12 Days Kenya & Tanzania Multi-Generation Safari
Grandparents, parents and kids in one private safari, from rhino country to the crater floor
12 Days Kenya & Tanzania Multi-Generation Safari
Getting three generations into one room is hard enough. Getting them onto a single trip that works for a ten-year-old and a seventy-five-year-old is a craft. This safari runs at a flexible pace in a private vehicle, or two if the family is large, so the youngest can nap while the eldest takes a front-row seat, and nobody is ever rushed or left behind.
You start in Kenya's rhino country. At Ol Pejeta the children meet the northern white rhinos and watch rescued chimpanzees in their riverside sanctuary, while adults and older grandchildren join researchers to track lions by radio collar. Lake Nakuru adds black and white rhino, Rothschild's giraffe and rafts of pelicans. In the Maasai Mara, the adults can float over the plains in a sunrise balloon, and the next morning the whole clan gathers for breakfast under an acacia.
Then it's into Tanzania for the Serengeti's big cats, a picnic on the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater and a final night among Tarangire's baobabs and elephant herds. We book family suites or adjoining rooms, choose guides who can hold the attention of every age, and make sure there's always a pool or a hammock for whoever needs a break.
Ideal for: Extended families spanning three generations who want one shared adventure with something for every age, from six to eighty-plus.
The journey in brief
After a restful first night in Nairobi, you drive north to Ol Pejeta Conservancy beneath Mount Kenya for two nights of rhinos, chimpanzees and lion tracking. A scenic road past Thomson's Falls brings you to Lake Nakuru for a night among rhinos and pelicans, then on to the Mara for three nights that include a balloon flight for the adults and a bush breakfast for everyone. A short flight via Migori and Kogatende crosses into Tanzania, where two nights among the Serengeti's kopjes follow, then a hop to Lake Manyara and a night in the Ngorongoro highlands. After an early descent into the crater, you spend your last night in Tarangire before driving to Arusha for flights home.
Highlights
Day by day
The Clan Gathers in Nairobi
Families rarely arrive on the same flight, so our team tracks every arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and meets each branch of the family as it lands, with booster seats ready for the smallest travellers. By evening everyone is together in a garden setting in Nairobi's leafy suburbs, the children already exploring the lawns and the grandparents settled on a shaded terrace with a pot of tea. Before dinner your guide joins you to show off the vehicle and talk through the plan: who wants the front seat, who needs extra legroom, which grandchild gets the first turn at the roof hatch. Dinner is one long table, followed by early nights all round.
North to Ol Pejeta, Beneath Mount Kenya
Today you drive north for about four hours through the farming country of central Kenya, past pineapple plantations and tea-green hills, stopping whenever someone needs a stretch. In Nanyuki you cross the equator, where a local showman demonstrates water swirling one way on one side of the line and the opposite way on the other; grandparents may suspect a trick, and the grandchildren won't care. Then into Ol Pejeta Conservancy, with Mount Kenya's jagged summit rising to the east when the clouds part. After lunch and a rest, your first game drive brings rhinos, Grevy's zebra in their pinstripes and elephants at the waterholes. Because this is a private conservancy, your guide can leave the road for a closer look.
Rhinos, Chimps and the Lion Researchers
A big day, broken into manageable parts. In the morning you visit the enclosure that protects the northern white rhinos and meet the rangers who guard them around the clock. Nearby, the chimpanzee sanctuary is home to chimps rescued from the bushmeat and pet trades across Africa, and the children watch them groom, squabble and climb from the edge of their riverside enclosure. After lunch, grandparents may prefer a siesta while parents and older grandchildren join the conservancy's lion researchers, following the faint beep of a telemetry antenna to find a collared pride. Everyone gathers again at sundown to swap stories over drinks around the fire.
Waterfalls and Rhinos at Lake Nakuru
Leave Ol Pejeta after breakfast and drive west through rolling farmland to Nyahururu, where Thomson's Falls plunges about 70 metres into a misty gorge; the short walk to the viewpoint suits every knee. Then it's down into the Rift Valley to Lake Nakuru National Park, around three and a half hours of driving in all. In the afternoon your guide follows the lake shore, ringed by fever trees and dotted with pelicans and, when the water's chemistry is right, flamingos. Nakuru is one of Kenya's best parks for seeing both black and white rhino, and rare Rothschild's giraffes browse in the woodland. Sunset from Baboon Cliff makes a fine three-generation photograph.
The Long Road West to the Mara
This is the longest road day of the trip, about five hours from Lake Nakuru to the Maasai Mara, so your guide plans it carefully. An early game drive gives one last look at Nakuru's rhinos, then you climb out of the Rift Valley through farming country to Narok, a busy market town and a good spot for lunch, cold drinks and a proper break. The grandparents get the smoothest seats; the grandchildren get window duty and the job of spotting the first wildebeest. Closer to the reserve, wheat fields give way to open grassland, Maasai cattle and herders wrapped in red. You arrive by late afternoon with time to settle in before a fireside dinner.
Balloons for Some, Lie-ins for Others
Those who signed up for the hot-air balloon are woken in the dark and driven to the launch site. You lift off at sunrise and drift for about an hour above the plains, watching herds scatter below, before landing to a champagne breakfast in the grass. The rest of the family sleeps in, lingers over pancakes and heads out for a gentle morning drive, meeting the balloonists back at camp to compare stories. The afternoon is quiet time: swimming, card games, a nap in the shade. At four, everyone who wants to heads out together for a drive along the river, searching for lions, elephants and perhaps a leopard in the riverine trees.
Breakfast in the Bush, All Together
Everyone heads out together this morning, sleepy grandchildren wrapped in blankets and grandparents nursing travel mugs of coffee, and drives across the plains until a table appears beneath a lone acacia. The camp team has laid out a full breakfast: eggs cooked over the fire, fresh mango and pineapple, pancakes with honey and endless coffee. Between mouthfuls your guide explains how lion prides divide their territory and why topi stand guard on termite mounds. After a long, slow drive back, the afternoon offers a visit to a Maasai homestead for those who are curious, or more pool time for those who aren't. Your final Kenyan evening ends round the fire.
Hopping the Border by Light Aircraft
Today the whole family takes to the air. A small plane carries you from the Mara airstrip to Migori, where you clear Kenyan exit formalities in a little terminal building, then crosses the border to Kogatende, where you're stamped into Tanzania, and a final short leg brings you to Seronera in the central Serengeti. Each flight is brief, there's time to stretch at every stop, and grandchildren tend to treat the whole thing like a fairground ride. Your Tanzanian guide, or two for larger families, meets you on the airstrip, since Kenyan vehicles stay on their side of the border. After lunch and a rest, a gentle afternoon drive introduces you to the Serengeti's kopjes and plains.
Kopjes, Cats and Endless Questions
The name Serengeti comes from a Maasai word for land that runs on forever, and today you see why. Your guide plans the day around the family's energy: a morning drive of three hours or so in search of lions sprawled on the kopjes, cheetahs on the open grass and leopards in the sausage trees along the Seronera River, then lunch and a long rest. Grandchildren will fire questions all day, and Tanzanian guides are wonderful at answering them: why zebras have stripes, how a giraffe bends down to drink, whether a hippo can swim. Grandparents can claim a front seat in the morning and a hammock in the afternoon. The evening drive is optional.
A Short Flight to the Crater Highlands
After a relaxed breakfast you board a light aircraft at Seronera for the hour-long hop over the plains and volcanic hills to Lake Manyara's airstrip, then drive up through the market town of Karatu, its slopes patched with coffee and wheat, to the Ngorongoro highlands. The air up here is cool and smells of woodsmoke and damp forest. The afternoon is open: grandparents may want a long rest, while children can explore the gardens or join a short guided walk through the farmland nearby. At sunset, gather at a rim viewpoint to look down into the crater, where tomorrow's adventure waits some 600 metres below. Pack a jumper; nights at this altitude are chilly.
Crater Morning, Baobab Evening
An early start pays off today. You descend into the Ngorongoro Crater soon after the gates open, while mist is still lifting off the floor and the lions are on the move. Spend the morning among buffalo, zebra and, with luck, one of the crater's black rhino, then break for a picnic near the hippo pool, eaten in the vehicle because the black kites here are practised sandwich thieves. By early afternoon you're back on the rim and driving about two hours to Tarangire, a park of giant baobabs and enormous elephant herds. Arrive in time for a shower and sundowners as the elephants file down to the river. It's the last night all together, so make it a long dinner.
Elephants to Say Goodbye
A final morning drive in Tarangire, when the light is golden on the baobabs and elephant families gather along the Tarangire River to drink. Look out for yellow-collared lovebirds, found naturally only in Tanzania, and the occasional python draped along a branch. After a late breakfast you drive about two hours to Arusha, where there's time for lunch and a little shopping for carvings and bright kitenge fabric. Later it's an hour's drive to Kilimanjaro International Airport for evening departures. Every generation leaves with its own favourite moment, and the debate over whose was best will last until the next family gathering.
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.
Frequently asked questions
How do you handle such different energy levels in one family?
Are there age limits on any activities?
Will it suit grandparents with limited mobility?
What visas and documents does the family need?
How much luggage can each person bring?
How long is the 12 Days Kenya & Tanzania Multi-Generation Safari?
How much does the 12 Days Kenya & Tanzania Multi-Generation Safari cost?
When is the best time to do the 12 Days Kenya & Tanzania Multi-Generation Safari?
What is included in the 12 Days Kenya & Tanzania Multi-Generation Safari?
Can this itinerary be customised?
Let's plan your safari
12 Days Kenya & Tanzania Multi-Generation Safari · 12 days
Tell us when you'd like to travel and who's coming. A Geob safari specialist in Nairobi will reply within one working day with availability, a tailored quote and any changes you'd like.
- No account or payment needed to enquire
- Every itinerary can be adjusted to your dates and pace
- Prefer to talk? +254 728 136 167
You might also like
9 days
Best seller
9 Days Maasai Mara & Serengeti Migration Safari
Two countries, two riverbanks, one chance to watch the herds take the plunge
14 days
Best seller
14 Days Kenya & Tanzania Big Five Safari
Fourteen days and seven great parks, from Samburu's desert rivers to Tarangire's baobabs
6 days
6 Days Maasai Mara & Serengeti Fly-in Safari
Six days, four flights, almost no road: the Mara, Serengeti and crater for people short on time