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Your Kenyan adventure begins as you depart the USA bound for Africa. You arrive in Nairobi the following day. |
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You arrive in Nairobi and are met by your guide. Your driver delivers you to the House of Waine, an eleven room boutique hotel situated in the elegant Nairobi suburb of Karen. You have a chance to refresh before enjoying dinner at the hotel. D |
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After breakfast you are met by your guide and driver for an exploration of some of the historic and cultural highlights of Nairobi, Kenya's capital city. Your first stop will be Daphne Sheldrick's Elephant Orphanage where young elephants are raised to be returned to the wild. You have the opportunity to "adopt" an elephant if you choose. You then move on to Karen Blixen's House built in 1912 and familiar to readers of her book, "Out of Africa". You will have a light lunch at the Utamaduni Craft Centre where you have the chance to view crafts made by the Masai and also by ex-Nairobi street children. After lunch you go to the Giraffe Centre dedicated to the preservation of Rothschild giraffes. You get the opportunity to meet the giraffes in person before returning to your hotel. This evening you will dine at a Nairobi landmark, the Carnivore restaurant, as its name suggests, meat is the specialty with a focus on exotic game. B, L, D |
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After Breakfast your driver will be ready for your entry into Tsavo, Kenya’s largest park and home to a wide variety of game. While in the park, you will be staying at the Ndolwa House, a small private homestead bordering the south eastern boundary of Tsavo west National Park south of the Ngulia Mountain and Tsavo River. Each cottage has its own unique style with custom-made beds, personal African collections and bead work decoration. The cottages and the dining area overlook spectacular views of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Chyulu Hills and the Taita Hills. This afternoon you will go on an afternoon game drive before enjoying a “sundowner” prior to dinner. Tonight you can go to sleep listening to the sounds of herds of buffalo and elephant grazing outside your room. B, L, D |
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After a wake-up cup of coffee you will head out for an early morning game drive when many of the animals are most active. You will then return to the lodge for breakfast. During the heat of the day and the animals resting, you have the chance to lie by the pool, read a good book or take a side trip to Mzima Springs where hippos and crocodiles abound. As the heat wears off you head out for another game drive before you toast the sunset. B, L, D |
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After breakfast you drive over the scenic Athi Plains and into the bush country of Amboseli famous for huge herds of elephant. Your base will be Porini Camp, an exclusive bush camp of just six tents in the Selenkay Conservancy, a private reserve beside Amboseli National Park in unspoilt wilderness and well off the beaten track; the animals are truly wild and not yet habituated to the presence of vehicles. This is also an important dispersal area and rangeland for wildlife migrating out of Amboseli. You enjoy a game drive in the afternoon and later a “sundowner” followed by dinner. B, L, D |
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A game run in the morning allows us to search for the common species of East African Wildlife that may be seen including lions, giraffes, wildebeests, wart hogs, zebras, gazelles, hyenas, ostrich, hippos and baboons. But, set against the back-drop of Mt. Kilimanjaro, it is the elephants that stand out and we will see our share on our morning game drive. After taking a break for lunch back at camp, we enjoy a guided nature walk within the ranch prior to dinner. Following dinner we go out on a night game drive permitted on private ranches but not in the parks. Here is our chance to see animals in their nocturnal habitats. B, L, D |
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After breakfast, you fly by light aircraft over the Great Rift Valley, scene of the great migration before landing close to the Masai Mara reserve. You arrive at the airstrip and are transported not only to your camp but back in time to the 1920's and the days of the great safaris. The Cottars have been running safaris since 1919 and today, Calvin Cottar is your host and chief guide. The elegant tents offer every amenity, including a butler for each tent and are furnished with antiques from the 1920's. After arrival and a chance to relax, you depart on an afternoon game drive.B, L, D |
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The Masai Mara is an extension of the Serengeti National Park from which the Wildebeest, Zebras and Gazelles migrate every year from June through September before conducting a migration back to Serengeti in October. At its peak there are over 1.5 million animals involved which obviously brings the predators like Lions and Cheetahs. Apart from the seasonal migration, the game viewing is superb at other times of the year with the “big five” in abundance. This is Africa as you picture it. In fact, most of the movie “Out of Africa” was filmed here. Your morning and evening game viewings allow you to take it all in and then sit at the dinner table reviewing the day's sightings with your limited number of fellow guests. B, L, D |
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After a morning game drive and lunch, you head to the airstrip for your flight back to Nairobi where you will be met by your guide and driver. Since this will be your last night in Nairobi we will commemorate your trip and your experiences with dinner at the Tamarind Restaurant, considered to be Nairobi’s best fish restaurant. Your last night on safari will be a return to the House of Waine with its lavish ensuite rooms, elegantly furnished to reflect their individual themes.B, L, D |
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The coffee farm owned by Karen Blixen has now been made into an upscale suburb of Nairobi. You will visit the Crossroads center for a chance to pick up hand designed Jewelry, African and India Jewelry or maybe some gold. After lunch at the center you will head for the airport for your return flight to the United States which leaves in the late afternoon.B, L |
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Your flight returns to the USA at breakfast time.
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