kenya & tanzania: balloons over the mara, then zanzibar

Yes. A sunrise flight is written into your first full morning in the Mara.

The companies that fly this western side of the reserve launch near the Mara River and lift off at first light, usually between a quarter past and a quarter to seven.

The flight itself runs to about an hour, and it ends with a cooked breakfast wherever you come down. Balloons go up only when the wind and the weather allow, so we hold a later morning in reserve.

Children fly from eight years old and at least 1.2 metres tall, which is why we suggest this trip for families with children from eight. Send us everyone's ages and we will confirm before you book.

Nine nights suits a family well at Kendwa, because the sea stays swimmable at any tide, so the day is not planned around the water.

Zuri runs a children's activity programme for ages six to twelve, with four to sixes welcome alongside a parent, and has babysitters on request, a long freshwater pool and a spice garden where you harvest and cook Swahili dishes with the chefs.

Beyond the resort, boats go out snorkelling on the reef, dhow sailing fills a morning, and Stone Town's old quarter is a day out to the south. If nine still reads as too many, we move two or three of them up to the Mara.

Yes, which is unusual on Zanzibar.

Much of the island's coast, the east side especially, draws back a long way at low water and swimming waits for the hours around high tide. Kendwa, on the north-west tip, keeps enough depth to swim whatever the tide.

Two high and two low tides pass every day and their times shift daily, so snorkelling trips out to the reef are timed to the tide rather than the clock, and we arrange them with that in mind.

By air, in two legs on the same day when the timetable lines up.

The safari airlines fly the Mara airstrips to Nairobi's Wilson Airport in about an hour, leaving the Mara at 08:30 and 11:00. One of them then publishes an afternoon service on to Zanzibar that calls at Mombasa on the way, out of Nairobi at 14:00 and into Zanzibar at 16:45.

We confirm the connection for your dates when we book, and if the times do not work we add a night in Nairobi rather than cut it fine.

Luggage is the tight part of any safari flight: 15 kilograms a person including hand luggage, in soft bags, so hard cases stay behind. From Zanzibar's airport it is about ninety minutes by road to Kendwa. You clear Tanzanian immigration on arrival and we send both countries' entry rules with your documents.

A private charter is the alternative to the scheduled seats, usually a Cessna Caravan, which is worth pricing for a party travelling together or a tight connection.

July, August and September are the three months we rate highly at every stop on this route: firm ground below the escarpment, the herds up from the Serengeti between July and October, and the sea around the island at its flattest and clearest.

October holds up well too. February stands out among the hot months, settled on the island and good for resident game in the Mara.

The long rains come in April and May, the lowest rated months on every page we publish for this route, with a dulled sea and slow going inland. March is little better in the Mara itself.

November and December sit in between: green country, migrant birds, newborn animals, fewer vehicles, lower rates and rain that tends to fall in bursts.

Yes, from eight years old.

The balloon flight takes children from eight and at least 1.2 metres tall, and that sets the age for the trip. Zuri welcomes every age, with two- and three-bedroom family villas, a children's programme and babysitters.

At Kichwa Tembo the camp itself recommends Kenya for children from eight, and under-sixes go on game drives only in a private vehicle, at extra cost. The Emakoko takes all ages in its suites.

Walks in big game country carry a minimum age of their own, set by each camp, so tell us how old everyone is and we will confirm what each stay allows.