Cradle of Mankind – 14 Days

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NAIROBI – AMBOSELI – NGORONGORO – OLDUVAI GORGE – SERENGETI – MASAI MARA [BY ROAD]

Day 1 :: Nairobi Arrival //..

Upon arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Nairobi, Jacko Africa will greet you and bring you to your hotel. No waiting, your room accommodation will have been made in advance, and can relax the night away on Bed & Breakfast basis at the Nairobi Serena Hotel.

Day 2 :: Resting in Nairobi + Nairobi Excursions //..

Breakfast at the hotel, and depart at 9.30 am to visit The Daphne Shedricks’ Elephants Orphanage for view of orphan elephants. After the show, we proceed to the Karen Coffee Gardens Restaurant for lunch. In the afternoon, we visit The Karen Blixen Museum, the former home of the Authoress of ‘Out of Africa’, before return to our hotel. Dinner & Overnight: Nairobi Serena Hotel.

Day 3 :: Nairobi – Amboseli //..

Rise early to enjoy a delicious breakfast at your hotel; we depart by road for Amboseli National Park. There you will experience your first mid-morning game drive in a park that is famous for its breath-taking views of Kilimanjaro. The Park also shelters more than 420 species of birds. Enormous Elephant population and other big game are attracted to the area by underground springs fed from the melting snows of Mount Kilimanjaro. Lunch is served at the lodge, have some time to relax before departing for a late evening game drive. Return to the lodge and enjoy a scrumptious dinner. Overnight at the Amboseli Serena Lodge.

Day 4:: Explore Amboseli //..

Rising early for good views of Mount Kilimanjaro before clouds build up on the summit, we set off for a dawn game drive. Amboseli is an excellent place to view a multitude of wildlife, including everything from Wildebeest to Giraffes to Baboons. Visit to a Maasai village is planned after breakfast. Midday finds us at our lodge for lunch and afternoon rest, followed by another closing game drive. Amboseli is home to the legendary Maasai tribesmen. Maasai warriors are famous and are proud nomadic tribe whose legendary prowess in battle and single-handed acts of bravery in fights with the wild animals are known across the world. Dinner and overnight at the Amboseli Serena Lodge.

Day 5 :: Amboseli – Arusha Town //..

After a hearty breakfast, we depart by road to Namanga Border. At Namanga we will go through immigration, switch safari land cruiser(s) to Tanzania land cruiser(s) and continue by road to Arusha Town for lunch and afternoon at leisure. Arusha is at half point the distance from Cairo to Cape Town. Arusha City is a Tanzanian city, with a population of nearly 620,000, and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 2.3 millions. The city is a major international diplomatic hub. It hosts the African Court of the African Union and is the capital of the East African Community. From 1994 to 2015, the city hosted the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, but that entity has ceased operations. Dinner and overnight at The Arusha Serena Hotel & Spa, or similar.

Day 6 :: Arusha Town – Mto wa Mbu – Lake Manyara Serena Lodge. 

Breakfast at the lodge, drive to Mto wa Mbu. On arrival in Mto wa Mbu, visit a school, then afterwards enjoy a village walk on the banana plantation. This will be followed by local Mama’s Lunch – a typical homestay meal. In the afternoon visit a workshop of traditional painters and Makonde wood carvers. Accommodation in a lodge on the edge of the western rim of the Great Rift Valley overlooking Lake Manyara with incredible landscapes. Dinner and overnight at Lake Manyara Serena Lodge.  

Day 7 :: Lake Manyara Serena  – Ngorongoro Conservation Area //..

After breakfast, we do a full morning game drive in the Lake Manyara Park – returning for lunch at Lake Manyara Serena Lodge.  After lunch, enjoy a scenic drive on your way to Ngorongoro.  Here our lodge is perched on the crater’s rim, with spectacular views across this natural amphitheatre, formed by the collapsed extinct volcano of a hundred square miles containing prides of lion, herds of wildebeests, zebra, rhinos, elephant, hippo, packs of hyena and thousands of antelopes. We arrive at our lodge before sunset. Dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge, or similar.

Day 8 :: Explore Ngorongoro //..

Today we descend into the crater in four-wheel drive vehicle(s) and spend 8 hours exploring the short grass plains of the crater floor.  Because the grasses are short, game is easily spotted and can be approached quiet easily.  Ngorongoro is ten to twelve miles in diameter and two thousand feet deep.  We take picnic lunch boxes for full day excursion.  Dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge, or similar.

Day 9 :: Ngorongoro Conservation Area – Serengeti N. Park //..

After breakfast we depart with picnic lunch boxes and drive to the world-famous Olduvai Gorge. A naturalist shall give a story about the site and the rest can be toured in the museum. Here you have come home…. to one of the few places in the world, where mankind lived millions of years ago. After our visit, we proceed to the Serengeti, and we shall settle at Serengeti’s Naabi Gate to enjoy our lunch boxes. Afternoon is spent on a game-drive in the Serengeti en-route to our lodge. Dinner and overnight at Serengeti Serena Lodge or similar.

Day 10 :: Explore Serengeti //..

The Maasai 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 during migration (movement varies month to month — but the herds are usually in Southern Serengeti Dec-May), to bear their young and continue the pursuit of food and water. Behind the masses of migrating animals, follow the ever-searching predators — watch as this life and death drama unfolds before you. Overnight at Serengeti Serena Lodge or similar.

Day 11 :: Serengeti – Masai Mara //..

Early morning breakfast, then with picnic lunch boxes drive to Sirare / Isebania Border.  The drive is approximately 3 – 4 hours to Tarime Town where we shall enjoy our lunch boxes when we make a stopover at Goldland Hotel. Afterwards we arrive at the border for border formalities.  Then from the border to Masai Mara is approximately another 2 hours. The Masai Mara Game Reserve is the Africa of the Movies and Photographs: large, open grasslands dotted with acacia trees and traversed by the Mara River, teeming with hippos and crocodiles. We conduct a game drive en-route to our lodge. Dinner and overnight at Mara Serena Lodge, or similar.

Day 12 :: Explore Maasai Mara //..

The Masai Mara is one of the greatest wildernesses of the world. A morning game drive is planned. Large mammals are varied, abundant and easy to see. Residents among the parks mammals are; Masai Giraffe, Buffalo, Impala, Zebra, Topi, both the Thomson’s and Grant’s Gazelles.

The Mara Serena Lodge is an interpretation of a traditional Masai Manyatta village of domed huts, and is set on the saddle of a hill where it overlooks the 1,800 square kilometres 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 birdlife that inhabits it.

The best Hot Air Balloon Ride is available on this day at an additional cost. Dinner and overnight at Mara Serena Lodge, or similar

Day 13 :: Explore Maasai Mara //..

Spend an extra day in the Mara on morning and afternoon game-drives in different locations of the Mara Triangle.

Day 14 :: Masai Mara – Nairobi //..

Breakfast at the lodge. We board a morning flight from the Mara to Wilson Airport, Nairobi. Upon arrival we proceed for our Farewell Lunch at the famous Carnivore Restaurant. Rest of the day is spent at leisure in your dayroom at the Nairobi Serena Hotel, or similar. Later this evening check out of the hotel and proceed to the airport for your home-bound flight. Dayroom: Nairobi Serena Hotel, or similar.