13-Day Kenya/Tanzania Safari Itinerary

You’re met on arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and transferred to the Nairobi Serena Hotel, where you’re booked for one night on a bed & breakfast basis — a distinguished start in one of Nairobi’s finest properties before the drive west begins at dawn.

You depart at 7:30am, driving west out of Nairobi and down the Mai Mahiu escarpment into the Great Rift Valley — the road passing the old Catholic chapel built by Italian prisoners of war in 1942. Continuing west through Kenya’s agricultural heartland past endless wheat and maize farms, you pass through Narok town and into Maasai country before arriving at Mara Serena Safari Lodge in time for lunch and check-in.

Mara Serena Safari Lodge sits in the heart of the Mara Triangle — the only lodge within this section of the reserve, offering unmatched access to wildlife including the Big Five and the great wildebeest migration. Between July and October, an estimated two million wildebeest pour across the Mara River from Tanzania’s Serengeti. Watching these herds surge through crocodile-filled waters is a spectacle without equal.

A full day in the Mara — morning and afternoon game drives exploring the vastness of the reserve in pursuit of the Big Five and the extraordinary cast of wildlife that calls these grasslands home. All meals and overnight at Mara Serena Safari Lodge, full board.

After breakfast in the Mara, you drive back through the Great Rift Valley to Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge at Lake Nakuru for lunch and check-in. The afternoon carries you into Lake Nakuru National Park — one of Kenya’s most famous wildlife sanctuaries, with a thriving rhino population and extraordinary birdlife: pelicans, cormorants, and kingfishers crowd the lake’s shores. Lake Nakuru is also home to the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe — one of only three giraffe species found in Kenya. Dinner and overnight at Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge, full board.

After breakfast at Sarova Lion Hill, you drive into Nairobi for lunch before continuing south-east through semi-arid landscapes toward Amboseli National Park, arriving at Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge at the foot of Kilimanjaro — Africa’s highest mountain — as the afternoon light softens.

Amboseli lies near the Tanzania border in Loitoktok District, covering 392 km² of semi-arid scrubland sustained by two natural swamps fed by underground rivers flowing from Kilimanjaro itself. Recognised by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve, it is nicknamed the “Home of the African Elephant” for its exceptionally large herds, which move daily from the mountain’s foot to forage in the floating swamps before returning at dusk.

A full day in Amboseli — morning and afternoon game drives with Kilimanjaro rising on the horizon throughout. Visitors often see dozens of elephants at once in the floating swamps; over 400 bird species have been recorded across the park’s wetlands. All meals and overnight at Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge, full board.

After breakfast in Amboseli, you drive to the Kenya/Tanzania border at Namanga Town, where customs and immigration formalities are processed and your Tanzanian tour guide takes over. Leaving Kenya behind, you drive to Arusha Town in Tanzania for lunch before continuing to Maramboi Tented Lodge — your base for Tarangire National Park.

Tarangire is one of East Africa’s most distinctive safari environments — famous for its massive elephant population of over 3,000, its ancient baobab trees (some over 1,000 years old), and the termite mounds that serve as elevated lookout posts for predators. More than 500 bird species have been recorded here. In the dry season, Tarangire ranks second only to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in concentration of wildlife.

After breakfast, a half-day game drive into Tarangire National Park with a picnic lunch on the plains before an afternoon drive to Kitela Lodge in Karatu Town for dinner and overnight, half board. The Tarangire River is the lifeline of the park — in the dry season, migratory species converge on its permanent waters in remarkable concentrations.

After breakfast at Kitela Lodge, you drive to the Ngorongoro Crater and descend to the crater floor — approximately 600 metres deep and 22 kilometres wide, a collapsed volcanic caldera that has become one of the most remarkable wildlife environments on Earth. The crater is home to over 25,000 animals across a remarkable range of species, from predators to antelopes, within a self-contained ecosystem.

A soda lake on the crater floor is home to flamingos; the Ngorongoro is also one of the best places in Africa to see black rhino. A picnic lunch is taken at Ngoitokitok Springs, watching the hippos in the water, before the afternoon drive continues. You ascend in the evening and drive to Ngorongoro Serena Lodge for dinner and overnight, half board.

After an early breakfast, you drive to the Serengeti via the western rim of the Ngorongoro Crater — one of the most scenic approaches to the park. The Serengeti is probably the most famous national park in the world, and the starting point for the wildebeest’s annual migration across these endless plains — Serengeti meaning “endless plains” in the Maasai language.

Home to the Big Five and one of the highest densities of lions in Africa, it also harbours over 500 bird species across its vast ecosystem. A picnic lunch is taken en route before arriving at Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge for dinner and overnight, half board.

A full day of game viewing in the Serengeti — morning and afternoon drives across one of the greatest wildlife stages on Earth. All meals and overnight at Kubu Kubu Tented Lodge, half board.

After an early breakfast, you depart with picnic lunch boxes and enjoy game viewing through Central Serengeti toward the exit gate, where lunch is taken before continuing through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and on to Arusha Town for dinner and overnight at Masai Land Safari Lodge, half board.

After breakfast, you’re transferred to the Tanzania/Kenya border at Namanga Town. After immigration formalities, you’re met and transferred to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, for your homebound flight.