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Itineraries  /  Complete East Africa Safari
KT09 · Kenya & Tanzania · Grand Circuit

Complete East Africa Safari

Arusha · Central Serengeti · Karatu · Lake Nakuru National Park · Masai Mara National Reserve · Nairobi · Ngorongoro Crater · Tarangire National Park
Duration
16 Days · 15 Nights
The route
Arusha · Central Serengeti · Karatu · Lake Nakuru National Park · Masai Mara National Reserve · Nairobi · Ngorongoro Crater · Tarangire National Park
Style
Grand Circuit
Best season
Migration Jul–Oct (Kenya) · Jun–Oct (Tanzania)
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What you're tracking

What you'll see

Lion
Mara prides, often with cubs in the grass.
Elephant
Big-tusked herds on the Amboseli pans.
Leopard
Draped along an acacia branch at dusk.
Rhino
Black and white rhino on the conservancies.
Buffalo
Buffalo
Herds grazing the floodplains in number.
Day by day

The journey, one day at a time

01Arrival · Nairobi

Arrive in Nairobi

The journey starts here.

Arrive in Arrival · Nairobi, met and transferred to your accommodation.

02Nairobi → Nakuru

To the lake of flamingos

A rim of pink along the shallows.

Drive to Nakuru to Lake Nakuru for an afternoon drive — rhino on the grassland and flamingo strung along the water.

03Nakuru

Rhino country

Black and white rhino, Rothschild's giraffe.

A full morning in the park — one of the surest places in Kenya for both rhino species — before moving on.

04Nakuru → Mara

Into the Mara

The plains open and don't stop.

Drive to Mara into the Maasai Mara and head out on a first game drive as the light softens — plains game, elephant and the first cats on the way to camp.

05Mara

Full day on the plains

Cats before the heat, a sundowner to close.

Morning and afternoon drives with a Maasai guide, routed by where the predators are moving, with the long midday hours to rest at camp.

06Mara

Deeper into the reserve

A different corner, a different cast.

A full day further afield — river lines, kopjes and open grassland — with a picnic lunch out in the bush.

07Mara → Central Serengeti

Into the central Serengeti

Endless plains, resident prides.

Fly across the border to Central Serengeti into the central Serengeti and drive the Seronera valleys for resident lion, leopard and cheetah. Continue by road into the central Serengeti and drive the Seronera valleys for resident lion, leopard and cheetah.

08Central Serengeti

The Seronera valleys

Cats along the rivers.

Full days among the Seronera river lines — the surest big-cat country in the Serengeti — with the long midday to rest. A full day further onto the plains and kopjes, routed by where the prides and herds are moving.

09Central Serengeti

Out across the plains

Open grass to the horizon.

A full day further onto the plains and kopjes, routed by where the prides and herds are moving. Drive from Arusha into the central Serengeti and drive the Seronera valleys for resident lion, leopard and cheetah.

10Central Serengeti

The Seronera valleys

Cats along the rivers.

Full days among the Seronera river lines — the surest big-cat country in the Serengeti — with the long midday to rest. Drive to Central Serengeti into the central Serengeti and drive the Seronera valleys for resident lion, leopard and cheetah.

11Central Serengeti → Ngorongoro

Up to the Ngorongoro highlands

A green rim above a hidden world.

Drive to Ngorongoro to the Ngorongoro highlands and settle on the crater rim, ready for the descent.

12Ngorongoro

Down into the crater

A day on the caldera floor.

A full day on the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater — black rhino, lion, flamingo and big herds inside one collapsed volcano.

13Ngorongoro → Tarangire

Into Tarangire

Baobabs and the first big herds.

Drive to Tarangire to Tarangire, a park of giant baobabs and dense elephant herds, and take a first drive along the river.

14Tarangire

Along the Tarangire River

Elephants, baobabs, big skies.

A full day tracking elephant family groups and predators along the river that gives the park its life.

15Tarangire → Arusha

Into Arusha

Coffee country, Meru behind.

Drive to Arusha to Arusha, the green town below Mount Meru that is the gateway to Tanzania's northern circuit — a night to settle before the parks.

16Arusha → home

Journey's end

Wheels-up over the country you crossed.

Transfer to the airport for your onward flight home.

When to travel

The season changes what you see.

Jul – Oct

The migration window

The wildebeest are in the Mara and the river crossings are on — the headline months, and the busiest. Book well ahead.

Nov – Jun

Resident game, green plains

The Big Five never leave. Fewer vehicles, lower rates, newborns in the grass and clean light for photography.

Wildlife you may see
Cheetah Elephant Leopard Lion

Make it yours.

Add nights, swap a park, extend to the coast — this route is a starting point, not a fixed menu. Tell us how you travel and we'll route the rest.

Field notes, now and then.

Where to go · When to go · Wildlife in season

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