Depart London Heathrow this morning on your British Airways flight to Nairobi (8 hours 25 minutes). On arrival you will be transferred to the Nairobi Serena Hotel (15 KM/approximately 30 minutes) for your overnight stay.

Drive to the Amboseli National Park (250 KM/approximately 4 hours) for your stay at the Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge. This afternoon we enjoy our first game drive, across the game rich plains of one of East Africa’s most prolific wildlife areas. Lying within sight of the imposing shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro in neighbouring Tanzania, the expansive plains and infinite skies of Amboseli present us with a landscape that is truly African. Home to the proudly independent Masai, its dry savannahs thunder beneath the onslaught of the vast herds wildebeest, zebra, impala and the elephants for which it is famed. Panoramas filled with lush swamplands and acacia forests provide ideal havens for a myriad of birds and small mammals, including bee-eaters, kingfishers, caracals and warthogs, whilst cheetahs, lion and hyena hunt the open grasslands.

Our morning and afternoon game drives see us in search of a staggering array of wilderness experiences, from the magnificent herds of game that sweep across these dusty plains, to the majestic sight of some of the 700 or so elephants for which Amboseli is justly famed. We may even be lucky enough to perhaps encounter the rare black rhino.

After an early morning game drive we continue towards the border town of Namanga, where we cross into Tanzania and continue to Arusha (215 KM/approximately 4 hours 30 minutes – this does not include any delays that may occur at the border). After lunch in Arusha, we resume our journey to the spectacular setting of the Ngorongoro Crater (190 KM/approximately 3 hours 30 minutes) for our stay at the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge.

After breakfast we enter the magnificent natural amphitheatre of Ngorongoro’s volcanic crater, home to some 30,000 animals and the remarkable setting for one of the most breathtaking wildlife experiences on the planet. The scene is classic Africa, with seemingly endless herds of big game, large predators and the sweep of the African savannah. After lunch, an opportunity to visit a local village, to learn something of life and tradition in these wild lands.

This morning we visit Olduvai Gorge, the site of the discovery of some of the oldest human remains ever found, before continuing to the Serengeti National Park (165 KM/approximately 4 hours – travelling time depends on game viewing opportunities), where you will stay 2 nights at the Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge.

The oldest of Tanzania’s game parks, the Serengeti is a staggering spectacle of incredible diversity, where magnificent herds of wildebeest and zebra form an uneasy alliance against the ever present threat of some of Africa’s most powerful predators.

Continuing through the Serengeti this morning, we head for Kirawira Luxury Tented Camp (70 KM/travelling time depends on gameviewing opportunities), where we are treated to some glorious views across the plains.

After an early morning game drive we continue to the border at Isebania (300 KM/approximately 5 hours), where we cross back into Kenya and head for the breathless beauty of the Masai Mara National Reserve (100KM/approximately 3 hours 30 minutes – travelling time depends on gameviewing opportunities). On arrival transfer to the Mara Serena Safari Lodge for a stay of 2 nights.

With almost every species of animal great and small in the park, this is one of Africa’s premier wildlife areas and today we enjoy both morning and afternoon game drives in search of the ‘Big Five’ (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino). This is safari at its best and Africa at its most spectacular. Heartland of the Masai, southwest Kenya presents a landscape where Africa is laid bare in all its majesty. Here the endless struggle for survival is played out across the vast open plains and riverine forests of this captivating land. Each year the Mara explodes into life, as the annual migration of great herds of wildebeest journey from the Serengeti to fresh pastures in the north. Between July and October the Mara River becomes the setting for the crossing of some 1.3 million animals, bringing with them the inevitable predators and the inevitable dramas.

After a morning’s game viewing we transfer to the Serena airstrip for the flight back to Nairobi (1 hour). On arrival we transfer to the Nairobi Serena Hotel for use of a day room to relax until our evening flight on British Airways to London.

Arrive at London Heathrow in the morning