Kenya & Tanzania · Midrange
A 19-day midrange safari through Mt Kenya, Nakuru, Baringo, Kakamega, Lake Victoria, the Maasai Mara, Tarangire, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Lodge accommodation, with Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru).
Price
Price on request
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 → Mount Kenya
The longest journey in the catalogue begins with a drive north from Nairobi to Mount Kenya, Africa’s second-highest mountain. Kenya Wildlife Service describes an ancient extinct volcano with glacier-clad summits, alpine moorland and forested middle slopes, protected as a national park since 1949 and as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. What the stay near the mountain includes is set out in your quotation.
Mount Kenya
A full day near Mount Kenya is a change of pace from the savannah. The mountain’s three highest points are Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana, and its high-altitude lakes and tarns lie above the forest. The mountain also holds spiritual significance for the communities around it. This journey names no trek, so any time on the mountain’s slopes, and what it involves, is agreed in your quotation.
Mount Kenya → Lake Nakuru
Leaving the mountain, the 4×4 Land Cruiser heads west and down into the Rift Valley to Lake Nakuru National Park, where our catalogue names Buraha Zenoni for the night. The park’s rhinos, black and white, are its main draw, and Kenya Wildlife Service describes one of the country’s largest black rhino populations. Where time allows, an afternoon drive along the lake shore and into the woodland is a first chance to find them.
Lake Nakuru → Lake Baringo
Where time allows, a morning drive at Lake Nakuru is followed by the road north through the Rift Valley to Lake Baringo, a freshwater lake in Baringo County that, with neighbouring Lake Bogoria, is a Ramsar site. Its tilapia and catfish fisheries sustain the communities on its shores, and the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute has studied the lake since 1990, recording profound changes in its water in recent decades. Activities at the lake are agreed in your quotation.
Lake Baringo → Kakamega Forest
Today the journey crosses the western highlands to Kakamega, Kenya’s only tropical rainforest. Kenya Wildlife Service describes the forest as the last fragment of the Guineo-Congolian forest that once stretched across Central and West Africa, protected as a trust forest since 1933 and, in its northern section, as a national reserve since 1985. The reserve lies outside Kakamega town on the road towards Webuye and Eldoret.
Kakamega Forest
A full day at Kakamega is a day of birdsong and monkey calls beneath a high canopy. The forest is an Important Bird Area, with over 380 recorded tree species and rare primates such as De Brazza’s monkey, alongside butterflies and snakes. Kenya Wildlife Service describes trails through natural glades and along streams, with viewpoints and a waterfall within the forest. How you explore the forest, and with which guide, is agreed in your quotation.
Kakamega Forest → Kisumu
From Kakamega the journey heads south to Kisumu on the shore of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater lake. Just outside the city near Hippo Point, the Kisumu Impala Sanctuary has lakeside trails and impala, and the lake shows a softer, slower side of Kenya after the parks of the east. Kisumu International Airport, with flights from Nairobi, makes the city a natural hub for the west. Whether the sanctuary is visited is set out in your quotation.
Kisumu → Lake Victoria
Ndere Island National Park rises from the Winam Gulf, its grass turning red as it matures, which is why it is known locally as Chula Rabour, “Red Island”. Ndere means “meeting place” in Dholuo, and Luo tradition holds that early migrants travelling down the Nile Valley rested here. First established for impala, the island now also supports zebras, hippos, Nile crocodiles and African fish eagles. It is reached by boat from Kisumu, and whether the island is visited is agreed in your quotation.
Kisumu → Maasai Mara
Leaving Lake Victoria, the journey heads south-east to the Maasai Mara, the last Kenyan stop and one of the highlights of the trip. After a week of mountain, lakes and forest, the Mara’s open grassland feels enormous, and the first game drive, if the arrival allows one, is a chance to see the reserve’s lions, elephants and giraffes. Three nights in the reserve follow, at a lodge in the Mara.
Maasai Mara
If your journey falls between June or July and November, the Mara Conservancy’s migration window, the first full day in the reserve may be spent among the herds. The Conservancy follows them from the Sand River across towards Look-Out Hill and down to the Mara River, where they may gather on the banks. Crossings are frequent in season but hard to predict, and the Conservancy asks visitors to keep back so the herds are never pushed.
Maasai Mara
The second full day in the Mara can take in more of the reserve, including the Mara Triangle, run by the Mara Conservancy, which employs community scouts along the Siria Escarpment to manage the reserve’s border. Whatever the season, the reserve’s residents fill the day: topi on termite mounds, elephants and giraffes in the long grass and lions resting through the heat. A long, flexible day here is one of the rewards of a journey this length.
Maasai Mara → Nairobi
An early drive is a last chance to see the Mara wake before the journey turns towards Tanzania. The road leads back east to Nairobi, where the night breaks the long transfer to the border. Twelve days in, the Kenyan half of the safari is complete: mountain, rhinos, a freshwater lake, rainforest, Lake Victoria and the Mara.
Nairobi → Kenya–Tanzania border → Tarangire
Today the journey crosses into Tanzania, at a crossing your quotation confirms, and travels on past Arusha to Tarangire National Park via Makuyuni and Minjingu. Entry requirements for each nationality should be checked on official websites before travel. Tarangire’s camps and lodges sit along the Tarangire River and the Silale Swamp area, and a lodge here is the base for two nights. If the timing allows, an afternoon drive may follow.
Tarangire
A full day in Tarangire is spent among its giants: the elephants, which TANAPA counts at more than 3,000, and the baobabs, some reaching 30 metres tall with trunks over ten metres wide and some centuries old. In the dry months, June to October, wildebeest, zebra and buffalo join the elephants along the river. In tsetse areas, keep the windows mostly up at low speed and wear neutral colours, and always give elephants and buffalo plenty of room.
Tarangire → Serengeti
A long drive takes the safari from Tarangire over the crater highlands to the Serengeti. TANAPA describes the road journey as long but scenic, and on arrival the plains open out in every direction. Where time allows, an afternoon game drive begins three nights in the park, the longest stay of the Tanzanian half. The Serengeti is managed by Tanzania National Parks, and its guides must be certified.
Serengeti
The first full day in the Serengeti is about the herds. TANAPA calls the park home to the world’s last remaining large-mammal migration, more than a million and a half wildebeest moving with zebra, followed by predators. Because the herds follow the rain, their position varies from year to year, and in January and February they gather around Ndutu to calve. Having seen the Mara earlier, you will see the other end of the same great journey.
Serengeti
A second full day in the Serengeti can focus on the residents that are here all year: lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo and rhinos, and more than 500 bird species, from ostriches to eagles. Drones are not allowed without special permission, and TANAPA recommends booking accommodation early in the peak migration months. Late in a nineteen-day journey, this is a day to linger wherever the wildlife is best, with no need to rush on to the next sighting.
Serengeti → Ngorongoro Crater
Leaving the Serengeti, the journey reaches the Ngorongoro Crater and descends to its floor. The crater formed around 2.5 million years ago when a massive volcano collapsed, and today more than 25,000 animals live among its grasslands, swamps, rivers and woodland, including the Big Five. The Maasai phrase it is named after, “orgirra le kkorongorro”, means “big bowl”. A lodge on or near the rim is the night’s stop.
Ngorongoro → Arusha
The final morning brings one more view across the crater from the rim before the drive back to Arusha. Over nineteen days the journey has crossed two countries and nine destinations, from Mount Kenya and the Kakamega rainforest to Lake Victoria, the Mara, Tarangire, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. The journey finishes in Arusha, and onward travel, to an airport or back to Nairobi, 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.
Lake Nakuru
Overnight at the 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.
Lake Nakuru · Maasai Mara · Serengeti · Ngorongoro
Lodge accommodation, with Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru).
Big Time pick
Maasai Mara · Lake Nakuru · Amboseli · 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.
Tell us your dates, who is travelling and anything you would like to change. Our team will tell you what this journey can include.
