This 13-day private safari for a minimum of four participants features Kenya's great southern parks, followed by a comprehensive Tanzanian experience from Manyara to the Serengeti, and ends in Kenya's best park, the Maasai Mara. Designed for the summer months, the ending in Kenya's Mara provides the chance of witnessing the great migration. Everyone is guaranteed a window seat in private, specially designed safari vehicles with pop-top roofs operated by East Africa's outstanding guides.

The prices include: ** Guaranteed window seating in Landrovers & Landcruisers with pop-top roofs; ** Professionally-trained, English-speaking driver/guides with each vehicle; ** Meals as detailed in brackets following each day's description below; ** Four local flights: Serengeti to Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro to Nairobi, Nairobi to the Mara, and the Mara back to Nairobi; ** All park entrance fees, VAT and other government taxes; ** Comprehensive pre-trip material with discount coupons for travel gear and equipment. Additional expenses not included, estimated at around $300 per person: - Meals not included; - All beverages; - Requisite visas and other travel preparations like inoculations; - Tipping.

Contact EWT for the best international air fares and for recommendations on how to use your frequent flyer miles.

Whenever you arrive Nairobi, you'll be personally met by your private specially-outfitted safari vehicle and guide who will now remain with you until you enter Tanzania. Transfer to Nairobi's legendary Norfolk Hotel. This afternoon your guide will take you on an interesting walking tour of Nairobi. You'll start at Parliament where you'll be introduced to local politics, then you'll walk past the square of the churches and to the historic Thorntree Cafe for tea where you'll learn of Kenya's colorful colonial past. You'll have time to browse some shops if you wish, buy newspapers and maps and get ready for tomorrow's safari. Return to the hotel for an independent evening.  [no meals]

After breakfast you begin the safari by traveling south of the city through Kenya's citrus farming districts into its largest national park, Tsavo National Park. You'll arrive for lunch, and begin your game viewing in the afternoon. Tsavo was the most famous elephant hunting area in the world. Then, during the years of horrible poaching, as many as 30,000 resident elephants were decimated to a population of less than several thousand. The Kenyan government's response was unexpected and unequivocal, and in 1982 Kenya banned all hunting. The ban remains in force today, although more than ever before there are indications it may soon be reversed. Elephant populations have been rebounding wonderfully since the end of poaching in the 1990s, and today Tsavo's elephant population is approaching 8,000. The area around the lodge is near enough Kilimanjaro that there are many springs, including the famous Mzima Springs, site of many National Geographic studies and films. The lodge's long narrow veranda that extends just beyond the dining area is elevated and looks over the lodge water hole, which is often surrounded by game. Dinner and overnight at Kilaguni Lodge.  [b-l-d]

The dawn game drive is likely to encounter large families of elephant. This is also the best time for finding the great predators, lion and leopard, and there are many in Tsavo. You'll return to the lodge for a splendid breakfast, and the morning is available for safari walks or relaxing by the pool. For those interested, your guide will also take you this morning to famous Mzima Springs, where an underground river off Mt. Kilimanjaro erupts over a lava bed creating a beautiful clear pond that attracts much game. After lunch, another game drive is included. Many people's favorite memories of their safari are just sitting on the veranda at Kilaguni looking over the veldt to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Dinner and overnight at Kilaguni Lodge.  [b-l-d]

After breakfast continue into your second national park, the famous Amboseli National Park, which sits directly beneath Mt. Kilimanjaro. The drive is over the interesting Shetani Lava Flow and beside the gorgeous Chyulu Hills. The route is the closest that any non-climber can get to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, providing some exceptional views. You arrive at Amboseli Serena Lodge for lunch, and begin game viewing in the afternoon. Amboseli is an immense, usually dry soda lake. The edge of the park is a marsh and forest where the lodges are located, and this is what draws the considerable game. There are large numbers of plains species like zebra and wildebeest and, at the edges, good numbers of cheetah and lion.  [b-l-d]

A dawn game drive may succeed in finding some of Amboseli's famous cheetah, the only cat that must hunt during the day. This is also a gorgeous time for photography, as the sunrise on the many lake pools reflects thousands of exotic birds. After breakfast the safari continues to the Tanzanian/Kenyan border post at Namanga, where you bid goodbye to your Kenyan guides and pick up Tanzanian guides in a new set of Landcruisers to continue your safari in Tanzania. It's then a short drive into Arusha town, where you'll have lunch at a popular local restaurant. In the afternoon continue over the Maasai Plains into the Great Rift Valley. The Rift began forming about 25 million years ago and is essentially tearing the continent apart. The result is a series of beautiful lakes and dramatic escarpments, and one of the most spectacular ones are found at Lake Manyara. Climb the escarpment to the Manyara Serena Lodge for dinner and overnight.  [b-l-d]

Dawn game drive in Lake Manyara National Park with a picnic breakfast. This is when the light is best for photography and the chances of finding Manyara's big leopard are the best. Manyara was where the first important elephant research was conducted by Ian Douglas Hamilton. Manyara is above all one of the prettiest parks on the circuit, with thick, magical forests that contain more species of trees than in most of North America. Because of its diverse habitats and life forms, the park has been declared a UNESCO biosphere. This is the park famous for its lions-in-the-tree. (Lions climb any trees they can, anywhere, but because Manyara offers so many different varieties, the lions, opportunities are greater here than elsewhere.) In the afternoon leave the park and continue into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area on a spectacular drive through the Ngorongoro rain forest onto Ngorongoro Crater. Continue around the rim to Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge for dinner and overnight.  [b-l-d]

Dawn game drive in Ngorongoro Crater National Park. You'll make the quick descent through a glen of rare Lehai Acacia, Africa's "bonzaii" acacia. Once on the floor you'll understand why this is so often referred to as "Africa's Garden of Eden". At times there are 20,000 animals on the 100 sq. mile caldera floor, the highest density of lion in Africa, hundreds of hyaena and jackal, and large numbers of plains game. The central soda lake is often filled with flamingo. Enjoy your picnic breakfast beside a lake usually frequented by hippo. Return to the lodge for a late lunch, and in the afternoon you can descend the crater again for a shorter drive, relax in the beautiful surroundings of the lodge, or optionally visit a nearby Maasai village. Dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge.  [b-l-d]

After breakfast retrace your route around the crater rim over the lip of the crater towards the great Serengeti National Park. First sop is Olduvai Gorge where so many precious finds of early man were found. There will be time to visit the museum after a short lecture by the curator. Afterwards, your game viewing begins immediately as head out over the great plains. Depending upon the season of your first, you may stop at Shifting Sands and the Gol Kopjes. Enjoy a picnic lunch as you traverse the NCAA and enter the Serengeti at Naabi Hill. Continue afternoon game viewing through the park to Serengeti Sopa Lodge for dinner and overnight.  [b-l-d]

Your lodge is located in the Moru Kopjes, often considered the most beautiful part of the Serengeti. Today you’ll take a picnic lunch and head into the center of the park. The Serengeti is a vast place. Your driver will have the most current information about where to go and what there is to be seen. In addition to abundant game, there may be opportunities to explore sacred Maasai sites and old cave paintings. Return to Serengeti Sopa Lodge for dinner and overnight.  [b-l-d]

Your safari ends in Kenya's best game park, the Maasai Mara, and most of today is spent getting there. After breakfast you’ll game drive to the nearest airstrip where you bid farewell to your guide and fly to Kilimanjaro Airport to exit through Tanzanian customs and immigration. You then board a commercial flight to Nairobi’s small Wilson airport, where you enter Kenya before taking your final flight into the Maasai Mara, scheduled to arrive in mid-afternoon. You’ll be met by Landrovers that will game view the rest of the afternoon into the very special Governor's Camp for dinner and overnight.  [b- -d]

There is no better place to end a great safari than in the Mara. The gently rolling grassland plains are bisected by a number of great rivers, including the wide and deep Mara. Unlike so many other places in East Africa, off-road game viewing is allowed in certain places with certain caution, and at times you can be game viewing with virtually no one else in sight. Although nothing can ever be guaranteed in the wild, the months of July - October in the Mara are usually those of the great migration. In addition to the excellent game viewing climax of your safari, your camp can arrange hot air ballooning over the herds, a visit to a Maasai village, or game walks. Meals and overnight at Governor's Camp.  [b-l-d]

After a final morning of game viewing you fly back to Nairobi arriving around noon and transfer to the Norfolk Hotel. Everyone has a room to repack and relax this afternoon. In the evening you bid goodbye to your guide and tranfser to the airport for your overnight departures to Europe.  [b- - ]

END OF EWT SERVICES

The final full day of game-viewing in the lush and game rich Mara. The veldt is usually packed with animals, including virtually all the plains animals found in East Africa. The density of lion is higher here than in any other East African park, and the abundance and ease of finding other predators like hyena, cheetah and leopard is a reflection of how healthy the ecosystem is. Meals and overnight at Governor's Camp.  [b-l-d]