17
DAYS SAFARI TOPI: KENYA / TANZANIA
DAY
1: NAIROBI
Arrive Nairobi. Welcome to Nairobi, Kenya's cosmopolitan capital.
Once little more than a watering hole for Masai tribes, today's
Nairobi is the largest city between Cairo and Johannesburg. If arrival
is in the morning, then in the we drive to Karen Von Blixen's former
home, now a museum. Continue to the Giraffe Center where you can
feed and photograph giraffe from an elevated platform. Return to
the hotel early this evening.
** Complimentary
dinner at The Carnivore Restaurant.** Nairobi has many restaurants
offering a variety of exotic and African cuisine. However, none
beats Carnivore for its uniqueness: It is for carnivorous. It is
the only place you can get a variety of game Meat served in one
meal. Its succulent steaks and barbecue dishes are recommended for
every one especially as a welcome or a farewell Dinner/Lunch. Overnight
at Panafric hotel or similar.
DAY
2: NAIROBI / MARA
Departure from Nairobi is early morning at 09.00 so as to arrive
at the most popular game park in Kenya, the Mara (Masai Mara National
Reserve) in time for lunch. Afternoon game drive. Abounding with
wildlife, the Mara takes in a vast portion of the Serengeti.
Lions are found
here in large prides. Elephants, buffalos, zebras and hippos also
are numerous. As this is a reserve rather than a national park,
the Masai people are allowed to graze animals and to hunt within
the reserve boundaries. All meals and overnight at Mara
Sopa lodge or similar.
DAY
3: MASAI MARA
Morning and afternoon game drive. This northern extension of the
Serengeti is home to herds of plains game such as antelope, zebra,
wildebeest and gazelle. The annual phenomenon of millions of wildebeests
migrating en masse from the Serengeti in search of lush grass is
a sight to behold. All meals and overnight at Mara
Sopa lodge or similar.
DAY
4: MARA / LAKE NAKURU
Lake Nakuru is also famous for its million or so flamingoes, both
Lesser Flamingoes that feed on blue-green algae and diatoms that
thrive in the warm, soda-rich water and Greater Flamingoes, which
prefer crustaceans and insect larvae. Although the flamingo spectacle
constitutes the most obvious wildlife, Lake Nakuru National Park
boasts some 400 species of birds.
It is a rhino
sanctuary, one of the best places in Kenya to see both black and
white rhino, as well as other large animals, including lion, leopard,
and buffalo, which occupy the acacia savanna and grassland surrounding
the lake. Meals and overnight at Lake
Nakuru Lodge or Similar
DAY
5: NAKURU / NAIROBI / ARUSHA
Early breakfast the drive back to Nairobi. Board shuttle bus at
13.30hrs and then depart for Arusha at 14.00hrs to arrive at around
18.30hrs. Overnight at your hotel in Arusha.
DAY
6: ARUSHA / LAKE MANYARA
Noted for its five separate eco-zones and famous tree-climbing Lions,
Lake Manyara National Park is also home to great herds of Cape Buffalo
and African Elephant. Lake Manyara lies in a half graben against
the steep western escarpment of the Manyara basin.
We will visit
a hot spring controlled by the master fault on the half graben.
As usual birds are abundant, and make up a different assemblage
than we have seen before. All meals and overnight at Lake Manyara
Wildlife lodge.
DAY
7: LAKE MANYARA / SERENGETI
Pre-breakfast game drive. After breakfast
drive to Serengeti national park. Afternoon game drive then drive back to the
lodge for dinner and overnight. All meals and overnight at Seronera Wildlife lodge.
DAY
8: SERENGETI
Morning and afternoon game drive. This is Tanzania's most famous
Game Park, covering 14763 sq. km, where wildebeest migrate across
vast plains and landscape in search of precious grassland. Nowhere
else on earth will you see wildebeest, zebra, and antelope in such
enormous and mind boggling numbers.
The gently rolling
Savannah (flat grassland), with bushes and trees only in cluster
along riverbanks makes spotting wildlife easy. Other animals seen
are lion, hyena, Thomson's gazelle, impala, buffalo, topi, eland,
giraffe, elephants, cheeter, rhino, and crocodiles on riverbanks.
The hoofed animals
are constantly on the move in search of grassland, and are watched
and pursued by the predators, which feed off them. This is one of
the most incredible sights you will see and the numbers are simply
overwhelming. Also seen are the Masai tribes people grazing cattle
in their age-old tradition. All meals and overnight at Seronera
Wildlife lodge.
**Serengeti
National Park is also the only Tanzanian Park where you can take HOT AIR BALOON
flight similar to those available in Masai Mara in Kenya.
DAY
9: SERENGETI / NGORONGORO
Pre-breakfast game drive from 06.30hrs
to 08.00hrs when you drive back to the lodge for breakfast. After breakfast drive
to Ngorongoro Conservation area. Afternoon game drive then drive back to the Ngorongoro
Wildlife lodge for dinner and overnight.
DAY
10: NGORONGORO
Visit what has been compared to the Garden of Eden-Ngorongoro Crater,
an extinct collapsed volcano, rising to 7,500 feet at the outside
rim with the floor being 2,000 feet below.
This is all
that remains of a once-vast volcano that is a part of the Great
Rift Valley, the longest continuous crack in the earth's crust.
Ngorongoro's floor extends 102 square miles with alkaline Lake Magadi
in the center.
The crater is also an island sanctuary, protected from the fluctuating
weather conditions on the surrounding savanna. Stay on the crater's
rim for superb views from your quarters, where glass doors open
to furnished verandas with breathtaking panoramas of Ngorongoro.
The "big
five" are here: lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo,
plus many of the plains herbivores, such as wildebeest, Thomson's
gazelle, zebra and reedbuck, along with thousands of flamingos.
All meals and overnight at Ngorongoro wildlife lodge.
DAY
11: NGORONGORO / ARUSHA
Pre-breakfast game drive from 06.30hrs to 08.00hrs when you drive
back to the lodge for breakfast. After breakfast drive to Arusha
to arrive at noon. Overnight at your hotel in Arusha.
DAY
12: ARUSHA / NAMANGA / AMBOSELI
Board shuttle bus at 07.30hrs. Depart from Arusha at 08.00hrs to
arrive at Namanga border town at around 10.30hrs. You will then
board safari vans at Namanga and proceed to Amboseli lodge to arrive
in time for lunch.
Afternoon game
drive from 16.00hrs to 18.30hrs when you drive back to the lodge
for dinner and overnight. All meals and overnight at Amboseli Sopa
lodge or similar.
DAY
13: AMBOSELI
Morning and afternoon game drive. All meals and overnight at Amboseli lodge or
similar.
DAY
14: AMBOSELI / TSAVO WEST
Pre-breakfast game drive from
06.00hrs to 08.00hrs. after breakfast, depart to Tsavo West national park with
game drive enroute to the lodge. Afternoon game drive from 16.00hrs to 18.00hrs
when you drive back to the lodge for dinner and overnight. All meals and overnight
at the Kilaguni lodge or similar.
DAY 15: TSAVO WEST / MOMBASA
Breakfast at the lodge then drive to Mombasa. The City of Mombasa
provides an interesting experience with the old Portuguese Fort Jesus,
Old Town, Markets and Shops. An extensive variety of excursions are
available to sample the local culture and the famous Kenyan wildlife.
Check in at Mombasa Beach hotel for dinner and overnight. All meals
at the hotel.
DAY
16: MOMBASA
Full day own leisure in Mombasa. Accomodation at mombasa beach hotel
on half board basis.
DAY
17: MOMBASA / NAIROBI
Breakfast at the hotel then transfer to the
airport for flight back to Nairobi. You will then check in for your international
flight back home.