July 1-11, 2010
  
This EWT family safari is designed to provide you with unforgettable memories, outstanding game viewing, while keeping the kids both occupied and interested. This is a value-packed all-Kenyan program that can be preceded if you wish with a short Tanzanian pretour. Everyone is guaranteed a window seat in specially designed safari vehicles with pop-top roofs. In addition to East Africa's best driver/guides, our carefully chosen courier-guide will oversee the entire trip. He has lived and worked in East Africa all his life, will be an invaluable interpreter, cultural guide and trusted friend. At the end of the trip our intention is to leave the kids breathless with the game viewing and glimpses of everyday Africa, and the parents satisfied that it was an enriching experience they enjoyed as much as the kids!

This program can be preceded by a short Tanzanian pretour. Click Here to go to that description.

The prices include: ** A Safari Guide who stays with you throughout and manages the entire program (after 8 persons reserved); ** Guaranteed window seating in Landrovers & Landcruisers with pop-top roofs; ** Professionally-trained, English-speaking driver/guides with each vehicle; ** Meals as detailed in brackets following each day's description below; ** Two local flights: Samburu to the Mara, and the Mara back to Nairobi; ** All park entrance fees, VAT and other government taxes; ** Comprehensive pre-trip material with discount coupons for travel gear and equipment. Additional expenses not included, estimated at around $300 per person: - Meals not included; - All beverages; - Requisite visas and other travel preparations like inoculations; - Tipping.

Contact EWT for the best international air fares and for recommendations on how to use your frequent flyer miles.

Whenever you arrive, you'll be personally met by your family safari guide and privately transferred to Nairobi's legendary hotel, The Norfolk Hotel. If you arrive in the morning, your guide will accompany you in the afternoon to some of the attractions outside the city including Giraffe Manor and the Kazuri Beads Cooperative. One of the key successes to a safari of several or more families is the guide's ability to motivate the children as well as their parents, and we're convinced ours is the best! Our guide's knowledge of East Africa's wilderness comes from years of living in it. But in addition to the special insights you will be receiving about the animals and game parks, you'll also learn first-hand insight about the cultures and developing societies of East Africa.  [no meals]

This morning your guide will take you on an interesting walking tour of Nairobi. You'll start at Parliament where you'll be introduced to local politics, then you'll walk past the square of the churches and to the historic Thorntree Cafe for tea where you'll learn of Kenya's colorful colonial past. You'll have time to browse some shops if you wish, buy newspapers and maps and get ready for the afternoon safari. You'll return to the hotel for an independent lunch and in the afternoon you drive north into the Kikuyu highlands, one of the prettiest areas in East Africa. You'll see beautiful little farms of coffee, tea, banana and pineapple as you climb into the mountains. Time permitting, you'll visit Kenya's largest open-air market, the Kikuyu Karatina market. At the end of the day you'll arrive Aberdare Country Club for dinner and overnight. [b-l-d]

The day is spent exploring one of Kenya's larger parks, which is the only one with highland rainforest, the Aberdare National Park. This is where several of Kenya's famous tree hotels are located. Tree hotels turn the routine of normal game viewing: here, the animals come to you! But unlike the vast majority of tourists who never see anything of the Aberdare except the tree hotels, your guide will take you deep into the park and to some of its highest points around 11,500'. This is where everyone gets out of the car and hikes to several beautiful waterfalls, where a picnic lunch is taken in the cool sprays as everyone is tempted to swim in the crystal clear but frigid water! Lianas and other draping foliage cover the thick forests, interspersed by beautiful high grass meadows and a myriad of attractive streams and water holes. There are spectacular displays of wild flowers and flowering trees. While there are areas of beauty that rival the Aberdare, few have its abundant game. Huge buffalo families, large numbers of elephant, and gorgeous antelope like bushbuck and duiker are regularly seen. Even lion have now inhabited this wilderness that traditionally is far too high and too cold for them. There are also some very rare animals found here, like the mountain reedbuck and colobus monkey. By the end of the day the group will arrive at The Ark for dinner and overnight game viewing. Built over a natural salt lick and water hole, a never-ending parade of Africa unfolds throughout the night. The floodlights come on at dusk and don't seem to disturb the game. [b-l-d]

After breakfast we leave Meru through rugged countryside deeper into the Great Northern Frontier. Many visitors wonder why they're being taken into what at first looks like a wasteland! But after a short drive through a dusty and arid area where all you can see are camels, a river flowing off the Aberdare Mountains cuts through the desert and brings to life all the latent plants and flowers that once reigned supreme, and the beauty is unmatched. Huge doum palms tower into the blue sky. Dense palmetto forests line the river embankments, and a huge variety of acacia, gum and fig trees demarcate the river on its short journey to oblivion. This is Samburu National Park and all this condensed life attracts enormous amounts of big game, and much of it over the centuries, has evolved into rare game. After check-in at our luxury tented camp located right along the river, we take the first game drive in the park. Dinner and overnight at Larsen's Camp.  [b-l-d]

Samburu will provide some of the most exciting game viewing on safari. Africa's most beautiful giraffe, the reticulated giraffe, is found only here. The rare and solitary Grevy's zebra is confined to this area. Gerenuk, a strange long-necked antelope that never drinks after its stops suckling, lives in Samburu. And the bird life is spectacular, including the golden-breasted starling and crimson-breasted shrike. In fact, there are more than 350 species of bird in this small area which is about one-hundredth the size of the Serengeti system, and which claims around the same number of bird species. These and many more beautiful animals and birds have been locked into this ecosystem for centuries, and it's the reason so many of them have evolved into these rare forms. Meals and overnight at Larsen's Camp.  [b-l-d]

This morning you leave the Aberdare and continue north with a brief stop at the Equator for pictures and curio shopping. Shortly thereafter you'll visit the interesting Nanyuki Weavers self-help project, including its primary school. We'll enjoy a picnic lunch on the grounds. In the afternoon the drive continues around Mt. Kenya on the great semi-arid plains of Meru National Park. Arrive our exciting Meru Classic Camp for dinner and overnight .  [b-l-d]

The day is spent exploring the beautiful bushlands of Meru National Park. There's big game especially near our campsite. Elephant often wander into the camp. Game viewing throughout the day for as long as you like. Meals and overnight at our Meru Classic Camp.  [b-l-d]

Take a morning flight into Kenya's finest big game reserve, the lush and game intense Maasai Mara. You'll arrive in time for lunch in camp, followed by afternoon game viewing. For three nights you'll enjoy the splendor of a very exclusive camp built on the banks of the Sand River, the border with Tanzania's Serengeti. Dinner and overnight at Sala's Camp.  [b-l-d]

In addition to game drives from camp in open Landrovers driven by the country's most experienced guides, there are opportunities for visiting local villages and taking the Mara's famous hot air balloon ride. The Mara is everyone's dream of Africa come true: gently rolling grassland plains bisected by a number of great rivers. The area is filled with lion and cheetah, and leopards are often found. The plains are filled with wildebeest, hartebeest, topi, eland and much more, and the birdlife is incredible. Activities and overnight at Sala's Camp.  [b-l-d]

This is the perfect place to end a great safari. After exciting game viewing drives, the kids especially like to walk along the sand river, where the camp erects a volleyball net and trained staff organize the matches! The view from the expansive mess tent over the Sand River into Tanzania is breath-taking. Activities, meals and overnight at Sala's Camp.  [b-l-d]

After a full morning of game viewing, fly back to Nairobi, where you'll be returned to your private room at the Norfolk Hotel. The afternoon is free, and your private rerpesentative is available to assist you with shopping or additional sightseeing. This evening your representative will return to take you to the airport for the overnight departures home.  [b- - ]

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