Itinerary
Highlights
- The remote and dramatic northern Samburu region, home to unique species like Grevy’s zebra, Somali ostrich, gerenuk, beisa oryx, and reticulated giraffe.
- A glimpse into the daily life of the nomadic Samburu and Maasai warrior clans, with special invitations to meet with tribal leaders for a discussion about rituals and ancient customs.
- Walking in the bush with Maasai warriors, horseback riding in a Tanzanian coffee estate,
- Biking in the Ngorongoro Highlands.
- Service, information, and good cheer from your Zagas Explorer guide from start to finish
Day 1-2
Explore Nairobi
Relaxation and overnight. Fairmont Norfolk Hotel.You will be met by Zagas Explorer Safari guide and whisked away to the Fairmont Norfolk Hotel. A guaranteed visit to the Giraffe Centre and the illuminating National Museum, pay our respects at the newly renovated home of Karen Blixen
Day 3-4
Fly Samburu National Reserve
Larsens Camp or Elephant Bedroom CampWe fly 200-plus miles north to the Samburu, Samburu is rugged, calmly inviting, and enveloped in the air of remote Old Africa, scented by acacia. We’ll sojourn in outstanding Samburu camps: Larsens Camp or Elephant Bedroom Camp, both set on the forested banks of the Ewaso Nyiro, much frequented by friendly elephants, whose meanderings we can watch in comfort from the verandas of our airy, superbly designed tents. Game drives in the Samburu introduce us to a fabulous plentitude of large (and cunningly small) mammals.
Day 5-6
The Maasai Mara Game Reserve
Fairmont Mara Safari ClubSouth by air to the Maasai Mara, the northern reaches of the Serengeti–Maasai Mara ecosystem, earth’s richest wildlife habitat. Our base for explorations in the fabled Mara is the Fairmont Mara Safari Club, Surrounded on three sides by the life-giving Mara River, the Mara Safari Club is a masterpiece of appropriate and generously luxurious design. And it’s a great jumping-off place for extraordinary game drives in the mixed land- and waterscapes of the Mara. We’ll visit a traditional Maasai village as we wend our way through this natural wonderland, the kind of place that moved Hemingway to write, “I loved this country and I felt at home and where a man feels at home, outside of where he’s born, is where he’s meant to go.”
Day 7-10
Serengeti National Park
Serengeti Migration CampThe Serengeti sometimes does remind us of the American prairie, but in truth it can’t be compared with any other place on earth. Its kopje-dotted landscape, its vast and billowing skies, and especially its astounding wealth of wildlife make it one-of-a-gorgeous-kind. Flying via Nairobi and Arusha, we reach our base, Serengeti Migration Camp, on the hippo-haven Grumeti River. Known for its superb tents (which, one traveller wrote, “have only one thing in common with normal tents: canvas”) and its dramatic setting in rocky outcrops, Sernegeti Migration Camp is revered for its tranquility
Day 11-12
Lake Manyara + Ngorongoro Crater
The Manor at NgorongoroWe take a picturesque flight from the Serengeti to Lake Manyara, then drive to our base for the next three nights, the quietly spectacular Manor at Ngorongoro, whose 10 Cape Dutch cottages (with 20 full suites) are tranquilly set within a coffee plantation adjacent to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
The Manor, much admired for its cuisine and thoughtful service, offers a wealth of activities, from horsebacking, mountain biking and swimming, to estate walks and recreative spa lounging. We’ll make the thrilling drive up to one of earth’s wonders, the great, green, animal-nurturing caldera of a once catastrophically cranky, now beneficently mellow volcano, the Ngorongoro. Winding up to the crater’s rim puts us at Vail and Aspen altitudes of well over 7,000 feet, and being up that high, figuratively and actually, we may recall Isak Dinesen’s words in Out of Africa, “The air of the African highlands went to my head like wine, I was all the time slightly drunk with it.” And then we zoom down to the Lost World’s lush and park-like floor (but which, make no mistake, is an animal, not a human, kingdom) for a day’s game viewing and a festive bush picnic.
And we’ll game drive and view-catch at Lake Manyara, which our guy Ernest Hemingway thought “the loveliest lake in Africa.” The lake is a birder’s heaven, (it’s frequented by 300 migratory species), and the water from its Crater Highlands–supplied springs makes it a forested redoubt for all the most glamourous large mammals, including the famed Manyara tree-climbing lions. (It’s a little irreverent, but tree-lounging might be a better description.)Day 13-14
Fly Nairobi, Departure
The Boma Hotel NairobiWe affectionately say goodbye to the great crater, lake, and deliciously homey Manor, and fly to Nairobi, where we’ll rest up in day rooms at the Boma Nairobi before our late evening flights.