Kenya & Tanzania · Budget · Group joining · Big Time pick
An 11-day budget safari through the Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Amboseli, Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Budget nights at Miti Mingi Eco Camp (Maasai Mara), Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru) and Nyati Safari Camp (Amboseli), with camp or lodge stays at the other stops.
Price per person
Places as named in the journey title. Nights in each are set out in your itinerary.
Starts in Nairobi · finishes in Arusha
The route, days and named stays are as planned. What is included at each stop, from food, park fees and drinking water to room types, permits and border arrangements, and any camp or lodge not named here, is set out in your written quotation. Game drives on travel days depend on arrival and departure times, timings can change with road and park conditions, and wildlife sightings are never guaranteed. Photographs illustrate each day’s destination; they are not pictures of a particular departure.
Nairobi → Maasai Mara
On a group-joining safari, the first morning is about meeting the people you will travel with for the next eleven days. The 4×4 Land Cruiser then heads from Nairobi to the Maasai Mara, where Miti Mingi Eco Camp, which our catalogue names for the Mara, is the base for two nights. The afternoon’s first game drive is a shared introduction to the reserve, and a chance for the group to begin spotting together.
Maasai Mara
A full day in the reserve is the first of the safari’s long game-drive days, and a group with many pairs of eyes can be an advantage in spotting animals in the long grass. In the migration months the Mara Conservancy describes around 1.2 million wildebeest moving through, with zebra, eland and Thomson’s gazelle. Outside them, the reserve’s lions, elephants and giraffes give the day its shape. The Conservancy’s rules apply to everyone: stay in the vehicle except at designated points.
Maasai Mara → Lake Nakuru
The group leaves the Mara for Lake Nakuru, a park in the Rift Valley with a very different character: a semi-alkaline lake ringed by grassland, acacia woodland and rocky escarpments. Kenya Wildlife Service records around 450 bird species, and the park’s black and white rhinos are its best-known residents. The night is at Buraha Zenoni, the property named in our catalogue for Lake Nakuru, in a park that became Kenya’s first government-managed rhino sanctuary in 1987.
Lake Nakuru → Amboseli
A morning game drive at Lake Nakuru gives the group a chance to find rhinos before the long transfer south to Amboseli. The road crosses the highlands and drops towards the dry plains of the south, reaching the park through one of its gates from the Nairobi side. The night is at Nyati Safari Camp, the camp our catalogue names for Amboseli, where the group can rest after a long day on the road.
Amboseli
A full day in Amboseli is spent among the elephants that the park is famous for, moving between the open plains and the swamps where they drink. The swamps and marshes, part of one of Kenya’s Important Bird Areas, hold more than 400 recorded bird species, including some 40 birds of prey. Observation Hill offers a view across the park and, on clear days, of Kilimanjaro across the border, where the journey heads next.
Amboseli → Kenya–Tanzania border → Arusha
Leaving Amboseli, the group crosses from Kenya into Tanzania; the crossing point and formalities are set out in the group’s quotation. Entry requirements depend on nationality and change from time to time, so each traveller should check them on official government websites before the trip. The day ends in northern Tanzania, in the Arusha area, the gateway to the parks of the northern circuit.
Arusha → Lake Manyara
From Arusha, the good tarmac road leads west to Lake Manyara National Park, near Mto wa Mbu at the base of the Great Rift Valley escarpment. A game drive here moves from groundwater forest, where blue monkeys and bushbuck shelter among mahogany and fig trees, to the soda lake where lesser flamingos feed. Lions in the park are known for resting in the branches, though sightings are never certain.
Lake Manyara → Serengeti
The road from Lake Manyara climbs into the Ngorongoro highlands and then descends to the Serengeti, a long but scenic drive. On arrival, the plains stretch out in every direction, and, where time allows, an afternoon game drive gives the group its first look at the park TANAPA describes as home to the world’s last remaining large-mammal migration.
Serengeti
A full day in the Serengeti is the high point of the Tanzanian half of the trip. TANAPA suggests the dry months from June to October for the migration and January and February for the calving season around Ndutu, and since the herds follow the rain, the day is planned around where they are. The park’s predators, elephants and buffalo are here year round, and with more than 500 bird species, there is always something to watch.
Serengeti → Ngorongoro Crater
Where time allows, after a morning drive in the Serengeti, the group heads to the Ngorongoro Crater and descends to its floor for a game drive. The NCAA describes the crater as roughly 260 square kilometres and about 610 metres deep, with more than 25,000 animals including the Big Five. Only four-wheel-drive vehicles may enter, and walking is not allowed on the floor. The night is spent at a property on or near the rim.
Ngorongoro → Arusha
The final morning gives one more look at the crater from the rim, with its grasslands, swamps and rivers spread below, before the journey back to Arusha. Eleven days have taken the group across two countries and six of the region’s most celebrated wildlife areas, from the grassland of the Mara to the elephant plains of Amboseli and the Serengeti’s great plains. The group parts in Arusha, where onward travel is arranged with you.
Like the shape of these days? Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and our team will set out the stays, meals and inclusions in a written quotation.
Maasai Mara · Budget
Lake Nakuru · Budget
Amboseli · Budget
Other stops: overnight at a camp or lodge. The camp or lodge is discussed with you during planning and confirmed with your itinerary, subject to availability. How accommodation works on our safaris
Maasai Mara · Nakuru · Naivasha · Amboseli · Manyara · Serengeti · Ngorongoro · Tarangire
Budget nights at Miti Mingi Eco Camp (Maasai Mara), Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru), Leisure Apex (Lake Naivasha) and Nyati Safari Camp (Amboseli), with camp or lodge stays at the other stops.
Maasai Mara · Nakuru · Amboseli · Manyara · Serengeti · Ngorongoro
Budget nights at Miti Mingi Eco Camp (Maasai Mara), Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru) and Nyati Safari Camp (Amboseli), with camp or lodge stays at the other stops.
Samburu · Aberdares · Nakuru · Maasai Mara · Amboseli · Ngorongoro · Serengeti · Manyara
Lodge accommodation, with Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru).
Tell us your dates, who is travelling and anything you would like to change. Our team will tell you what this journey can include.
