Night Game Drive

The light goes fast near the equator. One minute the baobabs are glowing orange, the next the sky is violet and your guide is readying the spotlight. Then the beam sweeps the grass and catches a pair of green eyes low to the ground: a genet, spotted and long-tailed, frozen for a second before it slips away. A little further on, two tiny bushbabies bounce between branches, and somewhere off in the dark a nightjar churrs. The bush you drove through that afternoon has become a different place.

Night drives in northern Tanzania are most often run from lodges in the wildlife management areas that border the national parks. Around Tarangire, the Randilen wildlife management area on the park's eastern edge is a classic base: Tarangire Treetops runs a night drive of about an hour and a half, setting out just after dusk with an Elewana guide, and Nimali Tarangire offers night drives on its private concession next to the park. Inside the parks the rules are different. TANAPA's current tariff lists a night game drive fee for several parks, including Tarangire and Lake Manyara, but not for the Serengeti, where driving after dark is not part of the visitor offer.

What it is really like: slow, quiet and full of small surprises. Your guide drives at walking pace, the spotter works the light across the grass and trees, and most sightings are brief. The cast changes from the daytime. Nimali's own guides list bushbabies, springhares, civets, genets, servals, white-tailed mongooses, owls and nightjars among the regulars. Larger animals take on a different character in the dark: an elephant herd appears as a wall of grey at the edge of the beam, and the sound of a lion's contact call carries for kilometres. Lights are used carefully and kept off animals' eyes for long periods, so the drive does not disturb hunting or roosting.

The honest caveats. Nocturnal animals are shy and sightings are short, so a night drive is about atmosphere and rarities rather than a long list. Some nights are quiet. It is cool after sunset, especially in the dry season. Photography is difficult without specialist equipment and is not encouraged at the expense of the animals. And because night drives depend on where you sleep, they need to be planned at the itinerary stage; you cannot simply add one from a camp inside the Serengeti.

On your quote the night drive is shown as its own line, as is the park or area fee where one applies, so you can see what it adds. Pair it with a bush dinner on your return or simply supper back at the lodge, and it makes a full, memorable evening.

It suits curious travellers, repeat safari-goers, families with older children who love spotting, and anyone who has done the big daytime sightings and wants to see the other half of the ecosystem. It sits well alongside a walking safari from the same lodge, as both show the bush on a smaller, closer scale.