ITINERARY SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR EAST AFRICA EXPLORER SCHEDULED.
Validity: 01st January 2010 to 15th December 2010
Minimum: 04 people travelling together
Transportation: Seven (7) seater minibus in Kenya and 4x4 vehicle in Tanzania with the services of an English speaking driver/guide
Start: Nairobi
End: Nairobi
Itinerary at a glance
Day
Location
Accommodation
Board
Activity
01
Nairobi
Nairobi Serena Hotel
BB
Trsf, LE
02
Lake Nakuru
Flaming Hill Camp
LDBB
E, P
03
Masai Mara
Mara Serena Lodge
LDBB
P
04
Masai Mara
Mara Serena Lodge
LDBB
E, P
05
Masai Mara
Mara Serena Lodge
LDBB
E, P
06
Serengeti Park
Serengeti Sopa Lodge
LDBB
CT, P
07
Serengeti Park
Serengeti Sopa Lodge
LDBB
A, P
08
Ngorongoro
Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge
LDBB
P
09
Ngorongoro
Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge
LDBB
CT ,P
10
Lake Manyara Park
Kiruruma Camp
LDBB
P
11
Amboseli Park
Amboseli Serena Lodge
LDBB
P
12
Amboseli Park
Amboseli Serena Lodge
LDBB
P
13
Nairobi
Nairobi Serena Hotel
BBL
Trsf, LE
14
Nairobi
Depart
BB
Trsf
Trsf – Transfer, BB – Bed & Breakfast, L – Lunch, D – Dinner , LDBB – Lunch, Dinner, Bed & Breakfast, E – Early morning game drive, A – Morning game drive, P – Afternoon game drive
LE – Leisure, CT – Crater Tour, BT – Boat trip
DAY 01 – ARRIVAL NAIROBI
Met upon arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport met by Silver Africa Tours representative. Assistance and transfer to Panafric Hotel. Rest of the day at leisure. Accommodation on Bed & Breakfast basis at Nairobi Serena Hotel (BB)
The Serena group is renowned for offering excellent hotel facilities throughout East Africa, and the Nairobi Serena is no exception. A member of the Leading hotels of the World, the Serena enjoys a location on the edge of the Central Park and the City Centre. Shaded by the glorious Jacaranda, Bougainvillea and Acacia trees and surrounded by lush manicured gardens, the hotel provides a peaceful and luxurious retreat to travellers, business people and famous dignitaries in a bustling city. Rooms with private bathroom facilities, TV, air-conditioning, minibar, telephone and electronic safe are spacious and elegantly furnished and overlook the Central Park to the east and acacia groves and lush gardens to the west. Amongst its excellent facilities are comprehensive business services, 2 superb restaurants providing world cuisine, health club and spa, outdoor pool and an intimate pub. The Serena is one of the finest hotels to stay in when in Nairobi.
DAY 02 – NAIROBI /LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK
After breakfast this morning we depart to Lake Nakuru National Park arriving in time for lunch , afternoon rest late afternoon game drive in this park returning to the camp for dinner and overnight at
Flamingo Hill Camp (LDBB)
Situated in the heart of the Rift Valley, Lake Nakuru is one of Kenya's most famous soda lakes. A major feature of this park is the wonderful bird life, particularly the thousands of flamingos, which create a shimmering pink hue over the lake. A rhino sanctuary also provides the opportunity to see the endangered black rhino. Sarova Lion Hill offers a unique vantage point. Each of the 64 superbly appointed chalets with private secluded veranda enjoys views over the lake and the distant hills. Even the glorious pool has a view!
Originally declared a national park because of a superbly diverse bird population, which includes many migrants, the park is also a favourite place for travellers to seek the rare black rhino. However, it is for the flamingos that the lake is best known, and it was for their protection that the park was originally created. The level of the blue-green alkaline waters here varies and this, with other accompanying environmental changes, causes considerable variation in the flamingo population, but when they are present, en masse, the whole lake turns a gorgeous rosy pink. Although protection of the flamingo population on the lake was the original rationale for the inception of the national park, further land was included in the early seventies and it is now about 190 sq m. This expansion, which took in a large grassland area, has allowed the park to protect further species. Buffalo, zebra, antelope and both lion and leopard are to be found. The rather less ubiquitous reedbuck and waterbuck are also here as is the glamorously leggy Rothschild giraffe. Temptingly, the black rhino-breeding programme, started in the late eighties, has proved successful and this is an excellent place to view them.
DAY 03 – LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK/MASAI MARA RESERVE
Early morning game drive returning to the lodge for breakfast and depart , to Mara Game Reserve arriving in time for lunch the lodge . Afternoon game drive in this reserve returning to the lodge for dinner . Dinner and overnight at Mara Serena Lodge (LDBB)
DAY 04 & 05 – MASAI MARA GAME RESERVE
Early morning game drive returning to the lodge for breakfast. After breakfast mid morning at leisure ,optional activities like visit to Maasai Village available , lunch . Afternoon game drive. Dinner and overnight at Mara Serena Lodge Lodge (LDBB)
A masterful interpretation of a traditional Masai village, Mara Serena Lodge seemingly floats on a sea of savannah. A beautiful pool looks out over the wide plains. The rooms are Masai-influenced in style yet extremely comfortable. The main dining room, where delicious meals are served, has three large domes and three small ones depicting Maasai manyattas (villages). Occasionally an African al fresco barbecue is served by the pool overlooking the Mara plains. Fresh fruit juices and cocktails, wines, spirits or liqueurs are available at the bar until lat in the evening.
At Serena, the views are stunning. It is on this very terrain, stretching endlessly before the lodge, that the annual migrations take place. Millions of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle pass through on their way to and from their alternative feeding grounds in Tanzania. The Mara Serena offers you a grandstand seat for one of the greatest shows on earth.
Probably the most famous of the reserves, the Masai Mara, in Kenya's southwestern corner, boasts an astonishing amount of game. Unfenced, the Mara is bounded in the east by the Ngama Hills and in the west by the Oloololo or Siria Escarpment. Gazelle, wildebeest and zebra graze in large numbers and where prey is found so are predators. Not only is this a great place in which to find game, but also the wide greeny-gold savannahs spotted with thorn trees make it ideal for photography. The Mara, as it is known in Kenya, is ravishingly beautiful and also offers long, undisturbed views and utterly dramatic panoramas. The weather really means something here. The sun may beat down unforgiving, huge clouds in fabulous shapes may sweep across the widest of skies; the wind ripples the grasses as though a giant hand strokes them. The landscape is stunning. The famously black-manned Mara lions are possibly the stars of the Mara show, but cheetah, elephant, kongoni, topi, Thompson's gazelle, waterbuck, hyena, and primates are all here too. As with the rest of Kenya, the birding is good. There is no settlement within the reserve however, the Mara is in theory owned by the Masai, pastoralists and, in earlier times, renowned lion-killers. Lodges and hotels offer the opportunity to buy their beadwork, checked cloths and copies of their spears. It is said that if lions scent approaching Masai on the breeze they move swiftly in the opposite direction. Famously, the Mara is the northerly end of the Great Migration, that great primeval surge of wildebeest, zebra and antelope that sweeps in from Tanzania's Serengeti to Kenya's Masai Mara as the Tanzanian grass starts to fail. The large predators who pick off the weak, the stragglers and the young track them. The great herds, nearing their destination by July, mass along the Mara River, pushing, shoving and fantastically noisy, just waiting for the first animal to cross so that they can all follow, lemming-like, on the final leg of the journey. However, crocodiles lie in wait, sluggishly cruising the waters, fully prepared for their best meal of the year. Many fail in the life-and-death struggle - drowned, eaten by the crocodiles or, made careless or weak by their stressful swim, brought down by lions. The Masai Mara is terrible yet wonderful, and not to be missed.
DAY 06 –MARA GAME RESERVE /SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK.
After breakfast we depart Mara Game Reserve with packed lunches and drive to Isebania Boarder for customs and migration formalities change our vehicles and guides to Tanzania staff and drive to Serengeti National park along the way we will visit Olduvai Gorge and proceed to our lodge arriving late in the evening dinner and Overnight at Serengeti Serena Lodge (BBLD)
DAY 07 -SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK.
Spend a further day in this park following the migration , all meals provided overnight at Serengeti Serena Lodge (BBLD)
Perched high on a hill, the Serengeti Serena Lodge and its swimming pool command beautiful views of the surrounding Serengeti plains and hills. The stylish lodge and its rondovel 'huts', which house sixty-six elegantly furnished en-suite bedrooms, are built from local materials in traditional African village style and merge impeccably into the wilderness. Indigenous handicrafts and art adorn the walls of the rooms and the main building.
The lodge's central position within the Serengeti Park means that game drives can be conducted all around without ever having to go too far to look for the animals. From here you can explore the rich and varied game life of the Serengeti Eco-system. The area boasts all the 'big five', lion, elephant, leopard, rhino and buffalo and occasionally you may bump into lions resting in trees during the heat of the day when the flies mean business. The Serena offers a host of optional activities, such as wilderness meals and sundowners by the pool. In the evening, traditional dancers perform for the guests and a resident naturalist give fascinating slide shows and talks.
George Adamson, co-raiser of Elsa the lioness, and husband of "Born Free" author Joy Adamson, visited the Serengeti in the early sixties and describes the experience in "Pride and Joy", his autobiography. At this time he considered it probably the greatest of all game reserves in Africa and one man was mainly responsible - Bernhardt Grzimek, Director of Frankfurt Zoo. The Serengeti had suffered terribly from over-zealous hunting in the 1930's and from large-scale killing of game during the war. Grzimek applied himself to the tensions between Maasai need for grazing and the indigenous wildlife. He and his son carried out a massive survey, using planes to quantify the game, and identifying and logging the plantlife. He used his best-seller "Serengeti Shall Not Die" to raise funds and publicise the exercise. Thanks to the Grzimeks, and to John Owen who established a renowned scientific research establishment there, the Serengeti still has an amazing concentration of wildlife. The 14,763 square kilometres of the Serengeti are probably most famous for being the southern end of the Great Migration. Every year over 1.5 million animals, mostly wildebeest but also zebra and Thompson's gazelle, follow their instincts and move through the western corridor on their 1000 kilometre journey to the fresh grazing of the Masai Mara. Predators pick off the weak, the laggardly and the young and crocodiles feast as the vast herd crosses the rivers but they continue their trek, as they have done since time immemorial. This is one of the earth's great sights - but it is by no means all the Serengeti has to offer. The vast, flat central plains, made fertile by the ashes of the none volcanos of the Ngorongoro highlands, are places of huge skies, of shimmering heat hazes, yet also of delicate wild flowers blooming after the rains. The savannah, sprinkled with Acacia Tortilis, has majestic termite mounds and rock formations called kopjes which make great vantage points for predators. The lion are abundant, the leopard are plentiful (yet still secretive) and black rhino and cheetah both breed here. There are more than 500 species of bird and, interestingly, 100 sub-species of dung beetle - a sign of a varied animal population! Ndutu, in the south, has small lakes where you may see hippo and water birds. Perhaps one of the best ways to see the Serengeti is a hot air balloon ride when, in the cool of the early morning, you may admire the grandeur, the vastness and the stunning landscape. page 100 of g. Adamson - Serengeti shall not die - Bernhardt Grzimek, Director of Frankfurt zoo.
DAY 08 –SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK /NGORONGORO CONSERVANCY
After breakfast this morning we depart and proceed to Ngorongoro Conservancy arriving in time for lunch at your lodge , afternoon we take a short game drive along the crater rim dinner and Overnight at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge (LDBB)
DAY 09 –NGORONGORO CONSERVANCY
Early morning breakfast , today we take a tour of the crater , lunch at the crater , returning to the lodge later in the afternoon , evening game drive around the crater rim , returning to the lodge at Sunset , dinner and Overnight at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge (BBLDD)
Ngorongoro Serena Lodge is perched on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater with exquisite views of the crater, one of the wonders of the natural world. Your first sighting of the crater will simply take your breath away.
The lodge is built of local stone and blends harmoniously into its surroundings. From here you will descend the wall of the crater for a most amazing game drive inside the crater. Glorious sunrises and sunsets, roaring log fires and excellent food all form part of the renowned Serena experience.
In the Great Rift Valley, that great schism in the earth's crust, lies the wonderful Ngorongoro Crater, one of the wonders of the natural world. It is an extinct volcano that collapsed in on itself around 25 million years ago thus forming a vast superbowl where the largest permanent concentration of African game is on display. The central bowl, the caldera, has sides roughly 1,950 feet high and a flattish centre with a diameter of about ten miles. The views from the top of the crater wall are absolutely breathtaking. The crater walls are forested but four wheel drive vehicles will take you down into this primeval paradise of woodland, lake, river, swamp and plain that shelters around 20,000 animals. Many of these are the large grazing animals such as wildebeest, buffalo, gazelle and zebra that depend on the open grasslands in the crater. These attract the attendant predators, the black-maned lion, the leopard and hyena. The elephant found within the caldera tend to be the lone males who have left the herds in the forested crater rim. When the water stocks are low elsewhere the animals within this micro-world turn to the swamps for fresh water and food. Elephants feed on the giant sedges and hippo wallow in the pools. The Fever Tree forests shelter monkeys, bushbuck and waterbuck and the few black rhino that have taken refuge here. A soda lake, fed by the Munge River attracts water birds, including flamingos and is a favourite place for predators to make their kill. Wildly beautiful as it is, it is not surprising that Ngorongoro Crater has been called a Garden of Eden. The conservation area also encompasses several other volcanos, one of which, Oldonyo Lengai, is still live. You may struggle to the top, if you wish, to gaze into its open and sulphurous maw but many prefer to admire from afar. One of the most fascinating attractions in the area is the Olduvai Gorge, where an old river has carved away the rock to expose layer upon layer of volcanic soil. This is where Dr Louis and Mary Leakey found the remains of hominids "Nutcracker Man" and "Toolmaking Man". The "Cradle of Mankind" now has a visitor centre where you may hear a short lecture on the the work of the Leakeys and their successors and a small museum where you may see some of their finds, including a giant giraffe - it is hard to believe that they were once even taller!
DAY 10- NGORONGORO CONSERVANCY /LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK.
After breakfast we depart Ngorongoro and drive to Lake Manyara National Park arriving in time for lunch , lunch at the lodge , afternoon game drive in this Park famous for its birds and Tree Climbing Lions , dinner and Overnight at Lake Manyara Serena Lodge (BBLD)
Abseiling Lake Manyara Serena Lodge is located at the edge of the Mto Wa Mbu escarpment, overlooking the Great Rift Valley and the stunning Manyara soda lake. The views of the lake from this escarpment are simply breathtaking. Lake Manyara National Park is only 15 minutes drive down the escarpment. The Park has long been known for its tree-climbing lions and the large elephant population, while ornithologists from around the world come to observe the masses of pink flamingos and great birds of prey around the lake which can also be seen from the lodge and its rooms.
Lake Manyara Serena Lodge is built in a traditional African architectural style, with graceful domed ceilings, swooping curves, geometric patterns and circular buildings that look like large African huts. Colourful murals adorn the walls.
DAY 11 – LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK /AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK.
After breakfast drive to Arusha town stopping for lunch , proceed to Namanga Boarder on arrival clear customs and migration formalities change vehicles and guides and proceed to Amboseli National Park arriving late in the evening with an enroute game drive to the lodge . Dinner and overnight at Amboseli Serena Lodge (LDBB)
DAY 12–AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK.
Spend a further day this park with both morning and afternoon game drives all meals provided at the lodge , game walks in the park will also be provided under the supervision of the hotel naturalist ,Overnight at Amboseli Serena Lodge (LDBB )
In the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, beside acacia trees and a natural spring, amidst more big game than almost anywhere else in Africa, stands Amboseli Serena. Influenced by Masai Manyatta architecture, the lodge is in harmony with its environment. Guest rooms are appointed with genuine Africana. Unique guest services and exceptional amenities enhance the distinctive ambience.
Arid looking as Amboseli is it has, historically, supported both game and the Masai that kept their herds of cattle here. It is thanks to the waters that run off Africa's greatest mountain that the apparently dry Amboseli, Kenya's first game sanctuary, is able to support its wildlife. Mount Kilimanjaro broods high over Amboseli, generally cloaked by clouds but appearing in all its snow-shrouded magnificence from time to time. Kilimanjaro was once part of Kenya, but on the marriage of Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany Queen Victoria gifted it to her beloved grandson, whose colony Tanzania then was, as the perfect wedding present. The mountain now provides water for the park, wonderful views and, of course, the most glorious background for animal photography. There has been serious erosion in the park. Elephant feeding habits combined with light soil have made serious inroads in the Amboseli vegetation. Nonetheless, there are still high numbers of the elephant for which the park is famous, and it is here that much research has been done on the largest land mammal. Indeed, a cursory examination will show that humankind is not the only animal to destroy its own environment. The grasslands in the park can be undeniably lovely when made verdant by the rains and the three major swamps could star in a dinosaur movie. The swamps on the east of the park attract wildebeest, zebra and antelope with the predators that live off them, chiefly lion which tend to be easy to view here. In the south, Enkongo Narok swamp attracts hippos to the larger pools and plenty of buffalo, buck and teeming birdlife including the jacanas that pick their way elegantly and carefully. Giraffe are here and in areas still sufficiently treed there are leopard. Cheetah, caracal and civet may be seen. In the west of the park lies Lake Amboseli, a seasonal soda lake, sometimes with flamingos. Amboseli is a fabulous place to visit. The overwhelmingly lovely views and good wildlife sightings are too good to miss.
DAY 13 – AMBOSELI NATIONAL ARK /NAIROBI
After breakfast today we bid farewell to Amboseli National Park and drive back to Nairobi arriving in time for lunch at the hotel , later afternoon at leisure , evening farewell dinner at the Brazillian styled Carnivore restaurant . Overnight at Nairobi Serena Hotel (LDBB)
DAY 14 – NAIROBI/DEPART.
Breakfast the hotel , transfer to the Airport depending on your outbound flight timings.
End of Services .
Net prices are as follows and valid from 01st January 2010 to 20th December 2010. Prices are only applicable if the safari takes place and is completed within the indicated dates.
Rates and Seasons – Costing based on Minimum 4pax per group and Maximum 12 pax.
1. Jan – March 2010 - Cost per person sharing USD$ 4,680.00
2. April - May 2010 – Cost per person sharing USD$ 3,590.00
3. June 2010 - Cost per person sharing USD$ 4,420.00
4. July – October – Cost per person sharing USD$ 5,320.00
5. Nov – Dec - Cost per person sharing USD$ 4,050.00
-Single room supplement US$850.00
Included:
- Accommodation and meals as indicated above
- Seven (7) seater minibus in Kenya and 4x4 vehicle sole use in Tanzania with the services of an English speaking driver/guide
- Game drives as indicated above
- One (2) bottle of mineral water per person per day on safari
- All transfers
Not included:
- International flights, visas and airport taxes
- Personal expenses like drinks, tips, laundry etc
- Personal insurance and baggage insurance
