| Kenya & Tanzania Drive-In Safari |
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Duration: 18 Days Day 1: Arusha Upon arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport you will be met by Vision Adventure Safaris guide. Your guide will transfer you to your hotel for dinner and overnight Serena Mountain Village. Serena Mountain Village is perched at the foot of the wooded slopes of Mount Meru, this unique hotel stands amid coffee plantations on the shores of tranquil Lake Duluti. Designed to echo the traditional style of the colonial coffee farm, which originally stood on this site, Mountain Village offers a range of tastefully presented cottage-styled rooms set amid extensive landscaped grounds. The hotel offers a broad range of attractions, which include: walking, mountain biking, canoeing on the lake, and trips to the nearby Arusha and Mount Meru national parks.
Accommodation: Serena Mountain Village Meal Plan: Bed & Breakfast
Day 2: Lake Manyara National Park
After breakfast drive to Lake Manyara National Park and enjoy a game viewing drive en route to your lodge where you will arrive in time for lunch. Relax in the afternoon at your lodge before going for an evening game drive returning to your hotel for dinner and overnight. Lake Manyara is a shallow alkaline lake, which lies in a cleft in the Great Rift Valley. 40km long and 13km wide, its water level is highly changeable and can dramatically affect the numbers of water birds and animals present. Lake Manyara National Park covers 325 sq kms of land, one third of which is typically covered by water. Accommodation: Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge Meal Plan: Full Board Basis
Day 3-5: Serengeti National Park
Enjoy a predawn game viewing drive before returning to your lodge for a full breakfast and departing to Serengeti National Park. A visit is made en route to the renowned Olduvai Gorge where the Leakey family uncovered the fossil Homo habilis (the handy man), the first tool user, who lived over 1.75 million years ago. Then we reach the Serengeti, heart of the most diverse migration corridor in the world. Creatures of every size and description, flood the savannah …herds of mammoth elephant, the stately giraffe and the lumbering rhino alongside the more diminutive inhabitants…the delicate antelope, bulky wildebeest and the comical warthog. Early morning and late afternoon game drives are made daily. We arrive at our tented camp in time for lunch. Proceed on an evening game viewing drive before returning for dinner and overnight at your tented camp. Early morning and evening game drives are made daily. Accommodation: Serengeti Serena Lodge Meal Plan: Full Board Basis
Day 6: Ngorongoro Crater/ Conservation Area Enjoy a pre dawn game viewing drive in the Serengeti returning for a full breakfast at your camp. Depart after an early breakfast and drive back across the Serengeti plains and onto Ngorongoro with a picnic lunch. On arrival immediately descend into the crater for game viewing. Late afternoon ascend the crater wall and continue to your lodge which is perched on the rim of this world renowned caldera.
Known as ‘the eighth wonder of the world' the Ngorongoro Crater is one of Africa's best-known wildlife arenas. A World Heritage Site, it boasts one of the largest volcanic craters in the world (almost 20 kilometres wide, 610-760 metres deep and covering a total area of 264 square kilometres).
Accommodation: Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Day 7: Tarangire National Park
After breakfast you depart Ngorongoro and drive to Mto Wa Mbu Village arriving in time for an excursion of the local village. Lunch is provided as picnic followed by a real cultural experience, feeling the heartbeat of an authentic African homestead with every step you take. A leisurely stroll with a village guide will take you through local homes, farmlands, resident bars, a kindergarten and a church. After the walk we gather at a private, local banana-leaf bar to taste a wide variety of local fruits. Afterwards we continue to Tarangire National Park with a game drive en-route to your lodge deep in the park.
Accommodation: Tarangire Sopa Lodge
Day 8: Tarangire National Park
You have the full day to explore the majestic Tarangire National Park which is less crowded and more off-the-beaten-track than Ngorongoro or the Serengeti. Enjoy morning and afternoon game drives in this delightful, untamed gem of the Northern Circuit. Tarangire is at its finest during the dry seasons, from June to October and December to March, when the Tarangire River and the various swamps attract the highest concentrations of game. Accommodation: Tarangire Sopa Lodge Day 9-10: Amboseli National Park Enjoy a pre dawn game viewing drive before returning to your lodge for a full breakfast. Today you will depart with picnic lunches and drive to Namanga, the border point of Tanzania and Kenya, where after immigration formalities you will change into Kenyan safari vehicles and drive to Amboseli National Park, game viewing drive en route, arriving for dinner and overnight at your lodge. Early morning, afternoon game viewing drives and a cultural Maasai Village visit are made before you leave Amboseli. Amboseli is world-famous for its populations of large mammals, most especially elephants of which there are around 700. The swamps are a centre of activity for elephants, hippos, buffaloes and abundant water birds. The surrounding flat grasslands are home to grazing antelopes. Spotted hyenas are plentiful, as are jackals, warthogs, olive baboons and vervet monkeys. Accommodation: Ol Tukai Lodge DAY 10: Aberdare National Park After breakfast continue safari, lunch en-route, through the rich agricultural country of Kenya arriving in the dense Aberdares forest in the late afternoon. Game viewing will be from the balcony of your lodge, dinner and overnight at The Ark Lodge. Accommodation: The Ark Lodge Day 11-12: Samburu National Reserve and Shaba National Reserve After breakfast drive through the equator, a clear day will show you the magnificent snowcapped peaks of Mt. Kenya - the second highest point of Africa, to the northern frontier district arriving for lunch at your lodge. Enjoy your first game drive this afternoon and be introduced to the animals that are peculiar to this area - the reticulated giraffe, Gravy’s zebra, the Somali Ostrich amongst other flora and fauna. Spend another day exploring this harshly beautiful reserve where game is abundant, especially in the forested fringes of the Uaso Nyiro River, which flows gently through the dry landscape. Early morning and late afternoon game drives are made daily and a cultural Samburu village visit is made on your second. Accommodation: Elephant Bedroom Camp DAY 13: Ol Pejeta Sweetwaters Conservancy After breakfast drive northwards through the country’s central province, a fertile and scenic land formerly part of the historical ‘White Highlands’ to the shadows of the world famous Mount Kenya. On a clear day you will see the magnificent mountain in its full splendor. Your destination today is the Ol Pejeta Sweetwaters Wildlife Sanctuary. Upon arrival at the camp, you will check into your tents. Lunch is at the camp followed by time to relax. Thereafter you will be collected for a first game drive experience in the wildlife sanctuary. Return at sunset for dinner and overnight at the Sweetwaters Wildlife Sanctuary. Enjoy a pre dawn game viewing drive this morning before returning for a full breakfast at you camp. Situated between the foot hills of the Aberdares and the magnificent snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya, the 110,000-acre private wilderness of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy boasts an astounding variety of wildlife, including all the members of the ‘Big Five' (the endangered black and white rhino , leopard, elephant, buffalo and lion). Offering one of the highest wildlife densities in Kenya and a higher wildlife to acre ratio than any Kenyan national park, the conservancy offers sanctuary to a number of endangered species, most notably the rare Grevy's zebra and the Jackson's hartebeest. The largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa, the conservancy also hosts the only sanctuary for chimpanzees in Kenya. Accommodation: Sweetwaters Tented Camp DAY 14: Lake Nakuru National Park Enjoy a pre-dawn game viewing drive in the sanctuary before returning for a full breakfast at the tented camp and proceed to Lake Nakuru National Park. This lake is famous as it is home to hundreds of thousands of Flamingos that color the lake pink. Arrival at Lake Nakuru will be in time for lunch at your tented camp. Later you will be collected for an afternoon game drive in this park, which also provides sanctuary for Rothschild Giraffe, Rhino and Leopard. Return at sunset for dinner and overnight. Accommodation: Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge Day 15-16: Masai Mara National Reserve – Mara North Enjoy breakfast at the camp or lodge before driving on the floor of the Rift Valley. You will travel via the township of Narok, which is in the heart of Maasai land and drive on to the Masai Mara National Reserve. You will arrive at your camp in time for lunch. After a little siesta you will proceed on an afternoon game drive until sunset. Early morning and late afternoon game drives are made daily. We also visit a village of the Maasai people to witness their singing, dancing, and sacred rituals. A glimpse into their homes and social structure is a poignant experience. Masai Mara National Reserve offers wonderful scenery and plenty of game. World renowned for the breathtaking spectacle of ‘the greatest wildlife show on earth and the awe inspiring annual migration of the wildebeest. Technically an extension of Tanzania's renowned Serengeti National Park, the Mara constitutes only 4% of the entire Serengeti ecosystem but its rolling grasslands, meandering rivers and towering escarpments offer one of the world's most rewarding and evocative wildlife arenas. This is the ideal backdrop for a hot air balloon expedition. It is perhaps the only region left in Kenya where the visitor may see animals in the same super-abundance as existed a century ago. Accommodation: Tipilikwani Tented Camp Day 17-18: Masai Mara National Reserve – Mara Triangle Enjoy four game viewing drives and on the last day you have an opportunity to go on a spectacular optional balloon ride across the Masai Mara. Your Balloon Safari begins in the pre-dawn hours and the magnificent view over the park is thrilling. Towards the end of the flight, you rise to a height of 1500 feet for a panoramic view of the twisting Mara River and the savannah below. After an hour or so in the air, your safari finishes with a flourish: a champagne breakfast in the bush, cooked on the balloon's burners! Please note that this is an optional extra not included in the main tour package price – In the event of unfavorable weather a full refund will be given if the balloon does not take off. Accommodation: Olonana Camp Day 19: Nairobi After breakfast drive to Nairobi where upon arrival you will be met by Vision Adventure Safaris guide and transferred to your hotel, remainder of day at leisure. In the early evening proceed for a farewell dinner at the world famous Carnivore Restaurant, thereafter you will either be transferred to the JKI Airport for your international departure flight or to your hotel for overnight at Nairobi Serena Hotel or Southern Sun Mayfair. Accommodation: Southern Sun Mayfair Hotel What is In and What is Out Includes: |
