Pembazoni Camp

Fly from Arusha to Seronera, the central Serengeti's main airstrip, a little over an hour in the air on the scheduled light aircraft. From the strip it is around an hour's drive out to the camp on the edge of the Wilderness Zone, run as a game drive rather than a transfer, so the safari starts before you arrive.

We can also arrange a private charter into Seronera, usually a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, if you would rather set your own timings. Either way, luggage rides in soft bags, fifteen kilograms per person including hand baggage on the scheduled flights.

Almost certainly, yes. The central Serengeti lies at roughly 1,500 metres, under the 1,800 metre line below which both the UK's official travel health service and the American CDC place the whole of mainland Tanzania at high malaria risk. The cool nights thin the mosquitoes out but do not remove them.

A travel clinic or your doctor will confirm the right tablets for you close to departure, since advice is reviewed regularly. In camp, use the nets provided and keep arms and ankles covered after dark.

Reasonably steady on your feet rather than athletic. The walks move at tracking pace, stopping constantly to read prints, dung, grasses and birds, so the distances are modest even on a full day out, and the guides set the route and pace to the group in front of them. Heat is the real factor, which is why walks leave early and carry plenty of water.

If you want more, the fly-camping nights push deeper into the closed zone on foot, and if you want less, a half-day walk with an afternoon game drive is a perfectly good rhythm. Tell us honestly how much walking you enjoy and we will shape the days to match.

The dry months from June to October are the pick for a camp built around walking, with firm ground, short grass and animals held close to the remaining water. The migration also passes through the wider central and western Serengeti around May to July on its way north, which can fill the horizon on drive days.

The short rains of November and the green months that follow bring long grass and softer ground, better for birds and skies than for covering distance on foot. The resident predators of the central Serengeti are there whatever the month.

Plan on very little. The camp runs on solar power and keeps devices charged, but this corner of the park was chosen precisely because almost nobody else reaches it, and connectivity matches the remoteness. Mobile signal is patchy across the Serengeti at the best of times and disappears on foot.

Most guests find three unreachable days are the point rather than the problem. If you do need a line home, tell us and we will confirm with the camp exactly what is available before you commit.

Dress for walking, not for the lodge. Sturdy, worn-in boots or trail shoes, long light trousers, and shirts in greens, browns and khaki, because muted colours are a courtesy to the wildlife when you are on foot among it. A fleece or warm jacket earns its place on the cold early starts, and a brimmed hat and high-factor sunscreen carry you through the middle of the day.

Everything travels in a soft duffel for the light aircraft, around fifteen kilograms each with hand luggage counted in. Laundry in camp keeps the packing list short.