The Grand Circle Safari
OVERVIEW
The Grand Circle Safari
Experience the best of Kenya and Tanzania staying in luxury camps and lodges. Watch “The Big 5” and wildebeest migration across Serengeti and Masai Mara. Discover the incomparable beauty of Ngorongoro Crater, a timeless wildlife oasis. Balloon ride over Mara or Serengeti with champagne breakfast on landing. Visit dramatic landscape of Samburu for unique animal species like gerenuk, Grevy’s zebra, Beisa Oryx, ostrich. Visit to Masai people for a closer encounter with their rich nomadic-lifestyle. Explore Olduvai Gorge where Leakey family discovered human fossils. View of the Legendary Mount Kilimanjaro.
from USD 4916 depending on season
HIGHLIGHTS
Trip highlights
- Serengeti
- Masai Mara
- Ngorongoro Crater
- Ngorongoro Crater
- Olduvai Gorge
- Mount Kilimanjaro
INCLUSIONS
What’s included
- 4×4 safari Land cruiser
- Full board accommodation
- Transfer upon arrival and departure
- Park fees and government taxes
- Visit to the Olduvai Museum
- English-speaking driver/guide
- conservation fee
INCLUSIONS
Carbon footprint
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Day 1
Experience the best of Kenya and Tanzania staying in luxury camps and lodges. Watch “The Big 5” and wildebeest migration across Serengeti and Masai Mara. Discover the incomparable beauty of Ngorongoro Crater, a timeless wildlife oasis. Balloon ride over Mara or Serengeti with champagne breakfast on landing. Visit dramatic landscape of Samburu for unique animal species like gerenuk, Grevy’s zebra, Beisa Oryx, ostrich. Visit to Masai people for a closer encounter with their rich nomadic-lifestyle. Explore Olduvai Gorge where Leakey family discovered human fossils. View of the Legendary Mount Kilimanjaro.
Day 2
Depart after breakfast to the land of endless skies, dust-red plains and palm-fringed rivers. Samburu National Game Reserve lies on the fringes of the vast and semi-arid park located on the banks of the Ewaso Ng’iro River near Mount Kenya. The reserve is the home of ‘‘Kamunyak,’’ a lioness famous for adopting Oryx calves.
Day 3
Samburu National Reserve was one of the two areas in which conservationists George and Joy Adamson raised Elsa the Lioness. Their story was made famous by the bestselling book and award-winning movie “Born Free”. Elegance is on display with several large game species common to Kenya’s northern plains, the gerenuks – a unique gazelle with a long neck that stands on its behind legs. The Grevy’s zebras with huge furry ears are found here as well and so are the Somali ostriches with distinct blue legs. The shy Oryx, elephant, leopards, cheetahs, lions and crocodile are guaranteed sightings. You can enjoy morning, afternoon and evening game drives and then return to camp for some time to relax, enjoy sundowner cocktails and dinner at the lodge.
Day 4
Depart after breakfast and travel south along the scenic flanks of Mount Kenya to Sweetwaters. This will be your vantage point for exploring the riches of Ol Pejeta Ranch and Laikipia plateau. Ol Pejeta Game Conservancy boasts a higher wildlife-to-area ratio than any other Kenyan national park. Enjoy unprecedented opportunities for wildlife watching with a guided walk, camel trek, or day and night game drives. Sightings of the Big Five (elephant, lion, rhino, buffalo, and leopard) typically abound.
Day 5
After breakfast, drive to Thomson Falls and feel the cooling mist from its 236-foot cascade that feeds the dense forest below. Then treat yourself to Lake Elementaita and Soysambu Conservancy arriving in time for lunch. Proceed for an afternoon game drive and lake shore walk. During this easy walk along the shores of Lake Elementaita you can see the only breeding ground for the great white pelican, flamingos, and a wide variety of other birds and mammals. Walk to the “Out of Africa” plains or nearby hill with panoramic views of the conservancy. Upon arrival as the sun begins to set, gather around the campfire for sundowners – taking in the natural beauty around you until night falls. The sundowner is an essential part of safari life and dates back to the time of the great safaris of the 1920’s. Timed to start as the sun begins its descent, the sundowner experience begins with a gentle evening game drive, arriving at the sundowner site just as the evening sky turns gold and pink. As night falls, you will be driven back to your luxury lodge.
Day 6
Depart for Masai Mara National Reserve travelling through the floor of the Great Rift Valley, arriving in good time for lunch at your luxury lodge. You can spend two nights here to explore, discover and experience the magic and 7th wonder of the world – “Masai Mara Game Reserve’’. A spectacular watch of the immense “Big-Five” lion, rhino, buffaloes, cheetah and elephant and wildebeest migration from Serengeti-park Tanzania into Masai Mara-Kenya.
The expertise and experience of our driver-guides will maximize your chances of seeing all the splendours of Masai Mara and beyond. A family of cheetah sunning themselves sleepily on a rock, the drama of a lion making a kill just 15-20 feet away from you, or the thrill of an elephant charge. The trees in the distance turn out to be a family of giraffes. The clump of bushes is a pride of lions. And the rock that moves may be a rhino lumbering out of your way. Proceed to the Mara River where you’ll enjoy a sumptuous picnic lunch at the river. Visit Maasai tribesmen in their villages for an up-close cultural tour. The sheer mass and spectacle of the animals surrounding you will provide endless opportunities to fill many an album of treasured memories.
Day 7
Take full advantage of all the Mara has to offer with an entire day to explore. Choose from a wide range of activities including a hot-air-balloon-ride in the morning and game drives, optional guided nature and bird-spotting walks, and cultural visits to local Maasai villages to learn traditional folkways.
Day 8
After breakfast, depart for Serengeti National Park across the border town of Isebania between Kenya and Tanzania. After immigration formalities, you can have lunch and then proceed into the spectacular western Serengeti. Your holiday adventure begins here with a game drive en route to your luxury lodge.
Day 9
Immerse yourself into Africa’s wild beauty with a full day of exploration in this splendid park. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served at the camp, enjoy optional hot-air-balloon-safari and guided nature walks, as well as morning and afternoon game drives. While the annual migration is the Serengeti’s most famous attraction, the park is also renowned for its population of lions. Adding to the wealth of wildlife are cheetah, zebra, giraffe, Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelle, eland, impala, klipspringer, hippo, and warthog.
Day 10
Early breakfast and embark on a leisurely game-drive through central and southern Serengeti National Park. While on your safari, you will come to understand why no words can do justice to the wonders of the fabled Serengeti. The name is Maasai for “endless plain,” and that is what stretches before you. In this land of infinite vistas, reality becomes dreamlike. Thundering herds, vast flocks of birdlife, and an endless abundance of natural beauty make this one of the most legendary places on earth.
Day 11
Depart after breakfast to Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. On the way, you can stop to explore the world-famous Olduvai Gorge pre-historic site where the fossils of early man were founded “The Cradle of Mankind”. Then proceed on to the truly astounding sight of Ngorongoro Crater, one of the world’s largest and most perfect volcanic craters. Called “the eighth wonder of the world,” it is an utterly unique biosphere that has remained virtually unchanged since the dawn of time. Deep within the crater, enclosed by towering walls, some over 20,000 large mammals wander the plains, lakes, and forests of this land that time forgot, dominated by enormous bull elephants, rhinos, lions, and a glorious variety of birdlife. As lunch is served in the crater-floor, this will be one of your most memorable picnics ever.
Day 12
After breakfast depart for Amboseli via Namanga-town border of Kenya/Tanzania. After immigration formalities and changing of vehicles, lunch is served. Then proceed on to Amboseli National Park. Dominated by the magnificent presence of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, Amboseli is one of Kenya’s oldest and most famous parks. Endlessly panoramic yet comparatively compact, it is dotted with emerald-green swamps in which great herds of elephant wallow, half-submerged in the papyrus grasses. In the afternoon, a game drive will introduce you to the lush swamps of this fascinating landscape. As evening falls, return to camp and enjoy sundowners by the campfire before dinner in the central dining room.
Day 13
It is quite an experience to see Kilimanjaro hovering above the clouds in on an early morning. Amboseli provides endless wonders with fascinating features including the dried-out lakebed of prehistoric Lake Amboseli, rolling savannah, and lush green swamps. The plains are alive with antelopes, spotted hyenas, jackals, warthogs, olive baboons, and vervet monkeys. With luck you may sight a lion, leopard, or cheetah. Observation Hill, a conical peak which is easily climbed, offers stunning views of Mount Kilimanjaro. Lunch and dinner will be taken at the lodge, whose grounds also offer optional nature walks with birdwatching; there are 250 species in the grounds alone.
Day 14
After breakfast, enjoy one last game drive en-route to Nairobi for lunch. A transfer is provided to the airport. Return to Nairobi, spend the afternoon at leisure in a dayroom, and then attend a memorable farewell dinner at The Carnivore Restaurant: