6-Day Private Masai Mara, Serengeti & Ngorongoro Safari

Day-by-day itinerary

Route: Nairobi → Masai Mara → Serengeti → Ngorongoro → Arusha

1. Day 1

   Nairobi to Masai Mara

   Breakfast is taken before you set out from Nairobi for the drive to Masai Mara, descending the wall of the Great Rift Valley and passing through Narok and Maasai farming country. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into open savanna grassland, acacia stands and the rolling country of the greater Mara ecosystem. Your guide works the area for lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, buffalo and large herds of plains game, with sightings varying by season and conditions. The reserve is best known for its big cat densities, and between roughly July and October the wildebeest migration commonly moves through the ecosystem. Your safari vehicle and guide are used by your party alone. Dinner and overnight are at your camp or lodge in Masai Mara.

2. Day 2

   Full-Day Masai Mara Safari

   Today is spent entirely in Masai Mara, beginning with a game drive shortly after first light. Your route takes in open savanna grassland, acacia stands and the rolling country of the greater Mara ecosystem, with your guide reading recent movement to decide where to spend time. Keep watch for lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, buffalo and large herds of plains game as you move between the different habitats. 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. Your safari vehicle and guide are used by your party alone. Dinner and overnight are again at your Masai Mara camp or lodge.

3. Day 3

   Masai Mara to Serengeti

   The morning starts in Masai Mara, from where you continue overland to Serengeti, crossing the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and descending onto the open plains. Once you reach Serengeti there is time to check in before heading out among vast short-grass plains broken by granite kopjes and seasonal watercourses. There is the possibility of seeing lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe and immense herds of wildebeest and zebra, depending on movement and conditions on the day. 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. Dinner is served at your Serengeti camp or lodge, where you spend the night.

4. Day 4

   Full-Day Serengeti Safari

   An unhurried full day in Serengeti gives your guide room to follow whatever the morning turns up. Much of the day is spent among vast short-grass plains broken by granite kopjes and seasonal watercourses. There is the possibility of seeing lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe and immense herds of wildebeest and zebra, though wild sightings are never guaranteed. The scale of the plains rewards a full day, with time to work several areas rather than rushing between them. 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 to your camp or lodge for dinner and a second night at Serengeti.

5. Day 5

   Serengeti to Ngorongoro

   Bags are loaded after breakfast and you depart Serengeti bound for Ngorongoro, climbing the forested crater highlands to the rim viewpoint. Once you reach Ngorongoro there is time to check in before heading out among a collapsed volcanic caldera roughly six hundred metres deep, with grassland, soda lake and fever-tree forest on its floor. This is good country in which to look for lion, elephant, buffalo, flamingo and one of the few remaining populations where black rhino may be seen. The crater floor holds a resident concentration of wildlife year-round because the caldera walls create a largely self-contained ecosystem. Dinner is served at your Ngorongoro camp or lodge, where you spend the night.

6. Day 6

   Ngorongoro Crater to Arusha

   After breakfast you leave Ngorongoro Crater and travel on toward 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.