Dine alongside giraffes in Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya
Stay at one of Nairobi’s most popular hotels and enjoy your morning cuppa’ with a twist. Visit Giraffe Manor and be delighted as giraffes pop their heads through dining room windows to see what’s on offer (top tip: you’ll find a pot of dried grass pellets on each table). This unique activity is reserved for guests at Giraffe Manor. During your stay, you can learn more about local conservation efforts at the nearby AFEW Giraffe Centre.
Track mountain gorillas in Rwanda
Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda
Trek into the misty bamboo forests of Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park for one of the world’s most unforgettable wildlife experiences. Led by an expert guide, you’ll trek to find a group of mountain gorillas. The opportunity to observe these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat, so closely mirroring our own humanity, is a truly moving wildlife-centred experience.
Track chimpanzees in the wild
Mahale Mountains, Tanzania
Head off the beaten track to Mahale Mountains National Park in western Tanzania to track chimpanzees in their natural habitat. Joined by an expert tracker guide, trek through mist-shrouded forests to find the troop you’ll observe. Delight in the charming and curious nature of these inquisitive creatures.
Visit Reteti Elephant Orphanage by helicopter
Kenya
Experience the magic of wildlife conservation on a heartwarming adventure to Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in northern Kenya. This Samburu community-owned and run wildlife sanctuary takes in orphaned and abandoned elephant calves to rehabilitate them for release back in the wild. A visit to the sanctuary allows you to have first-hand insight into the expanding grassroots movement of community-driven conservation across northern Kenya. Elevate your visit (literally) by travelling in a helicopter. Combine this visit with a stay at the simple-yet-elegant Lewa House in Laikipia for access to even more incredible wildlife viewing, plus insight into their conservation programs.
Breakfast with the Hippos and Crocs
Disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer, do not read this literally, and we are not feeding you to Crocodiles or Hippos. We only meant that you must have a bush breakfast by the side of one of the iconic rivers, like the Grumeti River, Mara River, Talek River, Olare Olok River, etc. While you are spread out a neat table and chairs and have your sumptuous breakfast and champagne by the river, you also watch Hippos and Crocs chilling out in the river and possibly having their breakfast of a live kill (not you or your breakfast).
Do a balloon safari
Soaring up the skies in a hot air balloon and witnessing the beautiful world below with a bird’s eye view is quite an adventure in itself, but when that balloon happens to sail in the endless plains of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, the experience is not to be forgotten. You reach your balloon before sunrise, and as you are placed in your wooden cubicle and the balloon starts to soar, myriad thoughts often cross the minds of travelers – what if the balloon lands and falls between a pride of lions? What if we end up landing on the river amidst crocodiles? Can we meet a giraffe at his eye level and say hi?
Sundowner in the Savannahs
You must have been to the best of restaurants and bars around the world and sampled the best of wines or single malts. What if the same is served to you in the middle of savannahs as you watch the sun setting before your eyes in your armchair? In our opinion, no bar in the world can match that experience.
Visit a Masai village
The Masai’s live in small mud-thatched villages, together with their cattle and smaller livestock. For many centuries, Masai has roamed these lands of Kenya and Tanzania, living a free, nomadic lifestyle. Their traditional lands are today’s national parks of Masai Mara and Serengeti.
Your experience of Masai Mara and Serengeti is not complete until you interact with these people and get to know their cultures and traditions. For eg, you will notice that the bright shukas (sheets) they wear are strongly contrasted with the greens and browns of the landscape.
While this appears against the common logic of wearing earth colours on safaris (which we also advise our guests to do), they wear such colours for a reason. You will also experience the Masai’s singing and dancing in their traditional way of rhythmic call-and-response style and the “jumping dance” or adumu! This is one of the rare opportunities globally where you get to interact so closely with an Aboriginal tribe while being completely safe and secure. Do cherish this opportunity!
The great (great great) migration
As they say, keep the best for last. So we thought to keep this wild spectacle at the end of this list. Every year, millions of wildebeests and zebras follow a cycle of life that starts from the south of Serengeti (Ndutu Plains) in Tanzania around January–February, when they give birth in millions.
These herds follow the movement of rains and greens to move northwards through March to June, and by the end of June, they reach the Mara-Serengeti border, finally entering Masai Mara from July to September. They often cross one of the deadly Mara rivers in herds of thousands, with crocs and lions waiting for easy meals, and that makes these rivers crossing the grandest spectacle in the natural world! If you have not seen it, you have missed something in life.
Experience a hunt or a chase
Witnessing a hunt or chase is an off-shoot of the first experience, and this often comes true with a great guide and with the right place of your stay. When you see one for the first time, the feeling of that adrenaline rush cannot be described in words. But we can assure you that the moment will stay with you for the rest of your life, and this is one story you would like to narrate to your grandchildren!
