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12 days

Safari in Kenya & Tanzania

Serengeti & Masai Mara: Visit two of the world’s best safari destinations on one tour. You travel from Kenya to Tanzania – and back, from where you can choose to extend your tour with a beach holiday.

Safari in Kenya & Tanzania
Safari in Kenya & Tanzania
12 days

Safari in Kenya & Tanzania

Serengeti & Masai Mara: Visit two of the world’s best safari destinations on one tour. You travel from Kenya to Tanzania – and back, from where you can choose to extend your tour with a beach holiday.

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What is included in the price?
This package includes the following
  • Flights from the UK to Nairobi, including transfer
  • Local English-speaking guide/driver
  • 5 nights in Kenya with full board
  • Amboseli National Park – elephants at the foot of Kilimanjaro
  • Border crossing between Kenya and Tanzania (Namanga), as well as between Tanzania and Kenya (Isibania)
  • 4 nights in Tanzania with full board
  • Tarangire National Park – herds of several hundred elephants
  • Ngorongoro Crater – a paradise for at least 30,000 resident animals
  • Serengeti National Park – in search of “The Big Five”
  • Walking safari and evening game drive
  • Masai Mara – the world’s largest concentration of wildlife
  • Lake Naivasha with a boat trip on the lake
  • Transport and safaris in a 4WD Land Cruiser
  • Drinking water on the safaris
  • Admission and fees to the national parks and wildlife reserves mentioned
  • Flights from Nairobi to the UK including transfers
  • ATOL certificate
  • 24-hour manned emergency telephone throughout the tour
  • Departure guarantee – the tour will take place regardless of the number of participants

THE TOUR IN SHORT

On this tour, you will visit two of the world’s best safari destinations on one and the same holiday. You travel from Kenya to Tanzania – and back to Kenya, from where you can choose to extend your tour with a beach holiday if you wish.

It goes without saying that the tour is a wonderful experience during the annual migration in East Africa, and you pretty much follow the same route as the animals as you make your way through Tanzania from Ngorongoro to Serengeti and into Masai Mara in Kenya. But the tour is an experience whatever time of the year you travel. As so many of the big national parks are included in the tour, we guarantee some amazing safari experiences.

To give you the real classic safari feel, you spend most nights in classic safari camps. So you will be sleeping in safari tents. The tents are spacious and standing height with proper beds and an en suite bathroom, but with canvas walls, allowing you to hear and smell the nature right outside. That’s what it’s all about on a safari after all!

The tour kicks off at Amboseli National Park in Kenya. You probably know the park from photos: elephants are typically pictured with Kilimanjaro in the background. You then cross the border and visit Tarangire National Park in Tanzania. The park is especially famous for its elephants and its huge baobab trees. A “Jurassic Park” experience awaits you at the Ngorongoro Crater, before the landscape changes dramatically, and you move out onto the mighty plains of Serengeti. This is where most safaris end – but not yours! You cross the border back into Kenya, where Masai Mara now awaits. The last stop on the tour is Lake Naivasha before you’re driven back to Nairobi Airport. From here, you have the option of extending the tour to include a beach holiday in Mombasa, Zanzibar or Mauritius.

Why choose this tour

  • This is the ultimate safari holiday where you get to experience Kenya and Tanzania on one and the same tour
  • Discover the vast plains of Masai Mara and Serengeti, Amboseli, Ngorongoro and Lake Naivasha – all on the same tour
  • You will spend most nights in Kenya and Tanzania in safari tents, with nature all around you – but without compromising on comfort!
  • It is possible to extend the tour with a beach holiday to Mauritius, Mombasa or Zanzibar

Our prices always include

  • All international and domestic flights
  • All destination transfers
  • All specified excursions and activities
  • All accommodations
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Departure from the UK

Today is departure day, and you fly to Kenya with stopovers on the way.

Day 2: Arrival in Nairobi – Amboseli National Park

Upon your arrival at Nairobi, you will be met at the airport by our local guide. From the airport, you head south to Amboseli National Park.

Amboseli National Park might be one of Kenya’s smallest national parks, but the nature experiences it offers are some of the biggest! The park is especially famous for its fabulous views of Africa’s highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, and for its many elephants. Amboseli was the first place in the world where studies of elephants were made, and it was here that it was discovered that elephants both celebrate births and grieve over the death of family members. Much of what we know about elephants today comes from research conducted here at the park.

Depending on when you landed in Nairobi, you will either eat lunch on the way to Amboseli or upon your arrival at your lodge in Amboseli. Your first safari experiences start that afternoon with a game drive in Amboseli. It goes without saying that elephants are high on your wish list – and we can as good as guarantee that you will see elephants this afternoon. But you should also be on the lookout for hyenas, zebras and wildebeest – and you might even be lucky enough to see one of the big cats.

Back at the camp, dinner and a good night’s sleep await you. What could be better than falling asleep to the sounds of Africa?

Day 3: Amboseli National Park

The day is spent on safari in Amboseli. Due to the dry climate and the open plains, you stand a very good chance of seeing wild animals here, and the view is amazing. And you might even be able to get a good shot of the famous motif of elephants crossing the savannah with Kilimanjaro and the iconic acacia trees in the background – a motif that just screams “Africa”!

Accommodation:
Day 4: Amboseli – Tarangire. Border crossing between Kenya and Tanzania

You set out early from Amboseli today. You are driven to the border between Kenya and Tanzania – a good 1½ hour drive. Your guide will help you with all the formalities and make sure you get across the border without any problems. Your Tanzanian guide is waiting for you on the other side. From the border, you drive via Arusha and on to Tarangire National Park.

Like Amboseli, Tarangire is best known for its elephants. But where the motifs of Amboseli are peppered with acacia trees, in Tarangire the enormous, ancient and majestic baobab trees dominate the picture.

Wildebeest and zebras are also found in large numbers, and kudu, impala and gazelles thrive here. The abundant prey here attracts lions, leopards and hyenas, and if you’re really lucky, you might also see a wild dog.

The river attracts wildlife all  year round, and as the park receives fewer visitors than the Ngorongoro crater, for example, you enjoy some wonderful animal experiences here.

You drive on to Highview Hotel, where you stay for one night.

Day 5: Highview via the Ngorongoro crater to Serengeti

It’s hard not to think of Jurassic Park when standing on the edge of the Ngorongoro crater. In front of you is the world’s largest unbroken caldera. A caldera is formed when a volcano collapses, as did Ngorongoro some 2–3 million years ago. The base of the crater covers an area of 260 km2 and has a depth of 600 metres. The nutrient-rich volcanic soil attracts animals in their droves, and it is estimated that more than 30,000 animals live in the crater – including the endangered black rhino, which is protected by armed rangers. The only animal you won’t find in the crater is the giraffe. Its long, slender legs cannot carry it down the sloping crater walls. A holiday in Tanzania is not complete without a visit to the Ngorongoro crater, and that is precisely what you start with today. There are animals everywhere. Several families of lions, wildebeest, elephants, buffaloes, zebras and lots of different birds.

In the afternoon, you leave the crater and head for Serengeti. It’s a beautiful drive, with the landscape gradually flattening out. Zebras and giraffes are dotted throughout the landscape, and everywhere you look, there are small Masai villages. Occasionally, the car has to stop to let a Masai cross the road with his herd of goats. When you cross the border to Serengeti, the Masai are no more, but the animals take over. As far as the eye can see, there are herds of wildebeest and zebras. The large kori bustards are prominent in the landscape. The kori bustard is the largest flying bird in Africa and it is often seen together with wildebeest as it eats the small insects that bother the wildebeest.

You stay overnight in the middle of the Serengeti plain and once again fall asleep to the sounds of Africa outside your tent.

Day 6: Safari in Serengeti National Park

Full day safari in Serengeti, looking for the “Big Five”: lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and buffaloes. You have the whole day to enjoy the wildlife of the fantastic Serengeti.

The ecosystem here in the park is considered to be one of the oldest in the world, and you’d be hard pressed not to feel both humbled and astonished when sitting in your land cruiser, absorbing all that you see before you. Outside the drought period, you will also see a large number of Thompson’s gazelles, buffaloes, topi, Grant’s gazelles, eland antelopes, warthogs, eagles, ostriches, etc., in addition to the animals already mentioned. Today, you will probably also see and smell the hippos wallowing in the hippo pools.

The next two nights are spent at Ikoma Wildcamp. Ikoma is located just outside the north-western section of Serengeti National Park. It offers a phenomenal view of the Serengeti plain, and the promise of some unique experiences that you cannot enjoy in the national park itself.

Accommodation:
Day 7: Walking safari and evening game drive

Located just outside the national park, Ikoma offers the possibility of a number of activities that you cannot enjoy in the park itself. You will really make the most of this today. The day promises a guided hike in the scenic wilderness. Accompanied by an armed security guard and a guide, you set off on the hike. Along the way you may encounter gazelles, antelopes, zebras, wildebeest, giraffes, elephants, hyenas, buffaloes – and perhaps even lions! It’s a wonderful experience walking around in the wild, where you’re not master of anything!

In the evening, a unique experience, which you can only enjoy outside the national park, awaits you: an evening game drive. A large proportion of the animals on the African savannah are most active at night. The baking sun has gone down, and the herbivores come out to eat under cover of darkness. Naturally, the opportunistic cats are very well aware of this, so unlike during the day when the pawed ones are mostly to be spotted lying panting in the shade, you might be lucky enough to see lions and hyenas wandering through the bush.

We highly recommend an evening game drive. There is something magical about sitting in the safety of the car in the dark and knowing that the animals are walking around you. In the dark, your senses are heightened, and the sounds from the bush around you will be clearer than during the day.

 

Accommodation:
Day 8: Serengeti – Masai Mara. Crossing the border from Tanzania to Kenya

From Ikoma, the tour heads north to the border with Kenya. At Sirari/Isibania, you cross the border and you will be met in Kenya by your guide for the last few days. From the border, you head to Masai Mara, where you will be spending the next few days.

Day 9: Masai Mara

Yesterday, you were in Serengeti – today, you’re going on a game drive in Masai Mara. But did you know that Masai Mara is actually part of the vast Serengeti ecosystem? However, Masai Mara is significantly smaller than Serengeti, and the concentration of animals is therefore often higher on the Kenyan side of the border. On the mighty plains, you will encounter large herds of elephants, wildebeest, zebras, hippos, giraffes, gazelles and other herbivorous prey of the hunting lions, hyenas, leopards and cheetahs.

Over the next few days, you will get right up close to a host of animals, which you experience from the protection of the Land Cruiser. From July to October, you can experience the 1,200 km long migration of more than a million wildebeest, a few hundred thousand zebras plus a huge number of Thompson gazelles on the Kenyan side of the Great Migration. It is during this migration that many gazelles fall victim to the huge Nile crocodiles when crossing the Mara River.

Day 10: Masai Mara – Lake Naivasha

The time has come to say goodbye to Masai Mara and its vast plains. The tour heads through Masai country and past the old volcano Mount Longnot before arriving at Lake Naivasha. Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake located at the highest point of the Great Rift Valley, 1,890 metres above sea level. The area is especially well-known for its hippos, giraffes, waterbucks,  vervet monkeys and profusion of birds, both sedentary and migratory.

The afternoon is spent at your leisure. Enjoy the pool or go for a walk in the lovely garden, where antelopes, giraffes and monkeys are often to be found. If you’re in need of some exercise after all those days in the safari car, you can purchase a guided bike ride to Hells Gate National Park. We highly recommend the latter. Hells Gate is a completely different experience to the vast open plains you’ve visited in recent days, and you will certainly see another side to Kenya!

Day 11: Lake Naivasha – Nairobi – Homeward bound

The morning starts with a boat trip on the lake. Keep a lookout in particular for hippos and some of the many bird species in this area. After the boat trip, you head for Nairobi and the airport, where the journey home starts with connecting flight(s) on the way.

You can also choose to extend your tour with a wonderful beach holiday in Mombasa, Zanzibar or Mauritius.

Day 12: Arrival back home

You land in the UK after an eventful holiday.

Combine with
Choose from the options below
Beach holiday in Mombasa
5 nights

Conclude your tour with a beach holiday in Mombasa.

Here you can relax on chalk-white beaches under the shade of the palm trees, bathe in azure water, and go snorkelling around gorgeous coral reefs. There is also time to go exploring in Mombasa City, which is the second-largest city in Kenya. Here you can look forward to wandering through narrow streets marked by both Swahili and Arabic culture. The city markets hold a treasure trove of local foods and exotic spices.

The days in Mombasa are at your disposal, but you also have the opportunity to purchase additional tours if you would like to go exploring in Mombasa City or areas nearby.

Gorilla tracking in Uganda
4 nights

You’ve almost certainly seen pictures of the gentle furry mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.

Why not complete your trip to East Africa by extending your holiday to include a tour to Uganda to look for the unique mountain gorillas?

We’ve made it easy for you and added this 5-day extension, when, besides gorilla tracking, you also go on a “walking safari” in Lake Mburo National Park.

It goes without saying that we have included flights, gorilla permits and full board almost everywhere.

It couldn’t be easier!

Please note: This extension only goes ahead when there are at least 2 people travelling.

This extension must be booked at least 70 days before departure.

Beach holiday in Zanzibar
6 nights

Surrounded by the waters of the Indian Ocean, Zanzibar consists of the main islands of Unguja (also called ‘Zanzibar’) and Pemba, as well as a number of smaller islands. The island of Zanzibar is a treasure trove of natural and cultural treats. Brilliant white sandy beaches, azure seas and a truly amazing coral reef. A warm and sunny climate all year round. A dramatic history, liberally sprinkled with Arabian sultans, Portuguese seafarers, unscrupulous slavers and European explorers who have all left their mark on the island. And one of the most fascinating towns in Africa, dotted with fine examples of beautiful Arabian architecture. Not forgetting the delicious Swahili cuisine and the accommodating population …

Beach holiday in Mauritius
5 nights

The tropical island of Mauritius is one of the most exclusive and fascinating islands in the Indian Ocean. With its delightful climate and friendly population, this little slice of paradise is the perfect setting for an exotic holiday. The island is typically associated with relaxation and romance, but it is also ideal for everyone who loves gastronomic treats, water sports and beautiful countryside. Mauritius is ringed with beautiful beaches lined with swaying palm trees, crystal clear water and brightly coloured coral reefs. The landscape features lush forests, fields of sugar cane, tall mountains, roaring waterfalls and dramatic stretches of coast dotted with small lagoons. The capital, Port Louis, is home to a variety of fine shops and fascinating museums.

The days on Mauritius are yours to do with as you wish.

The stay includes half board.

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Catriona Hodge

Catriona is passionate about helping other people fulfill their travel dreams, as she knows how much travel has only improved her life for the better!

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