WHEN YOU’RE OUT in the middle of the scorched Serengeti Plains after dark, it’s probably lion-feeding time – and the last thing you want is a flat tyre. “Just keep watch for them while we fix the tyre,” David, our safari guide, tells me casually, flipping me his binoculars. A moment later there’s a rasping roar in the distance that, despite his reassurances of it being “about a kilometre away”, is pretty much the most frightening thing I’ve ever heard. It would be a real shame to get eaten by a lion before nailing the rest of the big five, after all.

Safely back at base – if you can call the Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti a ‘base’; it’s the most palatial camp you’ll ever see – we’re mulling over our brush with death over a dawa cocktail made with honey, a Tanzanian speciality.

The permanent hotel to the north of the massive national park is the best – and most luxurious – place to break your safari virginity, as there’s not a dusty tent or fire pit in sight. While it’s still strikingly exotic, pitched right in the middle of the bush with safari animals roaming all around, it’s also full of all the luxury Four Seasons comforts you’d hope for, that make the transition to hanging out with the big five in close quarters just that little bit easier.

Rooms and suites are expansive and tasteful, with dollops of African style studded throughout: Maasai masks and wicker baskets hang from the walls, and there are colourful printed rugs and wooden four-posters with crisp white sheets. Then there’s the curved infinity pool overlooking one of the Serengeti’s many watering holes. (For the record, in four days I saw nothing – but was reassured that in dry season, elephants regularly come to drink.) Some suites have infinity pools on their balconies too, which – as we learn – make the perfect spots to enjoy sundowners, while spotting animals, overlooking a spectacular sunset.

Meanwhile, the excellent spa, set across several stilted buildings, doles out luxury treatments using Maasai traditions – we spend one afternoon being massaged with a kifaa, a Swahili instrument that looks a lot like a wooden salad server – while its restaurants would be considered top drawer in the middle of a busy city, never mind in the middle of one of the world’s biggest

ecosystems. The Maji Bar, which overlooks the watering hole (and mile after mile of brown soil and acacia trees, naturally) does cocktails and light dishes, while Boma Grill serves traditional African cuisine – the bobotie, a kind of African casserole, was excellent – with added Maasai dances and entertainment. And if you really want to go all out, the vast private wine cellar, stocked with wine from boutique South African producers, offers a luxury private area to dine in. It’s the safari experience that stuck its hand in a plug socket.

But then again, Tanzania knows big. To put it in context, the east-African nation is twice the size of California, and you’d have to roll Denmark, France, the UK and the Netherlands into one to fit inside its huge borders. That goes part of the way to explaining why it takes as long to fly from the Serengeti to the Indian Ocean coast as it does to get back to London – we touched down no fewer than five times, swapping one tinny propeller planes for another, running across one piece of tarmac to the next to make it to Pemba, a tiny desert island just north of Zanzibar.

Pemba, known as ‘the green island’ in Arabic, is best known for clove production, and the whole island has a faint whiff thanks to thousands of the spices drying by the roadsides. It’s more rugged and remote than Zanzibar, closer to the border with Kenya, and the beaches are more rough and ready than its neighbour’s.

We’re en route to Fundu Lagoon, a boutique hotel on the south-west coast that’s regularly touted as one of the most luxurious beach boltholes in Africa. True to form, it’s only accessible by speedboat, and you’ll arrive bumping across the ice-clear shallow waters – watch out for the jellyfish below – up to the wooden jetty. ▶

The Lion’s ShareCATHY ADAMS tries not to get eaten by the king of the jungle while living like royalty in the Tanzanian Serengeti, before finding untouched coral reefs and tropical Maasai island paradise on Pemba

Safely back at the most palatial base you’ll ever see, we mull over our brush with death over a dawa cocktail made with honey – a Tanzanian speciality

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▶ The 18 rooms – made up of designer canvas tents under thatched roofs – at Fundu are all hidden within the trees, with sun decks and slices of private beach facing out to the bay. They’re so private that often the only company you’ll have is a family of vervet monkeys and occasionally a snake wrapped around a tree, and it’s a peaceful walk along the sand to get anywhere.

Thanks to its boutique size, Fundu’s atmosphere is convivial, but it doesn’t have to be. You could have a private candle-lit dinner out on the beach, although after a day of lying prone on a sun lounger, it’s more fun to mingle out by the bar at

sunset, snapping Instagram pictures with others and watching the sun dip underneath the water. Plus, on certain nights, there are wine-fuelled sunset dhow cruises and Swahili buffets, where tables are laid out on the jetty and lit by candles, with Maasai beats and dances to keep you from sleeping.

The next morning, the hangover cure comes in the form of strapping on an oxygen tank. Not one to spend days on a sunbed recovering from safari overload, I’m about to take the plunge on my first dive. Fundu Lagoon is PADI-certified, and the waters around Pemba are lauded as some of the best for diving in Africa. There’s no better place to crush your diving cherry, even if you do have a cracking headache from cocktails the night before.

We’re taken out by speedboat to the tiny Misali island (informally named ‘prayer mat’ island, as it faces Mecca), which is staggeringly photogenic. I dive down to almost 10m, swimming among untouched coral reefs and schools of neon-coloured fish, even prodding an octopus into life, after being reassured that it’s not poisonous. The marine life is almost as rich as that

on land in the Serengeti, and the bonus is nothing is big enough to swallow me and the dive instructor in one gulp.

I got through a lot of firsts in Tanzania. I’d come face to face with a family of lions, watched a cheetah tear strips out of a dying wildebeest and dived in some of the most unblemished reefs in the world. Tanzania, let’s hook up again, yeah? H

Tanzania knows big. The east-African nation is twice the size of California. Denmark, France, the UK and the Netherlands can all fit inside its huge borders

▼ PLAIN LUXURIOUS: (clockwise from main) the pool at Fundu Lagoon, Pemba; the jetty at Pemba; a Serengeti lioness at sunset

TRAVEL DETAILS

Anderson Expeditions organises trips to Tanzania, including flights, transfers and hotels. It can also organise trips to other African countries, South America and Antarctica (+27 83 632 2893; andersonexpeditions.com).

For more information and to book a stay at Fundu Lagoon, Pemba, visit fundulagoon.com.

For more information and to book a stay at the Four Seasons Serengeti, visit fourseasons.com/serengeti.

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