9 Days Kenya and Tanzania Wildebeest Migration Safari

Upon arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, you’ll be met and transferred to Eka Hotel, a luxurious stopover for those exploring Kenya’s wilder places, ideally located just minutes from the airport.

After a sumptuous breakfast, you’ll be transferred to the world-famous Masai Mara, backdrop to one of nature’s most awe-inspiring wildlife spectacles: the wildebeest migration. Your accommodation is Governors’ Camp, a luxury eco-safari camp nestled along the winding banks of the Mara River in the west of the reserve, approximately 15 minutes from the airstrip. It offers a classic safari experience in the heart of Masai Mara where you can view resident wildlife from the camp.

On arrival, enjoy lunch at your camp and embark on an afternoon safari exploring Kenya’s most popular reserve. Enjoy a sundowner with refreshing drinks and delicious canapés while watching the sun set over the open savannah. Arrive back in camp in time for campfire cocktails and dinner.

From July to October, the Great Migration brings over 1.5 million wildebeest, zebras and gazelles from the dry plains of Tanzania’s Serengeti into Kenya’s well-watered Masai Mara in search of fresh grass. Your day will be spent in Africa’s richest wildlife viewing arena following the migration on scintillating game drives.

Teeming with wildlife, the Mara is widely considered the best place to see big cats (lions, leopards, and cheetahs) in Kenya, offering incredible year-round viewing opportunities across its open, rolling grasslands with abundant prey. Other predators include spotted hyenas. You will also see fat pods of hippos and vast Nile crocodiles in the Mara River as you track the wildebeest and zebra.

Fly over the Mara in a Hot air Balloon flight to enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the reserve at sunrise, followed by a champagne breakfast in the wild. Alternatively, visit a Maasai village for an unforgettable cultural experience to explore their traditions and ways of life with your local Maasai guide acting as a bridge to the community (extra cost).

After a delightful breakfast, you’ll be transferred to the Northern Serengeti with picnic lunch boxes. Customs and immigration border formalities will take place at the Isebania border. Then, proceed with game viewing en route to Mara Mara Tented Lodge, a relaxed, modern, clean-lined tented camp with a traditional African feel, set in one of the Serengeti’s busiest wildlife corridors within the northern (Kogatende) area. It allows you to witness the great spectacle of the world-famous annual migration up close. Arrive in time for a classic safari supper following the migration.

Spend the next day exploring and following the path of the great migration. The Serengeti is sparsely inhabited by large Acacia as well as Tortilis Tree’s and hosts astonishing wildlife year-round due to water catchments around the area.

Northern Serengeti remains an unexplored region of this vast wilderness packed with stunning landscapes and abundant wildlife. While the wildebeest migration is undoubtedly the most captivating highlight, the region also supports an abundance of resident wildlife, including lions, elephants, hippos, giraffes, crocodiles, and the rare oribi antelopes.

After a sumptuous breakfast, you’ll be transferred to the wildlife-rich Seronera area in Central Serengeti, where your day will be spent exploring. The Seronera Valley supports a much greater diversity of resident wildlife than anywhere else in the Serengeti, including elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, impalas, waterbucks, hippos, topis, reedbucks and baboons. The resident prey in turn attracts the highest concentrations of predators in Africa, including lions, hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, and a multitude of smaller predators like mongooses, jackals, servals and bat-eared foxes.

Take to the skies on a hot air balloon flight over the Serengeti (extra cost). Glide above the plains at sunrise while enjoying stunning views of abundant wildlife, rivers, and villages beneath, followed by a champagne breakfast in the wild.

After a sumptuous breakfast, you’ll be transferred to Ngorongoro Conservation Area with picnic lunch boxes, stopping en route at Olduvai Gorge. Known as the ‘Cradle of Mankind’, this is one of the most significant prehistoric sites in the world, offering a glimpse into life two million years ago and human evolution. It was pioneered by famous paleontologists Louis and Mary Leakey in the 1950s.

The famous Ngorongoro Conservation Area is defined by rolling plains, lakes, craters, mountains and dormant volcanoes with the main feature being the crater. Your accommodation is Neptune Ngorongoro Lodge, an intimate luxury retreat at the foot of the crater. Arrive in time for dinner and relaxation or an optional cultural village visit.

After a sumptuous breakfast, descend onto the crater floor of the Eighth Wonder of the World, a unique biosphere that has remained virtually unchanged since the dawn of time. Enclosed within its towering walls is a thriving ecosystem defined by grasslands, swamps, forests, saltpans, a fresh water lake and a vast array of wildlife, including a glorious variety of birdlife—one of the highest densities anywhere in Africa. All the members of the iconic ‘Big Five’ (lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo) are present as well as a large cast of plains game and one of Africa’s densest populations of predators. Enjoy a picnic lunch on the crater floor before climbing back up to the lodge to relax followed by dinner.

After breakfast, you may explore the crater one more time or transfer to Kilimanjaro Airport for your flight back home. Bid farewell to the wonderful country, and promise to join us on another expedition.