a safari with a stay on the Zanzibar archipelago to make the most of their trip. Because of its size, a trip to Tanzania often combines several park visits. Here you'll find the essentials for a successful safari in and around the Serengeti.

In the collective imagination, the park is a golden, arid immensity where giraffes and elephants move rhythmically and gracefully. Great plains where lionesses devise strategies to hunt gazelles. Wildebeest moving in endless sinuous lines as they migrate. The landscape may be dotted with endless golden earth, but it is also home to a diversity of savannahs, woodlands and riverside forests. What's more, the park has a remarkable ecosystem in which all the animals are interdependent.

Almost all of Africa's animals can be found in this majestic bush. Lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, wild dog, elephant, buffalo, ostrich, crocodile... It's time to discover one of the most beautiful wildlife parks in the world.

Arriving in Arusha, it takes 3 to 4 hours to drive to the Ngorongoro Crater. Most travellers take a day or two to visit this park. You'll see elephants and have a better chance of spotting rhinos.

In the morning, set off to discover the park on a Safari in the Ngorongoro Crater. In the afternoon, it's time to head west, allowing 2 to 3 hours on the track to reach the gates of the Serengeti National Park. The cost is $60 per adult per day. If you don't go through a travel agency, don't forget that you'll also have to pay for the guide. When visiting the park, it is essential to respect the rules in force. For the animal's well-being, but also for your own safety. For example, it is absolutely forbidden to get out of your vehicle anywhere. Don't forget that you're in a nature park where many predators are on the lookout for prey.

After a long drive on dry, arid tracks, you finally arrive at your accommodation in the heart of the Serengeti Park. Depending on your budget and your expectations, you may opt for a sumptuous lodge. The park is home to some extremely comfortable and luxurious accommodation. Swimming pool, outdoor shower, exceptional bedding. Enough to relax in fantastic surroundings after a day of exploring.

For smaller budgets, there are canvas tent camps. These camps have nothing to envy the comfort of lodges. Beautiful bedding, individual sanitary facilities, good food and "hotel" service. The services are just less luxurious. But that in no way detracts from the magic of sleeping in the heart of the savannah or having breakfast with a fabulous view over the endless plains.

For the more adventurous, camping is the way to go. Much more basic, but considerably cheaper, at $36 a night in one of the park's 9 campsites. Some would say that there is nothing more incredible than sleeping close to the African savannah. Total immersion guaranteed.

The Seronera is right in the middle of the Serengeti savannah, and it's here that you'll have the chance to see countless animals, including leopards. In fact, the park is home to a huge diversity of species and the greatest variety of prey-predator in the world. You'll be in for a real treat!

From April/May, after the birth of the young wildebeest, groups of thousands begin to migrate northwards in search of fresh grazing land. You'll see a never-ending procession of wildebeest, up to 40 kilometres long. What's more, this natural phenomenon of great migration attracts numerous predators who track their potential prey. Lions, leopards and hyenas are on the lookout for a stray individual, a lost calf or an injured, weaker zebra. You'll have the chance to witness some incredible wildlife scenes.

On the edge of the border with Kenya, the Masaï Mara River. Between June and August, this is the place to be in the park. The river is the final stage in the migration of large herbivores before they reach Kenya. The wildebeest and zebra leap into this unforgiving river, where violent currents and hungry crocodiles put them to the test. In addition to this spectacle of rare intensity, it is here that you are most likely to cross paths with the rhinoceros.

To round off your expedition to the heart of the African savannah, why not treat yourself to a hot-air balloon ride? You'll take off at dawn, just as the sky begins to darken and the savannah reveals all its beauty. The experience is absolutely unique and unforgettable. A must-do!

Most travellers combine their safari with a stay on the paradise island of Zanzibar. The perfect way to round off your stay in Tanzania.