Kenya and Tanzania

You will be met at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and transferred to your hotel. The rest of the day is free for you to relax, explore on own, or enjoy the hotel's amenities.

After a leisurely breakfast transfer to Wilson Airport for the scheduled flight to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania. After clearing through customs and immigrations you will be driven to Lake Manyara National Park. This charming park, tiny by comparison, lies under the wall of the Great Rift Valley escarpment and features a large shallow lake. Enjoy a game drive through the acacia woodland where lions, elephant, buffalo, gazelle and giraffe are abundant. The park is famous for its tree-climbing lions, and on the shores of the lake a wonderful birdlife selection can be viewed, as well as a well-stocked hippo pool. After your game drive continue to your lodge near Karatu.

This morning we head to Ngorongoro Conservation Area for a full-day game drive through the crater. This world famous geographic feature is technically a "caldera" - a collapsed volcano. The floor is over 102sq miles, with a large soda lake & a perfectly preserved, self-contained habitat for a huge number of animal species. A picnic lunch will be had out in the bush.

The Serengeti is one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries in the world. The most famous features of the Serengeti ecosystem are the spectacular concentrations of plains animals, found nowhere else in the world, and the annual wildebeest migration. This morning you will drive to your lodge in Serengeti National Park with an excursion at Olduvai Gorge en route. After checking in at the hotel and enjoying a scrumptious lunch you will head out for an afternoon game drive.

Enjoy a morning and evening game drive with time for lunch and to freshen up in between. Expect to see wildebeest, zebra and gazelle. Hippos will be found in their pools at any time of year. Elephants are frequently seen, as well as huge herds of buffalo & a large population of giraffe.

After breakfast transfer to the airstrip for scheduled flights to Nairobi via Arusha and Kilimanjaro. After clearing customs in Nairobi you will head out into the wilds of Kenya. Your lodge is set in the heart of the Aberdare National Park overlooking a waterhole which attracts a host of awesome wildlife and all of the "Big Five."

Depart via private coach to Samburu National Reserve. In the shadow of Mount Kenya, the national parks and extensive ranch and communal lands of the Samburu Heartland support some of Africa's most impressive wildlife and wild lands. Tonight we'll have our first evening game drive.

The area is arid and largely semi-desert, with a large concentration of game including some unique species not found elsewhere; such as the oryx, gerenuk, reticulated giraffe and grevy's Zebra. Other game includes ostriches, elephants and sometimes even leopards. Enjoy a morning and evening game drive with time for lunch and to freshen up in between.

Take a morning bush flight to Maasai Mara National Reserve. Nestled in a lush riverine forest below the Oloololo Escarpment of the Great Rift Valley, you'll enjoy spectacular views of the Maasai Mara's game-filled plains. Your tented camp offers the ultimate in seclusion. These modern semi-permanent tents will allow you to relax in classic elegance yet still benefit from modern comforts and amenities. Each tent has a private deck overlooking the vast game-filled plains of the Maasai Mara. Enjoy an evening game drive before settling in for the night.

Your lodge's grassland savanna is dominated by sweet pasture grasses & woodland which feed the multitudes of grazing herbivores. Seasonal marshes and swamps are home to aquatic plants and animals. The Maasai Mara is the location of the BBC television documentary - 'Big Cat Diary'. Resident lion prides defend territories throughout the Mara. Open grasslands provide ideal hunting terrain for cheetah - the planet's fastest land mammal. Elephant numbers are increasing rapidly. Enjoy both a morning and evening game drive.

Wake up really early this morning for a truly magical hot air balloon ride. Once aloft, the balloon floats gently over the plains, giving a bird's eye view of the game below as the sun creeps slowly over the horizon. Spread beneath you is a panorama of Africa - elephants looking improbably small; giraffe browsing amongst the treetops; antelope grazing; a pair of lionesses stalking a herd of wildebeest; and cheetah glancing up as the shadow of the huge balloon crosses their paths.

You'll be back in time for a late breakfast. The afternoon is available for a game drive or just relaxing around camp.

This morning you return to Nairobi to catch your return flight home.