7-Day Kenya & Tanzania Safari

On arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, meet your transfer representative and continue to your Nairobi hotel. The journey varies with the hotel’s location and city traffic; we choose the overnight stop with both your arrival and tomorrow’s departure in mind.

Today gives you time to recover from your international flight, shower, and settle into the local time zone. If you arrive early, there may be room for a relaxed meal or an optional Nairobi activity, depending on your interests.

Before dinner, keep your camera, binoculars, and travel documents ready for the morning. If your safari includes light-aircraft flights, pack to the confirmed baggage allowance from the beginning. Your first overnight is in Nairobi.

After breakfast, travel to Maasai Mara. By road, allow approximately five to six hours to the reserve area, with additional time possible for traffic, breaks, and the journey to your particular camp. The drive passes through changing highland and Rift Valley landscapes.

For a fly-in version, transfer to Wilson Airport and take a scheduled flight to an airstrip serving your camp. Wilson is a different airport from Jomo Kenyatta, where you arrived yesterday. The flight can save several hours of road travel, although airport and airstrip transfers still need to be included in the day.

After reaching the Mara, meet your guide or continue with your road-safari guide and begin exploring as the schedule allows. Look for zebra, giraffe, antelope, elephants, and predators; the route follows current wildlife activity rather than a fixed sequence of sightings.

Settle into your lodge or tented camp for dinner and your first Mara overnight. We recommend a location with convenient access to the areas you will explore tomorrow, so the morning begins with wildlife viewing rather than a lengthy commute.

An early start puts you in the reserve during the cooler part of the day. Your guide looks for fresh tracks and follows recent sightings, with opportunities to observe lions, cheetahs, elephants, buffaloes, and the plains animals that support the predators.

With a packed lunch, you can explore farther from camp and eat at a designated picnic area. Alternatively, a morning drive, lunch at camp, and an afternoon outing may suit families or travelers who prefer a midday break. Your camp’s location helps determine which arrangement works well.

During roughly July to October, migration herds may be present in the Mara. Their movements depend on rainfall and grazing, and a river crossing cannot be scheduled. We shape the day around the wildlife actually present, rather than spending all your time waiting for one event. 

Return to the same camp for your second night. Staying in one place means less packing and gives your guide time to build on the previous day’s observations. Bring binoculars even if you carry a camera: they make distant behavior much easier to follow.

After breakfast, begin your transfer into Tanzania. For this itinerary, our recommended arrangement is a flight-assisted connection: fly from a Mara airstrip to Migori, transfer by road through the Isebania/Sirari border, and continue from Tarime by aircraft to a suitable Serengeti airstrip. Published airline connections use this flight-and-road arrangement. 

This remains a travel day. Airstrip transfers, flight check-in, immigration, and possible intermediate stops all form part of the journey. We confirm the operating connection for your dates and show the flight sectors and ground transfers in your proposal.

On arrival in Central Serengeti, meet your Tanzania guide and continue toward camp, with wildlife viewing as time allows. The open plains and rocky outcrops provide a different setting from the Mara, and your first sightings may begin during the transfer from the airstrip.

Spend the night at a lodge or tented camp in the central area. Keep your passport and required travel documents in your hand luggage. A comfortably timed arrival and a good meal prepare you for tomorrow’s full Serengeti day

Today is dedicated to Central Serengeti, including the Seronera area and other accessible habitats chosen by your guide. An early departure gives you time to look for predators before the day warms, then follow whatever wildlife activity develops across the plains and river valleys. 

Resident wildlife makes the central region rewarding beyond the seasonal migration. Lions, elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, hippos, and antelope may feature during your drives. Leopards and cheetahs require patience, suitable conditions, and careful observation; each sighting adds its own direction to the day.

A packed lunch allows a longer circuit, while returning to camp can provide a useful break. For photographers, we recommend staying with an interesting subject when conditions are good. Watching a pride interact or an elephant family move together can produce stronger images than rushing between sightings.

An optional sunrise balloon safari can be arranged in advance, subject to availability and flying conditions, and is quoted separately. Otherwise, continue with your guided game drives and return to the same Central Serengeti camp for your second night.

Leave Central Serengeti early with breakfast arrangements and a packed lunch prepared. Allow roughly three to four hours toward the Ngorongoro highlands, depending on your camp, road conditions, and stops. Entry formalities and the descent add time before the crater-floor game drive begins.

The journey crosses open plains before climbing into cooler highland scenery. We keep wildlife stops purposeful this morning so there is enough time to explore the crater. A warm layer is useful for the highland portion, especially early in the day.

Inside the crater, explore grassland, wetland, and forest habitats while looking for lions, buffaloes, zebras, wildebeest, hippos, elephants, and other resident animals. Black rhino is an important species to look for here, although a sighting remains a matter of wildlife movement and visibility.

After your game drive and picnic lunch, ascend and continue to Karatu for dinner and your overnight stay. This is one of the itinerary’s longer days. Karatu provides a practical resting point before traveling toward Tarangire tomorrow.

After breakfast in Karatu, travel to Tarangire National Park. Allow approximately two hours to the park entrance, with timing depending on your lodge and the gate used. The landscape changes again as you reach warmer woodland and baobab country.

Your game drive focuses on accessible areas with promising wildlife activity. Elephants are a major attraction, alongside giraffes, zebra, antelope, birds, and possible predators. During the dry season, animals concentrate around the Tarangire River as surrounding water sources diminish. 

Enjoy a picnic lunch and continue exploring within the time available. Your guide balances the final sightings with the drive back to Arusha, which generally takes around two and a half to three and a half hours from the park.

The safari finishes in Arusha. An airport transfer, an Arusha overnight, or onward travel to Zanzibar can be arranged around your next booking. Share your departure details before confirming the itinerary so we can give both the game drive and the onward journey enough time.