No picnic on Mt. Kenya

Arrive in Nairobi and transfer to a small plane. Fly over Mt. Kenya before landing at the private airstrip just a few hundred yards from the Kenya Safari Club. Settle into your room before dinner and cocktails. 

Overnight: Kenya Safari Club

Acclimate to Kenya and enjoy a relaxing day at the Fairmont. Exchange stories of adventure poolside or pickup a game of golf on the equator. Visit the Nanyuki war cemetery and the area where the P.O.W. Camp 354 once existed.

Gather in the evening for an expedition planning meeting.

Overnight: Kenya Safari Club

After lunch drive to Gathiuru forest station and a 4-hour ascent through dense stands of towering bamboo to a Giant Bamboo Camp at 2600m. Elephant and buffalo are common here.

The luxuriant bamboo yields to enormous podocarpus and pencil cedar forest before we climb to the Hagenia rosewood zone at the edge of the moorlands. This marks our lunch spot before heading up through the extraordinary giant lobelia and groundsels. We spend the night close to the sheer lava cliffs of the "Highland Castle" at 3,700. Today's hike takes 5-6 hrs with an ascent of 1,100m

Spectacular scenery as the jagged volcanic peaks and shimmering glaciers tower above our trek around the summit circuit. Turquoise tarns nestle in the valleys, eagles and buzzards soar overhead - it's difficult to believe we're on the equator! We might, for the first time, meet other trekkers here as we hike for 5-6 hours overnight at Shipton Camp at 4,200m.

Predawn start for the summit attempt. Up steep screes and a bare rocky track to reach the summit. It's an exhilarating 3 hours from here to reach the hiker's summit, Pt Lenana at 4,985m in time for the sunrise - Kilimanjaro is usually visible 340kms to the south then 2-3 hours descent to Hall Tarns (4,300m), where we have a hefty breakfast and spend the day here to rest and to relax. Our campsite is perched close (but not too close) to the top of a sheer 300m cliff overlooking the Gorges Valley.

Gentle hike down a broad ridge enjoying magnificent views back up the valley to the snowy peaks, and down to waterfalls, tarns and lava flows in the Gorges Valley itself. Overnight in the Meru Mt. Kenya cabins - log fires, hot showers, beds - and if the supply vehicles have made it up through the forest, Tusker beers! Wildlife viewing possible in the evening with elephants and buffalo often grazing outside our cabins and a large number of forest and moorland birds. Fly back to Kenya Safari Club by helicopter. 

Overnight: Kenya Safari Club

Fly From the Mt. Kenya Safari Club over Mt. Kilimanjaro to Arusha 

Overnight: Arusha Coffee Lodge

Take an early  flight to Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge. After lunch we head into the Serengeti National Park for leopards and other big cats, the park is the perfect game drive location. You will have a good opportunity to see these magnificent creatures through the vehicle’s open roof in their natural habitat also Sogore River circuit, which loops into the plains south of the sooner River, and which is good for possible lion, Thomson gazelle, topi, ostrich and cheetah sightings. The visitor`s centre not far from the Serengeti Seronera Lodge and public campsites is well worth a visit after the game drive.

Overnight: Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge

Begin the day with breakfast and a breathtaking Hot Air Balloon ride.

After breakfast, we head into the Serengeti National Park for a full-day game drive. You’ll see hundreds of wildebeests and zebras in the Seronera Valley, and often lions and other big cats including leopards and cheetahs. Sogore River circuit, which loops into the plains south of the Seronera River, and which is good for possible lion, Thomson gazelle, topi, ostrich, and cheetah sightings. The visitor`s center not far from the Serengeti Seronera Lodge and public campsites is well worth a visit after the game drive.

Overnight: Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge

Continue the safari through the Serengeti National Park after breakfast. You’ll see hundreds of wildebeests and zebras in the Seronera Valley, and often lions and other big cats including leopards and cheetahs. You’ll drive in the direction of the Ngorongoro Crater after lunch at Olduvai Gorge.. As soon as you reach the crater rim, the caldera opens up and you’re going to have a breathtaking view of this natural wonder from the crater rim.

Overnight: Nogorongoro Serena Lodge

Early in the morning you will have breakfast and pick up the lunch boxes then you will be driven to Lake Manyara National Park.

Lake Manyara National Park, you travel through the beautiful views of rift Valley Escarpments. While driving you will see Masai herding their cattle and goats just before the park entrance you drive through the small but busy village of Mto wa Mbu, famous for its population of up to 120 tribes and its lively, colorful atmosphere.

Arriving at Lake Manyara, you will enter the park and start your first game drive, first through lush forest and then out open grassland and the lake edge. The birdlife in this park is a bird-watchers paradise, with many endemic species. You can also expect to see a variety of animals, such as impala, elephants, dik-dik, bushbuck, and hippos and, if you’re lucky, you might see the famous tree-climbing lions of Manyara.

Overnight: Arusha Coffee Lodge

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