| Wed |
- October 31 - Arrive Nairobi
- Welcome to Nairobi. The largest city between Cairo and Johannesburg, Nairobi is a modern, cosmopolitan capital. Graceful jacaranda and bougainvillea line the main streets, and parks and gardens occupy large areas in the centre. Located in the fertile highlands at 5,000 feet, it has a delightful climate, with warm sunny days and cool nights.
The city has undergone a dramatic expansion in its recent past. Today you will see a thriving business centre, with the modern Kenyatta Conference Centre and Parliament Building, first-class restaurants and hotels. The traditional still survives in colourful wooden buildings with tiled roofs, and arcades from the colonial era.
Your Olivia Safari Director will meet you after you pass through customs at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and you will be transferred to the Fairmont-Norfolk Hotel.
The recently-renovated Fairmont Norfolk is a world-famous Tudor-style hotel featuring 120 rooms. Since its opening on Christmas Day 1904, Norfolk has delighted generation after generation of visitors with its service, luxurious style and unfailingly high standards. In the early Out of Africa days, this was the stomping ground of all the big White Hunters and adventurer seekers and has been featured in numerous safari movies.
*Meals: (-/-/-)
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| Thurs |
- November 1 - Nairobi
- After a leisurely breakfast at your hotel, you will depart for an excursion to the animal orphanage established by Dame Daphne Sheldrick adjacent to her home on the edge of Nairobi National Park. Mrs. Sheldrick is the premier authority on the successful raising of milk-dependent infant elephant and rhino orphans, and their re-releasing into the wild. Our visit will coincide with the animals' 11:00 am feeding.
Next, we will have lunch with Gemini Desai, one of Kenya’s renowned jewellery designers, who crafts remarkable pieces of wearable art from exotic beads. Gemini opens her home exclusively to Olivia travellers – a unique chance to meet a fascinating Kenyan woman operating a cottage-industry-turned-international-business, to learn about the history of beads, to buy some beautiful and unique gifts to bring home, and to enjoy luncheon in her garden. Olivia is proud to support Gemini’s work, as she donates a portion of her proceeds to sponsor young girls from the Mukuru slums for full board and schooling.
Now, get ready for a very special evening. Jane and Felix Pinto, owners of Micato Safaris, invite you to their beautiful Nairobi home for complimentary welcome cocktails and dinner.The house, high atop Lavington Hill, offers spectacular views of Nairobi. This is truly a special evening at the Pintos home. The cuisine is superb, with all meats, vegetables and fruit arriving fresh from the Pinto farms.During this festive evening, we will also listen to beautiful singing by one of the famous Kenyan Children Choirs.
*Meals: (B/L/D)
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| Fri |
- November 2 - Nairobi
- We will start our day with a visit to Karen Blixen and the Giraffe Centre. Karen Estates was the home of Lady Karen von Blixen, author of the book Out of Africa, from 1917 to 1931. The National Museums of Kenya restored this lovely home to commemorate Karen Blixen's fascinating life. You’ll then continue to Giraffe Centre, resting within 120 acres of primeval forest, only eight miles from Nairobi. It is home to the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife (AFEW) devoted to the preservation of endangered Rothschild giraffe. The centre raises, and then relocates the giraffes to the wild.
Tonight you’ll dine at the world-famous restaurant, The Carnivore, which is a Nairobi landmark. Its heart is the barbeque pit, where an open flame roasts a wide variety of familiar and exotic meats – Kenya’s finest Molo lamb, marinated in garlic; beef; spareribs and chicken wings; as well as crocodile and ostrich, to name just a few. The meats arrive tableside on giant metal spears, are carved at your table, and placed on piping hot plates. There are plenty of choices, and there is even a tempting vegetarian menu. This is not just a dinner, but a true experience.
*Meals: (B/L/D)
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| Sat |
- November 3 - Nairobi / Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
- After an early breakfast, you’re off on safari! A charter flight will take you to Kilimanjaro Airport in northern Tanzania and to Lake Manyara. Enjoy lunch at the Lake Manyara Serena Lodge before driving 2 hours to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and your lodge. Camouflaged in river-stone and cloaked in indigenous creepers, the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge is a triumph of ecological and architectural fusion, affording endless vistas over the heat-shimmering reaches of the crater below.
*Meals: (B/L/D)
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| Sun |
- November 4 - Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
- Journey by 4-wheel-drive vehicle into one of the world’s largest calderas – nine miles in diameter and 2,500 feet deep. Spend the morning tracking animals on crater floor. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area contains within its borders 30,000 mammals, including the last population of black rhino in northern Tanzania and all the “big five” game animals. Diverse habitats of forest, swamp, grassland and lake make it an exciting area to explore.
After a day of adventure and a privately-catered picnic lunch on the crater floor (subject to the approval of park authorities), return to your lodge. Then relax on the terrace, cocktail in hand, while the fiery sun makes its dramatic exit and spreads its glow over the crater.
*Meals: (B/L/D)
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| Mon |
- November 5 - Ngorongoro Conservation Area & Serengeti National Park
- After breakfast, drive to Serengeti National Park. Stop en route to visit Olduvai Gorge. This area has yielded abundant fossils dating back at least two million years, including the remains of prehistoric elephants, giant horned sheep, and enormous ostriches as well as what is believed to be the first human tool user.
With its vast rolling plains, flat-topped acacias, and huge herds of animals, the Serengeti is just what you expect Africa to be. It is an amazing wildlife spectacle, with herds of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle covering the plains from horizon to horizon. The Serengeti is the first, largest, and most famous of Tanzania’s national parks. An estimated three million large animals inhabit 5,700 square miles, an area the size of Connecticut.
Stop for a picnic lunch, then continue on your game drive. Here most ostrich and Grant’s gazelle are semi-migratory. Topi, hartebeest, impala and African buffalo are resident woodland creatures. Giraffe browse alone or in small groups wherever they find trees and shrubs. Bohor reedbuck and waterbuck restrict themselves to the dense vegetation near watercourses.
*Meals: (B/L/D)
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| Tues |
- November 6 - Serengeti National Park
- On morning and afternoon game drives, explore the vast Serengeti in depth. The open woodland and plains are ideal places to observe large predators. Lions are plentiful, and spotted hyenas even more so. Golden jackals and bat-eared foxes are the most abundant canine species. Cheetahs are regularly sighted pacing the plains, and at dusk or dawn you stand the best chance of seeing nocturnal felines such as civet, serval, genet and African wildcat.
The wealth and diversity of birds is just as staggering as the mammal population. Ostriches, secretary birds and bustards wander the plains; vultures and eagles are abundant; and the sunbirds, king fishers and bee-eaters are well represented. Perhaps the most distinctive small bird is the lilac-breasted roller, an exquisitely colored creature often seen perched on trees along the roadside.
*Meals: (B/L/D)
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| Wed |
- November 7 - Serengeti National Park & Maasai Mara, Kenya
- Following breakfast this morning, transfer to the airstrip for your private charter flight to the Maasai Mara. This is the Africa of your imagination, where panoramas are vast. It is a country of rolling grasslands, dense thickets of scrub, groves of acacia woodland, and even luxuriant forest, which grows along the Mara River and its tributaries. The Maasai Mara is considered the finest game sanctuary in the country, home to an astonishing number and variety of animals. According to the season, hundreds of thousands of migratory wildebeest, gazelle and zebra move back and forth between the Mara and the plains and woodlands to the south.
You will have a short game drive en route to Governor’s Camp (Main), a luxury tented camp. Each tent is complete with a private bathroom and shower. After lunch and some free time you will have an afternoon game drive.
*Meals: (B/L/D)
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| Thurs |
- November 8 - Maasai Mara, Kenya
- The brilliant orange sun is up at 6:00 am, and so are you. As soon as you are ready, it's off into the bush. The dew is fast disappearing and the predators are on the prowl. Your driver sets off in pursuit of the great herds.
This is true big game country, where prides of more than twenty lions, including the majestic black-maned male, are not uncommon. Other inhabitants of the Mara include elephant, giraffe, buffalo, cheetah, leopard, hyena, topi, gazelle and black rhino, and hippos can be found along the Mara River.
This morning there are two wonderful optional excursions available—Choose from a hot air balloon safari and a flying excursion to Lake Victoria.
This afternoon, before your game drive, you will visit a Maasai village and participate in the singing and dancing while learning about the history and the culture of the Maasai. A private and secluded area on the edge of the Mara River is set up for a farewell bush dinner. Hippo and crocodile grunt and splash in the muddy waters below. As the sun swiftly sinks, a glowing log fire illuminates the setting. Candles flicker in the darkness, throwing golden light on starched white tablecloths and bouquets of local wild flowers. After a delicious meal, you can retire to the crackling campfire.
*Meals: (B/L/D)
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| Fri |
- November 9 - Maasai Mara, Kenya
- After a last morning game drive (time permitting) and breakfast, transfer to the airstrip where you board your flight to Nairobi crossing the Great Rift Valley. Enjoy lunch and an optional visit to a project sponsored by AmericaShare. A dayroom at the Ole Sereni Hotel has been reserved for you. After dinner at the hotel you will be transferred to the airport for your flight home. Or, you may choose to join us on our 3-night post-trip vacation stretcher to the Mt. Kenya Safari Club.
*Meals: (B/L/D)
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