11 Days/10 Nights: Kenya & Tanzania Safari
Starts in Arusha and ends in Nairobi, Kenya
Safari Highlights:
- Lake Manyara - 1 Night: Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge
- Ngorongoro - 2 Nights: Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
- Serengeti - 2 Nights: Mbalageti Safari Lodge
- Maasai Mara - 3 Nights: Ashnil Mara Camp
- Lake Naivasha - 1 Night: Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge
- Lake Nakuru - 1 Night: Flamingo Hill Tented Camp
Activities: Game viewing, photography, nature walks sightseeing, birding, wildebeest migration and cultural visits.
Detailed Itinerary
About Lake Manyara
The area of the park covers approximately 50km and sits at the base of the 600m high Rift Valley escarpment and the Manyara Lake. It is famous for its vast herds of elephants, flocking flamingos which inhabit the land and its highly unusual tree-climbing lions. The National Park is also home to baboons, giraffes, hippos, wildebeest, and zebras, providing you with an exceptional big four safari. A highlight of any visit to Manyara is without question its diverse population of birds.
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The park is widely considered to be one of the best places for bird watching in the world and has an impressive 400 different bird species to be discovered. Bird watchers can spot birds such a flamingo's, herons, water fowls, crowned cranes, crowned eagles, and snipes. Lake Manyara offers visitors unique wildlife species, pristine wilderness and idyllic landscapes which have given it a strong reputation. Two-thirds of this National Park is covered by the lake. For such a relatively small reserve it has remarkably diverse habitats, from open savannah grassland, marshes, acacia woodland and of course the Manyara River.
Because the park is located closely to the Tarangire National Park and the Ngorongoro conservation area, a stay at Lake Manyara is often combined with a visit to both nearby parks, for either day trips or longer stays at the parks along the Northern Circuit.
Day 1: Arusha - Transfer to Lake Manyara
You will be picked from your Arusha hotel and be driven to Lake Manyara which is 2 hours away from Arusha. Lunch will be served in Arusha before proceeding to Lake Manyara. Upon arrival you will have an introductory game drive as you head to the lodge.
Overnight: Lake Manyara Serena lodge
Meals: Lunch & Dinner
About Ngorongoro National Park
The Ngorongoro National Park is a world heritage site located in Crater Highlands of Tanzania. It is famous for the Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest inactive and unfilled volcanic caldera. Ngorongoro National Park is one of Africa's premier attractions and a world-renowned natural wonder.
Ngorongoro Crater
The main attraction of Ngorongoro National Park is the 2 million years old crater. It is about 610 metres in depth and its floor covers about 260 square kilometres of area. The estimated height of the original volcano ranges between 4,500 to 5,800 metres. Ngorongoro has two more volcanic craters: Olmoti crater, known for its stunning waterfalls and the Empakai crater, which holds a deep lake and lush, green walls.
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Oldupai Gorge
The Oldupai Gorge archaeological site is said to be the seat of humanity after the discovery of the earliest known specimen of the human genus, Homo-habilis, and early hominids, Paranthropus boisei. It is considered to be one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world and research there has helped in the study and understanding of the early human evolution.
Wildlife
About 25,000 large animals, including black rhinoceros and hippopotamus, live in the crater. African buffalo or the Cape buffalo, the blue wildebeest, and Grant's Zebra are also seen in the area. Flamingos are very common at lakes in Ngorongoro. Walking safari and bird watching is encouraged in the park.
People & Culture
About 200 years ago, the Massai people arrived and have colonised the area since then. Today, about 42,000 Massai people live in Ngorongoro along with their goats, sheep, cattle and donkeys. Visitors can visit two Masai cultural bomas. Visit the Maasai Cultural bomas and learn more about their unique culture. There is an entrance fee to be paid but it is absolutely worth it.
Apart from all this, one can see various other lakes, the shifting sands composed of volcanic ash from Oldonyo Lengai, and much more in Ngorongoro National Park.
Day 2: Lake Manyara - Transfer to Ngorongoro
Have breakfast at the lodge and immediately depart for Ngorongoro to arrive by mid-morning. Have a game drive as you head to the lodge for lunch. After lunch relax by the pool area and later have another game drive at 4o'clock.
Overnight: Serena
Meals: Lunch & Dinner
Day 3: Ngorongoro - Trek and game drive
After breakfast check out of the lodge with packed picnic lunch and depart for a tour to the rim of the crater. Later ascend for a game drive to look for numerous plains game and the big five. Spend the day within the crater and have lunch at one of the famous picnic spots in the park. In the evening you will return to the lodge and enjoy the most magnificent views of the crater from the lodge.
Overnight: Serena
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
About Serengeti National Park
The Serengeti National Park is a Tanzanian National Park in the Serengeti ecosystem which is listed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering a whooping area of 12950 sq kilometers. The crocodiles in the Nile River are a major attraction in the Serengeti Safari tours besides the Great Migration, when millions of herbivores migrate to and from the Maasai Mara year after year in pursuit of environmentally friendly water and pastures.
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The Great Migration not only brings massive numbers of zebras, wildebeests, and gazelles out for watching but also tempts in a lot of predators for hunting down the new-borns of the animals. One can also get to see enormous quantity of African Elephants in the Serengeti national park.
The park catches the eye of a wide range of wildlife because of its number of multiple warm swamps and ecosystems, where hippos slumber, with many shelters from the Acacia trees together with palm trees, which make the best daytime home for leopards, and even substantial bumpy outcrops, that may be noticed covered with elephants, or maybe making the appropriate slumbering position for a self-importance of cubs, cheetah plus lions. With the exception of these peculiar points of interest, the Serengeti is generally mile after mile of outstanding, grasslands, flatlands - one of the several causes that this park is so desirable as an illustration, mainly because of the visibility of the park, you can easily witness how a small group of lionesses will keep track of, quest, in addition, to get rid of their quarry much simpler compared with you can understand in a park that had more beautiful milestone disruptions versus the Serengeti.
Day 4: Ngorongoro - Transfer to Serengeti National Park
After an early Breakfast at your lodge departure from the park heading to the Great Serengeti, home to the big five and numerous plains game. Spend the rest of the day game viewing within the park along with packed lunch. In the evening be transferred to the lodge for rest, dinner and overnight.
Overnight: Mbalageti Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 5: Serengeti - Full day
Spend this whole day enjoying game drives within the Great Serengeti. Serengeti is the home to Africa-s Big Five. There will be picnic lunch in the course of the day.
Overnight: Mbalageti Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
About Masai Mara National Reserve
One of the most memorable experiences for a vacationer would be the travel to the Maasai Mara which is largely known as Maasai Mara National Reserve, and it happens to be the largest among the game reserves which spread into the Mara Region of Tanzania. The place is world famous for its extraordinary population of Masai lions, Tanzanian cheetahs, African leopards, Thomson's gazelle and the migration of wild beasts starting from July to October every year from Serengeti. It is known as the Great Migration, and it is a sight to behold.
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Prepare to witness this great exodus as well as the entire lot of the "Big Five" family that include lions, leopards, African buffalo, African elephant and black rhinoceros are the primary inhabitants of Maasai Mara.
The Maasai Mara game reserves offer more in the animal species, and they would include Hippopotami, Nile crocodiles, hyenas, jackals, bat-eared foxes and the plains of the Mara River as well as the Escort Siria
The escarpment offers the best view of games especially the lions and cheetahs. Great Migration is the most anticipated annual event in the world, and it involves a staggering statistics of 1,300,000 wildebeest, 97,000 Topi, 500,000 Thomson Gazelles, 200, 000 zebras and 18,000 elands.
The Maasai Mara also is the habitat for 470 species of bird population that include 60 species of raptors. You can often get a chance to see a wide variety of different animals at one time on the grasslands of the Masai. The beautiful land is consisting of acacia trees, shrubs, steep hills, tall grass and many other physical features.
The Maasai Mara National Reserve houses a great number of Maasai villages.
Day 6: Serengeti - Transfer to Maasai Mara via Isebania border
After breakfast, you will check out of the camp with packed lunch and depart for Maasai Mara via the Isebania Border. You will proceed with immigration formalities at the border before proceeding to the Mara to arrive late afternoon. Enjoy a game drive as you drive to the camp for dinner. This gives you a chance to spot the big five and other numerous plains game.
Overnight: Ashnil Mara
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 7 and 8: Maasai Mara - Full day
These 2 whole days will be spent with morning and afternoon game drives that lead one to some of Africa's largest lion prides, herds of zebra, antelopes, buffaloes, wildebeest, giraffes, cheetahs, and hyenas. There will be picnic lunches on all the days. Look out for the migration.
Optional Activities: Balloon ride and visit to Maasai Village
Overnight: Ashnil Mara
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
About Lake Naivasha
Being the most astounding of the Rift Valley Lakes of Kenya, Lake Naivasha is settled more than 1,800 meters above ocean level. This beautiful freshwater lake extends 13 kilometers and has a profundity of five meters. But Lake Naivasha is more than a group of blue water. Beside a quiet and unwinding climate, the lake is home to prolific soil and inexhaustible in natural abundance. The lake shore is embellished by verdant banks and additionally olive and desert flora trees. Naivasha is encompassed by grand woodlands that can captivate any traveler
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The shores of Naivasha Lake is a great place to see different animals, which Africa is known for, in a more tranquil and natural condition. The giraffe is regularly found in the range among the acacia. Colobus monkeys normally meander the treetops. While wild oxen hang out in swamps, a hippo assembly tends to rest in the shallow waters. Birdlife is additionally rich at Naivasha Lake. Fowls like ospreys, hawks, dark cakes and lily-trotters possess the lake territory.
Lake Naivasha is accessible by the main road and is a little more than an hour's head out from Nairobi. The atmosphere in this piece of Kenya is for the most part tender, once in a while outperforming 28 degrees Celsius, and the stormy seasons are from March to end of May and October to the end of November.
Day 9: Mara - Transfer to Lake Naivasha
After breakfast, depart for Lake Naivasha to arrive by lunch time. Have lunch and spend the afternoon with a boat ride to Crescent Island where you will have a guided walk.
Overnight: Lake Naivasha Sopa
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
About Lake Nakuru
Lake Nakuru national park is the most popular national park of central Kenya that is located 1750 meters above sea level in Rift Valley province that is surrounded by bushy and wooded grassland. It is also considered as ornithological paradise as it offers wide ecological diversity as well as varied habitants which can be an amazing experience for the birdwatchers. Lake Nakuru national Park is ideal for game drives, hiking, picnic and bird watching as it is world renowned for offering opportunity for greatest bird spectacle on earth that no other place can offer.
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Moreover the establishment of this park can be attributed to the fact that it helps in protection of birds specifically pink flamingos that feeds on abundant algae that thrives on the warm water of the lake. It is a home for more than 450 bird species as you can have a beautiful journey to the national park while looking and admiring the breathtaking views of escarpment. Hence it can also be called as a bird lover's paradise including five globally threatened species and it can be a delight to look at the birds during their migration period.
You can also plan a flamingo watching trip to Lake Nakuru national Park in January and February as it is dry and hot season when you will see a large number of these birds while they feed and best at this lake. You can also experience exhilarating wilderness holiday as this national park as you can enjoy witnessing birds as well as animals like giraffe, olive baboons, vervet monkeys, African Buffalos, white Rhinos, zebras and waterbucks. Beautiful landscapes also form an important part of this lake as you will see a wide variety of plants from dense forests to grasslands that are surely going to make you spellbound with the spectacular view.
Day 10: Lake Naivasha - Transfer to Lake Nakuru
Depart for Lake Nakuru after breakfast to arrive by mid-morning. Have an introductory game drive as you head to the camp for lunch. Have lunch relax before an afternoon game drive at 4 o-clock.
Overnight: Flamingo Hill
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Day 11: Lake Nakuru - Transfer to Nairobi
Have breakfast at the camp depart for Nairobi by to arrive by lunch time. Have lunch at Carnivore Restaurant and later be dropped at the airport or your hotel.
Meals: Breakfast & Lunch
ENQUIRE
Inclusive of;
- All taxes/VAT
- Park fees in all the parks including Crater fees in Ngorongoro
- Accommodation in double rooms and meals as mentioned in the tour description
- Drinking water while on game drives
- Packed lunch en route to other areas
- Transportation in a 4*4 Land cruiser(s) with pop-up roof to facilitate game viewing and photography
- All game drives as mentioned in the tour description
- Services of a professional tour driver/guide (s)
- Boat ride + Crescent Island Walk in Lake Naivasha
- Lunch at Carnivore Restaurant on the last day
Exclusive of;
- International flights from home and back
- Tips & porterage
- Visa fees (if applicable)
- Travel insurance
- Other personal items
- Optional Activities: Balloon ride & Maasai Village visit
