The Four Seasons Serengeti is a lavish way to get up close to The Big Five

What, exactly, is the Serengeti? This Unesco-protected, national park in northern Tanzania mesmerised the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Beryl Markham. Known for its vast expanses of amber-hued grassland, swamp land and peculiar boulders, called kopje, the 30,000-sq-km ecosystem is home to the stately Maasai tribe, cattle tenders who live as they have for centuries. Dotted with mushroom-shaped acacia and healing baobab trees, and hailed for its life-affirming sunsets, the park is a draw for tourists intent on spying The Big Five: lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros. More than 70 types of large mammal and 500 species of birds enliven the terrain.

What's a safari lodge? Will we be camping? Not quite. The Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti is a rarity in Africa, being both a resort and a far-flung lodge. Guests arrive in the park on a tiny plane before transferring to a four-wheel-drive. It’s likely you’ll spot your first animals – warthogs, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest and such – before you’ve seen your accommo­da­tion. The lodge, with its pointed grass roof and tree-trunk base, suggests the typical Tanzanian mushonge, or roundhouse. Wrapped around two watering holes, it is composed of 60 lavish rooms, 12 suites – many with plunge pools – five new villas and a tree-house-like presidential suite. Elevated walkways, guarded by affable Maasai warriors, connect the accommodation to three restaurants, a spa and an infinity pool.

What's the big deal with the watering holes? Haven’t you ever dreamed of lunching with an elephant, sipping tea while a zebra chews the cud, quaffing a martini in the presence of a lion? Well, it all happens here. As you sit safely on the terrace of your room, or in a lounge chair around the pool, nibbling snacks made from ingredients straight from the resort’s gardens, you can watch animals knocking back their favourite cocktail: good, old, African H20.

But I thought safaris involved bumping around in jeeps at dawn? They do; and that’s part of the magic. Most of those on safari go out “hunt­ing” twice a day. Catch the animals at their most active, early in the morning, and then return for a Kifaa massage, which involves baobab oil and a Maasai wooden herder’s baton to unravel the knots. Alternatively, read on your deck, work out in the fitness centre, gulp a beer or visit the infor­mative Discovery Centre. In the late afternoon, head back out to the bush in search of more creatures. At the end of the day, salute your successes with a sundowner.