CONTACT
telephone: + 44 (0)1604 628979e-mail: enquiries@safari.co.uk
Interested in a safari?
Click here to send us your details and we'll call you.
Depart 2000 from London's Heathrow Airport on Kenya Airways flight KQ101 to Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
On arrival from your international flight to Kenya you will be met and taken by road to the House of Waine where you stay for one night (dinner, bed and breakfast). Today you will also have the opportunity to visit the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage.
The House of Waine is a unique elegant boutique hotel located the peaceful suburb of Karen. There are just eleven lavishly designed en-suite rooms, each elegantly furnished to reflect their individual themes.
The History of Karen begins in 1911 when the Swedo African Company purchased 6,000-acres of land to farm coffee at the foot of the Ngong Hills. It was on this estate that Karen Blixen, the Danish Baroness who lends her name to this peaceful suburb of Nairobi made her home from 1917 to 1931. After several failed attempts to profitably farm coffee, Karen Blixrn returned to Denmark where she wrote several works under different pseudonyms, including that of Isak Dinesen. Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote and Carson McCullers among others have critically acclaimed her works. Her life in Kenya was depicted in the film 'Out of Africa' directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. The estate was purchased by Remy Martin who broke it up for developing resulting in one of Nairobi's most serene and wooded suburbs, Karen. It is here that we find the unique boutique hotel, House of Waine less than 2km away from Blixen House, which is now a museum.
The Elephant Orphanage is where the author and conservationist Daphne Sheldrick cares for abandoned young elephants and rhinos. Her experiences are told in her books The Tsavo Story and An Elephant called Eleanor. If you wish (at additional cost) you could adopt an elephant, which would allow you to visit at any time of the day and "go behind the scenes" of the orphanage when tourists are not permitted. This provides you with a more private experience, when you can bath, feed, play with your adopted elephant. Once back home, you receive regular updates and photos of your adopted elephant via email for the following year. This is a once in a lifetime experience whilst on Safari, where you can actually make a difference and help these African animals return to the wild.
In the early morning you will be met and transferred to Nairobi's Wilson Airport to board a scheduled flight departing at 0630 to the Amboseli National Park. On arrival at 0730 you will be met and transferred to Tortilis Camp where you stay for your first three nights on safari. (Fully inclusive of meals and activities).
Tortilis Safari Camp is located in a private and beautiful remote location on the edge of the Amboseli National Reserve and has seventeen luxurious tents under thatched canopies, each with beds, rugs and tables and, of course, en suite shower and w.c. The standard of management and cuisine is excellent, and between game viewing you can relax in the pool and watch elephant and other animals wandering close to the camp. You can enjoy safaris among the game including big cats, elephants, hippos, birds and plains game in the company of highly expert guides both by open vehicle and on foot.
Overshadowed by Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, the Amboseli National Reserve is a beautiful area for viewing an abundance of wildlife. Elephants abound in the lower forest and swamp areas, hippos in the pools and lion lurk in the reeds and papyrus around the swamps awaiting their prey. Cheetah can be found on the salt flats, giraffe wander through the doum palms and bird life is prolific.
After your morning activity you will be transferred to the airstrip to board a private charter flight departing at 1000 to the luxurious Shompole Lodge where you stay for two nights (fully inclusive of meals and activities).
Shompole safari Lodge is one of the most beautifully located and relaxing safari lodges in East Africa. It is located in a remote position on the edge of Nguruman escarpment with wonderful views across the Great Rift Valley to one side, and equally spectacular views towards Mount Shompole on the other.
Accommodation is in eight spacious open-fronted lavish cottages constructed of local stone, beautiful woods and pale thatch, and each is designed to provide a cool and very comfortable space. Each has a bedroom / lounge, a luxury bathroom with a view and each has its own private plunge pool. There is also a main lounge and dining lodge with superb views of Mount Shompole and the Rift Valley, and guests can choose to either dine there or in the privacy of your own room.
The Shompole area has an amazing variety of typically African scenery with acacia woodland and open grassy plains irrigated by rivers. There is also a small area of rainforest and swamp while at the foot of the Nguruman escarpment is the vast watery expanse of Lake Natron, one of the best breeding grounds for flamingos. This considerably varied landscape supports large numbers of animals including elephant, hyena, antelope and a wide range of plains game including zebra and giraffe. Shompole is also a good place for seeing predators, both the more spectacular ones such as lion and cheetah, as well as smaller cats such as serval.
Game safaris are lead by experienced guides and colourfully clad Masai guides and trackers from the local community, and you can enjoy walking safaris, river trips, fascinating visits to Lake Natron and drives by open vehicle both during the day and at night. Guests can also enjoy a nights fly camping where a special temporary camp is set up for the night by a small support team in a particularly remote part of the reserve.
Shompole is ideal if you are seeking a remote and relaxing safari in a location where you are extremely unlikely to encounter any other tourists, and one where you can enjoy a wider variety of game viewing options than is possible in most parts of East Africa. It is the high level of comfort and peacefulness which is particularly conducive to for a relaxing stay, and the lodge is run as a genuine partnership with the local Masai community who participate in the guiding and whose local communities benefit from income which the lodge receives.
After your morning activity you will be transferred to the airstrip to board a private charter flight departing at 1000 to the Masai Mara, in southern Kenya. On arrival you will be met and taken to Mara Explorer Camp to stay for four nights where you continue with your luxury safari (fully inclusive of meals and activities).
The Masai Mara Game Reserve is one of east Africa's best known game viewing areas and adjoins the Serengeti National Park of Tanzania. A land of undulating hills and rolling grasslands, this magnificent park supports a huge animal population. It is perhaps the only region left in Kenya where the visitor may see animals in the same super abundance as existed a century ago. Covering some 700 square miles, the Mara offers wonderful scenery, breath taking vistas and panoramas of vast rolling plains, hills and woodland groves.
The Mara is home to the largest population of lions in Kenya, these magnificent beasts spending most the day sleeping in the shade of acacia trees. The waters of the Mara River are renowned for huge numbers of crocodiles and pools of hippo, whilst the acacia woodlands and riverine forests are favoured by leopard and elephant. Between late July and September the Mara is the setting for the vast migration of 1.5 million wildebeest and zebra, the world's largest animal migration, but at any time of year this is one of the best and most 'atmospheric' places for seeing thousands of big herd plains game.
Mara Explorer, a luxurious tented safari camp lies at the confluence of the reserve's four main game-viewing areas, and enjoys prime views of the spectacular wildebeest migration between June and September. During the remainder of the year, herds of watering elephant, giraffe and other animals can often be seen from your private verandah. Mara Explorer's own all-weather airstrip means you can be in camp less than an hour after leaving the bustle of Nairobi. The well-maintained road from the capital provides a scenic ride of just under five hours.
This exclusive five-star camp offers ten luxurious, well-spaced tents, each with its own private deck overlooking the Talek River. Seven of the tents have giant double beds, while three have twin beds. All are furnished in a classic blend of ancient and modern, with fine hand-carved mahogany furniture, rich African artifacts, and luxurious bathrooms with twin basins and all modern amenities.
Each luxury tent reflects a distinctive 'Explorer' style, with old wooden chests, tin trunks and historic prints, complemented by a fascinating collection of 'African' books in the camp's library. The tents have been specially designed to open up to the sky, and each boasts a private open-air Victorian bathtub, from which guests can enjoy a unique new perspective of the African bush
A canvas covered comfortable dining area looks out over the river close to the camp entrance. Meals are served using fresh vegetables and herbs grown in the camp gardens. (Meals can also be enjoyed on your veranda, or at one of a series of specially-selected 'bush sites' close to the camp.) Next door, the camp bar provides beautiful river views and a well-stocked library, while the spacious lounge offers large, luxurious sofas for reading, playing board games, or swapping safari tales. All the public areas are decorated with old African artefacts and memorabilia from the earliest days of the African safari.
After your morning activity you will be transferred to the airstrip to board a scheduled flight departing at 1100 to Nairobi's Wilson Airport, Kenya. On arrival at 1215 you will be met and taken by road to the House of Waine where you stay for one night (dinner, bed and breakfast).
In the morning you will be met and transferred to Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport to board the Kenya Airways flight KQ1108 departing at 0945 to Kigali, Rwanda. On arrival at 1005 you will be met and taken by private road transfer on a journey three hours north through the beautiful terraced hillsides that characterise much of Rwanda's landscape, gradually climbing to the base of the awesome volcanoes, sometimes with as many as five peaks visible. Stay for four nights at Virunga Lodge by the Parc National des Volcans (fully inclusive of meals and activities).
Virunga Lodge is located on a mountainside with amazing views of the towering forested Virunga volcanoes, and Lake Ruhondo and Lake Bulera. The camp has just six comfortable bandas with beds, safari furnishing and en-suite w.c and shower. There is a separate lounge and dining room, a perfect home for the next three days as you come fac to face with Africas endangered Gorillas.
Parc National des Volcans is part of the Virunga Conservation Area, a region of towering conical volcanoes covered in lush afro-montane forests, watered by fast flowing rivers, which flow into beautiful lakes. This utterly remote and beautiful area is one of the last homes of the endangered mountain gorilla, of which 350 are managing to thrive on the volcano's slopes. The Parc National des Volcans is also an excellent place for bird watching and for viewing primates and other smaller creatures, and the nature of the wildlife and, in particular, the setting contrasts spectacularly with almost all other safari destinations in East Africa.
On Day 14 and Day 16 you will be taken by an experienced guide gorilla tracking in Parc National des Volcans. Tracking the gorillas through the misty forests requires patience and stamina, sometimes walking for hours in the mud and the wet. Finally meeting them in the undergrowth is an inspiring moment. Quietly chewing away at their vegetarian delicacies, they seem like a marooned human family. The tender grooming and firm disciplining of their offspring seems all too familiar. The family cast a wary glance at the sudden human intrusion into their private world but are comforted by the clucking made by the trackers. When provoked, the noisy, but harmless silverback grunts, screeches, bares his fangs and beats his chest, before slithering off with attendant females, offspring and other mature males.
On Day 15 you will have opportunities to enjoy other activities in the Parc National des Volcans. The rich Nyungwe rainforest has hundreds of species of birds, large troops of colobus monkeys and rare golden monkeys and other primates. Some people decide to head off with a guide in the search of the golden monkey, of which the only viable populations are thought to exist in this little corner of Rwanda. Two groups of these rare and beautiful primates live within a couple of hours walk of the camp, and you can set off with a guide to see the Sabinyo group which has about forty monkeys and, rather higher up on the slopes of the Karisinbi Volcano, there is another group of about one hundred golden monkeys.
Today you will be transferred to Kigali Airport to board flight KQ1107 departing at 1400 to Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport, Kenya. On arrival at 1620 you will be met and taken by road to the House of Waine where you stay for a further night (dinner, bed and breakfast).
In the morning you will be transferred to the airport to board flight KQ460 departing at 0720 to Johannesburg. Arrive at 1035 and connect with flight SA333 departing at 1200 to Cape Town. On arrival at 1420 you will be met and transferred to the Mount Nelson Hotel where you stay for four nights (bed and breakfast).
The Mount Nelson is one of the great landmarks of Cape Town - a magnificent and historic five star elegant property which sits in sub tropical gardens at the foot of Table Mountain. The hotel was originally constructed in 1899 on the lines of the great London Hotels, and it has always retained its classic architecture style and decor with its pink painted walls and tiled roof.
Although the Mount Nelson is in the heart of Cape Town, the gardens give the property a sense of seclusion and privacy. The fifty seven suites and one hundred and forty four bedrooms are beautifully and stylishly furnished with en-suite luxury bathroom, 100% cotton linen, non allergenic foam pillows, satellite television and electronic safes. The rooms and suites are set in six individual wings, each with its own unique character, private gardens and facilities.
The hotel has two restaurants, the Cape Colony, renowned for its excellent cuisine and the more informal Oasis restaurant in Mediterranean style. There are bars, a well equipped gym, tennis courts and two good size heated pools.
In 1662, Jan van Riebeeck sailed into Table Bay on the north Cape Peninsula and laid the foundations of South Africa's oldest settlement, Cape Town. Three hundred and fifty years of history have been preserved in much of Cape Town's architecture, which combines attractively with the more functional demands of the 21st century.
The Houses of Parliament, National Gallery, Museum and Planetarium are all within ambling distance of elegant shopping malls and colourful markets, which entice shoppers to browse and buy everything from souvenirs to African art, gems and antiques. In the last ten years, the restoration of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront dockland area evokes images of 19th century seafaring activities and provides a superb setting for an array of cafes, restaurants and bars. From here, you can take boat trips round the harbour and out across Table Bay.
Dominating the city's skyline and flanked by Devils Peak is the looming mass of Table Mountain, and visitors should not miss the opportunity to ascend Table Mountain by cable car. The view of the City and the south Atlantic from the summit is quite magnificent.
There is a wide range of excursions and activities in and around Cape Town including visits to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner, visits to Townships where you can enjoy lunch and exposure to Africa's vibrant urban culture. To the south lies the scenic Peninsula with its attractive sandy bays and pretty little towns. There are remote penguin colonies which can be visited by boat and canoe, and from July to November you can set off further afield in search of southern right whales. The more adventurous can even go looking for sharks in special 'caged diving' facilities.
An hour's drive to the east of Cape Town lie the Cape Winelands where you find beautiful undulating scenery covered in ancient vineyards and fruit orchards. There are literally dozens of ancient wineries, many of which are open for tastings and lunch and which have magnificent estate houses. For the golfer there are several beautifully maintained championship golf courses, and the attractive little towns of Paarl, Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are each worth a visit.
Kenya and Rwanda together make a fantastic holiday as you can witness game in their natural habitats as well a observe the last few Gorillas in Rwanda. A holiday of a lifetime packed full over unforgettable memories.
In the afternoon you will be transferred by road to Cape Town Airport to board flight BA058 departing at 1955 to London's Heathrow Airport.
Arrive at 0650 (local time).