Itinerary
Day: 1 | Arrival, transfer Nairobi Serena Hotel
On your arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport you will be warmly met by our representative who will transfer you into the vibrant Nairobi. Spend the night at the Nairobi Serena Hotel. Justly famed for its superlative standards of efficiency, service and hospitality, the elegantly sophisticated Nairobi Serena Hotel is the proud flagship of the Serena Hotels' fleet of world-class hotels. Considered by many to be Nairobi's finest hotel, the Serena stands amidst lush tropical gardens with panoramic views over Nairobi's Central Park and the glittering downtown skyline. Despite its pivotal central location, the Serena also remains true to its title and offers an oasis of serenity amidst the bustle of one of Africa's most vibrant capital cities. Established in the mid-1970s, The Serena Group was launched with a simple but challenging goal; to become the leading hotel group in East Africa. Today this goal has become a reality.
We recommend you book an optional excursion to the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage or the Karen Blixen Museum with Giraffe Centre. Otherwise you may also choose to spend the rest of the day at leisure.
Days: 2-3 | Maasai Mara Game Reserve
Leaving Nairobi after breakfast, travel towards Kenya's fertile highlands and head down the rift escarpment on a road built by Italian prisoners of war during World War II. You'll pass the impressive Longonot earth satellite station as you head across the Valley to Narok, before travelling across acres of wheat and barley, arriving in the Masai Mara in time for lunch at Mara Serena Safari Lodge. Following lunch and a siesta, you will embark on an afternoon game drive returning to the lodge as the sun sets.
Mara Serena is the largest property in the Mara Triangle - a section of the Masai Mara National Reserve renowned for its animal preservation efforts. The 510km2 Mara Triangle is home to most of the 30-strong population of black rhinos in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. Unlike smaller-scale camps, Mara Serena presents 74 rooms and is a popular choice with families, who appreciate the benefits of staying in a hotel complex, such as a fenced perimeter and popular central pool.
Primarily, guests visit Mara Serena to partake in the game drives organized by the lodge. The expert driver guides are very familiar with the reserve and will take you to popular animal grazing grounds and watering holes. Besides the local concentration of black rhinos, you’ll also see lions, giraffes, elephants, and zebras in their natural habitat. The cohabitation of predators and prey can lead to some exciting scenes of Africa’s great wildlife in action. For something truly spectacular, arrange a hot-air balloon flight at dawn (at an additional cost). The hotel has its own hot-air balloon and launch site nearby the main lodge and to watch the hazy orange sun rise over the reserve as animals emerge for their first drink of the day is something you will remember forever.
Day: 4 | Lake Nakuru
After breakfast, depart by road for Lake Nakuru, arriving at your lodge where you will have lunch. After eating you will take an afternoon game drive in the Nakuru National Park. Water birds are the major attractions of the area, with flamingos being in the main attraction, though their numbers have dwindled. White rhino and buffalo are also a great sight to behold, in addition to the 56 different species of mammals. Check in at the Lake Elmenteita Serena Camp. Uniquely situated on the shoreline of sapphire-blue Lake Elmenteita where hundreds of thousands of birds congregate, the small and exclusive Lake Elmenteita Serena Camp is evocatively styled to echo the area's rich history. The nomadic Masai had passed through the area for centuries and the name Elmenteita derives from the Masai Ol muteita for “place of dust”.
The camp is located in the 48,000 acre Soysambu Conservancy, which is a RAMSAR site - a wetland of international importance. The alkaline lake's rocky islands are the only East African nesting site for great white pelicans, while its algae and plankton provides food for vast flocks of flamingos and a multitude of other waterfowl, many of them rare. Day game drives offer peace and privacy, with chances to watch vast herds of zebras, gazelles, elands, waterbucks and buffalos, as well as family groups of black-backed jackals, warthogs, dik-diks and baboons. Soysambu protects flourishing breeding herds of endangered Rothschild giraffes, as well as the nationally threatened colobus monkeys. Less common species include the bushbuck, bushpig, steinbok, reedbuck, duiker, caracal, golden and side-striped jackals.
Night game-drives offer a unique opportunity to spot nocturnal creatures including the curious-looking aardvark and elusive leopard. Walking is also allowed, with chances to experience the miracles of the bush close-up. Lake Nakuru National Park and Kariandusi prehistoric site are also nearby.
Days: 5-6 | Amboseli National Park
After an early breakfast leaving the Rift Valley behind, proceed to Nairobi, collect a picnic lunch and then head south towards Amboseli arriving at your lodge by late afternoon. Check in at the famous Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge. Amboseli Serena Lodge is influenced by native Masai architecture and decorated with natural woodcarvings, traditional artefacts and local art. The lodge overlooks a saltlick and a floodlit waterhole where you can see gathering herds of elephant, buffalo and wildebeest, to name but a few. This is also an excellent area for bird viewing with over 400 species of bird.
You can enjoy the comforts and the beautiful setting, in addition to the activities on offer which include game drives, morning bird walks with the lodge's resident naturalist and visits to a traditional Masai manyatta. There are also plenty of opportunities to unwind at the lodge itself, including an afternoon spent on the veranda watching the game pass by, taking a dip in the natural spring-fed swimming pool or enjoying a relaxing massage. As part of Serena Hotels' reforestation programme you will be invited to plant a tree to help restore the land that was becoming barren from herds of elephants tearing up the trees for food.
Day: 7 | Lake Manyara National Park
After breakfast, you continue the journey to the Tanzania border post and then on to Arusha for lunch. After lunch you depart Arusha and pass through the Maasai Steppe filled with many picturesque African villages as well as maize, coffee and banana plantations. At the town of Makuyuni you turn North West and continue the journey up through a scenic escarpment that brings you to Lake Manyara Serena lodge, perched on the edge of the Rift Valley with stunning views over the distant Lake Manyara.
Tanzania’s towering Mto wa Mbu escarpment provides a remarkable backdrop for a one-of-a-kind visit. Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge welcomes you with a peaceful location amidst the rich wildlife and unsurpassed tranquility of Lake Manyara National Park. The lake is home to over 300 migratory birds including flamingoes, long-crested eagles and grey-headed kingfisher; our lodge is designed to mimic this extraordinary birdlife, with an architectural motif featuring swooping avian curves and vibrantly coloured wall frescoes depicting the intricacy of bird migratory patterns.
Day: 8-9 | Serengeti National Park
After breakfast there is a game drive in Lake Manyara National Park that returns to Lake Manyara Serena Lodge for lunch. Leaving Lake Manyara behind, the journey continues North West across the stunning hilly countryside of the highlands which is filled with wheat and coffee plantations, and then into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. From here lies the vast plains of the Serengeti, where you’ll hopefully start spotting game, before you reach the park. Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge has been designed to blend seamlessly into the landscape of acacia groves and sparkling streams. Our 65 guest rooms and one suite are housed in clusters of traditional domed “rondavels” arranged around the lodge’s stunning infinity pool.
Seamlessly blended high into acacia-lined ridge, this African-style lodge and infinity pool offers panoramic views across the Serengeti’s vast, endless grasslands, where lions and cheetahs stalk their prey and massive migrating wildebeest herds darken the landscape in a relentless search for fresh grazing grounds. The Serengeti and neighbouring Maasai Mara have long been the landscape on which ‘the greatest wildlife show on earth’ plays out. But even when the Great Migration’s participants are not rumbling across the Serengeti plains, this remains a hotspot for game-viewing and is home to the Big 5 year-round.
Days: 10-11 | Ngorongoro Crater
After breakfast you depart for Ngorongoro with a delicious picnic lunch, viewing game across the vast Serengeti plains. After your picnic, you will continue to the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge, set high on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater. The Ngorongoro Crater and larger conservation area is home to approximately 25,000 large mammal species who wander the crater floor’s unique terrain of lakes, forest, and grassland. Often lauded as ‘the land that time forgot’, expect to see impressive numbers of rhino, elephant, and lion. The Serengeti - home to the Great Migration; and Olduvai Gorge, once home to the first early human species—lies adjacent to the Ngorongoro Crater.
Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge is built on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, and its natural stone and ivy-covered walls blends in with its surroundings. The lodge has taken the cave paintings of Olduvai Gorge as its main décor inspiration, with all the interiors filled with African artifacts and frescos. Enjoy game drives on the crater floor - home to an impressive wildlife and birdlife - or enjoy a guided hike with a picnic across the Serengeti plains or among the nearby volcanic mountains of the Crater Highlands. Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge also offers historical and cultural tours to nearby Olduvai Gorge - the site of one of the most interesting palaeolithic finds in recent history - or to one of the local Maasai villages to meet the community.
Day: 12 | Transfer Arusha, Nairobi, Departure
Depart Ngorongoro after breakfast and drive back to Arusha arriving in time for lunch. After lunch you continue the journey by road to Nairobi and onto a Nairobi City Centre Restaurant for dinner before drop off at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport or city centre hotel. Your Grand Tour of East Africa ends here.
Customize this itinerary
The above itinerary can be custom made using Budget, Midrange and Luxury accommodation options to cater for different budgets based on one's financial strength and accommodation preferences. Let's tailormake for your this itinerary free of charge. - info@wavelanesafaris.com
