EAST AFRICA SAMPLER: KENYA & TANZANIA

$10,575 (2009). 21 days
From Nairobi. Limit: 6 in pop-top safari van
Good to fine accommodations, easy to moderate terrain, warm to cool climate. Our staff travel agents can book your air travel for this tour. Contact us at (800) 728-4953 for more information.

Lilac-breasted Roller by Dave Stejskal

In eighteen days in the field, we can sample a very impressive diversity of habitats, many of them comprising spectacular scenery.  In Kenya, our route will take us on a loop from Nairobi and Nairobi National Park north through the Central Highlands to Samburuland, down  into the Rift Valley at Lake Nakuru, west to the rich birding at Kakamega Forest, and then back to Nairobi.  In Tanzania, we will again cross the Rift, climbing to the rim of Ngorongoro Crater, where we will take four-wheel-drive vehicles for a day in the crater bottom.  From Ngorongoro it is on to the vastness of the Serengeti and its herds, with a stop at Olduvai Gorge en route.  We will return the same way, heading along Lake Manyara in the Rift Valley and then to Tarangire National Park, a simple park that may well match your composite image of Africa.

It's a real treat to watch Hartlaub’s Turacos foraging through the treetops below our rooftop deck while the sunlight dances on Mt. Kenya in the background...or to look out at dawn over Lake Nakuru, speckled with pink flamingos and surrounded by tall acacia woodland.  The Great Rift Valley, with its dramatic cliffs and sparkling lakes, is the longest exposed rift valley on Earth, stretching from Lebanon to Mozambique and at its narrowest here in East Africa.  We'll cross and re-cross it in both countries, enjoying the vistas while searching for such special birds as White-fronted Bee-eater, Gray-crested Helmetshrike, and Schalow’s Wheatear.  From tiny crombecs and eremomelas to giant Martial Eagles and Kori Bustards in the arid bush of Samburuland; from watering sandgrouse and duetting scimitarbills to Secretary-birds, mousebirds, rollers, and insectivorous woodland kingfishers, East Africa offers a fantastic array of bird life very different from our own.

Tanzania has been on and off the tourist map over the decades.  It has been feasible to combine it with Kenya for some years now, and we are excited to be able to offer this special tour featuring some of the best of both countries.  Ngorongoro Crater is one of the world's most spectacular reserves.  Large herds of zebras, wildebeest, and gazelles cross the floor of the vast crater; hundreds of flamingos, storks, ibises, waterfowl, and shorebirds fringe the alkaline lake; and Lions watch over the scene, seemingly inured to the extraordinary activity all around them.  And the Serengeti, that vast and apparently endless expanse of plains, defies description.  The seasonal home of several million large mammals and uncounted birds (including three Tanzanian endemics—Gray-breasted Spurfowl, Fischer's Lovebird, and Rufous-tailed Weaver), the Serengeti is the essence of East Africa.  We may find a Lion kill and watch the maneuverings of hyenas, jackals, vultures, and Marabous as they try to get a share of the spoils; perhaps we'll watch a solitary Cheetah stalking a Thomson's Gazelle; or we may simply enjoy observing silent Giraffes walking across the plains.  The Serengeti will fill us with a magnificent feeling of space that in itself is a remarkable wilderness experience.  In Tarangire we may watch large herds of African Elephant along the river, or perhaps a Leopard lounging high in the shade of a mighty baobab tree.  Bird life is abundant, with endemic Ashy Starlings and Yellow-collared Lovebirds common right around our comfortable camp.  To drift off to sleep in camp with calls of Spotted Hyaena in the background is a wonderful finale to this exceptional African experience.

In fact, the mammalian spectacle in East Africa is unsurpassed.  Although our primary focus is on birds, the many splendid views of large mammals will constitute a highlight of the tour, even for safari veterans, and we'll try to see as many species as possible.  Our visit is timed to coincide with the period in the migratory cycle of the great herds when the short-grass plains of the Serengeti are usually awash with thousands of Wildebeest and Zebra.  During the course of this journey we'll spend considerable time watching and photographing mammals in many of East Africa’s finest parks. 

As veterans know, the joys of traveling in East Africa are many.  Besides all the fabulous birds and mammals, the people are friendly, the climate is delightful, and tourist facilities are excellent.  Transportation for our safari will be primarily in pop-top, eight-passenger minibuses ("safari cruisers") especially adapted for wildlife viewing.  Each participant will have a window seat, and there is room for everyone to stand up through the open roof.  We will be staying in hotels and lodges that offer an amazing degree of comfort and convenience in some of the finest birding habitats in Kenya and Tanzania.

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