Step out into the vast open plains that dominate much of Tanzania and you suddenly feel very, very small. And so you should. You've just joined one of the largest, wildest animal populations in the world. Wildebeest, monkey, antelope, lion, cheetah, crocodile, gazelle, flamingo - Tanzania offers some of the best wildlife spotting opportunities on the continent.

Serengeti is Tanzania's most famous game park. Here you can get a glimpse of what much of East Africa must have looked like in the days before the 'great White hunters'. On the seemingly endless and almost treeless Serengeti plains are literally millions of hoofed animals. They're constantly on the move in search of grassland and are watched and preyed upon by a varied parade of predators. It's one of the most incredible sights you will ever encounter and the numbers involved are simply mind-boggling. The wildebeest has a starring role in the amazing annual migration. Serengeti is also famous for its lion, cheetah and giraffe populations.

The views from the Ngorongoro Crater rim are spectacular but the real treasure lies on its 20km-wide floor. It's been compared to Noah's Ark and the Garden of Eden - but has the added advantage of actually existing. Here you have no trouble finding lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and many of the plains herbivores such as wildebeest, Thomson's gazelle, zebra and reedbuck, as well as thousands of flamingo wading in the shallows of Lake Magadi. Local Masai tribespeople have grazing rights here, and you may well come across them tending their cattle.

For a comfortable enough budget trip, you can get by on US$20 a day. With a little sniffing about, good value restaurants and hotels make it possible to really live it up for no more than US$30-35 a day.