East Africa Discovery

Meet the rest of your group, and explore Nairobi’s cosmopolitan restaurants and bars.

Drive along the Great Rift Valley to the lush greenery of Lake Nakuru National Park. Take a boat trip to Elsamere, the former home of Joy Adamson, of Born Free fame, where she raised Elsa the lion and eventually successfully released her back into the wild. Look out for the once-in-a-lifetime spectacle of Lake Nakuru, covered in flamingos, appearing like a sea of pink. There’s a very good chance of spotting rhino here too, so get your camera ready. Stay overnight near the soda lake of Lake Elementeita.

See if you can spot the Big Five on safari in the Masai Mara. Head out on a game drive to see if you can spot prides of lion and large herds of elephant, and, if you are here during the rainy season (July through November), over a million wildebeest on their annual migration. Stop off for an evening sundowner, an African tradition of watching the sunset with a glass of something cool and refreshing – usually a gin and tonic. If you are feeling extravagant, splash out and take to skies over the park with a romantic sunrise balloon ride, allowing you to spot the wildlife from a whole new perspective (optional, extra cost).

Stop by a soapstone factory in Kisii, a fertile area of rolling hills, banana, sugarcane and pineapple fields and coffee plantations. Head on to Migori, just 22 kilometres north of the border with Tanzania, where you’ll spend a relaxing night before continuing on your East Africa adventure.

Cross over into Tanzania and the vast plains of the Serengeti, home to huge herds of wildebeest. Get close to nature as you hear the lions roar and the elephants trumpet across the vast African bush from the comfort of your Serengeti safari lodge. Close your eyes and think of Africa, and you are most likely to be thinking of the wide Serengeti plains – tall yellow grasses dotted with acacia trees and the odd rocky outcrop, home to lions, cheetah, hyena, hippo and ostrich, and location for one of nature’s greatest spectacles, the migration of the wildebeest (best viewed in May in this area).

Travel on to the spectacular Ngorongoro crater and get your first glimpse of its dramatic cliffs from your safari lodge. The next day, soak up the spectacular views from the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater then descend 600 metres to the crater floor, where 30,000 animals roam, including rhino, leopard, elephant and lion. It’s a stunning area, and would be well worth a visit even without the animals. On leaving the crater, explore the trees and huge lake of Lake Manyara National Park, famous for its tree-climbing lions. Stop by the small town of Arusha on your way back across the border to Kenya.