kenya & tanzania
the plains and a private island
Fourteen nights from Nairobi through the Mara and the Serengeti to a private coral island off Tanzania's coast.
- Private Safari
- From $18,300 pp
- 2 guests
- 14 nights
trip highlights
- At Namiri Plains in the eastern Serengeti, drives across Soit Le Motonyi often pass without another vehicle in sight, in country set aside for decades to protect cheetahs.
- Between December and March the Kusini short-grass plains near Ubuntu's southern camp are where the wildebeest gather to calve.
- Sanctuary Crater Camp sits on the rim near the descent road, putting you among the first vehicles onto the crater floor each morning.
- The Ngorongoro Crater floor is one of the more reliable places in Tanzania for black rhino, with all of the Big Five present.
Scroll for the full itinerary
Eastern Serengeti to the Crater Floor
The route runs for ten nights, opening with a night beneath Mount Meru at Arusha before three regions of northern Tanzania. The eastern Serengeti, on the short-grass plains of Soit Le Motonyi, is cheetah country with few vehicles. The southern Serengeti brings the Kusini calving plains. The Ngorongoro Crater closes the trip, its floor enclosed by walls that rise as much as 610 metres.
You travel by game drive, with days built around morning and afternoon outings and full-day options in the east. At Kusini a mobile camp stands among the herds, and on the crater rim an early descent puts you on the floor before the traffic. The accommodation runs from a 1905 farmhouse to tented camps, each small in scale and placed for the wildlife rather than the road.
Daily Itinerary Breakdown
Arusha Beneath Mount Meru
Northern circuit safaris begin here, in the staging town on Mount Meru's southern slopes, where the altitude at 1,400 metres cools the air and the mountain dominates a clear morning. It is a single night to gather yourself before the parks. Ngare Sero sits on Meru's forested lower slopes, half an hour from Kilimanjaro International, a 1905 farmhouse the Leach family has run since 1974. Colobus and Sykes' monkeys move through the canopy, a spring-fed lake sits at the centre of the grounds, and meals lean on the estate's organic garden and freshly caught trout.
- Accommodation at Ngare Sero Mountain Lodge
Eastern Serengeti Cheetah Country
The open, short-grass country of the eastern Serengeti, Soit Le Motonyi, was closed to tourism for over twenty years and set aside for cheetah research. Days run on morning and afternoon game drives, with full-day options and packed meals, across sightlines that run for kilometres. Lion prides hold territory, leopards move along the seasonal Ngare Nanyuki River, and cheetahs cross open ground; between November and May the migration herds spread across these plains. Namiri Plains is a secluded tented camp whose nearest neighbour is over an hour away, so drives often pass without another vehicle in sight.
- Accommodation at Namiri Plains
Southern Serengeti and the Kusini Calving
Between December and March the short-grass plains of Kusini fill with wildebeest gathering to calve within a few short weeks, and the mass of newborns draws intense predator activity across open ground that hides nothing. Kusini lies apart from the busier Ndutu tracks, so game drives here can find large herds and hunting cats with barely another vehicle in sight. Ubuntu is a mobile camp of ten canvas tents, spaced well apart on a low hillside, each with a private veranda facing the plains. Inside are proper beds, campaign furniture and fire-heated bucket showers; lions, hyenas and the grunt of wildebeest carry through the night.
- Accommodation at Ubuntu Migration Camp
Ngorongoro Crater and Its Floor
The crater floor gathers grassland, swamp and forest side by side, fed year-round by water draining down the walls, and it supports a resident community of around 25,000 large animals. A stay is built around one descent by registered 4x4, with picnic breakfast and lunch carried down; it is one of the more reliable places in Tanzania for black rhino, and the Big Five can turn up within a single morning. Sanctuary Crater Camp stands in acacia forest on the rim, close to the descent road, so you are among the first vehicles onto the floor before the traffic arrives. At around 2,300 metres evenings turn cold, and a hot-water bottle answers the altitude.
- Accommodation at Sanctuary Crater Camp
Ed Charles, BBC Producer
Fitzroy are true specialists in accessing the wilderness. They know where to go and importantly, when to go there. Highly recommended.
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rated five stars by our clients
our approach
remote, exclusive
& personal
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
Every journey starts with a conversation. We favour a direct, personal approach: understanding your vision before anything else.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape a journey that is both thoughtfully considered and expertly delivered.
Get in touch to start planning yours.