Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Lake Manyara in 10 days, staying at premium camps and lodges where the setting is part of the point. 9 nights on safari, priced on request.
Maasai Mara - Nakuru - Arusha - Manyara - Ngorongoro - Serengeti
About this safari
The route opens in Maasai Mara — big cats, open plains and the northern stage of the Great Migration — and works through 4 further destinations over 10 days. It crosses between Kenya and Tanzania; the final proposal will explain the border arrangements, vehicles and guiding. Accommodation is at the luxury standard: premium camps and lodges where the accommodation is part of the experience. At this level the camps are as much a reason to travel as the wildlife: limited suites, exceptional food, private decks and guiding of a standard that changes what you see. Like every safari in this catalogue, it is priced on request rather than sold at a published rate, because park fees, permits, group size and contracted accommodation all change the figure.
Day by day
Written out in full before you book, so you can see exactly how the days are paced and where each night is spent.
Day 1
This planning outline starts in Nairobi and continues towards the first destination; the collection point, time and transport are confirmed in the final proposal. The drive to the Mara is part of the experience rather than a transfer to be endured. You cross the Rift escarpment, pass through market towns where the day's business spills onto the roadside, and then watch the landscape empty out into grassland. By the time the plains open up properly, wildlife is already visible from the vehicle and the pace of the trip has changed. Game drives cover genuinely different country within a short distance. The Musiara marsh draws elephant and buffalo to permanent water, the open grassland of the central plains is where cheetah have the room they need to run, and the broken ground towards the escarpment holds different prides again. Between sightings there is the sheer breadth of the place — grass running to the horizon under an enormous sky. A luxury stay is proposed for this night, with the final property and arrangements confirmed in writing.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 2
The Mara rewards early starts. Leaving camp while the grass is still wet puts you out when lion are finishing the night's work and cheetah are looking for the high ground that lets them scan for gazelle. Your guide will work the riverine forest along the Mara and Talek rivers, where leopard rest through the day in the fig branches, then move out onto the open plains where topi stand sentinel on termite mounds and elephant families cross in single file. The rhythm of a Mara day follows the animals rather than the clock. Dawn is the most productive window, when cats are still active and the light is low enough for photography. Later the plains settle into the heat and the emphasis shifts to elephant, buffalo and the birdlife along the water. By late afternoon the predators stir again, and the last hour before the gate closes is often the best of the day. This outline assumes the catalogue's premium standard. No named camp is guaranteed until the quotation confirms it.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 3
The itinerary continues by road, the road north from the Rift Valley floor climbs towards Nakuru town, and the park gate sits close enough to the main highway that the transition from traffic to wildlife happens within minutes. Inside the fence the country changes immediately — yellow-barked acacia along the shoreline, euphorbia forest climbing the eastern slopes, and the pale sheet of the lake spread out below. A morning here has a different character from the open savannah parks — tighter, greener, more enclosed. Your guide will work the lakeside tracks first while rhino are still out grazing, then climb through the woodland where colobus move in the canopy and the view opens out over the whole basin from the cliff viewpoints. The suggested standard is luxury. Citrus will identify the available property and contracted services before confirmation.
Overnight: Lake Nakuru
Day 4
Leaving the previous stop behind, today is largely a driving day, and a necessary one. The distance between the Kenyan parks and the Tanzanian northern circuit cannot be covered and enjoyed in a single push, so the night in Arusha breaks the journey, allows vehicle and guide handover, and means the circuit starts properly rested. Arusha marks a clear hinge in the journey, and the evening is generally given over to a proper meal and an early night. The mountain stands behind the town, the air is cooler than on the plains, and the briefing for the circuit ahead covers routes, park fees, timings and what to expect at each stop. The catalogue suggests a premium camp or lodge here. The exact property, suite and services remain subject to availability and quotation.
Overnight: Arusha
Day 5
The next section of the circuit moves on, coming down from the highlands, the route drops towards the alkaline shallows of Lake Manyara with the escarpment wall running along the western side. It is a short transfer, which leaves time for a proper game drive through the forest and along the lake shore before the day closes. Birding at Manyara is exceptional, with over 400 recorded species across forest, floodplain and lake habitats. Within a single drive you can move from forest species like the crowned eagle and silvery-cheeked hornbill to thousands of flamingo and pelican working the shallows, with storks, spoonbills and waders along the shoreline between. A luxury stay is proposed for this night, with the final property and arrangements confirmed in writing.
Overnight: Lake Manyara
Day 6
The route then continues onward, the drive to the crater rim gains altitude quickly, and by the time you reach the top the air is cold enough for a jacket. The rim road runs along the edge with the caldera falling away on one side, and even before descending the scale of the place is obvious: this is a complete ecosystem held inside a single collapsed volcano. The descent road drops six hundred metres to the floor, and the transition from cold, misty rim to warm open grassland takes about twenty minutes. Down there the crater feels less like a park than an enclosure — walls rising on every side, weather moving across in visible fronts, and animals concentrated at a density that takes some adjusting to. This outline assumes the catalogue's premium standard. No named camp is guaranteed until the quotation confirms it.
Overnight: Ngorongoro
Day 7
This activity is a planning option and only forms part of the day when it appears in the written quotation. This travel day carries the route onward, today's drive crosses the Ngorongoro highlands and passes Olduvai Gorge, where the Leakeys' excavations revolutionised the understanding of human origins, before dropping onto the short-grass plains of the southern Serengeti. From there the road runs north for hours across country so flat and open that distance becomes difficult to judge. The suggested standard is luxury. Citrus will identify the available property and contracted services before confirmation.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 8
Game drives here work several habitats at once. The open plain carries gazelle, topi and hartebeest with cheetah working the edges; the kopjes hold lion, leopard and klipspringer; and the river courses draw elephant, hippo and an extraordinary range of birds. Spotted hyena are everywhere and worth watching properly — they are far more effective hunters than their reputation allows. With a full day there is time to work an area rather than pass through it. Following a single pride through a morning, waiting out a cheetah that is clearly building towards a hunt, or simply sitting with a leopard until it moves — these are the things a compressed itinerary cannot do, and they are what people remember. The catalogue suggests a premium camp or lodge here. The exact property, suite and services remain subject to availability and quotation.
Overnight: Serengeti
Day 9
The itinerary continues by road, returning to Arusha from the parks, the road climbs gradually back towards Mount Meru, past coffee estates and Maasai grazing land. The town itself sits at about 1,400 metres, green and temperate, and after days of dust and early starts a hot shower and a proper meal have obvious appeal. Time in Arusha is practical rather than scenic — vehicles are checked and restocked, guides are introduced or handed over, and the itinerary is talked through in detail. For anyone with a spare few hours, the coffee estates on Meru's lower slopes make an easy and genuinely interesting outing. A luxury stay is proposed for this night, with the final property and arrangements confirmed in writing.
Overnight: Arusha
Day 10
Citrus will time the last day around the agreed end point and onward arrangements. The town sits green and temperate beneath Mount Meru, and after days of dust it is a comfortable place to land. There is usually time to change money, pick up anything forgotten, and sit somewhere with a cold drink while your guide handles permits and paperwork for the days ahead. The planning route returns to Nairobi; the final drop-off and timing will be agreed around the confirmed onward arrangements.
Safari ends
Where you stay
Accommodation below is the suggested standard for this package, taken from the Citrus catalogue. Where an entry describes a standard rather than a named property, we confirm the exact camp or lodge with your quotation. Named properties are suggestions and are substituted with comparable alternatives if they are unavailable for your dates.
Source catalogue listing
Bateleur/Cottar's + The Cliff + Gran Melia + Manyara Tree Lodge + The Manor + Four Seasons
This is reproduced exactly from the catalogue. The written quotation will allocate nights and confirm each available property before booking.
These are planning examples, not confirmed inclusions for this package. Your written quotation will confirm exactly what is included.
The quotation will identify every separate cost before you confirm.
Where this safari goes
Kenya
Big cats, open plains and the northern stage of the Great Migration
ExploreKenya
A fenced rhino sanctuary around a Rift Valley soda lake
ExploreTanzania
The northern circuit's starting line, beneath Mount Meru
ExploreTanzania
Groundwater forest beneath the Rift escarpment
ExploreTanzania
A collapsed volcano holding its own complete ecosystem
ExploreTanzania
Endless plains and the engine of the Great Migration
ExploreBefore you ask
The catalogue sets the route and travel standard, but it does not publish a fixed price or a contracted inclusion list. Citrus will prepare a written quotation for your dates, party and rooming, showing the exact transfers, activities, accommodation, meals, fees and permits before you confirm.
No. It is suggested accommodation from the source catalogue. Availability and any proposed alternative are confirmed in the written quotation before a booking is made.
Ask Citrus to revise it. Any change to route, nights or transport must be reflected in the final itinerary and quotation.
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Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and we will come back with availability, honest advice on timing and a written quotation for this route.