The Best of East Africa

On arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta international Airport you will be met and transferred to your hotel for the evening, just a short drive away. Spend the rest of the day at leisure.

Nairobi - Amboseli National Park. This morning you will be transferred to Amboseli National Park, best known for its unrivalled views of Kilimanjaro and the local elephant population. There are over 1000 elephants in the parks eco-system, featuring some of the largest in Africa. Arrive just in time for lunch and later enjoy your first game drive through the park.

As the sun rises on another day in Amboseli, get up early to make the most of the early morning games drives. This time of day is also the best chance you may have of seeing Mt Kilimanjaro in all its glory. Amboseli is a photographer’s paradise with the snows of Kilimanjaro, white and crystalline forming a majestic backdrop to one of Kenya’ most spectacular displays of wildlife – lion, elephant, rhino, cheetah buffalo and a host of plain’s game.

Amboseli National Park - Lake Manyara National Park - Karatu (Tanzania). Leaving the incredible scenic land of Amboseli behind, travel into neighbouring Tanzania where you'll enjoy a delicious lunch at Arusha Coffee Lodge before continuing your journey to Lake Manyara National Park.

Lake Manyara National Park encompasses three distinct habitats including a lush groundwater forest, open floodplains and acacia woodlands. Large buffalo, wildebeest and zebra herds can be seen on the grassy plains, as do giraffes, where as the narrow belt of acacia woodland is the favoured haunt of Manyara’s legendary tree-climbing lions and impressively tusked elephants. Squadrons of banded mongoose dart between the acacias, while the diminutive Kirk’s dik-dik forages in their shade. Explore Manyara on an afternoon game drive before travelling on to your lodge in the evening.

An early departure this morning will take you to the incredible Ngorongoro Crater. Descend down to the crater floor for a full day game drive. This incredible formation is part of the larger Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which covers more than 8300 square kilometres. The actual crater is 260 square kilometres and 620m deep. The Ngorongoro Crater is home to about 25,000 animals and is one of the last places in Tanzania where the Big Five can be seen. Additionally, the Ngorongoro Crater is unique because it is a multi-use conservation area - where the animals and environment are protected but the Masai are allowed to live and continue their pastoral lifestyle.

Ngorongoro Highlands - Serengeti National Park. Travel on to Tanzania's oldest and most popular national park today. The vast open plains of the Serengeti offer arguably the most scintillating game viewing in Africa. Game drive through the park en route to your lodge, arriving in time for dinner.

Spend the next two days exploring the Serengeti which is renowned for its annual migration; when some six million hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson's gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing. Yet even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers arguably the best game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle.

Serengeti - Masai Mara. After breakfast on day 9, drive to the Migori Airstrip for your flight to Mara. Upon arrival you will be enjoy an afternoon game drive in the Masai Mara on the way to your camp for the next three nights.

The Masai Mara is technically an extension of Tanzania’s renowned Serengeti National Park, but its rolling grasslands, meandering rivers and towering escarpments an endless amount of game viewing. Home to a wide variety of animals, the Masai Mara is also famous for its Big Five.

Depending on the lodge you're staying at enjoy morning and afternoon game drives or full day game drives within the park on days 10 and 11. There will also be the option to take an early morning balloon safari across the Masai Mara, offering an entirely different perspective of the park. As you silently float across the plains, forest and rivers for approximately one hour, your journey would come to an end back on land but accompanied with a fully cooked champagne breakfast.

It may be the last day of safari however your game viewing does not stop. Enjoy one final early morning game drive before breakfast then drive to the airstrip for your flight back to Nairobi, arriving around midday. On arrival, you will be met and transferred to the international airport for your departure flight