Welcome to Enchanting Journeys

The largest city in East Africa, with a population of over 1 million, Nairobi started life as a simple railways depot in 1899, linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation. Today, the city skyline is dominated by modern high rise buildings and is a tourism and trade hub. Nairobi is also the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs. The people of Nairobi are popularly nicknamed 'Nairobians'. A vibrant city with a mix of races and cultures, providing the visitor with several sightseeing options such as museums, a national park, golf courses, resorts and posh night clubs. Dubbed the “Safari Capital of the World” cool, clear and cosmopolitan Nairobi is the natural departure point for most safari itineraries. A city of contrasts, it is simultaneously the largest, the youngest, the most modern, the highest (1700m) and the fastest growing city in East Africa. High-altitude Nairobi enjoys a pleasant tropical climate all year round

Balance of the day free to relax or optional activities (we would be happy to offer suggestions & make arrangements).

Masai Mara National Reserve is Kenya's finest wildlife reserve. Everything about this reserve is outstanding. The wildlife is abundant and the gentle rolling grasslands ensure that animals are never out of sight. Birds, too, are prolific. Including migrants, well over 450 species have been recorded, among them, 57 species of birds of prey.

The climate is gentle, rarely too hot and well-spread rainfall year round. Rain, when it falls almost always chooses the late afternoon or night. Between July and October, when the great wildebeest migration is in the Masai Mara Game Reserve, the sensation is unparalleled. Masai Mara is one of the best plains' game reserve where you can actually encounter a live Discovery Channel, a haven for viewing a congregation of all sorts of animals in a five-mile radius: A pride of lions can be spotted ready to make a run for a gazelle, a cheetah and its cub taking a nap on a rock, a pair of ostriches walking the open stretches of the savannah or a gazelle giving birth.

Check-in at the lodge / camp on arrival. Following lunch and a siesta, embark on an afternoon game drive.

Return to the lodge / camp.

Lake Nakuru, a small (it varies from 5 to 30 square kilometers) shallow alkaline lake on the edge of the town of Nakuru lies about 160 kilometers north of Nairobi.  The lake is world famous as the location of the greatest bird spectacle on earth - myriads of fuschia pink flamingoes whose numbers are legion, often more than a million, maybe two. They feed on the abundant algae, which thrives in the warm waters. Scientists reckon that the flamingo population at Nakuru consumes about 250,000 kilos of algae per hectare of surface area per year.  But flamingo are not the only avian attraction, also unforgettable are two fish eating birds, pelicans and cormorants. Despite the tepid and alkaline waters, a diminutive fish, tilapia grahami has flourished after being introduced in the early 1960's. The lake is rich in other birdlife. There are over 400 resident species on the lake and in the surrounding park. Thousands of both little grebes and white winged black terns are frequently seen as are stilts, avocets, ducks, and in the European winter, the migrant waders.

Nakuru means "Dust or Dusty Place" in Maasai language. Lake Nakuru National Park, on the outskirts of the bustling market town of Nakuru was established in 1961. It started off small, only encompassing the famous lake and the surrounding mountainous vicinity. Now it has been extended to include a large part of the savannahs. Both black and white rhino are being given a new lease of life in this 188 sq km, fully-fenced park - and they are carefully protected. The present rhino population is over 50 and continuing to multiply. The Rothschilds giraffe, translocated for safety from western Kenya beginning in 1977.is another rarity and the park has its fair share of buffalo, zebra, eland. Waterbuck are very common and both the Kenya species are found here. Among the predators are lion & leopard, the latter being seen much more frequently in recent times. The park also has large sized python snakes that inhabit the dense woodlands, and can often be seen crossing the roads or dangling from trees.

Check-in on arrival.

Enjoy a picnic lunch and embark on an afternoon game drive in the park, before proceeding to the lodge / camp by evening.

Check-in on arrival and enjoy the sight of a spectacular African sunset. 

Evening at leisure. Overnight.   B L D

Enjoy a hot picnic lunch at a picnic site returning to the lodge at 4:00pm. After coming back, you may wish to cool off at the swimming pool from the mid-day heat before lunch.

Overnight.   B L D

From the entrance gate, the road winds through an expanse of lush jungle-like groundwater forest where hundred-strong baboon troops lounge nonchalantly along the roadside, blue monkeys scamper nimbly between the ancient mahogany trees, dainty bushbuck tread warily through the shadows, and outsized forest hornbills honk cacophonously in the high canopy.

Inland of the floodplain, a narrow belt of acacia woodland is the favoured haunt of Manyara’s legendary tree-climbing lions lying languidly among the branches in the heat of the day, and impressively tusked elephants. Squadrons of banded mongoose dart between the acacias, while the diminutive Kirk’s dik-dik forages in their shade. Pairs of klipspringer are often seen silhouetted on the rocks above a field of searing hot springs that steams and bubbles adjacent to the lakeshore in the far south of the park.

You will continue up the escarpment to your lodge located on the edge of the escarpment overlooking the lake below.

Check-in and relax and shortly after, proceed for a game drive to explore this beautiful park.

You will pass through the forested slopes of Ngorongoro, before the predator rich plains of the Serengeti unfurl before you. The Serengeti ecosystem has a vast array of amazing habitats, ranging from open grassland plants to acacia strewn savannas and rocky outcrops. It sustains more than thirty species of large herbivores and over five hundred varieties of birds. As enduring as the game-viewing, is the liberating sense of space that characterises the Serengeti Plains, stretching across sunburnt savannah to a shimmering golden horizon at the end of the earth. Yet, after the rains, this golden expanse of grass is transformed into an endless green carpet flecked with wildflowers. And there are also wooded hills and towering termite mounds, rivers lined with fig trees and acacia woodland stained orange by dust.

Tanzania's oldest and most popular national park, also a world heritage site and recently proclaimed a 7th world wide wonder, the Serengeti is famed for its annual migration, when some six million hooves pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra and 300,000 Thomson's gazelle join the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing. Yet even when the migration is quiet, the Serengeti offers arguably the most scintillating game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni, impala and Grant’s gazelle.

Balance of the day free to relax or optional activities (we would be happy to offer suggestions & make arrangements).

Enjoy a picnic lunch in a secluded spot in the Park among the wildlife.

You will have time to walk through the simple small museum at the gorge, where you can view copy displays of some of the finds as well as pictures of what life was like for the gorge's earliest inhabitants. After a picnic lunch, continue towards the crater, enroute visiting a Masai Village.

A unique safari destination, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is home to more than 30 000 protected animals. The Ngorongoro Crater, once a gigantic volcano, is the largest unflooded and unbroken caldera in existence. About 20 kms across, 600 meters deep and 300 sq kms in area, the Ngorongoro Crater is a breathtaking natural wonder. Nearly three million years old, it shelters one of the world's most beautiful wildlife havens. Black rhino are protected within its rim, giant tusked elephants wander the forests, black-maned lion stalk the grasslands and flamingo crowd the soda lakes.

Continue to the Ngorongoro Highlands,

Check-in on arrival at the camp / lodge.

Balance of the day free to relax or optional activities (we would be happy to offer suggestions & make arrangements).

Spend the morning exploring this fascinating wildlife amphitheater. As you reach the inside of the Ngorongoro Crater, marvelling at the incredible landscape around you, your ranger will take you through the grassy crater floor, the unbelievable fever tree forest, the banks of Lake Magadi and the surrounding marshes. This caldera, formed by a volcano sinking, hosts a unique cross-section of eco-systems, from Soda Lake to savannah and is home to almost every major species of African mammal, which remain in the crater due to the constant supply of water from the springs. There is a very good chance of spotting the big five: lion, elephant, endangered black rhino, buffalo and leopard plus countless other African mammal species.

Lunch is served picnic style, surrounded by the natural wonders around you as well as the exceptional wildlife, roaming freely, with which you share this extraordinary paradise.

Return to the camp / lodge by evening.

Balance of the day free to relax or optional activities (we would be happy to offer suggestions & make arrangements).

Tarangire National Park. is recognised as one of the best parks on the northern circuit for elephant viewing during the dry season. It is located just to the south of Lake Manyara in northern Tanzania and is a classic Africa of lore with shimmering acacia stands, old baobab trees, Masai tribes and herds of elephant. The main highlight here is elephant, which mass here in enormous numbers during the dry season July to October.  General game is also good, although predators tend to be quite difficult to find.

In the dry-season of July-October, Tarangire National Park surpasses the Serengeti in terms of animal concentration as big herds begin to congregate around the permanent water of Tarangire River. Herds of up to 300 elephants scratch the dry river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. It's the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem - a smorgasbord for predators - and the one place in Tanzania where dry-country antelope such as the stately fringe-eared oryx and peculiar long-necked gerenuk are regularly observed.

The swamps, tinged green year round, are the focus for 550 bird varieties, the most breeding species in one habitat anywhere in the world. On drier ground you find the Kori bustard, the heaviest flying bird; the stocking-thighed ostrich, the world's largest bird; and small parties of ground hornbills blustering like turkeys. More ardent bird-lovers might keep an eye open for screeching flocks of the dazzlingly colourful yellow-collared lovebird, and the somewhat drabber rufous-tailed weaver and ashy starling - all endemic to the dry savannah of north-central Tanzania.

Disused termite mounds are often frequented by colonies of the endearing dwarf mongoose, and pairs of red-and-yellow barbet, which draw attention to themselves by their loud, clockwork-like duetting. Tarangire's pythons climb trees, as do its lions and leopards, lounging in the branches where the fruit of the sausage tree disguises the twitch of a tail.

After lunch and perhaps a swim, the remainder of the afternoon will be spent on a game drive to explore this beautiful park.

Return to the camp / lodge.

Evening at leisure.    B L D

After lunch, continue to Nairobi, arriving in late afternoon. You would be dropped at the hotel if you are staying longer or at the airport to board the flight for your onward journey.   B L