11 Days Tsavo, Amboseli & Serengeti Safari
Red elephants, lava fields and Serengeti lions on East Africa's wilder southern route
11 Days Tsavo, Amboseli & Serengeti Safari
Between Nairobi and the Indian Ocean lies Tsavo, a sun-scorched expanse of bush, lava and red earth split by the highway and railway to the coast. Its two national parks together cover around 22,000 square kilometres, yet they see a fraction of the visitors who crowd into the Mara. That's the appeal. In Tsavo West you watch hippos from an underwater chamber at Mzima Springs, scramble across a black lava flow only a couple of centuries old and gaze north to the green ridges of the Chyulu Hills. In Tsavo East, elephants caked in rust-coloured dust gather along the Galana River, and the water churns through the rock chutes of Lugard Falls.
From there the route swings back west to Amboseli, crosses into Tanzania at Namanga and climbs through Tarangire's baobab country to the edge of Ngorongoro Crater. After a morning on the crater floor you head out onto the Serengeti for two nights of lion, leopard and cheetah, then fly back to Arusha rather than retracing the road.
This is a safari for people who'd rather earn their sightings. The roads are rough in places and the days are full, but the reward is a range of landscapes few itineraries can match: volcanic cones, spring-fed oases, river gorges and the most famous plains in Africa.
Ideal for: Travellers who like their safaris rugged and uncrowded, and want Kenya's wild southern parks before the big names of northern Tanzania.
The journey in brief
You start in Nairobi and head down the Mombasa road to Tsavo West for two nights of volcanic landscapes, Mzima Springs and views of the Chyulu Hills. Next comes Tsavo East, where two nights along the Galana River bring red elephants, Lugard Falls and huge open horizons. A long, scenic drive west delivers you to Amboseli for a night beneath Kilimanjaro, before you cross at Namanga into Tanzania. Tarangire's baobabs, a night on the Ngorongoro rim and a morning on the crater floor lead into two full nights in the Serengeti. On the final morning a light aircraft flies you from the Serengeti to Arusha, ready for your flight home.
Highlights
Day by day
Nairobi, Gateway to the South
Look for the Geob Ventures sign as you walk out of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport; your guide will take it from there and drive you into the city. Use the afternoon to rest, or, if you're curious about what lies ahead, visit the Nairobi Railway Museum, where old locomotives and photographs tell the story of the line that was pushed through Tsavo in the 1890s, and of the lions that famously preyed on its workers. Dinner doubles as a briefing on the days to come: long drives, rough roads, big skies and parks most visitors never reach. Pack a dust scarf and good sunglasses.
Down the Mombasa Road to Mzima
Leave early on the main highway to the coast, passing dry ranchland, baobabs and roadside trading towns. After about four and a half hours you turn off at Mtito Andei into Tsavo West, a landscape of volcanic cones, lava fields and thick bush. After lunch, head for Mzima Springs, where vast volumes of water well up from beneath the Chyulu Hills each day, filtered through porous lava, into clear pools fringed with palms. From a submerged viewing chamber you can watch hippos walk along the bottom while fish dart around them. Crocodiles bask on the banks and vervet monkeys keep a close eye on your lunch.
Lava, Craters and the Chyulu Skyline
Tsavo West's volcanic past is on full display today. Drive out to the Shetani lava flow, a black river of rock that poured from the earth only a couple of centuries ago; local people believed the devil himself had emerged here, hence the Swahili name. Walk out onto the jagged, clinking surface, then climb Chaimu Crater, a cinder cone with long views across the plains. To the north, the Chyulu Hills rise in a long green ridge. In the late afternoon, visit the fenced rhino sanctuary at the foot of a rocky escarpment, where black rhinos live under close protection, or simply track lesser kudu and leopard through the bush.
Into the Red Country
Cross the Mombasa highway this morning and enter Tsavo East, a flatter, wider, more open park than its western twin. The red soil here stains everything, including the elephants, which spray themselves with dust until they turn the colour of rust. Your first stop is Mudanda Rock, a long granite outcrop above a seasonal pool that draws elephants and buffalo in the dry months; you can climb up and watch from above. Tsavo is also known for its lions, many with thin manes or none at all, like the infamous man-eaters of 1898. Afternoon drives across the plains often bring cheetah and herds of fringe-eared oryx.
Lugard Falls and the Galana
Spend a full day exploring the Galana River, the lifeline of Tsavo East. Formed where the Athi and Tsavo rivers meet, it squeezes through channels of water-carved rock at Lugard Falls, a run of rapids and narrow chutes that roars after rain. You can walk across the rocks above the falls. Downstream, Crocodile Point lives up to its name. Along the river, look for elephants drinking, waterbuck and lesser kudu, with the flat-topped Yatta Plateau, one of the longest lava flows on Earth, running parallel on the horizon. Late in the afternoon, head to Aruba Dam to watch animals file in to drink.
Back West Under Kilimanjaro
A long, rewarding day on the road. You leave Tsavo East early, cut back through Tsavo West and exit near the Chyulu Hills, then continue through Maasai rangeland to Amboseli. Allow six to seven hours, broken up by game viewing and a picnic lunch. In the afternoon the country opens out, and if the clouds are kind, Kilimanjaro looms over the dusty basin. Amboseli is famous for big-tusked bulls, the kind of elephants that have become rare elsewhere in Africa. A late drive along the swamps, where elephants graze half-hidden in tall green sedge, rounds off your time in Kenya.
Namanga and the Baobab Belt
Make an early start with a dawn drive while Kilimanjaro is at its clearest, then head for the Namanga border post, about ninety minutes away. After clearing Kenyan exit and Tanzanian entry, you transfer to a Tanzanian 4x4 with a new guide and drive south past Arusha to Tarangire. The park is wild in a different way: a land of baobabs, termite mounds and the Tarangire River, which draws huge elephant herds in the dry season. You arrive for an afternoon drive among the trees, with lions in the shade, buffalo at the river and a dazzling variety of birds, from ground hornbills to bateleur eagles.
Climbing to the Caldera's Edge
A final morning in Tarangire, then drive about three hours west and up the Rift Valley escarpment, with Lake Manyara spread silver below, and on through the farming town of Karatu. The Ngorongoro highlands have a climate of their own: cool, green and often misty, with dense forest on the crater's outer walls. You reach the rim in the late afternoon and look down into the crater, 600 metres below, where tomorrow's wildlife already shows as specks on the grassland. Evenings are cold at this height, so pull on a fleece, wrap your hands around a hot drink and enjoy the change from Tsavo's heat.
Into the Caldera, Out to the Plains
Descend into the crater at first light for a morning game drive. The floor holds black rhino, lion, elephant, buffalo and great herds of zebra and wildebeest, all ringed by the walls of the ancient volcano. After a picnic lunch, climb out and head west, dropping from the highlands onto the Serengeti's southern plains. You stop at Naabi Hill gate for formalities, then drive deeper into the park, arriving in the Seronera area by late afternoon. Even this transfer is a game drive, with gazelles, hyenas and the occasional cheetah perched on a termite mound along the way. Tonight the sounds of the plains drift in after dark.
Big Cats of Seronera
Spend a full day in the central Serengeti, with packed meals so nothing interrupts the search for big cats. The Seronera area is the park's year-round wildlife hub, with permanent water, lion prides that hold territories around the kopjes and some of the best leopard-viewing in Tanzania. Depending on the month, the migration may be passing through, or the herds may be far away to the north or south; your guide will tell you where they are and whether a detour is worthwhile. Either way the variety is relentless, with elephant, giraffe, buffalo, topi, hippo and more than enough birdlife to fill a notebook.
Fly Back Over the Highlands
A final early game drive, while the cats are still active and the light is soft. Then your guide takes you to the Seronera airstrip for a light-aircraft flight back to Arusha, roughly an hour or a little more if it stops on the way, or on to Kilimanjaro International Airport for international connections. From the window you see the past three days in reverse: the plains, the broken rim of the crater, the Rift Valley wall and the glint of Lake Manyara. It's a satisfying way to finish, and it saves a full day of driving. On landing, you're met and transferred to your onward flight or overnight plans.
Your route
The parks, lakes and towns you'll travel through, in order.
What's included
Prices
Book as a group and the saving is applied to your quote.
Rates are per person per day, sharing a room, and cover everything under what's included. Your tailored quote confirms the final price for your dates. International flights are not included.
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11 Days Tsavo, Amboseli & Serengeti Safari · 11 days
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