Two countries. One arc.
The Mara, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro in twelve nights, with the border crossed by light aircraft rather than a day at Namanga.
Twelve nights across one ecosystem split by a border, crossed by charter with immigration at the airstrip rather than a day lost at Namanga.
- From
- $23,400 pp
- Duration
- 12 nights
- Best months
- Jul–Oct, Jan–Mar
- Party size
- 2 – 6 guests
The same ecosystem, read from both ends
The Mara and the Serengeti are one landscape with a colonial line drawn across it, and the argument about which is better misses the point: they behave differently. Kenya’s side is smaller, greener and holds the highest predator density in Africa. Tanzania’s is vast, emptier and holds the arriving front of the migration, the kopjes, and the crater.
This journey takes both and crosses between them by light aircraft — Ol Kiombo to Kogatende in ninety minutes, immigration handled at the strip by our own people. The alternative, a road crossing at Namanga or Isebania, costs a full day and a great deal of goodwill.
It ends at Ngorongoro, which is remarkable and busy and worth exactly one full day: 260 square kilometres of caldera floor with black rhino, the densest lion in Tanzania, and about a hundred and twenty other vehicles. We go in at six and are out by eleven, which is the whole trick.
- Border crossing by charter, with immigration at the airstrip
- Four nights on Kenyan conservancies — night drives, walking, off-road
- A mobile camp in the northern Serengeti, pitched to the herds
- Ngorongoro crater floor entered at six, before the traffic
- Olduvai Gorge and the Laetoli footprint site with a specialist guide
- Two guides — one Kenyan, one Tanzanian, each on home ground
Ideal traveller
Second safaris and ambitious first ones, for travellers with a full fortnight. Not for anyone who wants to unpack once — this journey moves five times, all of them by air.
The itinerary
Nairobi — arrival
Met airport-side and taken to a garden house in the Karen hills. Briefing over lunch with the Kenyan half of your guiding team.
To the Mara conservancies
A 45-minute charter west. Afternoon on capped-density conservancy land, where the resident prides are habituated and findable.
The conservancy
First light out, long breakfast, the hot hours free. Night drive after dinner — genets, aardvark, and hunting that daylight never shows you.
Into the reserve
A full day south into the national reserve: the river, the plains, and in season the crossing points at Serena and the Lookout.
Walking, and the Maasai
On foot at dawn with an armed Maasai guide. Afternoon free; the evening at a homestead nearby, arranged through people we know.
Across the border
A late-morning charter from Ol Kiombo to Kogatende, immigration at the strip. Your Tanzanian guide is waiting with the vehicle. Afternoon along the Mara river’s southern bank.
Northern Serengeti
Kopjes, plains and the Sand river. Fewer vehicles than Kenya, and the migration front arriving from the south several kilometres wide.
Northern Serengeti
A day held open. By now both halves of your journey have a rhythm, and this is the day your guide uses what he has learned about you.
To the central Serengeti
A short hop south to Seronera. Leopard in the sausage trees, and the highest concentration of resident game in the park.
Central Serengeti, and Olduvai
A morning drive, then Olduvai Gorge and the Laetoli footprints with a specialist — three and a half million years of standing upright, explained properly.
To Ngorongoro
Up onto the crater highlands, cool and forested and entirely unlike the plains below. Afternoon at the rim; an early dinner and an earlier night.
The crater floor
Down at six, before the gate traffic: black rhino, the densest lion in Tanzania, and out again by eleven. The afternoon is deliberately empty.
Homeward
A morning charter to Kilimanjaro or Arusha, day rooms arranged, and our concierge with you until you are through security.
Five camps, two countries, one standard
Kenya, nights 2–5. A six-tent conservancy camp on a lugga, on Maasai-owned land under a lease that pays 340 households whether or not you come.
Tanzania, nights 6–8. A northern Serengeti mobile camp — canvas, hot bucket showers, one long table, no generator after ten. Moved three or four times a season to stay with the herds, and the most memorable bed on the journey.
Nights 9–12. A permanent camp near Seronera for the central Serengeti, then a lodge on the Ngorongoro rim with the crater below the terrace and the cold that comes with 2,300 metres.
All five have been slept in by this office within eighteen months, in both countries. The Tanzanian properties are booked directly with their owners, which is why beds appear when a booking engine says none exist.
What the price covers
- Twelve nights as described, all meals and house drinks
- Two private guides — Kenyan and Tanzanian — and vehicles throughout
- All internal flights, including the cross-border charter
- Park, reserve, conservancy, crater and Ngorongoro fees, and the levy
- Walking, night drives, the Maasai evening and Olduvai with a specialist
- Immigration handling at the border strip by our own staff
- Airport meet-and-greet, fast-track and day rooms in both countries
- 24-hour Nairobi concierge, answered by a person
What it does not
- International flights, Kenyan ETA and Tanzanian visa
- Travel insurance — required in both countries; we will help you compare
- Balloon flights in either country ($540–620 pp)
- Helicopter legs and premium cellar wines
- Gratuities, at your discretion
July to October for the crossings and dry viewing on both sides. January to March gives you the southern Serengeti calving instead of the crossings, with green country, fewer vehicles and lower rates — and we would happily rewrite the Tanzanian half around Ndutu for those months.
Shall we hold the dates while you think?
Tell us the month and we will send a costed draft of this journey, with the camps held provisionally at no charge. A written reply within one working day, from the specialist who will run it.
On two-country journeys
Is the border crossing complicated?
Not the way we do it. Ninety minutes by charter from Ol Kiombo to Kogatende, immigration handled at the strip by our own staff, and your Tanzanian guide waiting on the other side. The road crossing at Namanga costs a full day, and we no longer sell it.
Which country is better?
They are one ecosystem with different characters. Kenya has the higher predator density, the conservancies, walking and night drives. Tanzania has scale, emptiness, the kopjes and the crater. Choosing one means giving up something real, which is why this journey exists.
Do we need two visas?
Yes — a Kenyan Electronic Travel Authorisation and a Tanzanian visa. The East Africa Tourist Visa does not cover Tanzania. Your specialist sends the application links and deadlines with the first draft.
Can it be shortened?
To ten nights, comfortably, by dropping the central Serengeti leg and going straight from Kogatende to the crater. Below ten the flying-to-game-viewing ratio stops making sense and we would advise a single country instead.