Northern Tanzania in early March is about as good as African wildlife watching gets. The short rains have greened the plains, the wildebeest and zebra are concentrated on the Ndutu short grass plains with young calves at foot, the resident predators are hunting them, and the Palearctic migrants have not yet left. We travel in 4×4 safari vehicles with roof hatches, so everyone gets a window and everyone gets a photograph.

Here is the day by day programme, with the main mammals and the most iconic birds we look for at each stop.

Day 1. March 2, 2027. Arrival. Kilimanjaro International Airport to Arusha.

You are met at Kilimanjaro International Airport and transferred to the Outpost Lodge in Arusha for the night, on a bed and breakfast basis. If you arrive early, the lodge gardens are a gentle introduction to East African birds.

Birds: Hadada Ibis, Speckled Mousebird, Baglafecht Weaver, Variable and Bronze Sunbird, African Paradise Flycatcher, Red-eyed Dove, Common Bulbul, Bronze Mannikin, with Black Kite and Augur Buzzard overhead.

Day 2. March 3. Tarangire National Park, then on to Karatu.

Baobab studded hills above the Tarangire river, and the greatest concentration of elephants in northern Tanzania. A full day of game viewing, then we continue to Saint Catherine Safari Lodge in Karatu. Full board.

Mammals: African Elephant in big family herds, Maasai Giraffe, Plains Zebra, African Buffalo, Common Waterbuck, Impala, Fringe-eared Oryx, Lesser Kudu, Coke’s Hartebeest, Kirk’s Dik-dik, Olive Baboon, Vervet Monkey, Banded and Dwarf Mongoose, Lion, and a chance of Leopard.

Birds: Tarangire is the place for dry country specials and for Tanzanian endemics. Ashy Starling, Rufous-tailed Weaver and Yellow-collared Lovebird are found nowhere else in the world. Add Southern Ground Hornbill, Von der Decken’s and Red-billed Hornbill, Red-and-yellow Barbet, D’Arnaud’s Barbet, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, Yellow-necked Spurfowl, Black-faced Sandgrouse, Kori Bustard, Magpie Shrike, Northern Pied Babbler, Silverbird and Lilac-breasted Roller.

Day 3. March 4. Across the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to the central Serengeti.

We climb through the misty highland forest on the Ngorongoro rim, drop down past Olduvai Gorge and out onto the endless short grass plains, game viewing all the way to Seronera in the central Serengeti. Two nights at Serengeti Mnyalukolo Tented Camp. Full board.

Mammals: Lion, Cheetah, Spotted Hyena, Black-backed Jackal, Thomson’s and Grant’s Gazelle, Topi, Coke’s Hartebeest, Plains Zebra, Blue Wildebeest, plus Hippopotamus and Nile Crocodile at the Retima hippo pool.

Birds: the Serengeti has its own endemic, the Grey-breasted Spurfowl, which we should find on this drive. Also Fischer’s Lovebird, Rufous-tailed Weaver, Grey-crested Helmetshrike, Usambiro Barbet, Common Ostrich, Secretarybird, Kori Bustard, Superb and Hildebrandt’s Starling, Ruppell’s and White-backed Vulture, Bateleur, Martial Eagle and Tawny Eagle.

Day 4. March 5. Full day in the Serengeti.

The Seronera valley, with its sausage trees and granite kopjes, is the most reliable Leopard country in East Africa, and the place where lions lie out on the warm rocks in the early light.

Mammals: Leopard, Lion prides, Cheetah, Serval, African Elephant, African Buffalo, Defassa Waterbuck, Bohor Reedbuck, Banded Mongoose, and Klipspringer and Rock Hyrax on the kopjes.

Birds: Grey-breasted Spurfowl, Schalow’s Turaco, Red-throated Tit, Karamoja Apalis in the whistling thorn, Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl, Pygmy Falcon, Grey Kestrel, African Fish Eagle, Saddle-billed and Yellow-billed Stork, Grey Crowned Crane, Beautiful Sunbird, Silverbird, Northern White-crowned Shrike and Lilac-breasted Roller.

Day 5. March 6. Serengeti morning, then south to Ndutu.

Morning game drives in the Serengeti, then we cross back into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to Ndutu. Early March is calving season, and this is where the migration will be. Night at Ndutu Pure Migration Tented Camp. Full board.

Mammals: tens of thousands of Blue Wildebeest and Plains Zebra with newborn calves, Cheetah (Ndutu is one of the best places on earth for them), Lion, Spotted Hyena, African Golden Wolf, Bat-eared Fox, Serval, and an outside chance of Caracal. Genet often comes to the lights around camp after dark.

Birds: Kori, Black-bellied and White-bellied Bustard, Two-banded and Temminck’s Courser, Capped Wheatear, Fischer’s Sparrow-Lark, Athi Short-toed Lark, Red-capped Lark, Rosy-throated Longclaw, and Chestnut-banded Plover and Lesser Flamingo on Lake Ndutu. March is also peak raptor passage: Pallid and Montagu’s Harrier, Steppe Eagle and Lesser Kestrel.

Day 6. March 7. Ndutu day tour, then to Karatu.

A full day in the Ndutu acacia woodland and along Lake Masek, before we leave the conservation area and return to Saint Catherine Safari Lodge in Karatu. Full board.

Mammals: Cheetah with cubs, Lion in the acacia woodland, African Elephant, Maasai Giraffe, Kirk’s Dik-dik, African Wildcat and African Golden Wolf.

Birds: Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl and African Scops Owl in the acacias, Spotted Thick-knee, Double-banded Courser, Red-necked Falcon, Fischer’s Lovebird, Von der Decken’s Hornbill, Beautiful Sunbird and Grey-backed Fiscal.

Day 7. March 8. Ngorongoro Crater.

We leave the lodge as early as we can, to be among the first vehicles down the crater wall. Twenty kilometres across, with something like 25,000 large animals inside it, the crater floor is the densest wildlife spectacle in Africa. We climb out at about 4:15 PM and return to Saint Catherine Safari Lodge for the last night of the safari. Full board.

Mammals: this is the best place in the world to see Black Rhinoceros. Also the crater’s famous big-maned Lions, Spotted Hyena, African Golden Wolf, Serval, big-tusked Elephant bulls, African Buffalo, Common Eland, Hippopotamus, Bohor Reedbuck, and Mountain Reedbuck up on the rim.

Birds: Greater and Lesser Flamingo on Lake Magadi, Grey Crowned Crane, Secretarybird, Kori Bustard, Rufous-tailed Weaver, Hildebrandt’s Francolin, Rosy-throated Longclaw, Anteater Chat, Schalow’s Wheatear, Augur Buzzard, and Verreaux’s Eagle along the rim. In the rim forest we look for Hartlaub’s Turaco, Golden-winged Sunbird, Eastern Double-collared Sunbird and White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher.

Day 8. March 9. Lake Manyara National Park, then Kilimanjaro International Airport.

A half day in Manyara, the most bird rich park of the whole trip, and then the transfer to Kilimanjaro International Airport in time for your flight home.

Mammals: Blue Monkey and large troops of Olive Baboon in the groundwater forest, Hippopotamus, African Elephant, Bushbuck, Impala, and Manyara’s celebrated tree climbing Lions if we are lucky.

Birds: Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Crowned Hornbill, Crested Guineafowl, Narina Trogon, African Pygmy Kingfisher and Schalow’s Turaco in the forest. Along the lake shore, Great White and Pink-backed Pelican, Yellow-billed Stork, African Spoonbill, Lesser Flamingo, African Fish Eagle and Palm-nut Vulture.

Photographs on this page, via Wikimedia Commons: wildebeest migration by DipaliLath (CC BY-SA 4.0); Leopard, Seronera Valley, by Christoph Strassler (CC BY-SA 2.0); Black Rhinoceros, Ngorongoro Crater, by xorge (CC BY-SA 2.0); Secretarybird by Bernard Dupont (CC BY-SA 2.0).