WINGS OVER KENYA AND TANZANIA COMBO SAFARI

15-DAY FLYING SAFARI COMBINING KENYA AND TANZANIA

Amboseli - Samburu - Masai Mara - Lake Duluti - Serengeti National Park - Olduvai Gorge - Ngorongoro Crater - Lake Manyara

 

Begins: Nairobi, Kenya
Ends: Kilimanjaro, Tanzania or Nairobi, Kenya

 

Accommodations: First class lodges and hotels throughout. Serena hotels have been recognized as pioneering in their attention to detail, community involvement, environmental sensitivity and continual evolvement in offering new activities, which maximize their guests stay in Africa.


Transportation: Scheduled flights in small propeller aircraft. Each lodge will host you locally. Game drives will be conducted in a variety of vehicles — some 4WD vehicles with photo hatches and some safari vans with pop-up roof; guaranteed window seat for game drives.

Trip Description:
Our most popular East African combo! This active safari makes the most of your safari time by using flights between parks. Your accommodations are in the beautiful, award winning Serena Lodges. The Serena Lodges offer a mixture of stylish and imaginative lodging throughout East Africa. This safari includes their prime properties…perfect locations that often act as game viewing platforms themselves. You are independently hosted by each lodge. Travel between destinations is by air, allowing more time for game viewing, activities and total relaxation in a delightful African ambiance.

 

Day 1 Arrive Nairobi, Kenya
Upon arrival, you are met and transferred to your beautiful hotel. Welcome to Kenya! Nairobi Serena Hotel

 

Day 2 Amboseli National Park
Following an early breakfast you will be transferred to Nairobi Wilson Airport for your scheduled flight to Amboseli (45min.). Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred to the lodge with a game drive en route. After lunch relax with an afternoon siesta or a refreshing swim in the pool. Later, there is a game drive that returns to the lodge as the sun, sets. Amboseli Serena Lodge (BLD)


In the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, beside a copse of giant Acacia trees and a gently flowing natural spring, stands Amboseli Serena - one of Africa's finest safari lodges. All around the lodge roams the big game that has made East Africa legendary - lion, buffalo, cheetah, giraffe, baboon, gazelle and wildebeest. More wild elephant can be seen in Amboseli National Park than almost anywhere else on the continent.


With Kilimanjaro 6,000-meter snow-capped peaks presiding over the landscape, the setting is unrivalled. Influenced by native Masai architecture, the lodge is in perfect harmony with its environment. Beautifully landscaped gardens, unique guest services and exceptional amenities enhance the distinctive ambience. Enjoy a refreshing swim in the pool during the quiet mid-day hours — the pool deck is a great platform to view game!

 

Day 3 Amboseli National Park
Early morning and afternoon game drives in Amboseli National Park. While Kilimanjaro is actually across the border in Tanzania, Amboseli has a perfect view of this world's tallest freestanding mountain, at an impressive 5km above the plains. Amboseli is not a large park, but it offers you the best opportunity of seeing endangered black rhino, as well as a spectacular range of wildlife. Amboseli Serena Lodge (BLD)

 

Days 4-5 Samburu National Reserve
Early morning scheduled service flight to Nairobi to connect with the flight to Samburu in Northern Kenya. Morning scheduled flight to Samburu. This is the area where the recent Survivor series was filmed! Transfer to your beautiful lodge. Morning and afternoon game drives in this fascinating countryside. The river and several springs attract much wildlife, especially in dry periods. Mammals restricted to the Somali-Masai arid zone are found here, such as Grevy's zebra, the reticulated giraffe, the Beisa Oryx, Guenther's dik-dik and the gerenuk. Also present are lesser kudus, elephants, Grant's gazelles, lions, cheetahs, leopards and 350 bird species, including the blue-flushed Somali ostrich and the bristle-crowned starling. Samburu Serena Lodge (BLD)


Situated on the fertile banks of the Uaso Nyiro River, in the center of the Samburu Game Reserve in Kenya's rugged, semi-arid Northern Province, Samburu Serena Safari Lodge echoes the robust rhythms of riverfront life. This bucolic and serene lodge was inspired by the architecture of the indigenous Samburu tribe and blends into the verdant environment by making full use of native materials. Thatched cabins built using exotic African woods create an escapist atmosphere. The lodge has a spacious swimming pool for cooling down in the heat of the day and a special game-viewing verandah.

 

Days 6-7 Masai Mara National Reserve
Early morning game drive enroute to the airstrip for your scheduled flight to Kenya’s famed Masai Mara. Upon arrival, you are transferred to your lodge.The Masai Mara Game Reserve is the Africa of movies and photographs: large, open grasslands dotted with acacia trees and traversed by the Mara River, teeming with hippos and crocodiles. Morning and afternoon game drives. Opportunities for village visits and an optional balloon safari. Mara Serena Lodge (BLD)


An interpretation of a traditional Masai Manyatta village of domed huts, Mara Serena Safari Lodge is set on the saddle of a hill where it overlooks the 1,800 square kilometers of rolling plains, woodlands and rivers that make up the Masai Mara Triangle - one of the world's richest wildlife sanctuaries. No other lodge has such a spectacular view of the surrounding landscape or the game and bird life that inhabit it.

 

Day 8 Kilimanjaro, Tanzania • Lake Duluti
Following an early morning activity and breakfast in the Mara, you will catch the scheduled flight to Kilimanjaro (via Nairobi). Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred to your lodge overlooking the small, but picturesque Lake Duluti. Serena Mountain Village Lodge (BLD)


Nestled on the shores of Lake Duluti and renowned for its collection of spectacular bougainvilleas, Serena Mountain Village is the perfect place to relax before or after experiencing the adventure of a safari. Designed as an authentic African village, Mountain Village invites visitors to experience what life is like on a coffee plantation. Guests are housed in banana stem thatched huts, grouped in semi-circles around tropical shade trees. All guest rooms have private balconies that boast magnificent views of the mighty snow-capped Kilimanjaro on one side and Lake Duluti and the rugged peaks of Mount Meru on the other.

 

Day 9 Arusha • Serengeti National Park
Drive to Arusha airstrip for scheduled flight to the world famous Serengeti. Game drive enroute to your lodge. Serengeti Serena Lodge (BD)


Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge is set high on a hill with breathtaking vistas of sweeping grasslands and the unspoiled wilderness landscape of the Serengeti plains. Big game feed in full view of the lodge. The Serengeti is a natural paradise and home to one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth - the annual migration of millions of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle.
The lodge design is simple but stunning. Inspired by a traditional African village, separate rondavel "huts" house the luxury guest rooms that have their own view of the vast Serengeti plains. From the overall impression to the smallest detail, the lodge is rich in local atmosphere created by indigenous handicrafts and art. A delightful water feature runs through the main public areas, creating a natural source of waterborne plants and provides a home to many indigenous species of reptiles, amphibians and birds.

 

Day 10 Serengeti National Park
Morning and afternoon game drives. The Masai translation of Serengeti is "endless plains." This expansive park, which covers over 23,000 square miles, is home to thousands of animals that form the annual migration. Early morning and afternoon game drives allow you to explore the areas where thousands of animals gather in the Serengeti during migration (movement varies month to month — but the herds are usually in the southern Serengeti Dec-May), to bear their young and continue the pursuit of food and water. Behind the masses of migrating animals, follows the ever-searching predators — watch as this life and death drama unfolds before you. Serengeti Serena Lodge (BLD)

 

Day 11 Olduvai Gorge • Ngorongoro Crater
Depart after breakfast and drive across the Serengeti plains viewing game en route and arrive at Olduvai Gorge, the famous archaeological site where the Leakeys uncovered 1.75 million year old humanoid fossils of Australopithecus, Homo Habilis, and Homo Erectus. The Gorge is about 50km long and in some places 90m deep. You will have time to walk through the little museum. Continue to your lodge, set high on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater. After lunch at the lodge, depart on a gentle nature walk with a lodge naturalist. Ngorongoro Serena Lodge (BLD).

 

As if in a land before time, Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge is built into the rim of a dormant and collapsed volcano (known as a caldera), the plant and ivy-covered native stone blending masterfully with its surroundings. Close by lies the Olduvai Gorge, the "birthplace of man". Today the volcano and surrounding landscape are part of a vast conservation area inhabited by the Masai tribe, as well as an extraordinary variety of big game and bird life. Most guest rooms have private terraces with views of the crater floor where countless animals make their home. At Ngorongoro Serena Lodge visitors co-exist in perfect harmony with the natural environment and the wildlife that inhabits it.

 

Day 12 Ngorongoro Crater
After an early breakfast you descend into the Crater in a 4x4 vehicle for a full day of game viewing with a picnic lunch enjoyed on the Crater floor. Late afternoon you leave the Crater and drive back to the lodge perched on the rim. Ngorongoro Serena Lodge (BLD)

 

Day 13 Gibbs Farm - Lake Manyara
After breakfast, you leave the Crater and drive into the highlands, with a stop at Gibbs Farm for lunch. Gibbs Farm has been a coffee plantation since colonial Days, and you can pick up some of the world’s best coffee here. After lunch, hike to the nearby waterfalls or stroll through the garden before continuing on to your nearby lodge for a spectacular sunset over the Great Rift Valley. Lake Manyara Serena (BLD)


It is difficult to imagine a more spectacular setting for Lake Manyara Serena Lodge - on the edge of the Mto Wa Mbu escarpment, overlooking the Great Rift Valley and the stunning Manyara soda lake. Tree-climbing lions are but one lure. The extraordinary bird life has made this place world-renowned among ornithologists, who come to observe the masses of pink flamingos and great birds of prey. The abundant bird life inspired the design of Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge - swooping curves are complemented by soft, geometric patterns; stylish murals depict bird migration patterns. The circular shape of the buildings is a tribute to indigenous architectural traditions. Beyond the superb standards of hospitality offered, there is a spirit of tranquility that prevails.

 

Day 14 Lake Manyara National Park • Mto wa Mbu Village
Today, you’ll depart after breakfast into the park for a morning game drive. At lunchtime, head to the village of Mto wa Mbu where a great cultural lunch awaits. Located near the shores of Lake Manyara, this village is a living example of one of the richest linguistic mixes in Africa. Home to over 90 tribes, Mto wa Mbu is possibly the only place you can hear Bantu, Nilotic, Khoisan and Cushitic being spoken in the same marketplace. A guide will accompany you to local homes, farmlands, resident bars, a kindergarten and a church. Afterwards, you’ll return back to the lodge during the late afternoon. Lake Manyara Serena (BLD)

 

Day 15 Arusha — Nairobi — Depart (or extend to Zanzibar)
Depart after breakfast to Arusha for lunch. Options here: 1. Continue your travels with a flight to Zanzibar; 2. Continue with the scheduled tour and drive to Kilimanjaro and fly onto Nairobi, for your onward arrangements; 3. You can opt to fly out of Kilimanjaro this evening. A dayroom and transfer for your evening flight can be arranged (additional). (B)



Includes

  • Accommodation with private facilities
  • Transport in 8-seat safari vans and 4WD vehicles as offered by each lodge.
  • Scheduled flights within Kenya and Tanzania as specified
  • Professional English speaking Driver/Guides at each lodge.
  • Game drives and activities as noted
  • Park entrance and conservation fees
  • Meals as noted (B-Breakfast, L-lunch, D-dinner)
  • 1 bottle of water per person in vehicle during game drives
  • Temporary membership in Flying Doctors Society
  • Tour Escort through out the safari

    Excludes
  • Flights to/from Africa.
  • Tips, porterage, beverages, items of personal nature such as laundry, travel insurance phone, fax etc.
  • Fees for passport, visas
  • Airport departure taxes
  • Any other item not mentioned in the itinerary