A Tauck & BBC Earth Journey
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Earth Journeys… created by Tauck and BBC Earth. Imagine an exclusive nighttime game drive where FLIR thermal imaging reveals the nocturnal activities of wildlife that would normally be hidden in darkness. That’s just what you’ll experience on this classic Tauck adventure in Kenya and Tanzania… evoking safaris of yesteryear while offering an opportunity to get to know the “Big Five" in their natural habitats… One of the most popular Kenya safari tours immerses you in the Earth Journeys experience, featuring custom-made film vignettes by BBC Earth natural history experts and, when the opportunity arises, the use of field equipment.
Return to a time when the Great Rift Valley held the secrets of the origins of mankind… Observe huge herds roaming the Serengeti, the “lost world" of Ngorongoro Crater, and free-ranging elephants in Amboseli National Park. Ride in a hot air balloon over the Masai Mara at dawn – capped by a champagne breakfast in the bush… view rescued chimpanzees and protected black rhinos on an excursion to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy… enjoy a special barbecue dinner accompanied by Maasai dancing at your lodge in the Serengeti… visit the William Holden Wildlife Education Center during a two-night stay at the Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club… meet the weavers of a local village… travel in exclusive open-top safari vehicles, and stay in luxurious tented camps and safari lodges – an unforgettable Tanzania and Kenya safari!
Highlights
- On-tour film vignettes custom-made for Tauck by BBC Earth natural history experts
- Field equipment may include FLIR® thermal imaging cameras and camera traps
- Includes four on-tour flights
- Intimate safari groups limited to just 30 Tauck guests; game drives in 6-passenger, open-top vehicles with window seats for everyone, led by expert guides
- Multiple-night stays in the legendary Serengeti National Park, Masai Mara game reserve, and Amboseli National Park, with daily game drives
- Hot air balloon ride at dawn over the Masai Mara game reserve, followed by a champagne breakfast in the bush
- Private lecture by an elephant researcher in Amboseli National Park
- Visits to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary and the William Holden Wildlife Education Center
- Overnight in a lodge built into the rim of Ngorongoro Crater, called Africa’s “Garden of Eden,” for its great views of the wildlife-rich wilderness and one of the oldest sites of habitation by our human predecessors
- Private barbecue dinner under the stars at Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club
- Weaving demonstration in a Kenyan village
- A two-night stay at the Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club within view of Mount Kenya
- Airport transfers upon arrival and departure as noted
- 36 meals (12 breakfasts, 12 lunches, 12 dinners); gratuities to local guides, service charges, admissions fees, taxes & porterage
Itinerary
Day One
Arusha – Tanzania’s safari gateway
Tauck’s Tanzania and Kenya safari begins at Arusha Serena Hotel. A transfer is included from Kilimanjaro International Airport to your hotel, Arusha Serena Hotel in this safari gateway city at the foot of Mount Meru, the second-highest mountain in Tanzania.
Accommodation: Arusha Serena Hotel
Day Two
Lake Manyara National Park
The vast Serengeti beckons as you begin a four-night safari in Tanzania, and a five-night Kenya safari. Take your first game drive through Lake Manyara National Park, where you might get your first glimpse of giraffes, baboons, hippos, and elephants along with hundreds of species of birds. Arrive in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, populated by an estimated 30,000 large mammals. Your lodge for the next two nights is on the Ngorongoro Crater rim overlooking the caldera below, an excellent spot for our welcome reception and dinner.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Day Three
Wildlife in the “Garden of Eden” – Ngorongoro
Thought by some to be Africa’s original “Garden of Eden,” Ngorongoro Crater is one of the largest calderas in the world and contains a variety of ecosystems and an astounding concentration of birds and animals. Your four-wheel-drive vehicle, built exclusively for Tauck, provides an excellent mobile viewing platform when encountering massive herds of zebras, wildebeests, and gazelles. This area affords an opportunity to spot the Big Five – elephant, leopard, lion, buffalo, and rhinoceros. Enjoy a picnic lunch in the crater today.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
Day Four
Early human history at Oldupai Gorge
Study the development of humankind at Oldupai Gorge, where, over 50 years ago, archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey discovered the fossilized remains of some of the earliest known human species, an estimated 1.8 million years old. Continue wildlife viewing while driving the rough dirt roads across the plains to your safari lodge in the Serengeti, built for unprecedented pampering. Enjoy a special barbecue dinner in your lodge’s Boma Grill tonight, enhanced by a Maasai traditional dance performance.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti
Day Five
The Serengeti’s amazing wildlife
Look for wildlife in the heart of the vast savanna of the Serengeti today on both morning and afternoon game drives. Sightings might include lions, zebras, hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, hippos, buffaloes, jackals, gazelles, and giraffes. When the sunset paints the sky in the evening, enjoy the show from the luxury of your lodge in Serengeti National Park, and enjoy Pan-African cuisine at dinner tonight.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti
Day Six
Tauck’s Kenya safari tours begin in Amboseli
Leave the Serengeti behind as you fly to Arusha, Tanzania en route to Kenya. Dominating the skyline, majestic Mt. Kilimanjaro peaks over surrounding landscapes from more than 15,000 feet up. Have lunch at the Cultural Heritage Center in Arusha prior to continuing into Kenya and begining a two-night stay at your safari lodge in Amboseli National Park, where herds of free-ranging elephants and other wildlife like to roam; enjoy a private lecture on the elephants of Amboseli before dinner tonight.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge
Day Seven
Private game drives and more in Amboseli
Tauck’s private safari game drives in Amboseli National Park offer ample opportunity to view the elephants, hippos and buffaloes that seek out the park’s natural watering holes and the graceful antelopes that graze in the flat grasslands. An early morning visit to a Maasai village precedes a morning game drive, after which you’ll return to the lodge for breakfast. Spend some down time at your lodge prior to lunch, then another game drive, and time to spend as you please at the lodge in the afternoon. Enjoy an included dinner at your leisure at the lodge this evening.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge
Day Eight
Mount Kenya Safari Club & an animal orphanage
A morning flight brings you to the world-famous Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club, straddling the Equator and your luxurious home for the next two nights. The former retreat of actor William Holden, the Safari Club, founded in 1959, was once the playground of such illustrious members such as Winston Churchill and Bing Crosby. Following lunch and an Equatorial demonstration, pay a private visit to the nearby William Holden Wildlife Education Center and animal orphanage; this sanctuary for animals that have been orphaned or injured and need special care also teaches local children to cherish and appreciate the unique wildlife of their homeland.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club
Day Nine
Rhinos & chimpanzees, village crafts & more
An exciting day begins at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, home to the largest resident black rhino population in East Africa and other members of the Big Five. It is also home to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, founded by Jane Goodall, which gives lifelong homes to orphaned and abused chimpanzees, and which you’ll visit this morning. While at Ol Pejeta, enjoy Tauck’s special access to visit a compound where endangered black rhino are bred. After lunch at your hotel, take a look at local life on a private visit to a nearby village, where villagers spin colourful tales into their handmade wool rugs, sweaters and shawls right before your eyes. Return to your celebrity resort late afternoon. Tonight, attend our private barbecue dinner held under the stars on the lush manicured lawns of the Mount Kenya Safari Club.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club
Day Ten
The Masai Mara & an evening game drive
Your memorable Kenya safari adventure continues as you pack your Tauck duffle bag and fly to the Masai Mara National Reserve in southern Kenya, where you’ll be welcomed by Maasai warriors. Have lunch upon your arrival at the luxurious Fairmont Mara Safari Club, where an elegant tented camp is your home for the next three nights. Spend the afternoon relaxing, swimming, taking in the views and otherwise becoming acquainted with the Safari Club and your luxury tented camp accommodations, evoking the classic safaris of yesteryear. Embark on an evening game drive across the plains of “the Mara” in search of animals that make their homes here; perhaps you’ll see lions, antelopes, elephants and zebras in their daily rituals. Return to camp for a briefing on tomorrow’s hot air balloon flight, followed by dinner.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Fairmont Mara Safari Club
Day Eleven
Ballooning over the plains of the Masai Mara
Today will be one that you’ll always remember as you arise before dawn to board a hot air balloon* and float over the Masai Mara’s awakening plains below as the sun rises. When you land, a special champagne breakfast will be awaiting you right there in the bush! Spectacular isn’t quite strong enough a word to describe such an experience, a Tauck Exclusive on your Kenya safari! Back on the ground, look for lions, impalas, cheetahs, giraffes, and the other animals you’ve come to love as you return overland to the camp for lunch and an afternoon at leisure – and later on an evening game drive with an opportunity to use special technology to enhance your safari experience. Have dinner back at your tented camp.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Fairmont Mara Safari Club
Day Twelve
More Game Drives in the magical Masai Mara
Unparalleled wildlife viewing is the watchword on your final day in the spectacular Masai Marai – and the last full day of your Tanzania and Kenya safari adventure – as you set out on a morning game drive… return to your tented camp for lunch, and perhaps a bit of swimming and down time… and then head back out across the plains for a final afternoon game drive in the bush. After returning to your tented camp, join us for a perfect ending to your unforgettable Kenya safari, in true Tauck fashion… a farewell dinner in the boma of the Fairmont Mara Safari Club.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodation: Fairmont Mara Safari Club
Day Thirteen
Fly to Nairobi and journey home
Your Tanzania / Kenya safari ends at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Fly to Nairobi this morning for your journey home. We have reserved a day room for you at the Nairobi Serena Hotel; depart the hotel for the airport after dinner. Allow 3 hours for flight check-in.
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Group size limited to 30! All departures are limited to 30 guests to ensure a more intimate safari experience!
Hot Air Balloon Experience Included. The price of your journey includes a hot air balloon adventure over the Masai Mara on Day 11… an AUD $590 value!
Note: Activities marked with an asterisk (*) are at your own risk; a signed liability waiver will be required.
Departures & Rates
Additional dates and rates are available, please speak to one of our Travel Specialists for more information.
Ask one of our Travel Specialists about Packaging Flights with your Tour and Save
Single Supplement rates are available on request.
*Rates are subject to availability and seasonality and may change without notice. Rates are based on two adults sharing. For solo travellers or single person occupancy rates or further information on terms and conditions, please contact our Travel Specialists at time of booking.
