East Africa at it's Best

Depart your home city for Nairobi. On arrival in Amsterdam, connect to a flight to Nairobi.

Jambo and welcome to Kenya! On arrival in Nairobi this evening and after clearing customs, you will be met by our local representatives and transferred to your hotel.

After breakfast at the hotel, we are picked up and transferred to Daphne Sheldrick’s Orphanage where orphan elephants and rhinos are cared for. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust was established in memory of Daphne’s husband, who was a famous naturalist and founder warden of Kenya’s giant Tsavo East National Park in which he served from 1948 to 1976. Daphne Sheldrick was the first person in the entire world to successfully hand rear newborn fully milk dependent African Elephant orphans, something that spanned 28 years of trial and error to achieve. The Trust highlights and battles the abuse of animals wherever, and their tireless efforts have been featured on the BBC Documentary “Elephant Diaries” as well as the TV show “60 Minutes”.

After a tour and witnessing the feeding of these orphaned elephants and rhinos, we continue the Giraffe Centre, in the suburb of Langata, where the Rothschild giraffe was saved from extinction. At the facility, you can feed the giraffes and learn all about these unique and lovable animals. Our tour also includes a visit to the former home of Karen Blixen (author Isak Dinesen, who wrote Out of Africa). Blixen's farmhouse, which was presented to the Kenyan government by Denmark, is now a museum—it's located next door to the Karen College. Lunch is included at the Tamambo Karen Blixen Coffee Gardens. After lunch, tour the Kazuri bead factory. Kazuri, which means “small and beautiful” in Swahili began in 1975 as a tiny workshop experimenting on making handmade beads. The factory is located on what used to be part of the Karen Blixen Estate. They started with 2 Kenyan women and soon discovered that there were many other women in the villages around Nairobi, most of whom were single mothers, who were in great need of regular employment. Driven by the desire to provide such opportunities, Karuzi has grown and today has a large workforce skilled in the making of beautiful handmade jewelry.

After breakfast, depart for Lake Nakuru National Park. This park should not be regarded only as a flamingo sanctuary – particularly as these birds migrate from Nakuru to other Rift Valley lakes. It is an outstanding place for watching a variety of birds including other brackish water species and birds of prey.

Herds of waterbuck, gazelle, impala and reedbuck graze in the pretty surrounding acacia woods and grasslands of the Lake Nakuru National Park, the environs of which are constantly being extended with the assistance of the World Wildlife Fund. Lake Nakuru is now the home of the numerous leopard and rhino, who have been placed in the park for safety – the park has also been designated a rhino sanctuary. Enjoy lunch at Lion Hill Lodge and continue on to the Soyasambu conservancy and your overnight camp. As the sun sets, enjoy sundowner drinks on the Cliffs.

Enjoy a game drive and a guided bird/nature walk in the Soysambu Reserve. Day game drives offer peace and privacy, with chances to watch vast herds of zebras, gazelles, elands, waterbucks and buffalos, as well as family groups of black-backed jackals, warthogs, dik-diks and baboons. Soysambu protects flourishing breeding herds of endangered Rothschild giraffes, as well as the nationally threatened colobus monkeys. Less common species include
the bushbuck, bushpig, steinbok, reedbuck, duiker, caracal, golden and side-striped jackals. Witness the spectacle of thousands of great white pelicans flying between Lakes Nakuru and Elementeita daily to fish and watch them feed their chicks on the islands of Elementeita. Enjoy over 450 species of birds, over 80 of which are waterfowl. See species of conservation concern, including the Great Egret, the Maccoa Duck, the critically threatened Great Crested Grebe, and many migrant waders. Elementeita often boasts more than 90 % of all Kenyan Black-necked Grebes and Cape Teal. This evening, experience the thrill of a night game drive to spot spring hares, eagle owls, bat-eared foxes, hyenas and the elusive aardvark or shy leopard.

We transfer to the Loldia airstrip for our flight to the Masai Mara.. On arrival at the Musiara airstrip, you will be picked up by Governor’s 4x4 vehicles and taken to your wonderful tented camp. Enjoy a leisurely lunch before going on safari this afternoon. Let the magic of the African wilderness unfold before you.

The Masai Mara National Reserve offers wonderful scenery and an abundance of big game. With its rolling plains and grasslands it is reminiscent of “Hemingway Country”. There are very large herds of buffalo, wildebeest and various antelope. In addition hippo, giraffe, elephant, cheetah, and leopard are frequently seen. The Mara is renowned for its magnificent black-maned lions with their large prides who spend most of the day sleeping in
the shade of the Acacia trees. The Mara is also the scene of the spectacular Wildebeest migration, which passes through the Mara between June and September on their annual trek from the southern plains of the Serengeti. Governors’ Camp properties combine the best locations in the Masai Mara with the best-designed vehicles and exceptionally highly trained and experienced guides to give our clients unmatched game-viewing and photographic opportunities in the world’s prime wildlife area. We are in the heart of the best game viewing area of the Masai Mara. The vehicles are custom built 4 wheel drive landrovers. We take you out three times a day into the famous Masai Mara Game Reserve and surrounding areas, at sunrise, late morning and late afternoon. Our driver-guides are hand-picked and nurtured by us. They undergo a continuous guide training scheme mentored by experts in the field. Having operated in the Masai Mara for over 30 years our driver-guides have an unparalleled knowledge of the reserve combined with a deep understanding and respect for the sanctity of this wilderness area, its flora and its fauna. During your stay in the Masai Mara, you will be taken to a traditional Masai Village. Learn how the women build their mudhuts, where they cook, sleep and raise their families. They will explain their traditions and customs, and you will have the opportunity to walk around the village and take photographs.

Optional hot air balloon: The adventure begins just before dawn. Departure is from a perfect natural launch site behind Little Governors’ Camp, and flames from the hot air balloon burners light the darkness as the crews inflate their craft. The first, pink tongues of sunlight flicker across the skies as the hot air balloon fills, then rises. Suspended in a basket beneath the rainbow-coloured canopy, you’re off for a game-viewing adventure with an entirely different perspective. What amazes most first-time balloonists is the absolute stillness: the silence as you float above the plains, the forest and the rivers of the Masai Mara. Even if you’ve flown elsewhere, this is a unique experience. The flight lasts an hour or so, drifting wherever the air currents take you, and with ample opportunities for photography and video filming. Then your Kenyan Hot Air Balloon Safari finishes with a flourish. In the time honoured tradition of balloon flights the world over, you toast your return to earth with a champagne breakfast, cooked wherever you land. The Balloon Safari ends with some leisurely game viewing on the way back to Camp.

After breakfast at the camp, transfer to the local airstrip for your scheduled flight to Migori. On arrival you will be met and transferred by road to Isebania border where you will clear Tanzanian immigration formalities. Here you will change vehicles and meet your Tanzanian driver guides who will take you to the Serengeti National Park. A picnic lunch is included along the way. Enjoy an afternoon game drive enroute to your lodge. In the evening, enjoy special wildlife lectures by a resident expert.

All day spent in the Serengeti National Park, with morning and afternoon game drives. The name comes from the Maasai 'siringet' which means 'endless plains', and the Serengeti is just that. Within its 14,763 square kilometres (5,000 square miles) dwell an estimated 3 million large animals - this is one of the world's last great wildlife sanctuaries. It is from here that the famous army of grazers begins its legendary trek in search of new grazing lands.

Nothing is quite so essentially ‘Safari' as the traditional ‘bush dinner', especially when it is enlivened by the presence by a group of scarlet-clad Masai morans (warriors). The Serengeti Bush Dinner takes place at a scenic location on the plains which stands high on a hill overlooking the migration corridor. Beginning with sundowner drinks around the campfire, we are proud to entertain our guests with Masai dance and song while their 5-course dinner is prepared on the blazing charcoal BBQ. The choice of meat, fish and poultry will be supplemented by vegetarian choices, salads, fruit and desserts and a full safari bar is provided while dining under the stars.

After breakfast, drive to the Ngorongoro Crater, the largest intact caldera in the world. Its enduring charm stems from its overwhelming physical beauty and the abundance of wildlife permanently resident on the crater floor. En route visit the Olduvai Gorge site of archeological findings, where traces of pre-historic man dating back to 3.5 million years ago have been discovered. Arrive at your lodge in time for lunch and your afternoon is at leisure.

Designated as a World Heritage Site, Ngorongoro Crater, has one of the largest concentrations of wildlife in Africa. An estimated 30,000 animals make it the principal attraction on the Northern Tanzanian Safari Circuit. This cross-section of wildlife is as diverse as you will find, dispersed amongst an amazing array of ecosystems within the natural amphitheater. It is home to one of the few remaining populations of Black Rhino in Tanzania and just about every other East African mammal. Another distinct phenomenon of the Ngorongoro region is the successful co-existence of the Maasai tribe with the wild animals. It is not uncommon to see Maasai Moran (young male warriors) walking their cattle herds to the waters of the crater carrying a spear for defense against the animals.

An essential part of traditional safari life, the concept of having drinks whilst watching the sun go down dates back to the time of the great safaris of the 1920's, all of which featured the serving of elegant ‘bush' cocktails against the unforgettable backdrop of the African sunset. Timed to commence as the sun starts its descent, which on the Equator is usually around 6 pm, the Ngorongoro sundowner begins with a gentle drive to a scenic spot on the rim of the Crater, where chairs, lamps, campfire and bush bar with cocktail snacks will already have been set up. Magical, memorable and romantic, watch as the sun fades from the skies over the wide open expanse of the crater.

After breakfast, our morning drive takes us to beautiful Lake Manyara National Park, one of the Rift Valley's numerous alkaline lakes. Apart from its abundant bird life, this park is known for its tree-climbing lions. Enroute to Lake Manyara, we will visit a local school or children’s orphanage. Arrive in time for lunch at the lodge and enjoy an afternoon game drive in lake Manyara National Park.

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and drive to Arusha. Lunch and a dayroom are included at the Arusha Hotel until it is time to transfer to Kilimanjaro for your flight home.

On arrival in Amsterdam, connect your flight back to North America. Welcome home!