11 Days East Africa Safari (East African Finest Safari)
A breathtaking 11 Days East Africa Safari covering Kenya and Tanzania through some of the most famous places in all Africa, Maasai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro, and Amboseli. The incredible Lake Nakuru and Manyara are also included in this epic journey that will lead you into the depths of this magical continent
11 Days East Africa Safari highlight
- Lake Nakuru National Park.
- Maasai Mara National Park
- Serengeti National Park.
- Ngorongoro Conservation Area
- Lake Manyara National Park
- Amboseli National Park.
Detailed 11 Days East Africa Safari
Day 1: Visit Lake Nakuru National Park
On the 11 Days East Africa Safari, you shall have early morning breakfast before we depart to Lake Nakuru National Park. Across the equator, southwards of Bogoria, lies the rift valleys most famous lake Nakuru, known all over the world for its flamingos, its alkaline and is recognized as being one of the natural wonders of the world.
Lake Nakuru is now a rhino sanctuary, harboring a population of over 40 black and over 60 white rhinos, but the flamingos, of course, have always been the main attraction.
At times there may be about 2 million flamingos in the residence, forming a stunningly beautiful deep pink band around the edge of the lake shore. Arrive in time for lunch then have an afternoon game drive. Dinner and overnight will be served at campsite or lodge
Recommended Accommodation facilities:
- Ziwa bush lodge
- Lake Nakuru Lodge
- Sarova Lion Hill Nakuru
- The Cliff
Day 2: Drive from Lake Nakuru National Park to Maasai Mara Game Reserve
This day starts with an early morning drive to Maasai Mara National Reserve, it holds on as one of the few places left on earth where wildlife still lives comparatively undisturbed, in the numbers that once roamed the plains and forests of Africa.
As the northern tip of the vast Serengeti ecosystem, the Mara hosts the spectacular seasonal migration of many thousands of wildebeests’, zebra and attendant predators. Arrive in time for lunch then have an afternoon game drive. Dinner and overnight at campsite or lodge
Recommended Accommodation facilities:
- Julia’s River camp
- IIkelian Camp
- Amani Mara by spirit of Kenya collection
- Beyond Kichwa Tembo
Day 3: Full Day Adventure in Maasai Mara Game Reserve
You will spend one full day in the Maasai Mara game reserve with flexible schedule and unlimited mileage accompanied by a lot of fun and adventure. This comes in soon just after breakfast, we have a full day game drive, with packed lunch provided.
The reserve is well known for its black- manned lion, as well as its abundant resident wildlife and it’s of the few places where it’s possible to see the big five during morning’s game drive. This justifies why Maasai Mara shouldn’t miss on your top destinations’ list!
Many of the cheetahs are so tamed that they seek shelter from the hot sun under one’s vehicle and several even climb onto the roof to get a better view of a prospective prey.
For the bird enthusiasts, almost 500 species have been recorded: among these 16 species of eagle, plus many hawks and falcons, 6 species of vultures, 8 species of storks 4 of bustard (including the Kori bustard, the world’s heaviest flying bird), and 9 species of sunbirds. Dinner and overnight at the campsite or lodge!
Recommended Accommodation facilities:
- Julia’s River camp
- IIkelian Camp
- Amani Mara by spirit of Kenya collection
- Beyond Kichwa Tembo
Day 4: Maasai Mara national reserve to Serengeti national park
This day will start with an early morning game drive in Maasai Mara while driving out of the National Reserve. After boarder formalities, drive to the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
It will be a long day of driving but the game drives in and out of parks can be surprisingly memorable and worth the moment.
However, we always recommend flying from one park to the other so that you can have more time to go on a safari. Alternatively, you can add an extra day to visit Lake Victoria halfway between the two Parks. Dinner and overnight follows as we summarize this day!
Recommended accommodation facilities:
- Pumzika Serengeti Camps
- Serengeti Sopa Lodge
- Chaka Camps
- Four Seasons Serengeti
Day 5: Full day East Africa Safari adventure in Serengeti National Park
A lot of interesting events are yet to unveil as you will spend two full days in Serengeti national park with flexible schedule and unlimited mileage.
As you crest the hillside, spread out as far as the eyes can see, is the vast Serengeti. Serengeti means endless plains in Swahili and this stretches to 6,900 square miles (18,000 square kilometers).
The park is inhabited by more than 2 million large animals including more than a million wildebeests, hundreds of thousands of plain zebras, and Thomson’s gazelles.
Large predators including Lions, Cheetahs, and hyenas are drawn to the area by this abundance of prey which migrates throughout the park.
Many smaller animals like rock hyrax, bat-eared foxes, mongoose, honey badger, jackals, monkeys, baboons and African hares also inhabit the area along with nearly 500 species of birds.
On the way into Serengeti, option to stop at the famous Olduvai Gorge, where Dr Louis and Mary Leakey made their discovery of the first walked the earth.
After attending a short lecture describing the archeological digs and geology of the gorge, you will have time to visit the small museum. After game drive en route to the campsite. Dinner and overnight stay
Recommended accommodation facilities:
- Pumzika Serengeti Camps
- Serengeti Sopa Lodge
- Chaka Camps
- Four Seasons Serengeti
Day 7: Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Conservation Area
This day starts with the morning breakfast before transferring to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the 8th natural wonder of the world.
Along the way, you will have to stop for a picnic lunch, afternoon, and descent down to the crater floor for a day of wildlife viewing in one of the most incredible places on earth.
With walls of 2,000 ft high and a crater floor spreads for 102 square miles, the crater is a virtual Noah’s Ark, inhabited by almost every species of wildlife indigenous to East Africa including the rare black rhino.
In fact, the crater has the greatest concentration of wildlife on the planet. It contains a river, several swamps, a soda lake that, from the top, looks like steam, full of flamingos, forest and open plains. Drive up the steep road out of the crater and transfer to your accommodation for an overnight
Recommended accommodation facilities:
- Rhino Lodge
- Serena Ngorongoro
- Sanctuary Ngorongoro camp
- The highlands
Day 8: Ngorongoro Crater to Lake Manyara National Park
Before departing for the morning drive, you will be served with breakfast thereafter you drive across the Great Rift Valley to Lake Manyara National Park for a full day game drive. Although only 205 square miles in size, this enchanting is noted for its beauty and incredibly lush acacia forest of giant fig and mahogany trees, which are home to troops of baboons and blue monkeys.
This park is also home to large number of buffaloes, giraffes, elephants, impalas, and a hippo lake, where large numbers of hippos usually gather. Well known for its birds (over 400 different species), lake Manyara is one of the few places where you will be able to see the ground Hornbill and crested eagle.
This park has become famous for the tree climbing Lions and the flamingos in the lake shore. The landscapes of this park are absolutely stunning, very different from Serengeti for example. The game drives are done along the shore of the lake. This is not found anywhere else in other parks.
You will experience incredible views of the giraffes and buffalos in the foreground with the lake, flamingos and flat plains in the horizon. Great photo moments followed by dinner and overnight!
Recommended Accommodation facilities:
- Manyara Wildlife Safari Camp
- Manyara Serena Lodge
- Gibb’s farm
- Manyara Tree Lodge
Day 9: Lake Manyara National Park to Amboseli National Park
After morning breakfast, you will start off with the drive to Amboseli National Park, check in at your accommodation and afternoon rest or game drive, as you prefer.
Amboseli National Park is situated south of Nairobi city, most of the park consisting of dry, ancient lake bed and fragile grassland with patches of acacia woodland, while in the southern area there are a number of small rocky volcanic hills.
Around the swamp is Ol Okenya, Ol Tukai and Enkongo Narok, the vegetation is lush with yellow-barked acacias and phoenix palms. Later you head for dinner and overnight stay at the hotel.
Recommended accommodation facilities:
- Amboseli Sopa Lodge
- Kibo Safari Camp
- Ol Tukai Lodge
- Tortilis Camp
Day 10: Amboseli National Park
Early rise for good views of Mount Kilimanjaro before clouds build up over the summit with packed lunch provided.
Despite its changing habitat, Amboseli National Park is possibly the best wildlife area in the whole of Africa experience elephants at close range.
Left unharrased by poachers, elephants feeding and bathing in the swamps must form the highlights of any Safari. You will have dinner followed by overnight stay.
Recommended Accommodation facilities:
- Amboseli Sopa Lodge
- Kibo Safari Camp
- Ol Tukai Lodge
- Tortilis Camp
Day 11: Amboseli National Park to Nairobi
Expect yet a lot more of adventure and wildlife on this notably the last day of your safari. You will go for a morning game drive in the Amboseli National Park just after your breakfast! An optional visit to a Maasai Village can be planned also.
A visit reveals singing and dancing that are part of their daily lives and sacred rituals. A glimpse into their homes and social structure is a poignant experience. Early afternoon drive to Nairobi city. Transfer to your hotel or the airport.
End of 11 Days East Africa Safari
Background of the 11 Days East Africa Safari
Lake Manyara National Park (Lake Manyara)
This is a protected area in Tanzania’s Arusha and Manyara regions found between Lake Manyara and the Great Rift Valley. It is administered by the Tanzanian National Park Authority and covers a land area of 322 square kilometers (125 square miles) including roughly 230 square kilometers (89 square miles) of Lake Surface. More than 350 bird species have been observed on this lake.
Since 1920, the Lake Manyara area was used for sports hunting. In 1957, a game reserve was established. In 1960, it was given a National Park status and in 1974 about 550 ha (1,400 acres) were added to the southern end.
The majority of the land area of the park is a narrow strip running between the Gregory Rift wall to the west and Lake Manyara, an alkaline lake
Ngorongoro Conservation Area (The Crater)
The Ngorongoro crater (260km2) is the most densely populated area in the world. There are estimated 25,000 animals on the crater floor including the big five.
The rim of the crater is about 600 meters above the crater floor in the middle of which is a Salt Lake.
At night herds of zebras and elephants climb the edge of the crater and in day time the Maasai herds their cows and goats down into crater allowing them graze on the green crater floor.
Olduvai Gorge
The Ngorongoro crater covers an area of 260 square kilometers, is the most densely populated area in the world. There are estimated 25,000 animals on the crater floor including the big five. The rim of the crater is about 600 meters above the crater floor in the middle of which is a Salt Lake.
At night herds of zebras and elephants climb the edge of the crater and in day time the Maasai herds their cows and goats down into crater allowing them graze on the green crater floor.
Adventure the Serengeti National Park on the 11 Days East Africa Safari
This is a Tanzanian National Park in the Serengeti ecosystem in the Mara and Simiyu regions. It is famous and well known for its annual migration of about 1.5 million white- bearded (brindled) wildebeests and 250,000 Zebras and for its numerous Nile Crocodiles and honey badger.
This migration is the largest remaining unaltered animal migration. It contains 1.5 million hectares of savannah. The park is the centerpiece of the Serengeti ecosystem and twice as large. The park covers, 14,750 square kilometers (5,700 square miles) 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 Maasai Mara National Reserve.
To the southeast of the park is Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the west are the Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserve, and to the northeast and east lies the Loliondo Game Control Area. Together, the areas form the larger Serengeti Ecosystem
Lake Nakuru National Park (Lake Nakuru)
Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley Soda Lakes at an altitude of 1,754 m (5,755 ft) above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru in the rift valley of Kenya and protected by Lake Nakuru National Park.
The lake’s abundance of algae used to attract a vast quantity of flamingos that are famously lined at the shore. Other birds also flourish in the area, as do warthogs, baboons, and other large mammals. Eastern black rhinos and southern white rhinos have also been introduced.
The lake level dropped dramatically in the early 1990s but has since largely recovered. In 2013, the lake received an alarming increase in the water levels that led to the migration of flamingos to Lake Bogoria in search for food.
The word Nakuru is translated as “Dust or Dusty place” in the Maasai Language. Lake Nakuru National Park, close to Nakuru town, was established in 1961. It started off small, only encompassing the famous lake and the surrounding mountainous vicinity, but has since been extended to include a large part of the savanna
Visit Maasai (Masai) Mara National Reserve on the 11 Days East Africa Safari
This is a vast game reserve with rich wildlife situated in the semi-arid Narok County in Kenya. It is contiguous with the Serengeti national park in the Mara region of Tanzania. It is named in the honor of Maasai people who are the ancestral inhabitants of the area. Mara means spotted in “maa”, a Masai language.
Maasai Mara is globally famous for its exceptional population in wildlife and wildebeest immigration to and from Serengeti every year during the dry season from July to October. This is commonly known as the Great Migration. A visit to the reserve is great venture to undertake for cultural tour of one of the oldest inhabitants of East Africa, the Maasai.
This noble tribe is one of the very few tribes that have retained most of their traditions. It has a team of traditional dancers who dance o their call-and -dance response singing and perhaps their most widely known dance is the damu or rather jumping dance.
You can get to join the dancing as these flexible male dancers jump higher and higher to the rhythms of the enchanting music accompanying to their dance stroke. Masai Mara has several tourism activities. Among others, there are the hot air balloons over the reserve, safari drives, nature walk, bird watching, site seeing, guided bush walk and hiking.
Amboseli National Park
This is notably one of the iconic Kenya National Parks and a popular safari destination. Amboseli national park is a cocktail with all the ingredients a safari goer would want on a 12 Days East Africa Safari.
From the stunning views of Africa’s highest peaks, fascinating wildlife, varied vegetation to multicolored Masai culture. All are here for you to sample. Enjoy unhurried game viewing with possible sights of lions, herds of Elephants, Lion, hyena, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, and many more. Pelicans and other birds as you capture the moments on your digital camera.
- Lies on the foot of the Africa’s highest snowcapped mountain- Mt. Kilimanjaro.
- The largest population of Africa elephants are found here in groups.
- Other members of the big five and other wild animals are here too.
- Enjoy momentous view of the Amboseli National Park with adjacent marshy grounds hosting a variety of water fowls like pelican, Egyptian goose from the observation hill.
11 Days East Africa Safari Inclusions and Exclusions
Safari includes:
- Transportation in a tour van/Land cruiser.
- Service of an English -speaking tour guide/driver.
- All activities mentioned in the itinerary.
- Park admissions.
- Accommodation on full board.
- Entrance fees to all destinations as per the program.
- Transfer to and from the airport.
Safari exclusions
- All activities not mentioned in the program.
- Phone calls bills.
- Tips.
- International transfers.
- Gratitude to tour guides.
- Personal insurance.
- Personal effects of any nature.
- Hotel fees before and after the East Africa safari.
