9 Days Classic Highlights of Kenya and Tanzania

0800hrs. After your breakfast, you will depart for the Amboseli National Park to arrive in time for check in and lunch at the Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge. You will then spend the afternoon at leisure before going for an evening game drive till dusk when you return to your lodge.

Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge was created for adventurers with an African dream. With Mount Kilimanjaro soaring majestically just beyond the golden, acacia-specked savannah, we offer a graceful blend of stark beauty and lavish comfort in the heart of Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. Nestled in an acacia grove by a gentle mountain spring, our hotel, comprising a Maasai-inspired design, a garden restaurant and a palm-shaded swimming pool and sundeck, provides uninterrupted views of Mount Kilimanjaro and the surrounding landscape. In every detail, the ambience captures the essence of Maasai culture, warmth and indomitable spirit. The setting is breathtakingly beautiful, the wildlife abundant and the cuisine, hospitality and amenities unrivalled.

Overnight: Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge

Today, you will spend the whole day in the Amboseli National Park with both morning and evening game drives.  In between, you will have an option of visiting local Masai villages that will enable you get the chance to interact and learn about the colorful culture of this nomadic pastoralist community.

0730hrs. After your breakfast, you will depart Namanga, the Eastern Kenya/Tanzania border where after the cross-border formalities, you will proceed with drive with a brief stop for lunch at a local restaurant in Arusha and get to Karatu town in time for check in at the Tloma Lodge.

Tloma Lodge has been built on the foothills of the highlands of Ngorongoro, a small and exclusive lodge with 24 small cottages built in colonial style and 12 rooms overlooking the garden in the main building. The design of the entire complex looks to create an atmosphere evoking the colonial plantations and farms described in many books and films. The excellent location of Tloma on the top of a valley offers fantastic views over a coffee plantation and the walls of the Ngorongoro cráter which can be enjoyed from the private terraces of the rooms.

Overnight stay: Tloma Lodge

Meal Plan: Full Board

Take breakfast at leisure then descend into the crater for a full day crater tour with packed lunches, which shall be taken at the floor of the crater. The Ngorongoro Crater is often called ‘Africa’s Eden’ and the ‘8th Natural Wonder of the World,’ a visit to the crater is a main drawcard for tourists coming to Tanzania and a definite world-class attraction. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is home of Ngorongoro Crater. It was formed some 2.5 million years ago from a volcanic mountain sinking due to inactivity, and was initially thought to be higher than Tanzania’s famous Kilimanjaro.

The crater has evolved into a unique and integral part of Tanzania’s eco-system. The crater is actually a caldera, measures 22.5 km’s across and the rim walls stand 600m high. Views from within and from the rim are breathtaking (as can be seen from the picture). The crater houses 30,000 animals and a large variety of birds, which rarely move from the area due to the availability of water through wet and dry seasons.

Later in the afternoon, you will depart for the Serengeti National Park where you will arrive in time for an evening game drive enroute to the Acacia Central Camp.

Overnight: Acacia Central Camp

Meal Plan: Full Board

Spend the day exploring the vast park rich with abundant wildlife. You also visit the northern part of the park – Seronera with an opportunity of seeing the annual wildebeest migration.

Serengeti is Africa’s most famous and Tanzania’s largest park covering 14,736 sq km and is adjoining with the Masai Mara National reserve in Kenya. With a wildebeest population of about 2 million and several other hoofed species (which include zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, impala, topi, Grants gazelle, Kongoni, Eland, Kirk’s dik dik, klipspringer, roan, Oryx, oribi, waterbuck, buffalo, giraffe and warthog), the Serengeti is sure to attract a string of prey such as lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, golden jackals and bat eared foxes. Elephants are relatively scarce and the few remaining black rhinoceros are restricted to the Moru Koppies area.

Serengeti also offers rewarding bird viewing with ostrich and kori bustard being common, a variety of larks, finches, and raptors can be seen but the most distinctive small bird is the lilac breasted roller.

Overnight: Acacia Central Camp

Meal Plan: Full Board

After your breakfast, you will depart for the Masai Mara National Game Reserve via the Isebania border point where after the cross-border formalities and picnic lunches, you will be met by your Kenyan guide for the drive into the Masai Mara where you will arrive in time for an evening game drive enroute to the Loyk Luxury Camp.

Settled down in the middle of the African bush, Loyk Mara Luxury Camp will give you a sensation of privacy and rest, granting a vivifying cool under the shade of sprawling crones of undersized trees within a hot day. They provide all necessary facilities for your comfort staying with children from 2 years old and above. There is baby friendly menu, baby chairs and baby cots upon your request. Besides all other facilities they have 24 hours electricity in both public and private areas at the Camp….

Overnight: Loyk Luxury Mara Camp

Meal Plan: Full Board

You will have one more day of wildlife-viewing opportunities in the Masai Mara Reserve, also known as the “Jewel of Africa,” a site with one of the largest and the most spectacular animal migrations in the world. The reserve is inhabited by many of Africa's most popular wild animals, including lion, cheetah, elephant, leopard, black rhino and hippo. There are also over 500 resident species of birds in the park including ostrich, larks and sunbirds as well as the lovely Lilac-breasted Roller.

The Masai Mara National Reserve is in the south-western part of Kenya and forms part of the greater eco-system that encompasses the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. The Masai Mara is one of the best known and most visited reserves in Africa. The park is surrounded by concession areas and tribal lands of the Masai tribes people. These are unfenced from the Mara and act as a buffer zone for the National Park and form part of the migration area. The Masai Mara consists of open savannah, rolling grasslands and undulating hills. July to September sees the annual migration of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle coming from the plains of the Serengeti. Driven by dry conditions in the Serengeti and led by the lightning and thunder to the north, huge herds of mammals cross the Tanzanian border and rivers to reach the Mara's grasslands.

Overnight: Loyk Luxury Mara Camp

Meal Plan: Full Board

0600Hrs. Wake up before sunup and have some muffins and coffee, before you take a morning game drive. You'll see how still and quiet the Bush is at dawn and watch it begin to stir as the sun comes up. You'll return to camp for breakfast then depart for Nairobi with a brief stop in Narok for snacks/lunch at the Narok Coffee House. This is at an extra cost. Thereafter, you will proceed with drive to arrive Nairobi late in the afternoon just in time for a farewell dinner at the renowned Carnivore restaurant.

The Carnivore is the ultimate 'Beast of a Feast'  A variety of  meat including ostrich, crocodile and camel, t is roasted over charcoal and carved at your table. Delicious side dishes and an exceptional array of sauces complement this fixed price feast that also includes soup, a selection of desserts and Kenyan coffee. Set in attractive tropical gardens, the service and the décor are outstanding. The Carnivore since its inception has played host to over 2 million customers from across the globe including numerous celebrities. In fact, the Carnivore visitors book read like a global who is who! Whole joints of meat - legs of lamb and pork, ostrich, rumps of beef, sirloins, racks of lamb, spare ribs, sausages, chicken wings, skewered kidneys, even crocodile, and other tasty morsels - are roasted on traditional Masai swords over a huge, spectacular charcoal pit that dominates the entrance of the restaurant.