iExplore East Africa Experience

Tour Description

Get the heart-pounding thrill of a safari while still enjoying the comforts of luxury accommodations on this ten-day East Africa adventure. Depart early morning for a game drive just as the dawn sunlight begins to stir the sleeping lions, zebras, and giraffes.

At the eastern edge of the Serengeti, and nearly three million years old, the ancient caldera of the once-volcanic Ngorongoro shelters the most beautiful wildlife haven left on Earth. The Crater is home to countless cheetah, serval, wildebeest, gazelle, zebra, leopard, and jackal.

From there it's on to the Serengeti National Park, famous for the annual wildebeest and zebra migration. During June and July, mind-boggling numbers of hoofed animals make the long trek from Tanzania to Kenya, allowing for superb wildlife viewing.

You will next visit the vast grasslands of the Maasai Mara, Kenya. This is when the elephants, wildebeest, and hippos are most visible as they take to watering holes to cool off. Return to your rooms and sip a sundowner on your private verandah as inky darkness washes over the landscape and the night sounds of the Maasai Mara come alive.

Itinerary

Day 1: Arusha, Tanzania

Arrive Kilimanjaro International Airport. Upon clearing Customs and Immigration, you are met and transferred to your hotel. Check-in and enjoy your evening at leisure.

 

The Mountain Village Lodge, secreted in the depths of a tree-shaded coffee plantation, wreathed in multi-colored tresses of tumbling bougainvillea, cooled by mountain streams and strung like a necklace around the shores of an idyllic wooded lake, Mountain Village offers a haven of calm and serenity just outside the hustle and bustle of Arusha, Tanzania's premier 'Safari Town.'

Dinner

Serena Mountain Village Lodge

Day 2: Arusha- Lake Manyara- Ngorongoro Crater

After breakfast you will be transferred to Arusha Airport where you board your scheduled flight to Manyara Airstrip. From the airstrip a road transfer of approximately 2 hours will bring you to the Lodge.

Ngorongoro Crater, located at the eastern edge of the Serengeti in northern Tanzania, is the largest unbroken caldera in the world. The floor of the crater is only 100 square miles but is home to 3,000 animals with a high concentration of predators.

Perched on the jagged rim of the crater, wreathed in morning mist, camouflaged in river-stone and cloaked in indigenous creepers, the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge is a triumph of ecological and architectural fusion. Sensitively constructed so as to take nothing from its environment while affording endless vistas over the heat-shimmering reaches of the crater below, the clustered boulder-built buildings of the Lodge hug the crater rim, linked by rope-lashed timber walkways that skirt the buttressed roots of ancient, liana-hung trees.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

Day 3: Ngorongoro Crater

Enjoy game viewing activities, including a shared half-day game drive and picnic lunch in the Ngorongoro Crater.

The Crater floor's open grassland habitat supports resident herds of grazing herbivores and their attendant predators. Pillar wood, nuxia, mountain bersama, hagenia and ficus trees, all draped with lichens and epiphytic orchids dominate the cloud forest on the Crater rim. Lerai fever tree forest is home to elephant and nesting raptors. The soda-rich Lake Magadi on the Crater floor attracts flamingos and other wading birds, while ducks and other waterfowl favor freshwater ponds.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

Day 4: Ngorongoro Crater- Serengeti National Park

After breakfast depart by road to the Manyara Airstrip for regional scheduled flight to Serengeti National Park. From the airstrip a game-drive transfer of approximately 45 minutes will bring you the lodge.

The word "Serengeti" comes from the Maasai word siringet, which literally means "an extended area." Because the park covers 5,000 sq mi/12,950 sq km of grassland (broken by rock outcroppings and stands of acacia trees), it's an excellent place to observe animal migrations.

Set high on the saddle of tree-clad ridge commanding panoramic views over the endlessly rolling reaches and volcanic reefs of the Serengeti, the Serengeti Serena Lodge is the ultimate fusion of traditional African architecture and world-class style. Drawing its inspiration from the circular 'Rondavel' dwellings and winding paths of a traditional Maasai village, the Lodge features thickly-thatched, stone-built rooms, spaciously set amongst groves of indigenous trees that are cooled by sparkling streams and papyrus-fringed ponds.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Serengeti Serena Lodge

Day 5: Serengeti National Park

Enjoy game viewing activities, including shared morning or afternoon game drives in Serengeti National Park.

During the migrations, the wildebeests move first, then the zebras. Lions, hyenas and scavenger birds follow and feast on the sick, young, old or weary. More than 3 million animals move south from mid November to January, then north again from the end of May to June - though there is some variation in the dates, depending on the level of rainfall during a given year.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Serengeti Serena Lodge

Day 6: Serengeti National Park- Masai Mara Game Reserve

After breakfast, you will have a game-drive transfer of approximately 45 minutes will bring you to the airstrip. Board your scheduled flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport. After clearing customs and immigration you continue on your scheduled flight to Wilson Airport where you board the scheduled flight to the Maasai Mara.

You are met by a lodge representative and from the airstrip a short game-drive will bring you to your camp.

Kichwa Tembo is situated at the foot of the Oloololo Escarpment on the western border of the Maasai Mara Reserve in southwestern Kenya. Meaning 'Head of the Elephant' in Swahili, Kichwa Tembo is located on a private concession leased from Maasai landlords in the exclusive western Mara - much less crowded than the eastern part of the Reserve.

In addition to an excellent year-round concentration of animals, Kichwa Tembo lies directly in the path of Africa's spectacular Great Migration of hundreds of thousands of wildebeest and zebra from the Serengeti, Tanzania, to the Maasai Mara in Kenya. This is indeed nature at her most theatrical, offering you an African wildlife experience unsurpassed in the world.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Kichwa Tembo Camp or similar camp

Days 7&8: Masai Mara Game Reserve

Enjoy two days of game viewing activities, including shared morning or afternoon game drives in Masai Mara National Park.

The Maasai Mara is host to a spectacular array of wildlife. The open savannah, woodlands, and tree-lined rivers create and eco-system that supports huge numbers of bird and mammal species. Lion are found in abundance throughout the park, as are elephant, giraffe, zebra and a wide variety of gazelle species. Cheetah and leopard are regularly seen and, if lucky, you might also find rhino. Discover the Maasai Mara on interpretive morning and afternoon game-drives in open 4x4 safari vehicles. Fascinating night game-drives in the private concession will reveal a host of interesting nocturnal creatures. Interpretive bush walks led by highly skilled guides and traditionally-attired Maasai naturalists, wilderness walks along the Mara River and up the Oloololo Escarpment - one of the 'steps' of the Great Rift Valley - will bring you face-to-face with wild Africa at its best.

Daily lectures by a Maasai naturalist and visits to a Maasai cultural village offer an incredible insight into the fascinating lives of the brilliantly clad Maasai people. Hot air ballooning may be arranged for an additional fee.

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Kichwa Tembo Camp

Day 9: Masai Mara Game Reserve- Nairobi- Depart

Depart on an early morning game drive, followed with breakfast at camp and later transfer to the airstrip and fly on schedule to Wilson Airport in Nairobi. Regional scheduled flight from Maasai Mara Airstrip to Wilson Airport.

Upon arrival you will be met and transferred to the Holiday Inn Nairobi, for a dayroom. Enjoy your afternoon at leisure or do last minute shopping in Nairobi.

This evening you will be transferred to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for your outbound flight.

Breakfast

Holiday Inn Nairobi - Dayroom

Departures

Depart any day! Contact an iExplore Adventure Consultant for details.

Pricing Information

2010 Prices:

January, February, July 16 to October 31:

$6,051 per person, double occupancy.

$5,494 per person, double occupancy, based on four people traveling together.

$7,195 solo traveler.

$1,095 single room supplement.

March, November 1 to December 15:

$5,631 per person, double occupancy.

$5,053 per person, double occupancy, based on four people traveling together.

$6,081 solo traveler.

$950 single room supplement.

April & May:

$4,925 per person, double occupancy.

$4,225 per person, double occupancy, based on four people traveling together.

$5,795 solo traveler.

$510 single room supplement.

June 1 to June 15:

$5,795 per person, double occupancy.

$5,195 per person, double occupancy, based on four people traveling together.

$6,795 solo traveler.

$825 single room supplement.

June 16 to July 15:

$5,895 per person, double occupancy.

$5,295 per person, double occupancy, based on four people traveling together.

$6,795 solo traveler.

$975 single room supplement.

Prices for your dates of travel may vary- please contact iExplore for an exact quote. Quoted prices are based on current rates of exchange, tariffs and taxes as of December, 2009. iExplore reserves the right to increase tour prices to cover increased costs, tariffs and taxes received after prices are published, and to reflect fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. iExplore is under no obligation to give breakdown costs involved in any package.

Included:

· Meet and greet services

· Twin or single accommodation

· Meals as indicated (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner) on a bed and breakfast basis at Mountain Village Lodge, and on a full board basis at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge, Serengeti Serena Lodge and Kichwa Tembo Tented Safari Camp

· Dayroom on a room only basis at Holiday Inn Nairobi

· Scheduled domestic flights: Arusha Airport / Manyara Airstrip / Seronera Airstrip / Kilimanjaro International Airport / Nairobi Wilson Airport / Kichwa Airstrip / Wilson Airport

· Scheduled transfers: Kilimanjaro International Airport / Mountain Village Lodge / Arusha Airport and Wilson Airport / Holiday Inn Nairobi / Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

· Transportation in a chauffer driven 4x4 with roll-off roof for easy game viewing & photography. 7 passenger guaranteed window seat in each vehicle.

· Services of English speaking driver/guide

· Scheduled game viewing drives as specified

· National Park entrance fees

· Porterage of 2 pieces of luggage per person

· Government taxes & levies

· Mineral water 500ml per person per game drive in safari vehicle

· 24 hour stand-by contact number

Not Included:

· International airfare

· International airport departure taxes

· Visa fees, currently US$50 per passport holder. Visas available on arrival at international airports or recognized border entry points.

· Meals not mentioned in the itinerary

· Health & travel insurance

· All alcoholic & non-alcoholic drinks of choice

· Items of a personal nature (laundry, telephone calls, postage, etc.)

· Tips & gratuities to drivers/guides and hotel staff (Budget approximately $2 - $4 per person per day for lodge & hotel staff, $1 per bag for porters and $5 - $10 per person per day for drivers/guides)

· Flying Doctor Fees: US$30 per person covers you within East Africa for a period of 14 days.

· Holiday surcharges

· Balloon Safari in the Mara fee (USD$450 per person) Day 7 or Day 8

· Balloon Safari in the Serengeti (USD$499 per person) Day 5

· Visit to Maasai Village Fee (USD$25)

All prices are in US dollars and do not include international airfare, unless otherwise noted.

Prices displayed are based on the lowest season base price and assume double occupancy. Prices are shown in U.S. dollars and may or may not include administrative fees, taxes, meals, airfare (where applicable) and Single Supplements. Cancellation penalties, blackout dates and other restrictions may apply.

Options and Extras

Day 01: Victoria, Mahe Island, Seychelles

On arrival at Seychelles International airport you will be met and ransferred to Sunset Beach Hotel where accommodation has been reserved for the next 4 nights. Designed in the style of a Spanish villa, this stunning hotel sits in privacy on top of a rocky buff overlooking a beautiful, secluded bay on the northwest coast of Mahe, Sunset Beach Hotel has one of the most beautiful settings on the island. With its own magnificent cove and sandy beach, this small and luxurious hotel offers every facility for a magical vacation experience.
Dinner
Sunset Beach

Days 02, 03, 04: Seychelles

Enjoy your days at leisure, or book some of the many excursions (extra cost) available through the concierge. The crystal clear waters around Sunset Beach, is home to a wide variety of colorful fish and is a tempting invitation to swimming, diving and snorkeling. To preserve the environment, no motorized water sports are available. Also, the concierge as can assist you with day excursions (extra cost) to nearby Praslin and La Digue Islands.
Breakfast, Dinner
Sunset Beach

Day 05: Departure

Check out formalities, you will be met by your local representative who will transfer you to the airport.
Breakfast

Tour Notes