Carolyn And Monty’s African (Kenya) Safari Vacation Itinerary (2024) Including Photos And Videos

11 Day Kenya Safari Exploration. African Safari Vacation Itinerary (2024). Carolyn And Monty’s African (Kenya) Safari Vacation Itinerary (2024) Including Photos And Videos

Package Includes

Small Groups Of Maximum 22 Travelers Guaranteed

Round trip flights New York-Nairobi, Nairobi-New York

Airline Taxes & Fuel Surcharges:

9 Nights First Class Accommodations

2 Nights Nairobi

2 Nights Samburu National Reserve

1 Night Aberdare National Park

2 Nights Lake Naivasha

2 Nights Masai Mara National Reserve

Hotel Porterage:

* All Transfers Included Only With Airfare Purchase On Package Arrival & Departure Dates†

* 24 Meals: 9 Breakfasts, 7 Lunches, 8 Dinners

* Sightseeing Per Itinerary In Modern 4X4 Vehicles

* Services Of English-Speaking Driver-Guide Throughout

* National Park Fees

Tour Highlights

Thanks to our small group size, we can get to the heart of our destination, visit places that other tours miss, and get to know the locals.

* Visit The Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, The World’s Most Successful Orphan Elephant Rescue Center

* At The Giraffe Centre, Hand-Feed Elegant Rothschild Giraffes From An Elevated Platform

* Enjoy Personal Game Drive Experiences In Safari Vehicles That Seat No More Than Seven

* Explore Samburu National Park, Known For Its Unique Wildlife

* Enjoy Leisurely Game Viewing At One Of Kenya’s Iconic Tree Lodges

* Travel To Lake Nakuru National Park, Known For Its Superb Birdlife

* Embark On A Boat Tour On Lake Naivasha, A Bird Lover’s Paradise

* Test Your Luck And See How Many Of The “Big Five” You’ll Spot In The Magical Masai Mara National Reserve

†Transfers are available for purchase for land only or on alternative flight dates

DAY 1, Tuesday – Depart for Kenya
Depart for Kenya

DAY 2, Wednesday – Arrive in Nairobi

Arrive in Nairobi, gateway to your thrilling safari in Kenya; transfer to the hotel. The rest of the day is yours to rest and acclimate to your new time zone

Overnight: Nairobi

DAY 3, Thursday – Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Centre
After an orientation meeting with your Tour Manager, depart for a visit to the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage* to learn about how orphan elephants are raised here and later released into the wild.

Then, drive towards the Ngong Hills for a tour of the Karen Blixen Museum, once the farmhouse of the prominent author of Out of Africa. In the afternoon, continue to Kazuri Beads Workshop, which started as a tiny workshop making ceramic beads by hand.

Today this center produces fine examples of genuine African jewelry out of clay gathered from nearby Mt. Kenya. End the day at the Giraffe Centre where you hand-feed the Rothschild’s Giraffe and learn more about their extensive conservation efforts.

Dinner Tonight Is At A Local Restaurant

*Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage may be substituted with Nairobi Animal Orphanage

Overnight: Nairobi
Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

DAY 4, Friday – Evening Game Drive in Samburu National Park

Travel north this morning towards Samburu National Park, known for its unique wildlife, rarely found in other Kenyan parks. Here, view different species of giraffe, zebra, beisa oryx and the long-necked gerenuk, along with lion, cheetah, and leopard.

En route, stop for lunch at the Trout Tree Restaurant. Arrive in Samburu, with its arid hills leading to the lush forested ravine of the Ewaso Nyiro River. This evening, set out on your first game drive returning to camp in time for dinner

Overnight: Samburu National Park
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 5, Saturday – Morning & Afternoon Game Drives in Samburu National Park

During the morning game drive today, perhaps you’ll see a lion, ostrich, or even a family of elephants wandering the hills. After lunch at the lodge, an afternoon drive takes you to a different area of the park. Return to the lodge for leisure time.

Tonight, after dinner, an interesting lecture and discussion with a Samburu naturalist. You’ll learn more about the principles and tribal traditions of the villagers living in the northern foothills of Mount Kenya

Overnight: Samburu National Park
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 6, Sunday – Game Viewing in Aberdare National Park

Today, travel southwest to the heart of Aberdare National Park. Arrive at The Ark, one of Kenya’s iconic tree lodges. The Ark is designed with layers of decks overlooking a floodlit watering hole and salt lick that attracts a huge amount of wildlife all day and night.

The many different balconies and lounges provide superb vantage points for game viewing. A ground level bunker provides excellent photographic opportunities and takes you up-close to the animals

Overnight: Aberdare National Park
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 7, Monday – Game Drive in Lake Nakuru National Park

Today, explore Lake Nakuru National Park. Drive to the edge of the lake to view thousands of birds feeding in the alkaline water, see the sweeping view from the top of Baboon Rocks, then look for warthogs and waterbucks.

Nakuru is also one of the best places in Kenya to see black and white rhino, and for making daytime leopard sightings. Afterward, continue to your lodge where you will spend the remainder of the evening at leisure

Overnight: Lake Naivasha
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 8, Tuesday – Lake Naivasha Boat Tour, Cooking Class

This morning, embark on a boat ride on the tranquil waters of Lake Naivasha, a bird lover’s paradise. You will encounter hippos wallowing in the water and an abundant number of birds.

Afterward, return to your lodge and attend a cooking class, led by a chef. Learn how to cook local dishes and later taste your own creations. Spend the remainder of the day at leisure

Overnight: Lake Naivasha
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 9, Wednesday – Afternoon Game Drive in the Masai Mara National Reserve

Early drive to Masai Mara National Reserve in the southwest corner of Kenya, renowned for its spectacular game viewing. The savannahs of the park are a backdrop to a diverse and abundant wildlife population throughout the entire year. Lunch at the camp, before going out on the afternoon game drive

Overnight: Masai Mara National Reserve
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 10, Thursday – Morning & Afternoon Game Drives in the Masai Mara National Reserve

Arise before dawn to participate in today’s optional Hot Air Balloon Safari. Take off in a hot air balloon as you watch the sunrise over the Masai Mara. Drift above the beautiful landscape, watching wild game roam the vast plains below. The finale is a champagne breakfast before returning back to camp. Today’s game drives through the Masai Mara reserve focus on the “Big Five” (lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino), as well as antelopes, gazelles, hippos and a variety of birdlife. A dinner tonight celebrates your final night in the Mara

Optional: Sunrise Balloon Safari & Breakfast (AM)
Overnight: Masai Mara National Reserve
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

DAY 11, Friday – Depart Kenya

Bid farewell to the Mara this morning and return to bustling Nairobi. Passengers with early evening flights will then be transferred directly to the airport. Passengers with late evening flights will have a day-use hotel room and be transferred to the airport later in the evening. Please select flights that depart no earlier than 6:30 PM

Day Use: Nairobi
Meals: Breakfast

Is This Trip Right for You?

This is an active trip. This program covers a lot of ground each day. Expect to spend most of your time driving in safari vehicles that cannot be air-conditioned over roads that are often rough and bumpy. Only “bush toilets” are available during game drives.

There are many early mornings. Electricity in the camps is provided by generator and may not be available 24 hours a day. Many of the accommodations are built in the traditional local style and have no air-conditioning.

Passengers traveling from Kenya into Tanzania will be required to carry proof of yellow fever vaccination, and are encouraged to consult their health-care providers regarding malaria prophylaxis. We suggest you check with your health-care provider before signing up for this tour.

Some of our tours require walking or stairs between tents. Safari vehicles have high ground clearance and require agility to embark and disembark. During this tour, you may come into proximity of wild animals whose actions can be unpredictable.

Certain inherent risks are involved which should be considered at your own discretion. This is a Small Group program. For more information, click here.

Updated: 9-19-2023

The Best Way To See Africa’s Great Migration, On A Safari Without The Crowds (Separate Article And Author)

Usawa Camp in the Serengeti takes the mobile lodge concept—in which tents get packed up and moved to new locations daily—from bare-bones to ultra-luxe.

We were in hot pursuit. Dust rose up behind our Land Cruiser in a massive cloud as our guide Chrisple Sikawa manhandled the steering wheel like a ship captain charting dangerous waters.

We had just seen thousands of wildebeests crowding the edge of a small cliff like a great swarm of bees. Below them: the mighty, crocodile-filled Mara River. Would they cross? Sikawa suspected they might. But this was not the best place to see it.

My husband, John, and I were racing across the grasslands hoping to catch sight of the great migration, the legendary annual 1,200-mile-long journey of roughly 1.2 million wildebeests between southern Tanzania and Kenya’s Masai Mara reserve.

It’s easy for travelers to feel like they’re one of 1.2 million onlookers in this phenomenon, but not us: As guests at the just-opened Usawa, a mobile camp in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, we had the rare treat of having the landscape almost fully to ourselves.

Still, on that day, it was not to be. After zigzagging across the savanna, we waited. And waited. The wildebeests went left, then right, up, then down. But they did not cross. As the sun began to set, we—like the great mass of animals—retreated.

People do not come to the Serengeti to be disappointed. In addition to playing host to the great migration for most of the year, the park is filled with cheetahs, lions, leopards, African buffalos and a growing population of devastatingly endangered rhinos.

It’s just about as close to a sure thing as it gets in the wild—which is why more than 500,000 tourists visit every year. It’s also the reason tour outfitters and safari lodge companies are in a constant race to offer the best and most crowd-free way to experience the spectacle.

The South Africa-based luxury safari operator Wilderness may have just cracked the code. Usawa, the company’s new camp, opened on July 26 on a remote hill in the Serengeti’s Bologonja region.

It transforms the tried-and-true mobile safari lodge concept—where tents are designed to be packed up and moved to new locations, without a trace—from a necessarily amenity-light option to a truly five-star experience.

“Mobile camps in the Serengeti are usually of a lower standard, while more luxurious camps are considered semi-permanent, only moving twice a year from north to south,” says Raphael Mauget, general manager of Wilderness Tanzania. Usawa’s competitive edge?

At any given time, between two and three identical camps will be in operation, so you can sip South African syrah, dine on Swahili barbecue and explore the great expanses just beyond your tent while the next Usawa location prepares for your arrival.

As the migration moves, so do guests. The great migration takes places year-round, typically crossing the Mara from south to north from August through September, then in the reverse direction from October to November; from January to March, the camps move in other parts of the region where guests can glimpse the same animals birthing 8,000 calves each day.

Of course, nature is anything but predictable—even in the Serengeti—as John and I found out on that first unfulfilled crossing. But no matter: At Usawa, we felt the movement of the great migration in other ways.

Our tent—one of six, all composed of overlapping canvas and mesh—felt totally open to nature, allowing us nearly 360-degree views of the savanna where the great migration’s herds regularly passed.

From our hammock, and even our bed, the sounds, scents and sensations of the bush were ever present in the trumpeting of elephants, sage-scented breezes and the distant howls of big cats.

The design is a stylish—and sustainable—take on the classic safari aesthetic, with lamps carved from acacia trees and furniture made from upcycled plastic.

It’s masterminded by Luxury Frontiers, a company that’s built its name on upgrading glamping to befit such hotels as Amangiri in Utah or Nayara Tented Camp in Costa Rica. But the details are all local.

Glassware and textiles were crafted by the artisans of nonprofit Sanaa in Arusha, while colorful blankets and woven-basket stools from Joyce Weaving Products provide new income and resources to Tanzanian women.

Elevated cuisine, which is typically hard to pull off at most mobile camps, rises to the level of some of the bush’s most luxurious lodges and puts a focus on produce and protein sourced from nearby communities.

During our stay, fresh passion fruit and mango were breakfast staples, as well as sweet additions to rich chocolate ganache tarts after dinner. Zanzibari spices enlivened everything from the pilau rice to the tilapia—and even the coffee.

One evening a traditional Swahili barbecue included such delights as mtori, a sweet and savory banana soup that warranted seconds and thirds.

All six tents, plus the communal main tent, are solar-powered, use mobile septic tanks, operate completely off-grid and can be built and broken down using only manpower.

Unlike most luxury camps, which build underground sewage and power systems for more brick-and-mortar-style accommodations, Usawa adapts the leave-no-trace environmentalism of roving camps to more high-end accommodations—a win-win for the ecosystem and discerning guests.

“Within a few months, I expect any of these locations will be completely grown back over,” Mauget says. “We’ll have to rely on GPS when we come back the following year because there will be absolutely no trace of us having been here.”

The light footprint means local wildlife weren’t scared away by construction, and we were able to see a plethora of wildlife right from camp: elephants noisily breaking tree branches for dinner; zebras casually munching on long grass just steps away; dozens of wildebeests arriving suddenly, moments after a rain shower.

Still, some luxuries just aren’t eco-friendly and must be done without, or at least adapted. Case in point: hot water, which isn’t easily procured without proper plumbing.

At Usawa, there’s no turning on the taps for the relief of a steamy shower after a dusty day in the bush; instead we had to inform staff of our intention to bathe, then wait some 15 minutes for a pair of men to fill the buckets behind our tent with freshly heated water.

You turn the shower “on” by pulling a chain—forget about controlling the temperature. This was just the right amount of roughing it for us, though for some it might be a tad too rustic for a vacation that starts at $950 a person per night.

John and I, however, found such mild inconveniences to be part and parcel of an experience that felt blissfully connected to nature. We felt it one day when, just a handful of miles from Usawa, we watched a mother cheetah and her cubs feasting on a Thomson’s gazelle, vultures soaring ominously overhead.

That afternoon we patiently waited outside a cluster of bushes for a leopard to peek its head out. Another morning we took to the savannah on foot, hiking straight from camp—and spotted a leopard sprinting across the opposite hillside 100 yards away.

And finally, on our last day, we got our crossing. Using his gut, experience and, we suspected, hot leads conveyed in Swahili over his radio, Sikawa led us through a whirlwind of dust back to the same spot where days earlier the wildebeests had failed to put on a show.

This time they were bolder, racing down the promontory, splashing into the river and safely emerging on the other side right in front of us, mewing and bucking all the while.

The spectacle lasted for close to an hour. The sheer magnitude left us in awe. It was the moment we had all been waiting for—and the one Usawa was built for.

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