Ngorongoro Crater

Descending the crater wall at dawn, through the mist and into a bowl teeming with animals, is a moment nobody forgets.

The crater floor is compact, which means you see an astonishing amount in a single day: lions dozing by the road, elephants with tusks that reach the ground, flamingos on the soda lake — and if we're lucky, the black rhino.

We enter early, before the day-trip crowds, and picnic by the hippo pool.