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Tanzania’s Northern Circuit is celebrated for some of the best wildlife safaris in Africa . Once visited, Tanzania will have you wanting to return again and again to this matchless destination. Tanzania boasts the unparalleled Serengeti, the stunning and unique Ngorongoro Crater and many other extensive parks and game rich reserves. This whole region has a natural abundance of wildlife, the icing on the cake being the last great annual migration left on our planet, when millions of animals thunder across the northern reaches of this vast country.

How to go about this safari adventure depends on your personal preferences. This vast area is best explored by a 4×4 and if your budget allows you, combine this with a flying safari in order to get to the more remote areas. Tanzania offers by way of accommodation on the safari a combination of stylish private camping concessions, luxurious mobile camping or elegant permanent tented camps.

If you want the remote, less traveled area of Tanzania, the exciting, off the beaten track safari locations, then the best option is to fly to the remote reaches where the roads of Tanzania simply do not exist. These parks boast fantastic camps – sometimes being the only camp or lodge in a million hectares.
Usually it is often obligatory to fly to a localized start point for this kind of game safari. To give a rough guide on price – the differences in quality, remoteness and luxury are directly related to the cost. For example, a private 4×4 Land Rover safari, staying in good quality lodges, will cost around $500 per person per night.

The camps are fantastic quality and fixed in one location, although some in the Serengeti are luxury semi-mobile tented camps. Private mobile tented safaris are luxury mobile camps organized exclusively for your itinerary and are likely to cost a lot more than the permanent camps.

No walking [with a few exceptions] is allowed in the northern parks and game viewing is by closed-sided vehicle. There are possibilities to walk in certain concession areas, such as around Klein’s Camp, outside the Serengeti National Park boundaries and in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Crater Highlands. Oliver’s Camp, in the wilderness area of the Tarangire, offers superb walking safaris with an option to camp out in the park overnight. Also the Western Kilimanjaro offers walking safaris with Maasai guides in the private concessions on the Kenyan border.

The annual migration of herds in Northern Tanzania and Kenya is one of the world’s most spectacular wildlife events. Often referred to as the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’, The Great Migration is a movement of over one million wildebeest and zebra throughout the Serengeti and Maasai Mara ecosystems.

Despite the confusion of the many maps and illustrations showing the path of the migrating herds, it must be said, as with anything in Nature, the actual pattern is unpredictable. The migration depends upon the rains and the rains are unpredictable. If the rain pattern changes, so will the migration. If the rains are late, so will be the migration.

Between June and July the Migration splits in two; one group goes West into the Western Corridor before crossing the Grumeti River, the other heading directly to the North of the Serengeti passing near Klein’s Camp.From August to October the Migration is usually in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, returning South across the Tanzanian border in November.

Rio de Janeiro is busy, noisy and full of adventures to be had. To experience South America in full party mode, visit Rio de Janeiro at Carnaval time, but stay in a boutique hotel so that you have an oasis of calm to return to.

Rio de Janeiro is on the Brazilian coast, looking out to the South Atlantic Ocean, with Salvador to the north and San Paulo to the south. The climate is hot all year round, with occasional rains in the summer, but the party temperature is always high.

Although Rio de Janeiro attracts high-living, high-rolling visitors, it caters for a wide range of tourists, from those in palatial hotels to backpackers making their way through Brazil. For a real treat, however, book into a boutique hotel, which offers a cool, calm retreat away from the hustle and bustle of this 24-hour city. Rio de Janeiro is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and both its residents and visitors like to live life to the full while they are there. If you need to recharge your batteries, a boutique hotel is the perfect place to stay. Try the 5-roomed La Maison, which is just a stone’s throw from the beach, but once you’re inside is a haven of peace and tranquillity, with a swimming pool and sundeck for guests to use when the beach has become too busy to handle. To really get away from it all, try La Suite, a boutique hotel with just seven rooms and 180° views of the ocean, the beach and the Cagarras Islands as well as the point of Arpuador, the rock that separates Copacabana from Ipanema. Here, the beach and great shopping are only a few minutes away by car, which means that you get the best of both worlds.
People-watching is an occupation in itself in Rio de Janeiro. Once you’ve had your fill of beach beauties and surf dudes, take yourself off to some of the many museums that show the works of a range of Brazilian artists; or take a walk in some of the beautiful tropical gardens. If you want to spend your time walking rather than dancing, then take a trip into the mountains for some unforgettable views.

Travelling in Rio de Janeiro can be an adventure. Buses are cheap, but not necessarily reliable or safe, so you’re advised not to take valuables with you if you decide to take a bus across town. Taxis are a more comfortable option, and usually a safer one, although you still need to be careful. A good hotel will be able to arrange affordable, safe taxi services for you. For an altogether different experience, try the subway which, although it doesn’t cover the whole city, is clean, cheap and fast.