14 Nights East Africa Wilderness Safari

Upon arrival you will be picked up by your safari guide and transferred to Ololo Safari Lodge - A boutique Safari Lodge on the edge of Nairobi National Park, Kenya. Ololo Safari Lodge, owned and run by an Australian farming family, offers the warmth and comfort of a home with effortless style and personalized service. Originally an old Kenyan homestead and since converted to a small lodge, Ololo is perfectly situated, on the beautiful banks of the Mbagathi River which forms the southern border of the Nairobi National Park. Stay: Ololo Safari Lodge.

Wildlife is right on your doorstep and you can enjoy breathtaking views over the Nairobi national park, to the famed Ngong Hills in the west, sundowner at hand. Or you may like to while the hours away at the lodge by the pool, adventure on a safari into the park, or take a tour of the Ololo Farm excursion, the choice is yours!

After breakfast, you will transfer to Nairobi Wilson Airport, where a small aircraft will transport you to Samburu, which is one of Africa’s most unexplored wilderness areas. Stretching toward Ethiopia and Sudan, the Samburu is an arid savannah that can appear inhospitable at first glance. Dusty colors dominate the landscape, and you can sense a brittleness to the land as if it is on the cusp of devastating drought. Anything that can live here must find a special way to adapt, and that is true of both the animals and people. Upon arrival, you will be assisted to transfer and check in at Elephant Bedroom Camp.

Samburu guides will meet you at the airstrip and lead your three safari days in Samburu, which is their homeland. It will only take a few moments to realize that this arid land can provide a home for many thousands of mammals. Subtle clues can lead you to witness kudu, which is an elegant antelope with unique horns. Out on the plains, you can see gerenuk as well, which is an antelope that stands upright on its hind legs and uses an elongated neck to reach leaves. You can also see leopards and hyenas along with the telltale tracks that are created by elephants. Most of all, on your first day of safari, you will witness how the Samburu people live in harmony with this majestic, wilderness area.

Leopards are common here, and they stalk through the grass and blend into the background. Your Samburu guides will seek them out because these are the most precious of cats on a vast and seemingly unending landscape. Lions are rarely spotted here, but you can also track cheetahs and will certainly enjoy the antics of resident hyenas. Over these two days, you will venture out on morning and afternoon game drives. These drives can be incredibly varied. Typically, unpredictability is integral to every safari because your guides will respond to what they smell and see in the national reserve. Drives can also be designed around your personal interests, including following a specific animal that you are particularly interested in to really understand their behavior.

After three days with the Samburu, you will now have two days with the Masai. At first glance, these tribes may appear to be similar. Their dress is different, but their laconic style and agile movements bare many similarities. Over these two days, you will learn that the Samburu are experts in finding where animals hide, while the Masai specialize in keeping dangerous animals away from their families and livestock. The Masai Mara is a very fertile landscape that can support a denser animal population. Here, you do not need to look for life, but you do need to know where lions and leopards choose to roam.

After a safari flight, you will spend two nights in Olare Motorogi, which is a private Mara conservancy that is operated by the Masai community. The experience is more exclusive than in the Masai Mara National Reserve, plus you will be provided with a unique insight into how the tribe has coexisted with one of Africa’s largest big cat populations. On today’s first game drive, you are likely to have some wonderful moments with lion prides along with a gamut of other predators that make the Masai Mara such a famous safari destination. Do not worry, as you will always observe the predators from a safe distance and with the company of an experienced guide. As with your time in Samburu, the safari program has a flexibility that is ideal for suiting your mood and energy level.

With Masai warrior guides, you will spend another day in an ancient world, discovering the rhythm of life on a succulent land. Wildebeest and Burchell’s zebras will fill the Mara in large numbers, and they do not all migrate. During every month of the year, you can come across tens of thousands of these ungulates. Hyenas are also especially plentiful along with Thomson’s gazelle. Most of the other favorites are easy to see, so just like in Samburu, you will be watching intimate scenes with elephants, Masai giraffes, hippos, and buffalos. Not only do your Masai guides know where these animals spend their days, but they know where to safari at specific times of the day. It will be their ancestral knowledge that makes your safari experience more impressive than just a normal safari.

From the Masai Mara, you will fly to the Serengeti and have a change of planes at the Tanzanian border. For the next three days, you will enjoy an overland safari with the same driver and guide for all three days. The Serengeti and Masai Mara share the same ecosystem, but the Tanzanian side is much larger. Here, you do not need a private conservancy to escape crowds of vehicles. All you need is a little sense of adventure, which should be no problem at all after five days on safari.

Tonight, you will be staying in Central Serengeti so your game drive can revolve around the wildebeest. While there are many maps that indicate the movement of the great wildebeest migration, the month by month situation is linked to climate and predicting exactly where the herds will be is very difficult. By staying in Central Serengeti, you can reach almost anywhere in the national park, so today will offer you some remarkable, close-up experiences with some of the planet’s largest wildlife herds. You should note that today is likely to feature more driving than the previous five days, but you should still be continuing at East Africa’s laid-back safari pace.

You will complete your journey as you drive south across the grasslands. Giraffes and elephants will watch you pass, cheetahs will hide in the grass, buffalo herds will huff as you stop beside them, and warthogs will scurry away from the water as hippos barrel into the water. You will now be accustomed to the key players of the landscape. Wildebeest will stretch out as hundreds of thousands of them cover an immense distance while zebra cluster together in tight herds, so their black and white stripes appear as a blur to predators. You will exit by crossing the Ndutu Plains and ascending into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area where your lodge will be perched on the crater rim.

Descending into the world’s largest volcanic caldera, you will find a wildlife Mecca. Giant elephant bulls will roam past you with horns so long they curl skywards. One lake has been painted pink by flamingos while another is dominated by hippo antics. Lions will be up to their usual tricks, chomping into zebra after using the morning mist as a hunting veil. Some 30,000 animals live in this crater, and as the mist clears, you will appreciate the grandeur. In one glance, you can view the entire caldera floor with perhaps ten different animal species in your 360-degree panorama. After ascending to the lodge for lunch, the afternoon will be left free with views into the crater being ideal for some tranquil safari reflections.

You will fly directly to Zanzibar and spend the day in Stone Town where a thousand years of history and culture play out on its mazy streets. Sounds will echo down lanes of coral houses, and smells entice with everything from stone-baked bread to small barbecues and intoxicating spices. At the Old Fort, you will hear tales of Zanzibar’s history from Omani rulers to Chinese traders and Arabian influence. The House of Wonders will share more modern stories, mostly from the 16th to 19th centuries. There is a majestic beauty at the Sultan’s Palace, which is a beautiful Zanzibari style. You will finish your alluring day at Darajani Market, which is the main bazaar that proves to be a hive of activity late in the day with everything from slabs of meat to sandals and spices.

You will continue your cultural exploration, focusing on Zanzibar’s role in the slave trade. It can be tough viewing, especially when hearing the stories or visiting Tippu Tip’s House. These stories are balanced by the Zanzibar of today, which is an exotic and enchanting maze that will be a delight to explore on foot. You will visit Jozani Forest and Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park where endangered red colobus monkeys will swing through the trees. They are plentiful on the island and are quite a sight with strange white faces that peer curiously to their human visitors down. Jozani is on route to your beach villa in Pingwe, which is where the culture and safari will fade away into white sand escapism.

After breakfast, you will be transferred to Zanzibar Town for your outbound flight.