Founders Trip | Kenya / Tanzania | The Great Migration

Jambo – Karibu!! Arrive at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. You’ll be met by your hosts eagerly awaiting to greet you in African style – with wet towels and champagne sipped out of traditional African gourds. Transfer to your hotel in Nairobi’s colorful capital city and rest up for the days to come.

About The Sarova Stanley

Sarova Stanley Hotel dates back to 1902, when it became the first luxury hotel in Nairobi. It has since built on that tradition with amenities like restaurants and a spa, earning multiple luxury hotel awards. Located in the center of the business district, the hotel offers easy access to many of Nairobi’s attractions.

After breakfast, we travel to Lake Nakuru with a brief stop at the Rift valley view point. After lunch, we depart on a game viewing. We’ll visit places like the baboon cliff, the lion hill and the Mau escarpment. The park is one of the best game viewing parks with various animal species including prides of lion, Cape buffalo, waterbucks, wart hogs, the endangered Rothschild giraffes, the black & white Rhino, the Burchell’s zebra, impalas, and the elusive leopard among many others. Over 300 bird species have been recorded here too. Lake Nakuru National Park is one of the best places to see the endangered black and white Rhino. Enjoy dinner and overnight at the Lodge.

About Mbweha Safari Camp

Tucked away in the spectacular vastness of The Great Rift Valley on a private 6400 acre Congreve Conservancy, Mbweha Camp is nestled up against the southern border of Lake Nakuru National Park with beautiful views of the Eburu and Mau Ranges. Ten cottages built of lava stone and thatched makuti roof add glamour and style to its contemporary African ambience with clever use of indigenous artifacts, fabric and modern cooking pots. Every cottage, styled individually, is surrounded by Candelabra Euphorbia, yellow barked Acacia and other indigenous trees that provide a relaxed atmosphere as you listen to the African night sounds of a lion roar or the laughter of the hyena in the distance. Bush walks, night game drives, sundowner or bush breakfast and hot air ballooning over the spectacular Great Rift Valley and the lakes below are additional activities that you can enjoy and enhance your stay in truly remarkable and authentic African setting.

Enjoy a hearty early morning breakfast before driving to the Masai Mara National Reserve. The reserve offers dramatic panoramic scenery and plenty of game. We arrive in time for lunch at the intimate, 20-tent Tipilikwani Camp. This afternoon we depart on an thrilling game viewing drive. The Rolling plains and grasslands, stretching far into the horizons as far as the eye can see is home to the black-manned lion, the savannah elephant, the Cape buffalo, wildebeests, the elusive leopard, cheetah, the spotted & striped hyena, the rhino, topi, burchelle’s zebra, the Masai giraffe among many others. The Mara Game Reserve can’t disappoint. We return back to the lodge for dinner.

After a sumptuous breakfast, we depart for a full-day adventure. Look-out for Masai Mara’s famous “big five”: lions, savannah (African) elephant, the Cape buffalo, the leopard and the black rhino. In the early 20th century, Kenya was a famous hunting destination. We may even be so lucky to witness a leopard or a cheetah sprint and make a kill! We return back to the camp for dinner.

About Tipilikwani Luxury Mara Camp

As the maxim goes: Location! Location! Location! Set on the banks of the Talek River and overlooking the Mara plains, Tipilikwani Camp has one of the most spectacular views available. Set in the middle of what is considered the greatest wildlife reserve in Africa, Maasai Mara is home to one of the modern wonders of the world; the wildebeest migration as well as home to the Big Five. Enjoy an alfresco breakfast by the Talek River or a cold refreshing drink over a spectacular sunset or experience fine dining by candlelight all overlooked by carefully trained attentive staff. During the day, search for lions, cheetah, elephant, leopard, black rhino, giraffe, zebra, hippo and over 500 resident bird species including larks, sunbirds and the Lilac- Breasted Roller This is the Tipilikwani Experience.

We enjoy a hearty breakfast then depart with picnic lunch boxes via the Isebania & Sirari border to continue into Tanzania. Covering an area of 14,763 square kilometers, the world-famous Serengeti National Park is Tanzania’s oldest park, and one of the world’s last great wildlife refuges. The Serengeti ecosystem supports the greatest remaining concentration of plains game in Africa, including more than three million large mammals. We arrive at our lodge for check-in and dinner.

About Serengeti Sopa Lodge

Looking out over the seemingly endless Serengeti plains, this hillside lodge is a tranquil oasis set in over 14,000 sq kms (5,000 sq miles) of National Park. The Serengeti plains are host to a dramatic annual migration of hundreds of thousands of wildebeest and numerous other species of animals indigenous to the area. Opened in 1992, the lodge can accommodate 170 guests in 79 suites, each enjoying wall-to-wall carpeting, a private lounge with a mini bar, a bedroom with two queen size beds and ample room for a third, an en-suite bathroom with shaver sockets and a hair dryer, and a private verandah which offers stunning views over the plains

After breakfast, we depart with picnic lunch boxes for a full day of game viewing drives on the vast Serengeti plains. In the early morning and evening light, the Serengeti landscape is stunningly beautiful. The Rolling plains and grasslands, stretching far into the horizons as far as the eye can see, are home to the black-manned lion, the savannah elephant, the Cape buffalo, wildebeests, the elusive leopard, cheetah, the spotted & stripped hyena, the rhino, topi, burchelle’s zebra, the Masai giraffe among many others. Serengeti National Park can’t disappoint. Enjoy dinner and overnight at our lodge.

Optional Activity: Dawn balloon safari over the Serengeti Plains ending with a champagne breakfast

After breakfast, we depart to Ngorongoro and along the way stop at the Oldupai Gorge, one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world to learn on human evolution. Enjoy an on-site talk on the interpretation of the gorge by the resident guide. We’ll arrive and check-in at our crater rim lodge. After lunch, relax and at the lodge and enjoy the breath-taking spectacular views of the crater below. Ngorongoro Crater has the largest unbroken caldera in the world and has been described as one of the great natural wonders of the world. Eight million years ago, the Ngorongoro Crater was an active volcano but its cone collapsed. Now almost every species of African plains mammal lives in the crater, including the endangered black rhino, and the densest population of predators in Africa. Later, we’ll enjoy dinner at the lodge.

About Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge 

Spread out along the uppermost, eastern rim of the Ngorongoro World Heritage Site, the lodge offers breathtaking views of the crater floor far below. A day’s safari through this unique conservation area provides you with spectacular and memorable game viewing experiences. The lodge is located on Lemala Hill on the uppermost, eastern rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, a World Heritage Site, in the volcanic highlands of northern Tanzania. The crater forms part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area which covers 8,300sq kms (3,200 sq. miles).

After breakfast we descend some 610 metres into the crater, which is home to an abundance of wildlife and a photogenic paradise, for a full day of game-viewing drive with picnic lunch. You’ll see prides of lions, herds of Cape buffalo, impala, Thompson gazelles, rhino, giraffes, golden & black-backed jackal, zebra, cheetah, leopard and the spotted hyena freely roam on the crater floor plains.  Unmatched for its natural variety & breath-taking beauty, there are few places on earth where such a tremendous diversity of landscapes exist inside a region this size. Apart from its wildlife riches, the crater is also of great archaeological importance, with the remains of some of mankind’s earliest ancestors discovered in the area. Also, a home to hundreds of bird species, refreshing in the small lakes in the crater floor. Return late afternoon to your lodge to enjoy dinner.

Enjoy your breakfast then depart to Tarangire arriving at your lodge for lunch. This afternoon we depart on an exciting game viewing drive in this area dotted with majestic baobab trees, stately eland antelopes among other game. Herds of up to 300 elephants scratch the dry Tarangire river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. It’s the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem—a smorgasbord for predators—and the one place in Tanzania where dry-country antelope such as the stately fringe-eared Oryx and peculiar long-necked gerenuk are regularly observed.

About Tarangire Sopa Lodge

Completing the Northern Tanzania safari circuit, the lodge, built as a ‘low profile’ structure, nestles into a wooded hillside valley overlooking Tarangire Hill. Situated 120km (75 miles) from Arusha, Tarangire National Park is easily accessible and boasts magnificent herds of elephant and other species of wildlife. The baobab studded landscape also plays host to a vast variety of resident and migratory bird life. Looking out over the rolling countryside the lodge is a tranquil oasis set in over 2,600 sq kms (900 sq miles) of National Park. The Tarangire flows north to south year-round and sustains an abundance of fauna and flora rarely seen elsewhere.

Enjoy an early morning breakfast before departing via the Namanga border to Amboseli National Park where we arrive at our overnight lodge to a very warm welcome. After lunch, we depart on an afternoon game viewing drive. Amboseli is home to lions, buffalo, cheetah, giraffe, baboon, gazelle hippo and wildebeest among many others. It is also an ornithological paradise with over 400 species of birds, flora and fauna and some of the most soul-searing views in Africa.

About Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge

Nestled in the foothills of Kilimanjaro, hidden beneath a copse of giant acacia trees and beside a gently flowing natural spring lies Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge. With Kilimanjaro’s 6,000-meter-high snow-capped peaks rising behind the lodge and presiding over the landscape, which boasts more big game than almost anywhere else in Africa, the setting is nothing short of magnificent. Inspired by local Masai architecture, the design of the lodge is in total harmony with the environment. Each guest room conveys a distinctive Masai Manyatta mood and is furnished with authentic African murals painted by a local artist.

After breakfast we leave for morning and afternoon game viewing drives. Amboseli offers some of the best places for a photogenic view. The dramatic view of Mount Kilimanjaro (weather permitting) is next to none. Amboseli National Park provides the classic Hollywood image of Africa, and the park is famous for her large herds of giant elephants.

This morning we enjoy our breakfast then check out. Our guide driver will transfer you to the Carnivore restaurant for lunch. Transfer to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for your home-bound flight.

**Trip itineraries are subject to change without notice due to road, weather and other factors outside of our control, for the safety and enjoyment of our guests, as deemed necessary and appropriate by Austin Adventures and Twiga Tours.