Kenya & Tanzania · Budget
A 7-day budget safari through Lake Nakuru, the Maasai Mara, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Budget nights at Miti Mingi Eco Camp (Maasai Mara) and Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru), with camp or lodge stays at the other stops.
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 → Lake Nakuru
The safari begins with a drive from Nairobi into the Rift Valley to Lake Nakuru, where Buraha Zenoni is the first night’s stop. Lake Nakuru National Park lies north-west of Nairobi on the main A104 road, and it is one of the three lakes of the Kenya Lake System World Heritage Site. A game drive in the afternoon looks for its rhinos and its waterbirds, and shows how the park’s escarpments, woodland and lake shore fit together.
Lake Nakuru → Maasai Mara
Where time allows, a morning drive at Lake Nakuru, where black rhinos have been protected since the park became Kenya’s first government-managed rhino sanctuary in 1987, comes before the road to the Maasai Mara. Arriving later in the day at Miti Mingi Eco Camp, which our catalogue names for the Mara, there may be time for a short drive before dark. The grassland of the reserve, after the lake and woodland of Nakuru, is a dramatic change.
Maasai Mara
A full day in the Mara may take in the Mara Triangle, which the Mara Conservancy runs, and the Mara River, where in migration season the herds gather on the banks. The Conservancy’s rules apply throughout: stay in the vehicle except at designated points, never stand on the roof or sit in the windows, and keep back from crossing points so the herds are not pushed. Outside the season, the day is spent with the reserve’s lions, elephants and giraffes.
Maasai Mara → Kenya–Tanzania border → Serengeti
Today the journey crosses from Kenya into Tanzania, following, in a sense, the route of the migration itself. Your quotation confirms where the border is crossed, and every traveller should check the entry rules for their nationality before leaving home. Once in the Serengeti, a first drive across the plains, where time allows, gives a sense of the scale of the park, which TANAPA describes as reached by road or by air from Arusha.
Serengeti
The Serengeti is a park of seasons, and TANAPA points out that the herds follow the rain, so where they are in any given week varies from year to year. A full day of drives leaves time to go where the wildlife is, whether that means the migrating herds or the lions, leopards and elephants that stay year round. The park’s more than 500 bird species add to the interest, from ostriches on the plains to eagles overhead.
Serengeti → Ngorongoro
Leaving the Serengeti after a morning drive where time allows, the journey climbs to the Ngorongoro highlands. The NCAA describes lodges, special campsites and a public campsite on and near the crater rim, and arriving at the end of the day gives a first look down into the caldera. The night is near the crater, and the crater floor, where wildlife is present throughout the year, waits for the morning.
Ngorongoro Crater → Arusha
An early descent into the Ngorongoro Crater gives the best of its light and wildlife. The crater floor is roughly 260 square kilometres of grassland, swamps, rivers and woodland, with more than 25,000 animals, and many visitors choose it as the place to look for the Big Five. After the drive, the Land Cruiser climbs out of the crater and the journey finishes 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
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
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.
Big Time pick
Maasai Mara · Lake Nakuru · Amboseli · Lake 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.
Maasai Mara · Lake Nakuru · Arusha · Lake Manyara · Serengeti · Ngorongoro
Budget nights at Miti Mingi Eco Camp (Maasai Mara) and Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru), 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.
