This 12-day luxury safari through Kenya and Tanzania. Begin in Kenya’s world-famous Maasai Mara before following the Great Migration into Tanzania’s Serengeti and the breathtaking Ngorongoro Crater. Travel in comfort with luxury lodges, scenic bush flights, private game drives, and carefully planned days that give you plenty of time to relax between unforgettable wildlife experiences.
- Highlights
What makes this journey unforgettable
- Mara and Serengeti in one journey
- Crater floor full-day descent
- Optional Zanzibar beach extension
- Bush flights border-to-border
- Private vehicles & guides throughout
- Day-by-Day Itinerary
Your journey, day by day
- Day 1
Nairobi Arrival
Met at Jomo Kenyatta International and driven to a Nairobi hotel or country house for your first night. The afternoon is deliberately unscheduled after a long flight, though the Sheldrick elephant orphanage is close by if you arrive early. Dinner with your guide lays out the twelve days: two countries, one ecosystem, and the entire migration circuit at a luxurious pace.
- Meals: Dinner
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Hemingways Nairobi.
- Day 2
Fly to Maasai Mara
A morning flight from Wilson Airport across the Rift Valley into the Maasai Mara — forty-five minutes and you are in it. Your guide meets the plane, and you game-drive to camp for lunch. The afternoon drive introduces you to the reserve’s resident lion prides and the sheer open scale of the grassland.
- Meals: All meals
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Pristine mara river
- Day 3
Mara Full Day
A morning flight from Wilson Airport across the Rift Valley into the Maasai Mara — forty-five minutes and you are in it. Your guide meets the plane, and you game-drive to camp for lunch. The afternoon drive introduces you to the reserve’s resident lion prides and the sheer open scale of the grassland.
- Meals: All meals
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Pristine mara river
- Day 4
Mara Full Day
A second full day, which is what separates a good Mara stay from a great one — you can afford to sit with a sighting instead of chasing the next one. We may spend the whole morning with a single cheetah and her cubs, or position at the Mara River and wait. Afternoon at camp, then a bush dinner under the stars.
- Meals: All meals
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Pristine mara river
- Day 5
Cross to Serengeti
We cross the border into Tanzania — by road via sirari border, with all formalities handled by our team on both sides so you barely notice it. By afternoon you are in the northern Serengeti, the same ecosystem under a different name, and driving the Mara River escarpments where the crossings happen.
- Meals: All meals
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Lobo wildlife lodge.
- Day 6
Northern Serengeti
Half-day descent A full day in the northern Serengeti, the quietest and, in season, the most dramatic part of the park. Between July and October we position at the crossing points early and stay; outside those months the north is superb for elephant, buffalo, resident lion and the big Kogatende leopards. Long lunch back at camp and an afternoon drive.into the crater — short and rewarding — followed by a relaxed afternoon at the lodge.
- Meals: All meals
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Lobo wildlife lodge.
- Day 7
Central Serengeti
A slow transfer south through the park with game-viewing all the way, watching the country change from wooded hills into the kopje-studded plains of the Seronera Valley. You reach camp for a late lunch and head out again in the afternoon — this is the Serengeti’s richest year-round game-viewing area.
- Meals: All meals
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Serengeti explorer.
- Day 8
Serengeti Full Day
A full Serengeti day shaped entirely around the wildlife. Sunrise drive with a packed breakfast, midday rest at camp while the bush sleeps, then out again until the light goes. Your guide will tell you honestly what’s worth doing — sometimes that’s driving forty kilometres, sometimes it’s sitting at a waterhole for two hours.
- Meals: All meals
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Serengeti Explorer.
- Day 9
Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater
A pre-dawn drive to the Ngorongoro Crater and the descent onto the caldera floor as the mist clears. A long morning among the densest concentration of large animals in Africa — black rhino, elephant bulls with heavy ivory in the Lerai forest, lion, hippo and flamingo. Picnic at Ngoitokitok, then up to the rim for a fire and a hot bath.
- Meals: All meals
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Ngorongoro Melia
- Day 10
Mto wa Mbu Cultural Tour
Today offers a slower pace with an authentic cultural experience in the vibrant village of Mto wa Mbu, located at the foot of the Great Rift Valley.
You will join a local guide for a walk through the village, where you will visit banana and rice farms, local markets, and small artisan workshops. Learn how coffee is grown and prepared using traditional methods, and discover the many uses of the banana plant in everyday life. Enjoy a freshly prepared traditional Tanzanian lunch, giving you the chance to taste local flavors while connecting with the community.
In the afternoon, return to your lodge with time to relax. Enjoy a swim, unwind with a spa treatment.
- Meals: All meals
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Manyara secret lodge
- Day 11
Tarangire National Park
The last park of the journey, and one that surprises people. Tarangire’s baobabs and river valley draw the largest elephant herds in northern Tanzania in the dry season, along with the fringe-eared oryx and gerenuk you won’t have seen elsewhere on the trip. A long morning drive, lunch, and a final golden-hour drive to finish.
- Meals: All meals
Click to see the lodge description and photos in Serian Tarangire Lodge.
- Day 12
Departure day
A relaxed breakfast and the easy drive to Arusha or a short flight, timed to your departure from Kilimanjaro International. Our team stays with you through check-in, and a day room is arranged if you have an evening flight.
- Meals: breakfast, dinner
No accommodation
- What's Included
- All park, conservation and concession entry fees
- All government taxes and VAT
- Private 4x4 safari Land Cruiser with pop-up roof for unobstructed game viewing
- Professional English-speaking driver-guide with deep regional knowledge
- Accommodation as listed, on the comfort tier you select
- All meals as shown in the day-by-day itinerary, including packed bush breakfasts and picnic lunches on full game-drive days
- Unlimited drinking water, Wine and soft drinks and snacks in the vehicle
- Airport meet-and-greet, all ground transfers and a pre-departure planning call
- Personalised welcome pack and 24/7 on-trip support
- What's Excluded
- Kenya and Tanzania visas or the East Africa Tourist Visa (currently $100)
- Travel and medical insurance (strongly recommended)
- Personal expenses — laundry, phone calls, alcoholic and soft drinks
- Tips and gratuities for your guide, porters and lodge staff
- Optional activities not listed in the itinerary (e.g. hot-air balloon, spa, scenic flights)
- Items of a personal nature and any pre/post-tour accommodation
- Hot-air balloon safari in the Mara or the Serengeti (from $550 per person)
- International flights, airport departure taxes and visa fees
- Pre- and post-tour accommodation outside the dates listed
- Premium spirits lists
- Tour Price