Kenya and Tanzania National Parks Safari

Kenya and Tanzania National Parks Safari

Involved in this Safari is a visit to Serengeti National Park, nature walk in Kenya’s National parks, Masai Mara Migration Stampede, and Ngorongoro Crater game views.

What is unique about this tour?

Cross Equator into Samburu National Reserve – Beautiful valleys and rapidly flowing rivers.

East Africa is arguably the world’s greatest theater of the wild with its sprawling plains, abundant grazing animals and the majestic big cats that hunt them. The national parks in Kenya and Tanzania are seemingly similar yet offer very different experiences. The circle of life is played out every day in these large open amphitheaters, yet somehow the action is never the same. The Masai Mara and the Serengeti, though in the same ecosystem, offer very distinct scenes but they make up the same act. This Kenya and Tanzania Combined Safari is a collection of the best national parks of the region including the most visited areas. The main players in any east African safari are the animals, thundering herds, prowling lions, and lurking predators. All of Africa pulses with the sights and sounds of the last true paradise left on earth. There’s more to an unforgettable safari than just spectacular wildlife—there is splendour and elegance. The lodges and tented camps in these national parks offer just that…the luxury of home away from home.

Nairobi

Arrival in Nairobi

Once you’re all loaded up in the vehicle, your driver will take you to your hotel in Nairobi to relax before your tour guide comes to meet you in the evening to run through the tour itinerary. Get some rest tonight and prepare for your Kenya and Tanzania Combination Safari bright and early tomorrow morning!
Panafric Hotel or any other hotel around.

Day One

Nairobi – Samburu Game Reserve
Samburu National Reserve

You’ll soon be entering the Samburu wilderness. The Samburu National Reserve is a wild and rugged country with stunningly beautiful appeal. The arid savannas of Samburu are watered by the lovely Ewaso Ng’iro River. It is also one of Kenya’s most protected areas and home to many species only found north of the equator such as the reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, and Beisa oryx. You’ll arrive at the Samburu Sopa Lodge where you’ll be greeted with a warm, smiling and cordial staff. You can enjoy a leisurely lunch and an afternoon siesta before a game drive from 4:00pm until dusk.
Samburu Sopa Lodge

Day Two

Samburu Game Reserve – Shaba Game Reserve – Samburu Game Reserve
Samburu Game Reserve

You’ll spend the full day at the best spots, where the wildlife is known to congregate for a drink of water or a salt lick. The Ewaso Ng’iro River is especially popular with elephants, giraffes, lions, and many other animals as they drink water here. You’ll take a ride through both the Shaba and Samburu game reserves today. You’ll return to the lodge in time for dinner and a well deserved night’s rest.
Samburu Sopa Lodge or any other Lodge around.

Day Three

Samburu Game Reserve – Mt. Kenya National Park
Mt. Kenya National Par

Sprawled on the slopes of the majestic Mount Kenya, this historic and serene mountain lodge was perhaps the first in Africa to offer travelers the ultimate in refined elegance and luxury. While lounging at the pool, you can indulge your senses in an endless display of beauty, from the towering snow-capped mountain to the kaleidoscope of gorgeous flowers that surround you. An elegant lunch at the restaurant in full view of the wide windows allows you to watch the animals that gather around the water hole below.

You may even see rare leopards, lions, rhinos, elephants and other animals. The afternoon is free for you to relax or take an optional guided nature walk in the nearby rainforest. Dinner will be served as you once again watch the action at the water hole.
Serena Mountain Lodge or any other Lodge around.

Day Four

Mt. Kenya National Park – Nyahururu – Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru National Park

You’ll pass along the longest range of mountains, the Aberdare range, to Nyahururu where you’ll visit the Thompson Falls for a short stopover. The drop in temperatures from the dry north to the highlands of Nyahururu is most welcoming. You’ll be driving through some of the most interesting countryside to get to Lake Nakuru at 12:00am. Located on the floor of the Great African Rift Valley, Lake Nakuru is an alkaline soda lake that is known for its majestic flocks of flamingo.

Lake Nakuru is the biggest bird spectacle in the world with more than 350 types of birds on record. Among them, during the dry season, the flamingos number in the millions. There are so many flamingos that they form a permanent pink ribbon around the lake edges. Check in at the Lake Nakuru Lodge in time for lunch.

You can swim in the pool to wash away the day’s dust and take a siesta before your afternoon game drive at 4:00pm. Expect to see the tree-climbing lions, rhinos, buffalo, leopards, hippos, gazelles, giraffes, naughty baboons, giant pythons and many more.
Lake Nakuru Lodge or any other Lodge around.

Day Five

Lake Nakuru National Park – Masai Mara Game Reserve
Masai Mara Game Reserve

Its time to up the stakes and get into serious game driving in your Kenya and Tanzania safari. Wake up to the sound of birds chirping and a hot cup of coffee. You can do a short game drive before breakfast at the lodge. You’ll depart at 8:00am for the world famous Masai Mara Game Reserve (5hrs away). You’ll cross the floor of the Great Rift Valley and climb its western escarpment onto the Masai plains. A country of rolling grasslands, dense thickets and groves of acacia woodland, the Mara is home to an incredible variety of wildlife.

Deep forest grows along the Mara River and its tributaries, where many hippos and crocodiles bask lazily in the sunlight. Here you find the largest population of lions in Africa, cautiously eyed by their neighbors, the stunning Coke’s hartebeest.

Large herds of topi, the stately cape buffalo and the rare black rhino can also to be found. Huge herds of elephant often block the roads.

These magnificent creatures are so bountiful that it is difficult to decide where to look first! The Masai Mara wildebeest migration is one of the appointed 7 wonders of the modern world. A wildlife phenomenon from July to October which sees 1.5 million wildebeests, half a million zebras, and 360,000 gazelles migrate from the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Masai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya.

To do so, they must cross the treacherous Mara river full of crocodiles, not all of them make it across. The migration is so huge that it can be observed via satellite imagery in real time as a flowing black mass. Check in at your lodge and take an afternoon game drive at 4:00pm when the sun starts letting up and the cats become more active. Dinner will be served at the lodge, and you can relax in the evening.
Mara Sopa Lodge or any other Lodge around

Day Six

Masai Mara Game Reserve

Today you’ll have the chance to experience the full offerings of the Masai Mara National Reserve, with a full day game drive over the plains. After breakfast at the lodge, you’ll depart for the Mara River at the wildebeest crossing point where hundreds of crocodiles wait for the chance to snap up their dinner. If timed correctly, you may get to experience the actual wildebeest river crossing, an awesome sight to behold.

The Masai Mara will amaze you with the abundance of animals you can see. Only here in the Masai Mara is it possible for a herd of elephants to surround your car so close that you can see the matriarch’s eyelashes, or a pride of lions to hold you hostage as they use your vehicle’s shadow to escape the midday heat, or have a cheetah jump onto the hood of your car to gain a vantage of their prey.

You might even see a lion or cheetah make a kill just 20 feet from you! Your camera will run out of space long before you run out of animals to shoot in the Mara!! You will enjoy a packed lunch at the riverside picnic site as you watch the hippos and Nile crocodiles in the Mara river below.

You’ll have an en-route game drive on your drive back to the lodge. Dinner will be served at the lodge, and you can relax in the evening.
Mara Sopa Lodge or any other Lodge around

Day Seven

Masai Mara Game Reserve – Serengeti National Park
Serengeti National Park

As the vast rolling plains spread out before us, the greatest wildlife spectacle in the world is on full display. Over three million large animals – elephants, zebras, gazelles, rhinos, cheetahs and more.

Within this huge park lies a complex ecosystem incorporating a variety of environments, from the dry south where the grasslands sway in a sultry dance, to the park’s centre, a green oasis of open woodlands and thicket. Streams are lined by dense, brilliantly green forests.

Weathered domes of granite and gneiss are a favorite retreat of the big cats, a place to rest and to watch the surrounding vegetation for both danger and for prey.

Giraffes browse in small groups among the trees. Bohor reedbuck and waterbuck restrict their travels to the vegetation near the rivers and streams. Great numbers of ostrich, Grant’s gazelle, topi, hartebeest, impala and cape buffalo abound, all watching out for the abundant lion, cheetah, wild dog and hyena! Leopards are seen resting in the trees. No matter what your expectations, you will not fail to be astounded by life in the Serengeti.
Serengeti Sopa Lodge or any other Lodge around

Day Eight

Serengeti National Park

There are animals in the trees, in the air, in the bush, and in the rivers and streams…everywhere. When you’ve seen all that’s possible to see in one day, you’ll return to the lodge for dinner and a good night’s rest.
Serengeti Sopa Lodge or any other Lodge around

Day Nine

Serengeti National Park – Ngorongoro National Park – Olduvai Gorge
Ngorongoro National Park

The Ngorongoro Crater is our next destination, including a stop at Olduvai Gorge, where the Leakey family has been uncovering fossils of our human ancestors and of animal life for more than fifty years, laboriously peeling away the layers of mystery attached to the history of the continent. Under the direction of Louis and Mary Leakey, material was unearthed dating back over two million years. The remains of prehistoric elephants, giant-horned sheep and enormous ostriches have also been found in this Stone Age site.

During the last century, the very early human remains of the Nutcracker Man, or Zinjanthropus bosei, were located. In 1969, Dr. Mary Leakey uncovered the first ever intact skull of Homo habilis, dating from 1.75 million years.

You have the chance to stand on the very ground where these early humans walked and lived! Your accommodation tonight is the magnificent Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge—be prepared to be overwhelmed! Cocktails, a sumptuous meal and a wonderful evening in our exotic lodge conclude a most remarkable day in Africa.
Ngorongoro National Park

Day Ten

Ngorongoro National Park
Ngorongoro Crater

You’ll spend a memorable morning deep in the crater, exploring its breadth and depth of life. Tonight, as you delight in another great meal at this exceptional lodge, you’ll be struck by the beauty of the orange sunset which seems to hover in the wild African sky, signaling the end to yet another unforgettable day on safari.
Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge or any other Lodge around

Day Eleven

Ngorongoro National Park – Lake Manyara National Park
Lake Manyara National Park

You’ll check into theLake Manyara Lodge for lunch and a siesta followed by an afternoon game drive at 4:00pm. Dinner will be served upon your return and you’ll stay overnight at the Lake Manyara Safari Lodge.
Lake Manyara Safari Lodge. or any other Lodge around

Day Twelve

Lake Manyara National Park – Amboseli National Park
Amboseli National Park

Kilimanjaro dominates the view from every direction, and animals are seen browsing the grasses and drinking at the waterhole directly outside. The luxurious spacious rooms are nestled comfortably under huge spreading acacia trees and have a veranda from which to enjoy the view. Dinner at Sopa is exceptionally good—fresh and delightful, with vegetables and herbs grown right at the camp. A truly special location, you are sure to remember the experience of sleeping in the wilderness and waking up to the beauty of Amboseli.
Amboseli Sopa Lodge or any other Lodge around

Day Thirteen

If you haven’t visited a Masai village yet, you will do so today, learning about their tribal social systems, customs and the place of the Masai in today’s Africa. Residents live in a, “Manyatta” or village, much as they have for centuries and you will have an opportunity to see the interior of these mud-hut homes, spotless and unadorned, contrasted with the Masai themselves, bedecked with brilliantly colored beads and cloths. Evening will find us back at Sopa for a steaming bath, cocktails and a sumptuous dinner. Very quickly you are ready for a deep evening slumber in the comfortable rooms.
Amboseli Sopa Lodge or any other Lodge around

Day Fourteen

Amboseli National Park – Nairobi

If your flight is in the morning you can arrange for an extra night in Nairobi, with a transfer to the airport in the morning.

Included services

• Park entry fees
• All accommodation in lodges stated or equivalent
• All meals as per itinerary
• All Road transport in a safari minivan
• Services of a professional driver guide
• Bottled drinking water
• All transfers to and from airports

Does not include

• Visa fees
• Local Flights to Nairobi –Mombasa Return
• Tips and gratuities while on Tour
• Masai Village Visits
• Balloon Safari Rides