Arrival

On arrival at the airport in Nairobi, Kenya you will be met and transferred to Wilson Airport where you board a scheduled flight to the Maasai Mara. Arriving in the Maasai Mara Reserve, it is a short drive, watching out for game along the way to Bateleur Camp at Kichwa Tembo. Spend the next 2 nights in a splendidly furnished tent, each with its own butler in attendance. Enjoy a late afternoon game drive in an open 4x4 vehicle, spotting the predators on the prowl as you drive through one of Africa’s most important and famous game reserves.
(NOTE: Maximum baggage allowance on the light aircraft flight mentioned in the itinerary is 15 kgs per person in soft side bags only plus a reasonable amount of camera equipment).

Today, look for the ‘Big Five’ - elephant, rhino, leopard, lion and buffalo, which are found in abundance in the park during your 2 game drives.  Seasonally, following the rains, vast herds of wildebeest and zebra trek across the Maasai Mara in search of fresh grass, one of nature’s great spectacles.  There is also the option (at additional cost) of a ballooning safari or day trip to Lake Victoria’s Mfangano Island.

Enjoy an early morning game-drive and breakfast before your transfer to the airstrip and board a scheduled flight to back to Nairobi.  Here you will board a flight to Tanzania. On arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport, you continue on another scheduled flight to Manyara where you will be met.  Enjoy a wonderful 3 and a 1/2-hour game-drive from the airstrip to Lake Manyara Tree Lodge where you will stay for 2 nights. This lodge is a tree house on stilts nestling in the giant boughs of mahogany trees.  Bird watching from your verandah doesn’t get better than this!

Spend the day on game drives through Lake Manyara National Park with the high walls of the Great Rift Valley as a backdrop. The park has a diverse range of habitats attracting many different species of game. Drive through the grassy floodplains with its population of antelope, buffalo, giraffe and zebra to the acacia woodlands where the Park’s famous tree-climbing lions can be seen.  And, Lake Manyara itself is often covered with a mantle of pink-feathered flamingos along with many other aquatic birds.

After breakfast you will be transferred to the airstrip to board a scheduled flight to Klein’s Camp Airstrip. At Klein’s Camp there will be a game drive and nature walks in the Klein’s Camp private concession in the Serengeti. The afternoon game-drive extends after sunset with the aid of a spotlight, returning to the camp after dark.  Klein’s Camp community visits are available (at additional cost).
(Alternatively spend two nights at your &Beyond Grumeti Under Canvas or &Beyond Serengeti Under Canvas wilderness campsites.  Accommodation is in a tent grandly furnished.  Your stay is on a full board basis including scheduled game-drives and park fees. Please ask for details).

In Maasai, Serengeti means ‘extended place’, which aptly describes this vast Noah’s Ark of a wilderness.  And it is here that seasonally, the annual migration takes place when one and a half million wildebeest, and a quarter of a million zebra trek across the endless grasslands as they follow the rains, and keeping them company are all the predators and scavengers!

At Klein’s Camp activities include game-drives in the Serengeti National Park. A day trip to Lake Victoria (Lukubo Island) is also available (at additional cost).

Enjoy an early morning game-drive at your camp followed by breakfast before a scheduled flight to Manyara Airstrip.  On arrival you will be met and transferred by road on a two-hour scenic drive through the Tanzanian countryside to Ngorongoro Crater Lodge where you will spend the next 2 nights. Your accommodation is a sumptuous double suite with it own butler. Often considered the eighth wonder of the world, Ngorongoro Crater was formed over eight million years ago when a volcano erupted causing its cone to collapse and creating the world’s largest complete crater.  It has become home to a vast collection of African animals. During your stay take a game-drive across the Crater floor. There are optional activities (at additional cost) such as an excursion to Olduvai Gorge or to Shifting Sands, a visit to a Maasai village and walks at Empakai Crater.

After breakfast you will be transferred to Manyara Airstrip for the scheduled flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport.  Here connect to a scheduled flight to Nairobi’s Wilson Airport.  On arrival you will be transferred to a hotel in Nairobi where you can relax before being transferred back later in the day to the Jomo Kenyatta International airport and your flight home.