Kenya with Kids Safari DAY BY DAY ITINERARY family safari DAY 1 TRAVEL DAY INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT DAY 2 OLE SERENI HOTEL NAIROBI Family Safaris with Deeper Africa Travel is the best education. Our family safaris create a rich learning experience for young people and everyone lucky enough to travel with them. Our guides are all fathers and experts at experiential learning. This is education that feels like eating ice cream and this method of learning is a central part of our safaris. Your safari guide is your family s teacher, translator, and tracker. He ll keep you safe, comfortable, and become a new Kenyan friend to your family. Pickup at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by your Deeper Africa driver after clearing customs. He will have a sign with your name on it. After making sure that all the luggage is collected, he ll transport you to Ole Sereni Hotel where everyone can get a good night s sleep. Dinner and overnight at the Ole Sereni Hotel. Swimming pool available With Deeper Africa you have one guide for every four or five family members. Since your guide travels with the family throughout your safari you ll get to know each other very well. For the children it is an exciting opportunity to know someone from another country. KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 1 1 1
DAY 3 OLE SERENI HOTEL NAIROBI Breakfast at Ole Sereni. This morning you ll visit the Sheldrick Animal Orphanage to meet all the baby elephants. You ll have a front row seat for the public viewing of the young elephants. The orphanage adopts juvenile elephants who have lost their mothers, often due to ivory poaching. Ivory wars are raging in our East African ecosystems and a baby elephant does not survive without a mother. This is where Daphne Sheldrick comes in. You ll be introduced to the baby elephants, meet the elephanticians (keepers), and learn about Sheldrick's ground breaking work with orphaned baby elephants and their reintroduction into elephant families in the bush in Tsavo National Park. Lunch at Tamambo Restaurant. After lunch you ll visit the Giraffe Center where you can pet and feed tame giraffe. Then on to Kazuri Beads. Kazuri Beads began as a tiny workshop experimenting in making handmade beads. It has grown large enough to have its own factory making beautiful beads into handmade jewelry and pottery. You tour the factory seeing how the beads are made and watch ladies turn the beads into beautiful jewelry. Dinner and overnight at Ole Sereni Hotel. KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 2
DAY 4 AMBOSELI SERENA AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK Breakfast at Ole Sereni. Today you ll be driving south to safari country and wildlife viewing in Amboseli National Park. You ll have your first official game drive beginning to learn animal identification and tracking and spotting with your guide. Your Land Cruiser is equipped with a set of reference books so that when you identify a new animal, information and pictures are at your fingertips to supplement your guide s insights. As well, we ll stock the cool box with water and your favorite sodas. Your Land Cruiser also has a full set of maps. During daily orientations your guide will use the maps to show you where you re going and where you ve been. Amboseli is famous for elephants. The elephants in Amboseli have been watched over by the researchers at the Amboseli Elephant Research Project for over 40 years. Each elephant has a name and their family trees have been mapped out. The researchers know who the matriarch in charge is, who her sisters are, who her babies are, and who the father to each is. You will see herds of elephants, and gain up close contacts with the matriarchs, the babies, teenagers, and bulls. From time to time you can spot older elephants in the herds with very large tusks. Dinner and overnight at Amboseli Serena. Swimming pool available. KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 3 TANZANIA EXPLORER 888.658.7102 3 3 11
DAY 5 AMBOSELI SERENA AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK Most of Amboseli is open savannah country and that means good visibility for wildlife viewing. The water in Enkongo Narok swamp and the acacia woodlands have wonderful wildlife viewing. The water in the swamps is replenished underground from the mountain top and the area is always a green spot within Amboseli. (Notice Kilimanjaro yet?) There are year round hippos in the swamp area and many giraffe near the acacia woodlands. Picnic lunch, or lunch back at the lodge, your choice. You ll always see local people from the Maasai tribe in and about the park. When Amboseli was gazetted as a national park the area around the swamps became off limits to local Maasai as a watering hole for their cattle. In retaliation the local Maasai pursued and killed lion that left the park boundaries. As a consequence lion are not plentiful in Amboseli. A piped water supply was set up outside the park boundaries for the Maasai cattle and the Maasai finally did give up their land within the park boundaries. Even so, sometimes you will still see cattle herds grazing within the park boundaries. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and overnight at Amboseli Serena. KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 4 TANZANIA EXPLORER 888.658.7102 11 11
DAY DAY 6 LION HILL LODGE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK Breakfast at Ole Sereni. This morning you ll drive north for the morning to Lake Nakuru National Park. Lunch at the lodge with the afternoon wildlife viewing in Nakuru National Park. DAY X Lake Nakuru is world famous for, and was created as a national park to protect its stunning flocks of lesser flamingo, which literally turn its shores pink. Its birdlife is rich: a beacon for leading ornithologists, scientists, and wildlife filmmakers. It is easily accessible, lying immediately south of Nakuru Township. Nakuru is a small, beautiful park with ecosystems that include: an acacia forest, woodlands, and the famous soda lake that draws flocks of greater and lesser flamingos and over 400 species of birds such as white pelicans. Up to four million flamingoes roam the Rift Valley lakes in great flocks throughout the year, searching for the best feeding and bathing conditions. Each day a substantial number of these flamingoes settle on Lake Nakuru producing an interesting cacophony of sights and sounds. Historically, Lake Nakuru was a remote wildlife park; but development and urban sprawl have brought many people to this once remote area. Human and wildlife conflicts were a constant problem. As a solution, Kenya Wildlife Service built an electric fence around this small park. The fence solved the conflict problems and it allows you to experience substantial wildlife populations in a small geographic area. This means that every turn reveals new animals. Dinner and overnight at Lion Hill Lodge. Swimming pool available. KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 5 12 12
DAY 7 LION HILL LODGE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK Full day for wildlife viewing in Nakuru. Lunch at the lodge, or picnic lunch, as you choose. Wildlife viewing is relatively easy in Nakuru National Park, and it is not uncommon to spot leopard in trees. Nakuru s lions sometimes sleep on the broad acacia branches. The springs in the northeastern corner of the lake provide pools for hippo. Numerous antelope roam on the shores, including the Defassa Waterbuck. The shoreline is also a good place to observe the Bohor s Reedbuck, which sleeps in the sedge grasses. The woodlands and forest are also home to many rhino. In 1987, only two black rhino remained following devastation by poachers. By creating a rhino sanctuary within the park and reintroducing a breeding herd from nearby Laikipia, Kenya Wildlife Service successfully reestablished rhino in the park. A solitary browser, the black rhino can often be seen in the woodlands. As well, the white rhino is not indigenous to Kenya, but has been successfully introduced from Southern Africa. In Nakuru, impressive numbers of white rhino graze along shorelines, often accompanied by small calves, an indication that they are breeding successfully. In 1977, the Rothschild s giraffe were introduced to the park from their threatened home area, Soy, in western Kenya. They have also successfully bred in the area. Although you will not see elephant around Nakuru, driving around the national park you are likely to see large herds of buffalo, impala, warthog, eland, troops of olive baboon, the occasional steinbok, Chandler s reedbuck, dik-dik, and colobus monkeys amongst many other species. Rock hyrax and klipspringer occupy the cliffs and escarpment. Sightings of leopard and lion are common, as are jackals and hyena. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and overnight at Lion Hill Lodge. KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 6
DAY 8 MARA ENCOUNTERS NABOISHO CONSERVANCY MAASAI MARA GAME RESERVE Breakfast at Lion Hill Lodge. Today is an early start as you head off towards the Maasai Mara and across the Rift Valley to these famous open plains of the Mara teeming with vast numbers of wildlife. On the drive you ll be moving through areas where the Maasai live. Note how the landscape changes to drier savannah grasslands and begin to note many herds of cattle tended by local Maasai herdsmen. You ll stop for a picnic lunch en-route. Mara Encounters offers you beautiful tented accommodations, great food, great guiding, and introductions in the nearby Maasai village. There are a myriad of activities for the family at Naboisho Camp. You can go on game drives in the Mara, walking safaris, night game drives, and visits into local Maasai villages. You ll visit villages not as a tourist, but as a guest with camp staff introducing you to family and friends. Feel enriched by this very personal and memorable encounter. Lunch, sundowners, dinner, and overnight at Mara Encounters. KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 7
DAY 9 MARA ENCOUNTERS NABIOSHO CONSERVANCY MAASAI MARA GAME RESERVE Breakfast at Mara Encounters Camp. The Disney movie African Cats was filmed in the Mara. If you haven t seen the movie do so. It is magical. It will introduce you to Mara, a young lion, and Sita, one of the most famous cheetahs on the planet. Sita is just one of the cheetahs who live on the Serengeti savannahs. You ll have the opportunity to view many. You ll be scouting for cheetah in one of the two remaining cheetah strongholds in the world: the Mara/Serengeti ecosystem. Cheetahs face increasing pressure from humans and land encroachment - with between 9,000 to 12,000 left in the world. Lion prides in the Mara are territorial. Females within a lion pride are related to each other. Daughters, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and nieces live together for up to 15 years - the typical lifespan of a lioness. Males are forced to leave the pride at between two to three years of age. When not attached to a pride, lions are nomadic, occasionally banding together with other male cousins or brothers. Dinner and overnight at Mara Encounters. KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 8
DAY 10 MARA ENCOUNTERS NABOISHO CONSERVANCY MAASAI MARA GAME RESERVE Toda you can craft the right safari day for your family with the camp guides. Just make sure you treat yourself and the family to a walking safari while you are at Mara Encounters with a great walking guide. Everyone in the family learns tracks and scat identification and the patience that makes a walking safari successful. Your guide will use his extensive bush tracking experience to amazing effect. Many different habitats are represented in the Mara - each with unique and different flora and fauna. Acacia woodlands attract giraffes, while hippos occupy the deeper river pools. But it is the East Africa savannah grasslands and the herds and predators of the savannah that make the Maasai Mara famous. Wildebeest are well suited to harvest the short grasses that cover the semiarid plains of the Serengeti. The soils of this region have an underlying hardpan covered by a fertile layer of volcanic soil. Grass growing in this soil is highly nutritious, taking up nutrients trapped by the hard pan. The eastern and western Mara, as well as the Mara River areas, are all accessible to you by Land Cruiser. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, sundowners, and overnight at Mara Encounters. KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 9
DAY 11 OLE SERENI HOTEL NAIROBI Breakfast at Mara Encounters. Spend your last morning in the bush hoping that you have the best wildlife sightings ever. The camp staff will transport you to the bush strip for your flight to Nairobi. Bush Flight Depart Mara @ 11:00 am Arrive Nairobi @ 12:30 pm Your Deeper Africa driver will pick you up at Wilson bush airport and transport you to Ole Sereni. Lunch after you arrive. Day room for packing, showering, and relaxing. Dinner at Ole Sereni. Evening transport to your international flight. DAY 12 INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 10
ADDITIONAL SAFARI INFORMATION INCLUDED IN YOUR SAFARI Full board accommodations in all lodges and tented camps All meals in itinerary Unlimited game drives in private 4x4 safari Land Cruisers All park and entrance fees Experienced and professional safari naturalist guides Natural Learning program Enrollment with Flying Doctors Evacuation Service All in-country transportation Laundry available at some lodges and camps Beverages in your 4x4 safari vehicle Bottled water available at all times Extensive pre-departure briefing and materials including health information, reading list and map 2016 CUSTOM DEP ARTURE D ATES Schedule as you wish January through March, June through December. 2016 CUSTOM DEP ARTURE D ATES 6 persons $ USD per person 4 persons $ USD per person Children under 16 years $ USD per person *Pricing based on high season prices. Call us for green season and peak season pricing. EXCLUDED FROM YOUR SAFAR I Arrivals and departures out of Nairobi s Jomo Kenyatta Airport. Prices do not include international air travel. Alcohol and some beverages in some camps and lodges Gratuities We plan your wildlife adventures in areas where wildlife habitats are known to exist for the season and time you are traveling. Still, animals in the areas you are viewing are not in a zoo. They run freely, and we cannot always anticipate their movements. Also, Deeper Africa uses best efforts to provide the lodging set out in this itinerary, but occasionally there are circumstances that occur in East Africa that require lodging substitutions. We reserve the right to make comparable lodging substitutions whenever necessary. KENYA WITH KIDS 888.658.7102 11 13 13