8-Day Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Lake Manyara, Serengeti & Ngorongoro Safari

Day-by-day itinerary

Route: Nairobi → Masai Mara → Lake Nakuru → Arusha → Lake Manyara → Serengeti → Ngorongoro → Arusha

1. Day 1

   Nairobi to Masai Mara

   Bags are loaded after breakfast and you depart Nairobi bound for Masai Mara, descending the wall of the Great Rift Valley and passing through Narok and Maasai farming country. Lunch and check-in come first, then an afternoon drive through open savanna grassland, acacia stands and the rolling country of the greater Mara ecosystem. Wildlife commonly associated with this area includes lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, buffalo and large herds of plains game. The reserve is best known for its big cat densities, and between roughly July and October the wildebeest migration commonly moves through the ecosystem. Transport and game drives are shared with other travellers on this joining departure. Dinner is served at your Masai Mara camp or lodge, where you spend the night.

2. Day 2

   Full-Day Masai Mara Safari

   A full day in Masai Mara allows you to explore well beyond the areas reached on a short visit. The drives cover open savanna grassland, acacia stands and the rolling country of the greater Mara ecosystem, moving between habitats as conditions change. Species commonly associated with the area include lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, buffalo and large herds of plains game. A full day allows morning and late-afternoon drives when animals are most active, with the option of a picnic lunch out in the reserve. The reserve is best known for its big cat densities, and between roughly July and October the wildebeest migration commonly moves through the ecosystem. Transport and game drives are shared with other travellers on this joining departure. The evening returns you to your Masai Mara accommodation for dinner and overnight.

3. Day 3

   Masai Mara to Lake Nakuru

   The morning starts in Masai Mara, from where you continue overland to Lake Nakuru, travelling through the Rift Valley floor and the farming towns of the Nakuru region. Arrival is followed by check-in and a first drive into a Rift Valley soda lake ringed by yellow-barked acacia woodland and steep escarpment viewpoints. This is good country in which to look for black and white rhino, Rothschild's giraffe, buffalo, waterbuck and dense birdlife. The park operates as a sanctuary and is one of Kenya's more reliable places to look for rhino; flamingo numbers on the lake rise and fall with water levels. Dinner is served at your Lake Nakuru camp or lodge, where you spend the night.

4. Day 4

   Lake Nakuru to Arusha

   After breakfast you leave Lake Nakuru and travel on toward Arusha, continuing through the farmland and Maasai country below Mount Meru. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into northern Tanzania's safari gateway town below the slopes of Mount Meru. Arusha is the staging point for the northern Tanzania circuit and where most safari briefings take place. Dinner and overnight are at your camp or lodge in Arusha.

5. Day 5

   Arusha to Lake Manyara

   After breakfast you leave Arusha and travel on toward Lake Manyara, driving west from Arusha past Maasai settlements and the escarpment wall. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into groundwater forest, open floodplain and an alkaline lake beneath the Rift Valley escarpment. Look for elephant, baboon troops, hippo, giraffe and large numbers of waterbirds including flamingo as the light softens through the afternoon. Manyara is known for its groundwater forest fed by springs at the base of the escarpment, and for lions that are sometimes seen resting in trees. Dinner and overnight are at your camp or lodge in Lake Manyara.

6. Day 6

   Lake Manyara to Serengeti

   You leave Lake Manyara after breakfast and head for Serengeti, crossing the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and descending onto the open plains. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into vast short-grass plains broken by granite kopjes and seasonal watercourses. Look for lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe and immense herds of wildebeest and zebra as the light softens through the afternoon. The Serengeti's wildlife moves with the seasons, so the sector visited is chosen to match where the herds and predators are likely to be at that time of year. You return for dinner and an overnight stay at Serengeti.

7. Day 7

   Serengeti to Ngorongoro

   After breakfast you leave Serengeti and travel on toward Ngorongoro, climbing the forested crater highlands to the rim viewpoint. You arrive in time to settle in, and the day continues with a game drive across a collapsed volcanic caldera roughly six hundred metres deep, with grassland, soda lake and fever-tree forest on its floor. Your guide works the area for lion, elephant, buffalo, flamingo and one of the few remaining populations where black rhino may be seen, with sightings varying by season and conditions. The crater floor holds a resident concentration of wildlife year-round because the caldera walls create a largely self-contained ecosystem. Dinner and overnight are at your camp or lodge in Ngorongoro.

8. Day 8

   Ngorongoro Crater to Arusha

   Breakfast is taken before you set out from Ngorongoro Crater for the drive to Arusha, continuing through the farmland and Maasai country below Mount Meru. Once you reach Arusha there is time to check in before heading out among northern Tanzania's safari gateway town below the slopes of Mount Meru. Arusha is the staging point for the northern Tanzania circuit and where most safari briefings take place. Arrival back is normally in the afternoon, with a drop-off at your hotel or the airport.