18-Day the Best of Kenya & Tanzania Wildlife Escape

On your arrival and after immigration procedures at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, you will be met by your Safari Guide and proceed to your accommodation in Nairobi Serena, Take the rest of the Day to relax and unwind; the hotel has air conditioned rooms, tropical gardens, a heated swimming pool, patisserie, galetaria, coffee shop and restaurants as well as Spa & Health Club. This combination of comfort should save to refresh you before we set off on our grand Safari. Dinner and Overnight at Nairobi Serena Hotel.

Breakfast at the Hotel, we take a short drive to Nairobi Karen Area. We’ll saunter through the Karen Blixen Museum and revisit that golden era of safari, about which Blixen declared, “There is something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows.” Next is Kobe tough – an organization that have been upskilling the traditional beading skills of the Maasai women to help them make products that are of a higher standards and are both relevant and acceptable to a wider audience, they also make belts, bracelets, collars, and other beaded products. Elephant Orphanage, which is the most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world. One of the orphanage’s conservationists will give us a talk about these youngsters. There’s no more evocative film about Kenya than Out of Africa, we’ll stop for lunch at the restaurant, we return to our respective Nairobi Serena for Dinner and Overnight.

For a sensational start to your East African adventure, slip smoothly into the safari life with two nights at Kenya’s most trailblazing conservation: Ol Pejeta. An IUCN Green List sanctuary for rhinos and chimpanzees, with authentic wilderness big game experiences, the site offers some of the highest predator densities in Kenya. We’ll stay at Sweetwaters Serena Tented Camp, with rooms overlooking the main waterhole where we can watch elephants, rhino, antelopes, zebras, and big cats come to drink day and night. To be sure we start our safari with a profusion of animals, we’ll embark on 3 game drives and visit the nearby chimp sanctuary to see how these rescued primates are rehabilitated. Don’t miss this remarkable Olpajeta Concervancy plus the Equator. All meals and Overnight at the Sweet Waters Tented Camp.

For a sensational start to your East African adventure, slip smoothly into the safari life with two nights at Kenya’s most trailblazing conservation: Ol Pejeta. An IUCN Green List sanctuary for rhinos and chimpanzees, with authentic wilderness big game experiences, the site offers some of the highest predator densities in Kenya. We’ll stay at Sweetwaters Serena Tented Camp, with rooms overlooking the main waterhole where we can watch elephants, rhino, antelopes, zebras, and big cats come to drink day and night. To be sure we start our safari with a profusion of animals, we’ll embark on 3 game drives and visit the nearby chimp sanctuary to see how these rescued primates are rehabilitated. Don’t miss this remarkable Olpajeta Concervancy plus the Equator. All meals and Overnight at the Sweet Waters Tented Camp.

After breakfast, we step aboard our safari vehicles for Nanyuki Airstrip to experience a light flight to Amboseli NP, So, Amboseli National Park here, we come! The most iconic image of East Africa is that of elephants or giraffes wandering across Amboseli’s savanna, with Mount Kilimanjaro towering in the background. Given a clear day and animals in just the right spot, you too may be able to view such remarkable image. We arrive at our Amboseli lodge in time for lunch. Relax and settle in before meeting on the veranda for a safari briefing. Then, it’s time for our first game drive within this national park, renowned not just for large herds of elephants, but big old tuskers. We return to our charming lodge for dinner and a good night’s sleep.

We take our cue from the animals and rise early today for morning game drives to catch a glimpse of predators before they sleep off the heat of the day. With 1,700 elephants in this park, it’s impossible not to see them on a game drive. There are more than 420 species of birds too, including 10 varieties of eagles and 12 types of heron. Breakfast at the Hotel, later check out for Sentrim Tented Lodge with arrival for Lunch. During the afternoon, we stop at a Maasai village and find out how, despite western influences, a traditional mud-hut way of life remains intact. Robed in red and with their spears and rungu (knobkerry) always in hand, the Maasai warriors will perform their traditional jumping dance, revealing how high they can leap. A lifestyle where drinking milk mixed with cow’s blood is part of their diet — this is just one revelation of how different the Maasai existence is to your own.

After breakfast at the Camp, we may opt to revisit the Maasai village before we leave Amboseli and cross the border from Kenya into Tanzania, a drive through the lush & green eastern and southern sides of Mt Kilimanjaro. Our destination is Arusha Grand Melia Hotel for Lunch, Afternoon at leisure.

Leisurely breakfast followed by late check out to Cultuaral Heritage, and Shanga House Tour, Lunch at Shanga House, later we begin our drive to westwards Tarangire National Park, as we enter the park we’ll be greeted by a landscape dominated by majestic baobabs rising out of the acacia parkland, forming a perfect backdrop for the large herds of African Elephants wandering among them. Other mammals sharing this habitat range from Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Wilddog and Black-backed Jackal, to Kirk’s Dik-Dik, Dwarf and Banded Mongoose, Impala, Beisa Oryx, Steinbok and African Hare. You should expect to see Buffalo, Giraffe, Zebra, Wildebeest and Waterbuck The variety of birds we may see include Maasai Ostrich, White-headed Volture, African Scops Owls and the endemic Ashy Starling.

Breakfast at the Camp, morning and afternoon game drives within the park. Tarangire is Tanzania’s third largest national park and sanctuary for an unusually large elephant population. Majestic baobab trees are an interesting feature of the park, dwarfing the animals that feed beneath them. Animals concentrate along the Tarangire River, which provides the only permanent water supply in the area. There is a great diversity of wildlife including lion, leopard, cheetah and up to six thousand elephants.

After breakfast at the Camp/Lodge, take a game viewing in the park as we leave, we’ll stop to take a walking tour of the Mto wa Mbu village led by a local guide. This area is famous for its tropical fruit growing, including an abundance of banana farms. You will visit a local wood carving studio and see some intricate carvings being created from local solid wood, such as ebony and mahogany, visit a food market, School, local pub, rice field etc. We’ll have a traditional Tanzanian cooking lesson, which is where you will eat your hot lunch, later we drive to our Marera Valley Lodge for Dinner and Overnight.

Breakfast at Marera Lodge, The Ngorongoro Crater is just one of those places that has to be seen – words alone cannot do it justice. Leaving our lodge, we’ll drive down into what was once, many eons ago, the fiery heart of a huge volcano. Today this natural amphitheatre has a much more peaceful atmosphere as Wildebeest, Coke’s Hartebeest, Grant’s and Thomson’s Gazelles, and Common Zebra feed contentedly - or at least as contentedly as the ever present Lions and Cheetah will allow, although the Black Rhinoceros here will be less concerned about these predators. The bird life in the crater varies according to the seasons but during our visit we should see Grey Crowned Crane, Lappet-faced Vulture, Black-bellied and Kori Bustards, Fischer’s Lovebird and Northern Anteater Chat among many others. Later we drive to our Serena Lodge perched overlooking the crater, from your rooms, you’ll enjoy the magnificent views of the Ngorongoro Crater.

Our journey starts with the Olduvai Gorge, known as the “Cradle of Mankind,” where we stop en route - The Olduvai Gorge is one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world. Archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey had been finding fossil evidence of early man in the Olduvai Gorge since 1913, but it was in 1978 that Mary uncovered the oldest hominid footprints known to man, estimated at 3.6 million years old. We’ll stop here and let the displays and presentations bring the past to life.

We’ll continue into Serengeti National Park, whose seasonal grasslands are the driving force behind the migration of thousands of wildebeest and other grazing animals. Migration sightings in June/July are more towards Western Serengeti, but there are plenty of resident animals to keep us busy on game drives. We’ll stop in the Serengeti for a picnic lunch and spot animals on a game drive all the way to our Camp, where we’ll freshen up and relax before dinner at the Tanzania Bush Camp (Central Serengeti).

This Morning we’ll join an optional bucket-list opportunity to rise before dawn and take flight in a hot air balloon, floating effortlessly over the Serengeti at the whim of the wind. Such is the skill of the pilot that one moment you’ll be sky high, and the next you’ll be skimming the tree tops, all the while spotting game from above. Within seconds of landing, the crew following your progress in support vehicles will carve a meadow in the grass and set up tables for a scrumptious champagne breakfast to toast the morning’s new experiences.

After breakfast, we’ll all go on a morning game drive through a section of the park renowned for abundant game and famed big cats like lions, leopards, and cheetahs. We return to the lodge for lunch then, we’ll head out again later in the afternoon for another game drive and stop for sundowner drinks to watch the Serengeti savanna turn golden in the setting sun. Meals and Accommodation at the Kogatende Tanzania Bush Camp.

This Morning we’ll join an optional bucket-list opportunity to rise before dawn and take flight in a hot air balloon, floating effortlessly over the Serengeti at the whim of the wind. Such is the skill of the pilot that one moment you’ll be sky high, and the next you’ll be skimming the tree tops, all the while spotting game from above. Within seconds of landing, the crew following your progress in support vehicles will carve a meadow in the grass and set up tables for a scrumptious champagne breakfast to toast the morning’s new experiences.

After breakfast, we’ll all go on a morning game drive through a section of the park renowned for abundant game and famed big cats like lions, leopards, and cheetahs. We return to the lodge for lunch then, we’ll head out again later in the afternoon for another game drive and stop for sundowner drinks to watch the Serengeti savanna turn golden in the setting sun. Meals and Accommodation at the Kogatende Tanzania Bush Camp.

Breakfast at the Camp, followed by a game drive. The Mara River basin covers a good size area in the Serengeti Mara Ecosystem. Mara River flows approximately 180 miles and it drains into Lake Victoria which is the largest Lake in Africa. During the end of July through the beginning of August, expanse herds of migrating wildebeest are normally heading north back to Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya and one of the rivers they cross are Mara River. Thousands of guests come from all over the world to watch these movements and crossings. Around September, herds will migrate back south in Serengeti in Tanzania and cross the Mara River again. Large crocodiles take advantage of these crossings and make for themselves easy food. Meals and Accommodation at Tanzania Bush Camp (Mara River).

Breakfast at the Camp, Our East African safari continues on its circular route, which takes us north across the Kenyan border into the Masai Mara National Reserve today. The landscape is an extension of the Serengeti and, when wildebeest migrate, they go from one to the other across the notorious Mara River, with its huge Nile crocodiles. Our very special Lodge/Camp for tonight looks down on the Mara River Included Features: Morning game drive on the way from the Serengeti to the Masai Mara Afternoon game drive inside the Masai Mara en route to our Camp & A full day of Game drive on Day 17. Meals and Accommodation at Masai Mara Serena Lodge.

Embark on a Masai Mara safari during a morning game drive to see its magnificent wildlife up-close. Watch out for herds of eland, impala and gazelle avoiding the pride of lions that rule the kingdom in this savannah. Later head back to the Lodge for lunch.

Mara, is a large national game reserve in Narok, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is named in honor of the Maasai people, the ancestral inhabitants of the area, who migrated to the area from the Nile Basin. Their description of the area when looked at from afar: "Mara" means "spotted" in the local Maasai language, due to the many short bushy trees which dot the landscape. Afternoon get ready for another Game drive.

Bush Plane and Aerial Goodbye. After a good night sleep, this morning is a departure time, Take your breakfast at the Camp - Your Safari Vehicle will be taking you to the nearest Airstrip for your light flight back to Nairobi, Enjoy the magnificent views while flying over the Mara National Reserve and admire the changing scenery of the Great Rift Valley, Con & Barley, upon arrival you’ll be taken to Crown Plaza Hotel/Similar for lunch & the use of Day Room. What an adventure you’ve had, with memories to last a lifetime! Enjoy your early dinner at the hotel and still have time to do some last-minute gift shopping at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.