Following the migration in Kenya and Tanzania

Itinerary summary; This package will start in Kenya’s Maasai Mara Game Reserve for three nights, then to Lake Victoria for one night before driving into Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park for two nights. Kindly find full itinerary as below;

Day1: Pick up at 7.30am at your hotel in Nairobi or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport then drive to Maasai Mara Game Reserve. To be able to catch a glimpse of Rift valley’s view we will stop over at the viewpoint. Arrive Mara in time for hot lunch then have an afternoon game drive. This is the most visited and perhaps the most beautiful of all the country’s game reserves. Lying at an altitude of 1650m 5414ft it covers an area of 1,510 sq km (almost 600 sq miles) and forms the northern extension of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. The Mara is a Maasai word meaning spotted or dappled. It is a mosaic of rolling grassland dominated by red oat grass, small bush-covered hills and along the Mara River and its tributaries flowing towards Lake Victoria, riverine bush, and Forest.

Day 2&3: Today we will have a full day game drive in Mara with picnic lunch provided. All members of the “Big Five” (lion, leopard, African elephant, cape buffalo, and black rhinoceros) are found in the Maasai Mara. The population of black rhinos was fairly numerous until 1960, but it was severely depleted by poaching in the 1970s and early 1980s, dropping to a low of 15 individuals. Numbers have been slowly increasing, but the population was still only up to an estimated 23 in 1999. Hippopotami and crocodiles are found in large groups in the Mara and Talek rivers. Leopards, hyenas, cheetahs, jackals, and bat-eared foxes can also be found in the reserve. The plains between the Mara River and the Esoit Siria Escarpment are probably the best area for game viewing, in particular regarding lion and cheetah. As in the Serengeti, the wildebeest are the dominant inhabitants of the Maasai Mara, and their numbers are estimated in the millions. Around July of each year, these animals migrate north from the Serengeti plains in search of fresh pasture and return to the south around October. The Great Migration is one of the most impressive natural events worldwide, involving some 1,300,000 wildebeest, 500,000 Thomson’s gazelles, 97,000 Topi, 18,000 elands, and 200,000 zebras. These migrants are followed along their annual, circular route by predators, most notably lions and hyena. Antelopes can be found, including Grant’s gazelles, impalas, duikers and Coke’s hartebeests. The plains are also home to the distinctive Masai giraffe. The large roan antelope and the nocturnal bat-eared fox, rarely present elsewhere in Kenya, can be seen within the reserve borders. There is an option of visiting a local Maasai village.

Day 4: After breakfast, our Kenyan driver/guide will transfer to Isebania border where our Tanzania team will pick you up then drive to Lake Victoria.

Day 5: After breakfast, we will drive to Central Serengeti, with picnic lunch provided, we will have a full day game drive. This is Tanzania’s oldest and most popular national park. Also, a world heritage site and recently proclaimed a worldwide wonder. The Serengeti is framed for its annual migration when some six million hooves pound the open plains as more than 200,000 zebras and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing. Even when the migration is quiet, Serengeti National park offers arguably the most scintillating game viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephants and giraffe, the thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni,  impala and Grant’s gazelle. Dinner and Overnight at Camp or Lodge.

Day 6: Today we will have a full day game drive in Serengeti National Park with picnic lunch provided. The park covers 14,750 square kilometers (5,700 sq mi) of grassland plains, savanna, riverine forest, and woodlands. The park lies in northwestern Tanzania, bordered to the north by the Kenyan border, where it is continuous with the Maasai Mara National Reserve. To the southeast of the park is the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the southwest lies Maswa Game Reserve, to the west are the Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, and to the northeast and east lies the Loliondo Game Control Area. Together, these areas form the larger Serengeti ecosystem.

The park is usually described as divided into three regions; Serengeti plains: The almost treeless grassland of the south is the most emblematic scenery of the park. This is where the wildebeest breed, as they remain in the plains from December to May. Other hoofed animals – zebra, gazelle, impala, hartebeest, topi, buffalo, waterbuck – also occur in huge numbers during the wet season. “Kopjes” are granite florations that are very common in the region, and they are great observation posts for predators, as well as a refuge for hyrax and pythons.

Western corridor: The black clay soil covers the savannah of this region. The Grumeti River and its gallery forest is home to Nile crocodiles, patas monkeys, hippopotamus, and martial eagles. The migration passes through from May to July. Wildebeest on the main highway of the Western Corridor

Northern Serengeti: The landscape is dominated by open woodlands (predominantly Commiphora) and hills, ranging from Seronera in the south to the Mara River on the Kenyan border. Apart from the migratory wildebeest and zebra (which occur from July to August, and in November), this is the best place to find elephants, giraffes, and dik dik.

Day 7: Have a sunrise game drive, drive to the camp for breakfast then drive back o Arusha. Drop off at your accommodation or Kilimanjaro Airport to catch your flight back home or to your next destination.