21 Days Kenya, Tanzania & Zanzibar Beach Safari

Arrive at Nairobi's JKIA and be met by our company representative for a short briefing. Transfer to your hotel. The rest of the day is yours to recover from long-haul travel and prepare for twenty days of extraordinary Africa ahead.

Your driver picks you up from the hotel and transfers you to Wilson Airport for a morning flight to the Maasai Mara. The flight arrives at the Mara North or Naboisho Conservancy airstrip at around 11 am. Your guide meets you for a game drive en route to the camp and check-in. Lunch, then an evening game drive from 4 pm. The private conservancies bordering the Reserve allow off-road driving, night drives and walking safaris with no vehicle limits.

A full day in the Mara conservancies. The combination of Mara North and Naboisho conservancies with the Maasai Mara National Reserve delivers the finest and most diverse big-cat safari in Africa. Track coalition males across the open Mara, follow cheetah hunts at speed across the plains, and work with expert naturalist guides to locate the leopards that inhabit every grove along every river.

Another full day in the Mara. Optional: sunrise hot-air balloon over the Triangle before a champagne bush breakfast on the open plains. Alternatively, venture into the Maasai community areas for a guided cultural visit and meet some of Africa's most iconic pastoralists.

A third full day in the Mara ecosystem for those who have not yet found everything: perhaps an elusive serval or caracal, the honey badger, or wild dogs that occasionally move through the conservancy. The private conservancy camps offer specialist game-drives oriented entirely around your interests and pace.

After an early breakfast, transfer to the Mara airstrip for a morning flight to Nairobi, connecting to Samburu in Northern Kenya. Your driver meets you at Samburu Airstrip for a game drive en route to the camp. The transition from the Mara's rolling grasslands to Samburu's ochre desert landscape is dramatic: red-rock hills, dust-dry riverbeds and the tabletop Mt Ol Olokwe on the horizon.

Morning and afternoon game drives in Samburu National Reserve. Samburu is home to the 'Samburu Special Five', species found only in Northern Kenya: the reticulated giraffe, Grevy's zebra, Beisa oryx, gerenuk (the long-necked giraffe-gazelle) and Blue-legged Somali ostrich. The Ewaso Ng'iro River runs through the reserve: crocodiles, elephants, lions and leopards crowd the permanent water.

A second full day in Samburu. Optional cultural visit to the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, the first community-owned elephant sanctuary in Africa, where orphaned elephants are cared for by members of the Samburu community. Optional guided Samburu cultural village visit.

Transfer to Samburu Airstrip for a morning flight to Nairobi. Connect with an afternoon flight to Amboseli, arriving by late afternoon. Your driver meets you for a short introductory game drive en route to camp. Kilimanjaro's massive white summit dominates the southern horizon as you arrive in one of Africa's most photogenic parks.

Morning and afternoon game drives in Amboseli National Park. Dawn photography here is exceptional: the light on Kilimanjaro's glaciers in the early morning, with enormous elephant herds moving through the Enkongo Narok swamp, is Africa at its most iconic. The park's bull elephants carry some of the largest tusks remaining on the continent.

A second full day in Amboseli. Optional: sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the park with Kilimanjaro above. Walk the Observation Hill for panoramic views of the park's swamps, plains and wildlife. Afternoon game drives in search of Amboseli's resident cheetahs, leopards, lions and the vast elephant matriarchal family groups.

After breakfast, depart Amboseli and drive to the Namanga border crossing into Tanzania. Clear customs and immigration, then join your Tanzania driver for the drive to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Arrive on the rim in the afternoon: check in and spend the evening on the crater edge with views down into the caldera at sunset.

Descend 600 metres into the Ngorongoro Crater at dawn for a full day inside the world's largest intact volcanic caldera, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of 260 sq km with 25,000 permanent animals: black rhino, elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah, cape buffalo, hippo and an extraordinary concentration of waterbirds around Lake Magadi. Picnic lunch at the crater floor, then return to the rim lodge for sundowners.

After breakfast, drive west from Ngorongoro to Tarangire National Park via the Karatu and Makuyuni corridor. Arrive with an introductory game drive among the baobab trees, then check in for lunch. Afternoon game drive at 3 or 4 pm along the Tarangire River.

A full day in Tarangire National Park. The elephants here are astonishing: hundreds of them following the permanent water of the Tarangire River through baobab and Acacia-Commiphora woodland, with bulls sparring in the dry riverbeds and family groups splashing through the pools at dusk. Lions, leopards, wild dogs, lesser kudu and 550 bird species complete an exceptional day.

After breakfast, check out and drive to Arusha. Your driver drops you at the airport for your scheduled flight to Zanzibar's Abeid Amani Karume International Airport. Arrive at Kisauni Airport and be met by your driver for transfer to your beach hotel. Check in, rest, and let the shift from dust and wildlife to white coral sand and turquoise Indian Ocean wash over you.

Five days of pure Zanzibar: the Spice Island's white coral beaches, warm turquoise sea and Swahili culture deliver a perfect counterpoint to the dust and intensity of the African savannah. Today, simply enjoy the beach, the hotel pool, or snorkelling on the offshore reef. Optional: guided Stone Town tour through the UNESCO-listed historic Arab-Swahili quarter.

A full day to explore the Indian Ocean's most beautiful snorkelling reefs, take a half-day dhow sailing trip, or join a spice farm tour. Optional: Safari Blue, a full-day sailing dhow excursion to the sandbars, mangroves and coral gardens of the southern Zanzibar coast with a Swahili seafood lunch.

Another day of Indian Ocean paradise. Optional: swim with dolphins at Kizimkazi Bay, visit Prison Island for giant Aldabra tortoises, or explore the coral rag forests of Jozani, home to the endemic red colobus monkey.

A final full day to absorb the light, the sea and the sense of having experienced Africa's full magnificent spectrum: from the red plains of Samburu to the summit of Kilimanjaro to the coral gardens of the Indian Ocean. Optional: a sunset dhow cruise with Zanzibar's famous silhouetted sailing boats and the old Stone Town skyline on the horizon.

A relaxed breakfast at the beach. Your driver meets you at the hotel for the transfer to Zanzibar's international airport for your flight to Nairobi's JKIA, to connect with your outbound international flight home, or to continue at your leisure in Kenya. End of Saringi Tours services.