11 days – Wild Wildebeest

On our first day we meet you in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

We get straight on the road, heading for Naivasha. This is our first chance for a glimpse of rural Kenya. We stop on the way to take photos at the Rift Valley Lookout and take in the sweeping views of this ancient landscape. On arrival at the Lake, we head out on a hippo cruise to enjoy nature at its best in and around the lake. We also have time for a game walk or to take afternoon tea on the grassy lawns at Elsamere (home to the late Joy Adamson of “Born Free” fame) where the resident troop of black and white colobus monkeys might entertain us.

Distance: 91 kms
Est. Drive Time: 2 hours
Meals: X1 Dinner

Included wildlife activity: Hippo cruise on Lake Naivasha, conducted in a small boat

Optional excursions: Guided walk to Crater Lake Sanctuary, Elsamere for afternoon tea

We leave first thing this morning on the bumpy and dusty road to the remote plateau of the Masai Mara, Kenya’s premier game park. On the way we stop at Loita Hills, home to East Africa’s ancient tribespeople, where the Maasai give us a warm welcome with traditional singing and dancing.

We spend this afternoon with a walk in the hills with the Maasai warriors, learning about their culture and the surrounding nature. We visit the local hot springs and a women’s village. This evening the warriors show us how to light the campfire and we find out more about their fascinating culture.

Distance: 154 kms
Est. Drive Time: 5 hours incl. stop for shopping
Meals: X1 Breakfast, X1 Dinner

Up early and before we say goodbye to our Maasai hosts, we have time for “warrior training” and to visit the local Maasai children at their school. We then set off on the road to the Masai Mara.

The Mara is perhaps best known for being part of the setting for the famous wildebeest migration; a mass movement of up to approximately 1.7 million wildebeest, accompanied by approximately 200,000 zebra and 350,000 Thomson’s gazelle. The migration involves a journey covering 3,000 square kilometres, the equivalent to circumnavigating Britain and Ireland. The ever-vigilant predators, particularly lion and hyena, closely follow the herds.

Regardless of the season there is always plenty to see in this world-renowned park. The Mara is famous for the large herds of elephant and buffalo that wander its plains and for the fat pods of hippo that wallow in its mud-brown rivers. The park offers as well a wonderful chance to see eland, warthog and giraffe as well as an immense variety of bird life with well over 550 recorded species of bird noted here. There are also a few treasured rhino in the park.

Here, we have our first game drive in small 4×4 Landcruisers with a local guide. Everyone has cameras at the ready, and many enjoy the use of binoculars during these safaris as we have fabulous views across the sweeping landscapes.

The following morning we continue our game watching. A balloon safari can be arranged the following day in place of the morning game drive if you wish to view the wildlife from a totally different perspective. We then have a further game drive later in the day, using every moment we can in the park.

Distance, Day 3: 60 kms
Est. Drive Time, Day 3: 2 hours
Meals: X2 Breakfasts, X2 Dinners

Included wildlife activity: Afternoon game drives in the Masai Mara (x2), Morning game drives in the Masai Mara (x1)
Vehicle for game drives: 4×4 landcruiser with pop up roof

Optional excursion: Balloon safari

Up early for our last game drives in the Mara, we head out one more time wildlife spotting, before departing for the drive back to Nairobi.

Tonight we enjoy a hot shower and then head out for a fun night out in one of Nairobi’s famous restaurants.

Distance: 300 kms
Est. Drive Time: 6.5 hours through to Nairobi upon leaving the park gate
Meals: X1 Breakfast, X1 Dinner (contribution to evening restaurant meal in Nairobi)

Included wildlife activity: Morning game drive, Masai Mara
Vehicle for game drive: 4×4 landcruiser with pop up roof

Optional excursion: Dinner in a restaurant

There is time this morning to visit the Giraffe Centre and the Elephant Orphanage; our first chance to get up close and personal with some of Africa’s most loved animals.

Langatta Giraffe Park was established in 1979 to protect and educate people about the rare Rothschild’s giraffe. Set in the grounds of a traditional manor house, it is possible to hand feed the giraffe and from a specially created wooden walk way we come so close that we are in kissing distance with these gentle giants!

Following the visit to the Giraffe Park, there is time to stop over at Sheldrick’s Elephant Orphanage where we view the morning feeding session of the small elephant orphans as well as the fun of the elephant play sessions, these being an essential part of the program to assist in the survival of these highly social animals.

The rest of the day is free to explore the city or relax back at camp.

Distance: 0 kms
Est. Drive Time: 0 hours
Meals: X1 Breakfast, X1 Dinner

Optional excursions: The Giraffe Park, Sheldrick’s Elephant Orphanage, Karen Blixen museum, Kazuri bead factory

We depart Nairobi early to drive south across the vast Athi plains dotted with whistling thorns, a landscape so characteristic of this part of East Africa.

Crossing the border into Tanzania at Namanga we are tempted by Maasai selling beaded trinkets, jewellery and carvings.

Heading to Arusha, with a little luck we view Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest and the world’s largest freestanding mountain.

On reaching the town of Arusha, at the foot of Mount Meru, we stop for shopping and to change money before making our way to tonight’s campsite. We have a briefing tonight to go through arrangements for our next safari, and relax over dinner together.

Distance: 278 kms
Est. Drive Time: +/- 7 hours (depending on the border)
Meals: X1 Breakfast, X1 Dinner

Leaving camp early this morning in our 4×4 open top cars we head towards Ngorongoro Conservation Area which sits beside the Serengeti.

Across the Crater and Serengeti wildlife viewing can be exceptional. There is an excellent chance here for some more wonderful sightings of Africa’s renowned wildlife from hyena, lion, leopard and cheetah to elephant, hippo, giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, antelope and much more. The seemingly endless grasslands of the Serengeti are also the stage for the famous wildebeest migration too. This is Siringitu for the Maasai – “the place where the land moves on forever”. Here on the annual migration 1.7 million wildebeest and other game including zebra and Thomson’s gazelle move on mass between the Mara, Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti. The rains and the endless search for water and good grazing drive this movement.
To encounter one of the countless wildebeest herds in a bleating, snorting dust – kicking motion on migration is an experience of a lifetime.

We have lunch on the way to the Serengeti, arriving at Naabi Gate, the official entry to the park, by mid afternoon. On the way the drive takes us through some very different scenes from the rolling savannah plains where traditional Maasai herdsmen can be seen throughout the region tending cattle and goats. And then at the edge of the Crater rim we are up very high with superb views across the caldera before our descent to the flat grasslands of Serengeti.

Arriving in Serengeti we stop off at the Information Centre and then game drive through to the campsite situated deep inside the park boundaries. After setting up camp we then continue on with another late afternoon drive for another chance to see game. With a big fire lit, tonight is an evening to swap stories and listen out for wildlife that can be close to the camp. Look out for eyes in the bushes!

Distance: 325 kms
Est. Drive Time: 6 hours including time in the Conservation Area, then game drives through the afternoon
Meals: X1 Breakfast, X1 Lunch, X1 Dinner

Included wildlife activities: Drive through Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Afternoon game drive in Serengeti National Park
Vehicle for game drive: 4×4 land cruiser with pop up roof

We are up at sunrise this morning accompanied by the dawn chorus of bush birds too as we head out to explore further into the park in the hope of seeing one, if not all, of the famous “Big 5” and more. Viewing is often best early in the day.

Big cats and other predators capture everyone’s imagination. Regularly blonde-maned lions can be seen nonchalantly lazing on the rocky outcrops or lolling in the shade. With a little luck cheetah can be found pacing the open grasslands. Leopard are located resting up in the buffalo thorns and sausage trees that line the Seronera River. Spotted hyenas, bat-eared foxes and jackals also roam Serengeti, as well as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

After our morning game drive we return for lunch at the Gate before leaving the plains area, to continue our journey through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and then back up into the more mountainous terrain around the Crater rim.

A visit to a Maasai boma can be arranged during which Maasai warriors perform the traditional jumping dance for us. Depending on road and time constraints, the Olduvai Gorge Museum is also a stop off point (on request) where you can find out about the Leakey’s work into the origins of man.

Tonight is spent camped on the edge of the Rim in another wilderness camp with the possibility of the local wildlife wandering through camp. The camp guards keep careful watch for us.

Distance: Game drives, then 163 kms to Ngorongoro Crater rim
Est. Drive Time: Game drives through the morning and slow transit in afternoon
Meals: X1 Breakfast, X1 Lunch, X1 Dinner

Included wildlife activities: Morning game drive in Serengeti National Park, return drive through the Conservation Area
Vehicle for game drives: 4×4 land cruiser with pop up roof

Optional excursions: Maasai Boma, balloon safari over the Serengeti, Olduvai Gorge Museum depending on road conditions and time constraints.

Please note if you wish to visit Olduvai Museum you must let the office know prior to the tour departure.

It is another early start today to descend down onto the floor of Ngorongoro Crater in our pop-up top jeeps.
We spend the morning in this perfectly intact volcanic caldera and the world’s largest extinct volcano. This is a garden of Eden full of the wildlife for which Africa is famous – rhino, hippo, lion, elephant, hyena, buffalo, zebra, gazelle, impala, wildebeest, ostrich, flamingo, and many more. Plain’s game peacefully graze. Hippopotamus are found lolling in the pools and Lake Magadi can be rimmed with the pink of greater and lesser flamingo.

We travel back to Arusha via local villages, where Maasai display their ebony carvings, spears and beadworks and if there is time we stop in one of the market stalls en route for shopping.

Tonight we enjoy a final barbecue together to celebrate our experiences over the last week.

Distance: 195 kms
Est. Drive Time: Game drives through the morning in Ngorongoro Crater, then 5 hours to our Arusha camp in the afternoon
Meals: X1 Breakfast, X1 Lunch, X1 Dinner

Included wildlife activity: Morning game drive into the Ngorongoro Crater
Vehicle for game drive: 4×4 landcruiser with pop up roof

This morning we say our farewells and transfer you to the shuttle bus to travel back to Nairobi. The shuttle can arrange drop off at the airport or at several of the large hotels in central Nairobi. Alternatively we can drop you at Arusha or Kilimanjaro Airports or transfer you through to Moshi if Kilimanjaro trekking.

Distance: 278 kms
Est. Drive Time: 6 – 7 hours (depending on the border)
Meals: X1 Breakfast

Please note this itinerary is given as a guide only. A safari is a journey and true journeys unfold. They are of an adventurous nature. The unexpected can arise, so do allow for this. Feel free to give us a call about your safari plans. We look forward to your enquiries.