9 Nights | 10 Days: Greatest Wildlife & Cultural Experience

JAMBO – KARIBU!! It is ‘touch down’ at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Representatives of Twiga Tours, your hosts in Kenya eagerly await your arrival in traditional African style – wet towels and bubbly. It is a tradition in Africa to present a gift as an expression of our joy and happiness – what better gift than an authentic (branded) safari hat and other safari essentials! Thereafter transfer to your hotel in Nairobi, Kenya’s colourful capital city to check in to your city hotel. Rest of the day or evening is spent at leisure.

Meals: LDBB
Accommodation: Emara, Ole Sereni Hotel

After a hearty breakfast, check out of your hotel and depart for Lake Nakuru National Park. Enroute enjoy a brief stop at the Rift Valley View Point to enjoy the breath-taking beauty of the valley below. The Great Rift Valley is part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. The rift escarpment road is of historical significance as it was built by Italian Prisoners of War during World War II. As you cross the valley, you pass Mount Longonut, a stratovolcano located southeast of Lake Naivasha proceed onwards towards Lake Nakuru. You arrive at the lodge to a very warm welcome, check-in then lunch.

This afternoon you depart on a game viewing. Some of the interesting places to visit include the baboon cliff, the lion hill and the Mau escarpment. The park is home to various animal species including prides of lion, Cape buffalo, waterbucks, warthogs, the endangered Rothschild giraffes, the black & white Rhino, the Burchell’s zebra, impalas, and the elusive leopard among many others. Over 300 bird species have been recorded here too. Lake Nakuru National Park is one of the best places to see the endangered black and white Rhino. Enjoy dinner and overnight at the Lodge.

Meals: LDBB
Accommodation: Mbweha Safari Camp

After breakfast depart for Kenya’s famous Masai Mara Game Reserve. You start the day venturing through the Great Rift Valley travelling to the northern most extension of the Serengeti Plains and one of the richest wildlife Game Reserves, the Masai Mara.

Meals: LDBB
Accommodation: Tipilikwani Luxury Tented Camp

After a sumptuous breakfast at your lodge, depart for a full day’s adventure. Be on the look-out for the big five that Masai Mara is famous for; these include the lion, savannah (African) elephant, the Cape buffalo, the leopard and the black rhino. Be on the look out for any of the game that may have eluded you on your previous game drives. You may even be so lucky to witness a leopard or a cheetah sprint and make a kill! Return back to the camp for dinner and overnight.

OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Balloon Safari
Today’s adventure begins just before dawn. Flames from the hot air balloon burners light the darkness as the crew inflate their craft. The first, pink tongues of sunlight flicker across the skies and the hot air balloon fills then rises. Suspended in a basket beneath the rainbow-coloured canopy, you’re off for a game-viewing adventure with an entirely different perspective. Apart from the occasional hiss of the burners, a lion’s roar, elephants crashing through the bush, baboons perched in the tips of the trees startled and screeching to see something above them, the flight above the Masai Mara plains is magically silent. At the end of the flight, the passengers are treated to a champagne breakfast in the bush, complete with flowers. China and crystal are set out on the table that is placed under a convenient acacia tree. The finishing touch to the flight is a game drive back to the camp, and the possibility of seeing the same pride of lions, or herd of elephants that had been viewed while ballooning. A flight certificate is issued on completion of the balloon safari. Back at Camp/lodge enjoy a sumptuous lunch and a well deserved rest.

Visit to an ‘off the beaten’ track Masai Manyatta
This afternoon, you may opt to visit a traditional Maasai Manyatta (off the beaten track) and experience the culture of this world famous community. The Masai still live as they did for centuries -interact with these nomadic people and experience their way of life as you learn about their customs and traditions.

Meals: LDBB
Accommodation: Tipilikwani Luxury Tented Camp

Enjoy a hearty breakfast then depart with picnic lunch boxes via the Isebania & Sirari border where our guide drivers will help you through the immigration procedures then continue into Tanzania. Covering an area of 14,763 square kilometres, the world famous Serengeti National Park is Tanzania’s oldest park, and one of the world’s last great wildlife refuges. The Serengeti ecosystem supports the greatest remaining concentration of plains game in Africa, including more than three million large mammals. We arrive at our lodge for check-in, dinner and overnight.

Optional: To break the long journey to Tanzania, you may opt to fly to either Migori and continue the rest of your journey by road OR enjoy a short road transfer across the Kenya | Tanzania border where you will board your onward flight directly to the heart of the Serengeti.

* When booking, kindly advise if you would like us to quote these two flights separately for you.

This morning after breakfast, we depart with picnic lunch boxes for a full day of game viewing drives on the vast Serengeti plains. In the early morning and evening light, the Serengeti landscape is stunningly beautiful. The Rolling plains and grasslands, stretching far into the horizons as far as the eye can see is home to the black-manned lion, the savannah elephant, the Cape buffalo, wildebeests, the elusive leopard, cheetah, the spotted & stripped hyena, the rhino, topi, burchelle’s zebra, the Masai giraffe among many others. Serengeti National Park is one that can never disappoint. One is spoilt by the variety of bird and wildlife species in this game reserve with game-viewing drives. Enjoy dinner and overnight at our lodge.

OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Balloon Safari
Today’s adventure begins just before dawn. Flames from the hot air balloon burners light the darkness as the crew inflate their craft. The first, pink tongues of sunlight flicker across the skies and the hot air balloon fills then rises. Suspended in a basket beneath the rainbow-coloured canopy, you’re off for a game-viewing adventure with an entirely different perspective. Apart from the occasional hiss of the burners, a lion’s roar, elephants crashing through the bush, baboons perched in the tips of the trees startled and screeching to see something above them, the flight above the Masai Mara plains is magically silent. At the end of the flight, the passengers are treated to a champagne breakfast in the bush, complete with flowers. China and crystal are set out on the table that is placed under a convenient acacia tree. The finishing touch to the flight is a game drive back to the camp, and the possibility of seeing the same pride of lions, or herd of elephants that had been viewed while ballooning. A flight certificate is issued on completion of the balloon safari. Back at Camp/lodge enjoy a sumptuous lunch and a well deserved rest.

OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Visit to an ‘off the beaten’ track Masai Manyatta
This afternoon, you may opt to visit a traditional Maasai Manyatta (off the beaten track) and experience the culture of this world famous community. The Masai still live as they did for centuries -interact with these nomadic people and experience their way of life as you learn about their customs and traditions.

After breakfast, we depart for the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We stop at the Oldupai Gorge, one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world to learn on human evolution. We will enjoy an on-site talk on the interpretation of the gorge by the resident guide. We arrive at our crater rim lodge to a warm welcome, check-in then lunch. This afternoon we relax and from our lodge enjoy the breath-taking spectacular views of the crater below. Ngorongoro Crater has the largest unbroken caldera in the world. It has been described as one of the great natural wonders of the world. Eight million years ago, the Ngorongoro Crater was an active volcano but its cone collapsed, forming the crater that is 610 meters deep, 20 kilometres in diameter, and covers an area of 311 sq. km. Spectacular as it is, the crater accounts for just a tenth of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The crater is home to many species of wild game and birds. With the exception of impala and topi (due to fierce competition with the wildebeest) and the giraffe (because there is not much to eat at tree level), almost every species of African plains mammal lives in the crater, including the endangered black rhino, and the densest population of predators in Africa. The birdlife, which includes the flamingo, is mainly seasonal, and is also affected by the ratio of soda to fresh water in Lake Magadi on the crater floor. Dinner and overnight at crater lodge. 

NOTE: Warm jacket/cardigan is highly recommended.

After breakfast we descend some 610 metres into the crater, which is home to an abundance of wildlife and a photogenic paradise, for a full day of game-viewing drive with picnic lunch. Ngorongoro Crater, the largest intact caldera in the world teams with an abundance of wildlife permanently resident on the crater floor. Prides of lions, herds of Cape buffalo, impala, Thompson gazelles, rhino, giraffes, golden & black-backed jackal, zebra, cheetah, leopard and the spotted hyena freely roam on the crater floor plains. Unmatched for its natural variety & breath-taking beauty, there are few places on earth where such a tremendous diversity of landscapes exist inside a region this size. Apart from its wildlife riches, the crater is also of great archaeological importance, with the remains of some of mankind’s earliest ancestors discovered in the area, also a home to hundreds of bird species, refreshing in the small lakes in the crater floor. Return late afternoon to your lodge. Enjoy dinner and overnight.

Enjoy your breakfast then depart to Tarangire arriving at your lodge for lunch. This afternoon we depart on an exciting game viewing drive in this area dotted with majestic baobab trees, stately eland antelopes among other game. Herds of up to 300 elephants scratch the dry Tarangire river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. It’s the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem – a smorgasbord for predators – and the one place in Tanzania where dry-country antelope such as the stately fringe-eared Oryx and peculiar long-necked gerenuk are regularly observed. Enjoy dinner and overnight at the lodge.

Meals: LDBB
Accommodation: Tarangire Sopa Lodge

This morning enjoy your breakfast then check-out. Unbelievable but true, your good bush moments have come to an end. You bid farewell to your wonderful lodge manager and his team then depart to Arusha. Not empty handed though, with you are photographs – a capture of the special moments you have had on this tour to immortalize the experience. Transfer to the Kilimanjaro International Airport for your home-bound flight.