Great Safaris Trip Itinerary for Website - East Africa

VIP Meet & Greet - Nairobi

Your exciting adventure begins today, as you touch down in Kenya. On arrival you will receive a VIP meet and greet at the door of your aircraft with your name on a paging board. Should your aircraft be directed to the apron and not the terminal building, you will be transported to the terminal by bus where you meet and greet will be waiting for you as you step off the bus. You will then be assisted through immigration, baggage collection and customs and on to your next service.

Private transfer to the hotel

Nairobi

East Africa's most cosmopolitan city, Nairobi is Kenya's beating heart, an exciting, frenetic concrete jungle that counterpoints the untrammeled natural beauty to be found elsewhere in the country.

If you're interested in learning about Kenya's culture and history, the city is home to a number of great stops including the extensive National Museum, and it's also a great jumping off point for diving into the country's varied culinary traditions. Nairobi also harbors a thrumming nightlife scene and an established café culture. And, believe it or not, the city has its own wildlife attractions, with a fabulous national park on its doorstep and several reserves dedicated to the wellbeing of elephants, giraffes, rhinos and more. With so many activities woven into its urban web, Nairobi will often come as a pleasant surprise.

*** Air Kenya scheduled flight to Lewa departing at 10:00am and arrive 11:00am (flight included)

Private transfer to the Airport

Internal flight from Wilsons Airport to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

Started in 1972, Lewa Wilderness lodge is an integral part of the history of Lewa Downs as it transformed from a farm into a not-for-profit wildlife conservancy that has gained an international reputation for extending the benefits of conservation beyond its borders.

The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy now boasts 62,000 acres of conserved land and the richness of wildlife here is astounding with over 70 different animal species and 350 bird species. By staying at Lewa Wilderness, guests are automatically supporting the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and all of the conservation and community development efforts.

Lewa Wildlife Conservancy provides a safe haven for a wide variety of wildlife, and is particularly famous for its rhino and Grevy zebra programs. The rhino program began in 1986 when the Craigs set aside 5,000 acres of land to set up the Ngare Sergoi Rhino Sanctuary. The rhinos prospered and in 1995, the Craig family turned the entire ranch into a conservancy..

Game drives in Lewa Wilderness Conservancy

The advantage of being located in the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy is that guests are surrounded by rich game viewing opportunities without the crowds. A maximum of just 3 vehicles are allowed at a wildlife sighting, ensuring an exclusive game viewing experience. There is a very good chance of seeing all of the “Big Five” and Lewa is one of the only conservancies where guests are almost guaranteed to see the endangered black and white rhinos while on safari. With the backdrop of snow-capped Mount Kenya and the diversity of scenery from open plains, rolling hills, valleys, escarpments and rivers, Lewa is a magical place to game drive for the ultimate Kenyan safari experience. And with our new electric game drive vehicles, we’re leading the charge in wildlife and environment-friendly game viewing.

*** Air Kenya scheduled flight to Masai Mara departing 10:15am and arriving 12:15pm

Internal flight from Lewa to Masai Mara

Masai Mara

Rolling hills, sprawling savannahs, dramatic river crossings and of course... more wildlife and adventure than any movie could ever portray. Welcome to the Masai Mara, home to the lions of ‘Big Cat Diary’, temporary residence of the ‘Great Migration’, mighty Maasai warriors and some of the most luxurious safari lodges on earth.

The Masai Mara features a stunning kaleidoscope of wild and rugged landscapes, warm and welcoming people and an exciting array of creatures – big and small. World famous for hosting the epic Great Migration, the Masai Mara welcomes 1,5 million wildebeests onto its sprawling savannahs each July through October. The Masai Mara National Reserve and conservancies are brimming with life and offer safari travelers a wide variety of activities to choose from. Whether you take to the skies for a high-flying hot-air balloon adventure at sunrise or hit the road for a 4x4 safari, you’re sure to leave the Masai Mara with unforgettable experiences and lifelong memories.

Game Drives in the Masai Mara

Enjoy morning and afternoon game drives in a customized 4x4 safari vehicle with an experienced and professional driver-guide. After sundowners in the bush, guests will get to experience a night drive on the way back to the lodge, allowing guests the opportunity to see the nocturnal animals not encountered during the day.

Masai Mara Game Reserve is a renowned park that offers wonderful wildlife viewing throughout the year. The Masai Mara plains are commonly dominated by an incredible variety of mammals. From large herds of herbivores like wildebeest, zebra and Thompson’s gazelle to the famous “Big Five” - it is estimated there are around 1,000 lions in the Masai Mara.

In the Mara River you will find hippo that submerge at the approach of a vehicle, only to surface seconds later to snort and grumble their displeasure. It is also home to the Nile crocodile, the continent’s largest reptile. On several occasions you will spot drowsy crocodiles sunbathing on the riverbanks, mouths agape, waiting for prey at which to strike with lightning swiftness. The region also provides habitat for a variety of birds with over 450 species having been recorded.

Hot Air Balloon safari Masai Mara

In the crisp air of dawn, the passengers watch the crew partially inflates the balloon with enormous fans before the gas burners are ignited to fill the balloon with hot air. The crew directs clients how to get into the basket moments before take-off. The balloons lift off just before sunrise when the breeze on the plains is still cold. Once airborne, the balloon is blown by the prevailing winds across the broad landscape. Apart from the hiss of the burners, the flight above the plains is magically silent. The pilot controls the height of the craft by regulating the flow of hot air into the balloon. Sometimes the balloon will descend over the plains for a close up view of the wildlife; on other occasions, it rises to clear a tree canopy and rise over the riverine forest. This is an experience never to be forgotten. Enjoy the rest of the day on safari exploring this amazing park.

*** Air Kenya Scheduled flight to Migori with a short road transfer to Isebania Border. Clear customs & Immigration formalities and then transfer to Tarime airstrip for Regional air scheduled flight to Serengeti Kogarende / Seronera - depart 08:15am and arrive 11:30am (flights included)

Travel from Masai Mara to the Serengeti

Serengeti National Park

The Serengeti National Park is partly adjacent to the Kenya border and northwest of the adjoining Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It is best known for its huge herds of plains animals, especially wildebeest, gazelles, and zebras and it is the only place in Africa where vast land-animal migrations still take place. The park, an international tourist attraction, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981.

The park was established in 1951 and covers 5,700 square miles with some of the best grassland range in Africa, as well as extensive acacia woodland savanna. With elevations ranging from 3,020 to 6,070 feet, the park extends 100 miles southeast from points near the shores of Lake Victoria and, in its eastern portion, 100 miles south from the Kenya-Tanzania border. During the wet season, from November to May, the herds graze in the southeastern plains within the park, with the calving season peaking around February when up to 8,000 calves are born daily for nearly two months. Early June one major group of animals moves west into the park’s woodland savanna and then north into the grasslands just beyond the Kenya-Tanzania border, an area known as the Masai Mara National Reserve, and another group migrates directly northward. The herds return to the Serengeti southeastern plains in November, at the end of the dry season.

Game Drives in the Serengeti National Park

Morning and afternoon game drives in and over the vast plains of the Serengeti. Serengeti National Park is a World Heritage Site teeming with wildlife: over 2 million ungulates, 4000 lions, 1000 leopard, 550 cheetahs and some 500 bird species inhabit an area close to 15,000 square kilometers in size. Dotted with trees and kopjes from which majestic lions control their kingdom; gaze upon the Great Migration in awe or find an elusive leopard in a riverine forest. The biological diversity of the park is very high with at least four globally threatened or endangered animal species: black rhinoceros, elephant, wild dog, and cheetah.

Serengeti National Park is at the heart the larger Serengeti ecosystem, which is defined by the area covered by the annual migration. The property is contiguous with Ngorongoro Conservation Unit, an area of 528,000ha declared a World Heritage Site in 1979. The entire ecosystem also includes the Maswa Game Reserve in the south, Ikorongo Game Reserves in the east, Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya (1,672km2) to the north, and Loliondo Game Controlled Area in the west. This entire ecosystem is intact and no barriers hamper the migration. Serengeti National Park is sufficiently large and intact to ensure the survival and vigour of all the species contained therein, if maintained in its present state but does not, by itself, ensure the protection of the entire ecosystem.

Hot Air Balloon safari over the Serengeti

In the crisp air of dawn, the passengers watch the crew partially inflates the balloon with enormous fans before the gas burners are ignited to fill the balloon with hot air. The crew directs clients how to get into the basket moments before take-off. The balloons lift off just before sunrise when the breeze on the plains is still cold. Once airborne, the balloon is blown by the prevailing winds across the broad landscape. Apart from the hiss of the burners, the flight above the plains is magically silent. The pilot controls the height of the craft by regulating the flow of hot air into the balloon. Sometimes the balloon will descend over the plains for a close up view of the wildlife; on other occasions, it rises to clear a tree canopy and rise over the riverine forest. This is an experience never to be forgotten. Enjoy the rest of the day on safari exploring this amazing park.

*** Auric Air Scheduled flight to Manyara departing at 10:20am and arriving at 11:00am

Internal flight from Serengeti to Lake Manyara

Game drives in Lake Manyara National Park

Welcome to Lake Manyara National Park, famous for its tree climbing lions. One of the small parks in Tanzania with an exceptional diverse vegetation ranging from savannah to marsh to evergreen forest, a total of 11 ecosystems. The chance to see elephant families moving through the forest or Lake Manyara's famous population of tree-climbing lions are alone reason enough to come. Lake Manyara also provides the perfect introduction to Tanzania’s birdlife with more than 400 species have been recorded to date, which include pink-hued flamingos (by the thousands during migration), as well as other large water-birds such as pelicans, cormorants and storks. The dramatic western escarpment of the Rift Valley forms the park’s western border. To the east is the alkaline Lake Manyara, which covers one-third of the park but shrinks considerably in the dry season. During the rains, the lake hosts millions of flamingos and other bird life.

Game drives in Ngorongoro Crater

Game drives descend into the Ngorongoro Crater through a lush highland forest, with magnificent birdlife to be spotted among the different tree species. Once on the grassy crater floor, you may discover a large variety of grazing herbivores, up to 25,000 animals, as well as the predators that are attracted by this abundant supply of prey. Depending on the time of year, you may see huge flocks of pink flamingo around the shores of the shallow Lake Magadi, while the surrounding swamp is inhabited by hippo. Safari vehicles are closed, with glass windows and a pop-up roof.

The crater has formed its own ecosystem due to its enclosed nature, and is one place where you can certainly tick all the boxes. Lerai Forest comprised of yellow fever trees and Lake Magadi, a shallow soda lake. Roam to the east and you will find Gorigor Swamp and the Ngoitokitok Springs where happy pods of hippo can be found. The north of the Crater is where the bulk of the resident game resides thanks to the drier, open grasslands.

Ngorongoro Crater & Conservation Area

Ngorongoro Crater is an extinct volcanic caldera in the Eastern Great Rift Valley, northern Tanzania. The caldera measures between 10 and 12 miles across and has an area of 102 square miles. Its heavily forested rim rises 2,000 feet above the caldera’s floor to an elevation of 7,500 feet. Ngorongoro is thought to have formed about 2.5 million years ago from a large active volcano whose cone collapsed inward after a major eruption, leaving the present vast, unbroken caldera as its chief remnant.

The caldera’s floor is predominantly open grassland. It is home to a diverse array of animals including elephants, black rhinoceroses, leopards, buffalo, zebras, warthogs, gnu (wildebeests), Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles, and the densest population of lions in the world. The local Masai people also graze their livestock in the crater. Lake Magadi, a shallow soda lake ringed by extinct volcanoes, is renowned as a habitat for great flocks of pink flamingos.

Land transfer from Ngorongoro to Tarangire National Park

Tarangire National Park

Welcome to one of Africa's most underrated parks. Thanks to its proximity to Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire National Park is usually assigned only a day visit as part of a larger northern-circuit itinerary. Yet it deserves much more. It is a place where elephants dot the plains like cattle, and where lion roars and zebra barks fill the night.

But here the wildlife tells only half the story. Dominating the park's 2850 sq km, Tarangire's great stands of epic baobabs should be reason enough to visit. There are also sun-blistered termite mounds in abundance, as well as grassy savannah plains and vast swamps. And cleaving the park in two is the Tarangire River, its meandering course and (in some places) steep banks providing a dry-season lure for animals and thus many stirring wildlife encounters for visitors.

Game Drives in Tarangire National Park

Morning and afternoon game drives are conducted in a 4x4 customized game viewing vehicle with a professional driver - guide. Tarangire is an elephant enthusiast's paradise with up to 6,000 roaming the park. It is impossible to spend time in the park without encountering these iconic animals, feeding at the base of a baobab, strolling through the riverine forests or 'playing' in the mud of the marshlands. They are often present in a conglomeration of herds that could be 300 individuals - an incredible sight for even the most seasoned safari-goer.

Elephants aside, Tarangire is home to one of the greatest concentration of wildlife outside of the larger Serengeti ecosystem. They dry season influx of ungulates sees a profusion of wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, eland, hartebeest and buffalo assembled near the river, or around residual pools in the swamps. Such a conservation of prey serves to attract the attention of the park's various resident predators, particularly the ever-attended lions. The lions of the Silale Swamps are particularly renowned, not only for their marshy hunting techniques, but also for their habit of lounging in the boughs of trees. Leopards and cheetah are also present, and even the highly endangered African wildlife dog. Away from the wetter areas of the park, one might be fortunate enough to spot a gerenuk or fringe-eared oryx, making Taranigire one of the few places in Tanzania to see these arid species.

Guided walking safari

For those looking for an active thrill beyond the excitement of Big Five sightings on a game drive vehicle, a guided bush walk offers an opportunity to connect with the African bush, learning about its fascinating fauna and flora. Embark on an adventure where your feet tread in the tracks of Africa’s wild inhabitants, your nostrils fill with the scent of crushed wild grasses as you push through the bush and all six senses reawaken as Africa touches you and you touch Africa. At one with nature, discover a range of natural wonders in the company of your experienced, walking safari guide. Learn how to track, seeing how close you can come to smaller game like impala or nyala antelope without them being aware of your presence. Smell and taste wild herbs, learning their traditional uses, and explore the smaller marvels of the bush, from the magnificent tapestry of a spider’s web to the microscopic world of the dung beetle.

Land transfer to Arusha Coffee Lodge

Private transfer to the Airport

Arusha

Arusha is Tanzania's gateway to the northern circuit of stellar national parks and the starting point of a memorable safari. Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley, Arusha City has a temperate climate. The city is close to the Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Lake Manyara National Park, Olduvai Gorge, Tarangire National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Mount Meru in the Arusha National Park.

It's also a large, sprawling city with vibrant markets that sell everything from meat and fish to fabrics and electronics, curios and African art by local artists. They are crowded and busy but a great way to experience 'local' Africa. Arusha is also considered an international diplomatic hub. It is home to the East African Community, and is set to be the capital city of the proposed East African federation. Arusha is home to many industries and business sectors, including banking, manufacturing, and tourism.