The Maasai Mara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Zanzibar in a seamless private itinerary.
Kenya, Tanzania and the island of Zanzibar in one private journey. Begin in the Maasai Mara, fly across the border to the Serengeti, descend into the Ngorongoro Crater, then finish with four nights on Zanzibar's beaches. Every flight, lodge and vehicle is arranged for you alone.
You are met at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by your Dawn Safaris representative and transferred to your hotel. Your guide gives a short briefing on the days ahead and answers any last-minute questions.
Take a scheduled light-aircraft flight from Wilson Airport to the Maasai Mara airstrip (about 45 to 60 minutes), where your guide meets you. You arrive at your camp in time for lunch, then head out on your first game drive across the open plains of the Maasai Mara, home to lion, cheetah, elephant, buffalo and vast herds of zebra and wildebeest. Dinner and a night of lion calls follow.
Leave at first light with a packed breakfast to find big cats on the open plains. Enjoy a bush picnic lunch near the hippo pools, then spend the afternoon tracking lion, cheetah, elephant and buffalo before returning at dusk.
Drive toward the Mara River, where between July and October wildebeest herds gather to cross. Outside the migration season the banks are excellent for hippo, crocodile and elephant, and the surrounding plains for lion and cheetah.
Take a light-aircraft flight to Serengeti (about 1 to 1.5 hours; routing via Nairobi or Arusha may apply), where your guide meets you. You arrive in the Serengeti for lunch and a first afternoon game drive across endless plains. The park is home to lion, leopard, cheetah and huge herds of zebra and wildebeest, and the scale of the landscape is hard to describe.
Spend the day exploring the park's plains and river valleys with a picnic lunch in the bush. Seronera is known for lion, leopard and cheetah, and the migration herds can be tracked depending on the season.
Your guide uses the latest sightings to track the wildebeest and zebra herds, whose position shifts through the year: southern plains in the early months, western corridor around mid-year and northern Serengeti from July to October.
After breakfast, travel from Serengeti to Ngorongoro (about 3 to 4 hours), with a picnic lunch or lunch stop on the way. You arrive on the crater rim in the Ngorongoro highlands, where the air is cool and the views drop into the world's largest intact volcanic caldera. The afternoon is free to enjoy the lodge or take a short rim walk.
Fly to the coast via Nairobi or Arusha (about 3 hours in total, connections arranged by us) and transfer to your beach resort. You arrive on Zanzibar and transfer to your beach resort for lunch. The afternoon is free to swim in the turquoise water, walk along the shoreline and settle into island time.
Wander the alleys of UNESCO-listed Stone Town with a guide, visiting its carved doors, markets and Old Fort, then tour a spice farm to taste cloves, cinnamon and vanilla.
Sail by traditional dhow to a sandbank or reef for snorkelling and a seafood lunch, returning at sunset.
Meet red colobus monkeys in Jozani Forest, then visit Prison Island (Changuu) to see its giant tortoises.
Enjoy a final swim and a relaxed breakfast. You are then transferred to the airport for your onward flight, with an easy hand-over to your international connection.
