Highlights of East Africa

14 days Nairobi, Maasai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Zanzibar

Departs daily on request

Our most extensive safari experience, a complete journey through Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar. From the rolling plains of Maasai Mara and Serengeti, the natural wonders of Ngorongoro to the liquid luxury of Zanzibar, this 2 weeks trip offers the complete view of East Africa. Featuring a collection of the regions finest hotels, lodges, and resorts from Serena Hotels, including some of the Leading Hotels of the World, and exclusive private safari guides. A fast moving and endlessly fascinating journey.

Day 1: U. S. A

Depart the USA on your overnight flight to Europe (London/Amsterdam)

Day 2: Arrival- Nairobi, Kenya

Arrival at J.K.I.A, Nairobi-Kenya where our representative will meet and assist you. You will be transferred to Nairobi Serena Hotel, 15 minutes drive, for check in. Later on, you will visit Giraffe Centre and also Karen Blixen as seen in the movie “Out of Africa”. You will be taken back to Nairobi Serena Hotel

Day 3: Nairobi/Maasai Mara

10.00 hrs fly over the Great Rift Valley to Maasai Mara, arguably the world’s most famous game reserve with unrivalled natural beauty and wildlife concentration and now the new seventh natural wonders of the world. It forms part of the Great Mara- Serengeti ecosystem. It is home to all the big five (elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino). Over 95 species of mammal are found in this great reserve. Besides mammals, over 350 bird species have been recorded here and the scenic beauty is wonderful. You will stay at prestigious Mara Serena Safari Lodge

Day 4-5: Maasai Mara

Morning and evening game drives. Enjoy the view from the poolside lounge and sign up for optional activities including hot air balloon over the Mara. As its name suggest the Maasai Mara is the home of the fabled Maasai people. Often strikingly tall and slender, swathed in brilliant red cloth ‘Shukas’, hung about with beads and metal jewellery, the young men (Ilmmuran) favor long, plaited, ochre-daubed hairstyles and have a formidable reputation for glamour, prowess and ferocity. Traditionally the Maasai live off the milk and blood of their beloved cattle and believe that all the world’s cattle are theirs by God-given right. Their nomadic and pastoral lifestyle, though historically based on the pursuit of the migratory wildlife, is slowly changing thanks to a combination of education, political leaders, favorable new laws, projects, and expanding work opportunities. Dinner and overnight at Mara Serena Safari Lodge

Day 6: Maasai Mara/Sirare Border/Serengeti

Early breakfast at the Lodge. Depart for Isebania/Sirare Kenya/Tanzania border to immigration and customs formalities and vehicles exchange. The most exclusive of the Serena Groups many Safari venues, the exquisite Kirawira tented camp is the epitome of classic safari camp luxury and a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group.

Serengeti has breathtaking vista of a landscape teeming with game. Enroute
game viewing to arrive at Serena Kirawira Tented Camp

Day 7: Serengeti National Park

Full day to explore the world’s largest migratory concentration of plain game. Your private guide will drive you through the park, using an interconnected radio and years of experience to seek out the best game viewing opportunities. Serengeti is described as one of the unique areas of the world. The 5,700 square miles terrain includes grassy plains and savannah stretches dotted with flat-topped acacia trees. In the north Serengeti borders the world famous Maasai Mara National Game Reserve and across this border one million wildebeest trek every year in their annual search for the best grazing. Life in the Serengeti is complex and dynamic ecological system in which all the animals and plants interact both with each other and with their environment. No organism is static or exists in isolation and all are dependant on the rains. The park is made up of several different vegetation zones: in the dry south are the short and long grassland plains, where an average of only 50cm of rainfall per year. In the centre lies an area of acacia savannah whilst the western corridor marks a region of wooded highlands and ‘black cotton’ soil curving in a great swathe to the edge of Lake Victoria. To the north is wooded grassland, which concentrates along the watercourses and tributaries of the Grumeti and Mara Rivers.

Serena Kirawira Tented Camp

Day 8: Serengeti/Ngorongoro

After breakfast and morning game drive we fly across the Serengeti plains to Ngorongoro Crater, in the afternoon we visit the fascinating Oldupai Gorge, famous for the treasure-trove discovery of both human and animal fossils dating 1.7 million years ago which provided some of the first clues to human life, a talk will be given on palaentogical digs, which have taken place. Arrival early at Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area, Accommodation will be at a lodge built into the rim of dormant volcano.

Tonight we spend at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

Day 9: Ngorongoro Crater

Today, we descend into the crater and spend the day light hours tracking animals, with picnic lunch. A spectacular game haunt, the 102 square mile crater is a perfect caldera, one of the largest on earth.

The ever – changing mood of the greatest amphitheatre will hold our attention every second of the day. Million years ago a smoldering volcano collapsed creating the crater and a haven for an estimated 30,000 large mammals, including lion, elephant, hyena, and wildebeest, rare endangered black rhino among others.

The crater’s floor is home to a wide variety of habitats supporting abundant wildlife and birdlife such as white –necked raven, bateleur eagle, the kori bustard (the world’s largest flying bird) see if you can spot its elaborate territorial display during breeding season. And tonight as we delight in others luscious meals at this exceptional lodge, we once again stunned by the beauty of the orange sunset that hooves in the wild African sky, signaling the end to yet another unforgettable day on safari.

Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge

Day 10: Ngorongoro/Zanzibar

After breakfast, depart for Arusha, driving off the cool slopes of the crater, towards the majestic Kilimanjaro. Transfer to the spice Island of Zanzibar. This tropical island is a perfect conclusion to any safari. On arrival met and assisted by your Zanzibarian guide and historian before transfer to Zanzibar Serena Inn

Day 11/12: Zanzibar

Enjoy two days at leisure. Unique wildlife species are found on the island of Zanzibar. You might want to take an optional tour to the enchanting Jozani Forest in search of the distinct Kirk’s red colobus monkeys, one of the rarest primates in Africa. The forest is mesmerizing - you will feel yourself absorbed into another world, a place like no other on earth. Zanzibar is known as the “Spice Island” and the smell of cloves, the gold of Zanzibar, the world's finest and most desired spice, grown here in the very center of the Spice Island. Why not add an optional “Spice Tour”?

Zanzibar Serena Inn

Day 13: Zanzibar/Nairobi/Departure

Morning at leisure. We fly to Nairobi and connect your flight to US via Europe (London or Amsterdam) 

Day 14: U.S.A

Arrive home today.

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