Magical Kenya & Adventurous Tanzania

After a wonderful breakfast, it’s time to depart for the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. The respected magazine National Geographic brilliantly describes the meeting with the elephant orphanage; You will have the opportunity to get up close to the elephants, watch them eat and play, while a zookeeper will tell you more about their lives, how they cope and their future opportunities.

You will then visit the Karen Blixen Museum. Karen Blixen moved to Kenya in 1914 to marry and become Baroness Blixen, you will get a guided tour. A beautiful garden has been laid out around the house and the view of the Ngong mountains in the distance is still as beautiful as when the baroness herself lived in the house.

After lunch, you drive to the cultural centre Bomas of Kenya, which is almost a miniature version of Kenya. Here you will have the opportunity to experience the diversity of cultures that make up this fascinating country. You will, among other things, see traditional ways of living, and witness traditional dance and music. 

After breakfast, you continue your journey northwest to Lake Naivasha. Lake Naivasha is the highest and cleanest of the freshwater lakes in the Great Rift Valley. The lake is beautifully surrounded by acacia trees. It is a lush area where you will also find quite a few flower plantations, from which a large part of the flowers is exported to Europe. The area is a true mecca for birdwatchers, as over 450 different bird species have been recorded, including storks, pelicans, herons and the African Fish Eagle. 

After lunch, you will go on a boat trip, where you will have the opportunity to experience wildlife from the lake side. You will sail around Crescent Island and experience the many hippos and the rich bird life. 

After a delicious breakfast buffet, it’s time to get out and experience one of Kenya’s best kept secrets – Crescent Island. It is one of the absolute most beautiful parks, located right in the middle of Lake Naivasha, and since they don’t allow tourist agencies to come here, there are very few visitors. You visit Crescent Island on foot and thus it is the original form of safari in its purest form. Where you, as a passenger in a 4-wheel drive, are merely an observer, you become a far greater part of the surroundings when you move out into the bush on your feet. 

After a good night’s sleep, it’s time for an experience out of the ordinary, when you go out to visit a primary school and a high school and experience a completely ordinary school day.

Oterit Primary & Secondary Schools are located in Baringo County well over 1 hour Distance northwest of Nakuru. The schools have students aged 3-24 divided into Nursery School (1-3 years), Primary School (8 years of schooling) and Secondary School (4 years of schooling) and are financially supported by the Danish NGO Periamma (www.periamma.org).

You will participate in the classes so that you can get an idea of how classes are conducted in Kenya. It is also possible to participate in various play activities with the children. You eat lunch together with the teachers, where you can exchange experiences with the school system in Denmark. With your visit, you also help to ensure that all the school children get lunch this day.

After breakfast it’s time to get out and experience Lake Baringo. It is a 168 km² freshwater lake, and the largest and most northerly of the 5 lakes in central Kenya. The lake is incredibly beautiful and peaceful with small wooded streams and white stone beaches, and is almost completely framed by the mountains to the east and west. 

Around the lake there is also an incredibly rich birdlife. More than 400 species have been identified, with the African Fish Eagle in particular and its way of hunting its prey in the lake being breath-taking. The fish eagle sits in the tops of the trees around the lake and with its fantastic vision it pinpoints its prey from a long distance. With its incredible speed, it shoots through the air and uses its claws to catch the fish, then flies back to its tree to consume the food it brought home. 

You continue your journey early in the morning to drive towards Masai Mara National Reserve. Masai Mara National Reserve is probably the best-known national park in Kenya, partly because of the unique wildlife and the chances to see the animals in their natural environment, and partly because of the name that covers the colourful tribe, the Masai. 

After lunch, you will spend the afternoon in a village with the Maasai tribe, participating in their normal daily activities. You hear them talk about their lives and traditions, and you also participate in the preparations for the cooking, where goats are to be slaughtered for the famous barbecue “Nyama Choma”. By the glow of the fire, stories and anecdotes are exchanged. After an eventful afternoon with many memorable experiences, you drive back to your lodge. 

You leave early from your lodge to go on a full-day game drive in what is probably the most beautiful safari park in Kenya in search of The Big Five – the rhinoceros, the lion, the leopard, the elephant, and the buffalo. The term dates back to the 1800s, when big game was hunted on foot. The hunters judged that these five animals were the most difficult and dangerous to kill. So even though the term originates from a bygone era, nothing has changed in that it is still an achievement and requires a lot of luck to spot these five animals. 

The day is devoted to another all-day game drive. The Masai Mara is particularly known for its population of big cats: lions, cheetahs, and leopards. In fact, the area is the place in Africa with the most lions. 

You have a picnic basket with you so you can have lunch somewhere along the Mara River and enjoy the view of the hippos relaxing on the surface of the water. The Mara River is also home to the largest Nile crocodiles in Africa. 

After a wonderful breakfast, it is time to drive to the border with Tanzania. You drive west of the Masai Mara to cross the border at Isibania/Sirari. The border formalities take approximately one hour, and you will then drive on to the Serengeti National Park and your camp, where you will arrive around evening. 

Unsurpassed for its natural beauty and scientific value, Serengeti National Park is arguably the best-known game reserve in the world, and has a very special magical resonance. The Serengeti has the largest concentration of plains in all of Africa and covers a total area of 14,763 km². Most of the great nature programs about the wild animals of Africa are filmed in this endlessly beautiful and varied game area, as the park is home to the largest number of game animals in the world. 

The day is dedicated to another full-day game drive, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the exciting and impressive wildlife. You drive around the central part of the Serengeti (Seronera Valley), which the local Masai call “Serengit”, which directly translates to “land of the endless plains”. 

When you are on a game drive, every day is special and the experiences will vary from day to day. But if you’re lucky, you’ll get to experience The Big Five (the buffalo, the elephant, the leopard, the lion and the rhinoceros) up close. In Tanzania, they have also invented The Big Nine so that you can make your safari challenge even greater. In addition to the 5 animals mentioned above, the zebra, giraffe, cheetah and hippo are added to this list as a “must see” when you are on a game drive in Tanzania. 

Before saying goodbye to the magnificent Serengeti, you must set off on your last morning game drive, where you may be lucky enough to witness the predators hunting their prey. You bring a picnic basket so you can get the most out of your time on the savannah. 

After saying goodbye to the Serengeti, you drive towards your lodge for the night, located on the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater. On the way you pass several Masai villages, where there is an opportunity to visit one of them. 

After breakfast, it is time to descend into the Ngorongoro Crater, which is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and is often referred to as the 8th wonder of the world. 

From the crater rim itself, the road winds 600 meters down to the extinct volcanic crater. The crater is 260 km² and contains both acacia forest, savannah, swamps, small rivers and a saltwater lake. This absolutely amazing ecosystem is home to up to 30,000 animals and is often compared to taking a ride in Jurassic Park, as there are animals no matter which direction you look. 

In the afternoon you will drive up from the crater and head towards Arusha, where you will arrive at your hotel in time for dinner. 

After breakfast you will go out to visit a local village at Mount Meru. Here you will experience a local coffee farmer who will introduce you to the magical transformation of coffee from the time it grows on the coffee tree to the time you pour it into a cup. You get the opportunity to be a barista for a few hours and try your hand at the art of coffee roasting. You learn to use your sense of taste and smell to make your very own personal coffee that you can also enjoy when you get home. 

After lunch, it is time to drive to Kilimanjaro International Airport, from where you will fly home. Tired, but filled with lots of lovely holiday memories and, of course, unique spots.