10 Days in Kenya & Tanzania

AFTERNOON

Arrive at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and transfer to your hotel. Nairobi is a city of contrasts — modern skyline, sprawling suburbs, and a national park visible from the highway. After checking in, the rest of the day is at leisure. If time allows, a visit to the Giraffe Centre or Karen Blixen Museum makes for a pleasant introduction.

EVENING

Dinner at the hotel. Rest ahead of an early departure tomorrow.

MORNING

Depart Nairobi after breakfast and drive south toward Amboseli, roughly four to five hours through the Kapiti Plains and Maasai rangeland. The road narrows and the sky opens as you approach the park — and then Kilimanjaro appears, its glaciated peak floating above the heat haze.

AFTERNOON

Arrive at your lodge and settle in before an afternoon game drive. Amboseli is best known for its elephant herds — some of the largest tuskers in Africa live here — and its dramatic backdrop. The swamps fed by Kilimanjaro’s meltwater draw hippo, buffalo, and prolific birdlife. Lion, cheetah, and hyena patrol the surrounding grasslands.

EVENING

Sundowners with Kilimanjaro in full view, if the clouds permit. Dinner at the lodge.

MORNING

Early morning game drive when the air is still clear and Kilimanjaro’s peak is most likely visible. This is when Amboseli is at its most photogenic — elephants crossing the dried lakebed with the mountain behind them, dust rising in soft columns, egrets following buffalo through the marsh. Your guide will track the morning’s activity across the park’s varied habitats.

AFTERNOON

Continue exploring Amboseli’s swamps and open plains. The Observation Hill viewpoint offers a panoramic sweep of the park and is worth the short walk. Amboseli’s elephant research programme, one of the longest-running in Africa, has produced decades of data on the herds here — your guide can often identify individual matriarchs by name.

EVENING

A final evening in Amboseli. Dinner at the lodge.

MORNING

After breakfast, drive to the Namanga border crossing between Kenya and Tanzania. The process is straightforward, and your guides on each side will assist with formalities. Once in Tanzania, continue to Arusha, arriving by midday. Arusha sits at the foot of Mount Meru and serves as the gateway to Tanzania’s northern safari circuit.

AFTERNOON

Check in and take the afternoon to rest or explore Arusha’s central market and coffee shops. This is a transition day — the pace shifts from Kenya’s open plains to Tanzania’s safari infrastructure, and tomorrow you fly north into the Serengeti.

EVENING

Dinner at the lodge. Your Tanzania guide will walk you through the days ahead.

MORNING

Transfer to Arusha’s airstrip for your scheduled flight to the northern Serengeti, landing at the Kogatende strip near the Mara River. The northern Serengeti is the stage for one of the natural world’s greatest spectacles — the annual river crossing of the Great Migration. Between July and October, over a million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebra surge across the Mara River in search of fresh grazing.

AFTERNOON

Begin game driving immediately upon arrival. The northern Serengeti’s woodlands and riverine corridors are quite different from the open central plains — more broken, more dramatic, and often harbouring large predators that follow the migration herds. If the timing is right, your guide will position for river crossings; if not, the surrounding bush is rich with resident wildlife.

EVENING

Settle into your camp near the Mara River. Dinner and the sounds of the bush at night. Optional: Hot Air Balloon Safari — A pre-dawn ascent over the Northern Serengeti plains, floating silently above the migration herds. After landing, a champagne bush breakfast in the field. USD 500 per person.

MORNING

A full day along the Mara River and surrounding woodlands. The northern Serengeti demands patience and flexibility — crossings can happen without warning, and the tension before a large herd commits to the water is unlike anything else in safari. Between crossings, the area is excellent for lion, leopard, and the enormous Nile crocodiles that patrol the deeper pools.

AFTERNOON

Continue following the migration or explore the quieter sectors of the northern Serengeti. Hippo pools, eagle nests in the tall acacias, and mixed herds of eland and topi are all part of the fabric. A packed lunch allows you to stay out as long as the game holds your attention.

EVENING

Return to camp at dusk. A second night by the Mara River.

MORNING

Depart the northern Serengeti after breakfast and begin the scenic drive south toward the Seronera Valley in the central Serengeti. The landscape transitions gradually from rolling woodland to the wide-open grasslands that define the heart of this ecosystem. Game driving en route, with stops for any notable sightings along the way.

AFTERNOON

Arrive at your camp in the central Serengeti by mid-afternoon. The Seronera region is one of the most consistently productive wildlife areas in Africa — lion prides, cheetah, leopard in the kopjes, and large resident herds of buffalo and elephant. Begin exploring immediately.

EVENING

Dinner at camp. The central Serengeti at night is a place of distant roars and absolute darkness. Optional: Hot Air Balloon Safari — A pre-dawn ascent over the plains, drifting silently above the wildlife, followed by champagne breakfast in the bush. USD 490 per person.

MORNING

An early start into the Seronera Valley. First light here is extraordinary — the plains stretch to the horizon, and the predators are active. Your guide will read the landscape for signs of a hunt, a kill, or a territorial dispute. The kopjes scattered across the central Serengeti are reliable for leopard and klipspringer, and the open grasslands are where cheetah do their best work.

AFTERNOON

Continue with a packed lunch and explore deeper into the ecosystem. The central Serengeti rewards time — stay with a pride, wait by a waterhole, follow a herd and see what follows. The afternoon light gives the landscape a warmth that photographs struggle to capture.

EVENING

A final evening in the Serengeti. Fireside dinner and a sky full of stars.

MORNING

Drive southeast out of the Serengeti and into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Descend 600 metres into the Ngorongoro Crater — a collapsed volcanic caldera that contains one of the highest concentrations of wildlife on the continent. Black rhino, lion, flamingo-lined soda lakes, buffalo herds, and elephant all share this ancient basin. Sightings here are close and constant.

AFTERNOON

Complete your circuit of the crater floor, stopping at Lake Magadi, the Lerai Forest, and the open grasslands. A packed lunch is taken inside the crater. Ascend in the late afternoon and drive to Arusha, arriving by evening.

EVENING

A final dinner in Arusha. Time to reflect on a journey that spanned two countries and some of the finest wildlife terrain on Earth.

MORNING

After breakfast, transfer to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your onward flight. Alternatively, extend your stay with additional time in Arusha or a connection to Zanzibar. Your guide will assist with any final arrangements.