Home to 'the Big Five', a big mountain and a whole host of big experiences, Tanzania is a must for every African adventurer. Search for predators in the Ngorongoro Crater, chill out on Zanzibar's perfect beaches and climb the continent's highest peak. Tanzania offers outdoor experiences, supreme wildlife viewing, warm people and the chance to connect with ancient cultures.
Duration: 13 days
Start/Finish City: Arusha to Nairobi
Service Level: Premium
Physical Grading: 2
Travel Style: Comfort
Trip Type: Small Group
Your Tanzania and Kenya safari begins at Kilimanjaro International Airport in Arusha, the safari gateway city. Upon arrival, your PKT Tours representative will transfer you from Kilimanjaro International Airport to your hotel. Rest and relax before you begin the best adventure of your life.
The vast Serengeti beckons as you embark on your safari. Take your first game drive through Lake Manyara National Park, renowned among birders for huge flocks of pink flamingoes, as well as giraffes, baboons, hippos, and elephants. Arrive in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, populated by an estimated 30,000 large mammals. Your lodge is on the Ngorongoro Crater rim overlooking the caldera below, an excellent spot for our welcome reception and dinner. [B,L,D]
Thought by some to be Africa's original “Garden of Eden,” Ngorongoro Crater is one of the largest calderas in the world and contains a variety of ecosystems and an astounding concentration of birds and animals. Your four-wheel drive vehicle provides an excellent mobile viewing platform when encountering massive herds of zebras, wildebeests, and gazelles. This area affords an opportunity to spot the Big Five – elephant, leopard, lion, buffalo, and rhinoceros. Enjoy a picnic lunch in the crater. [B,L,D]
Study the history of mankind at Olduvai Gorge, where archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey discovered the fossilized remains of the earliest known man, an estimated 1.8 million years old. Continue wildlife viewing while driving the rough dirt roads across the plains to your safari lodge in the Serengeti. [B,L,D]
After breakfast, your morning and afternoon game drives take you into the vast Serengeti savanna. Sightings could include lions, zebras, hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, black rhinoceros, hippos, buffaloes, jackals, gazelles, and giraffes. When the sunset paints the sky in the evening, enjoy the show from the luxury of your lodge in Serengeti National Park. [B,L,D]
Leave Tanzania and the Serengeti behind as you fly to Nairobi, Kenya's bustling capital city, for the start of your Kenya safari. A sightseeing tour includes an enchanting visit to the Karen Blixen House and Museum, where much of Out of Africa was filmed. You'll have a chance to greet the Rothschild giraffes at the Giraffe Centre on the property, which is now a self-sustaining natural sanctuary for these endearing animals. [B,L,D]
Fly off to yet another African world on your Kenya safari today as you journey to the rather desert-like landscape of the Samburu Reserve in northern Kenya. A game drive offering the opportunity to spot some of the local residents in their natural habitats follows your arrival at the lodge for a two-night stay. [B,L,D]
Your Kenya safari continues as you embark on early morning and late afternoon game drives. Samburu National Reserve residents include storks, hippos, leopards, gazelle, and crocodiles. If you're lucky, you could spot some of Africa's rarest game, such as the long-necked gerenuk antelope, the Somali ostrich, the shy oryx beisa, and the reticulated giraffe. And keep an eye out for the Grevy's zebra, the largest of the zebras found only in northern Kenya. It is widely believed that Grevy's zebra was the “hippotigris” of the ancient Roman circus. [B,L,D]
On the way to a special treat on your Kenya safari, discover how local villagers tend sheep and spin their wool into rugs and garments. Then you're off to your lodge for the night. [B,L,D]
Tour a thriving coffee plantation with the owners to learn the story of coffee from the bean to the cup before returning to the ldoge for leisure time to spend as you please. [B,L,D]
Fly to the Masai Mara Game Reserve in southern Kenya. Spend the afternoon becoming acquainted with your lodge, your home for the next two nights. This afternoon, leave camp for a game drive in search of animals that make their homes here; perhaps you'll see lions, antelopes, elephants and zebras going about their business. [B,L,D]
Today will be one that you'll always remember as you arise before dawn to board a hot air balloon and float over the awakening plains below as the sun rises. When you land, a special champagne breakfast will be awaiting you right there in the bush – spectacular isn't quite strong enough a word to describe such an experience! Back on the ground, look for lions, warthogs, gazelles and giraffes – and the other animals you've come to love – during your final game drive this afternoon. [B,L,D]
Fly to Nairobi, where a day room has been reserved for you at a local hotel. Before heading to the airport for your flight home, please join us for a farewell dinner. [B,D]
NAIROBI
Guided city tour
Visit to Giraffe Center and feed a Giraffe
SERENGETI
Guided tour of the National Park
NATIONAL PARK
Guided game drive
MASAI MARA
NGORONGORO CRATER
Visit Lake Manyara National Park
Experience the Ngorongoro Crater
SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE
NANYUKI
Visit the Mount Kenya Safari Club