$8995 (including local flights)
March 10-25, 2011

  Jim's 2011 Great Migration Safaris represent his 34th consecutive year of guiding safaris into the great herds of the Serengeti. Very few professional guides share his length of experience and intense knowledge of the area.

This year's program is a 16-day combination of the best that Kenya has to offer with the best of Tanzania, including the great migration. The highland rain forest and semi-deserts of Kenya provide a habitat for birds and animals that just aren't found in northern Tanzania, and northern Tanzania's famous great parks provide the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth: the phenomenal wildebeest migration, more than 2 million animals on the great prairies of the Serengeti.

There's no question this is the best game viewing safari in the world. But Jim does much more and includes important historic and cultural touring, too.

And there's more, including Jim's personal passion for paleontology. You'll get into the backrooms of the Nairobi museum and onto the excavation sites of Olduvai. And his long-serving driver/guides add immeasurably to the visitor's balanced knowledge of what East Africa is, today, with their own personal stories and intimate understandings.

At any time of the year, exciting safaris can be planned that provide a game viewing experience that exceeds most visitors' expectations. But within this wonderful array of opportunities, Jim leaves little doubt that this safari is the absolute best!

The prices include: ** Jim Heck guiding the safari from start to finish; ** 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; ** 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: - Meals not included; - Some beverages; - All international, regional and local scheduled flights; - 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.

Thursday, March 10, 2011
Whenever you arrive you'll be personally met and privately transferred to Nairobi's best hotel, the Norfolk Hotel. Used by Ernest Hemingway and Theodore Roosevelt, refurbished over the years into the most modern property, you'll enjoy excellent accommodations, several restaurants, the famous Lord Delamere bar, a huge swimming pool and fitness center, and be in the center of the city's shopping and entertainment activity. As many flights arrive in the evening, nothing further is scheduled for today.  [no meals]

Friday, March 11, 2011
Today Jim introduces you to East Africa with a morning walking tour of the central city beginning at Parliament and continuing past the Square of Churches and to the famous Thorn Tree Cafe for tea. The morning will end at the city's impressive museum. After time for an independent lunch, the afternoon tour includes several famous attractions just outside the city, including the Kazuri Beads Womens Cooperative, Giraffe Manor and the Karen Blixen Museum. The evening is free and Nairobi has a great range of fine dining. Overnight at the Norfolk Hotel.  [b- - ]

Saturday, March 12
The safari begins this morning with a drive north of the city through congested suburbs then into the beautiful Kikuyu highlands. A stop is made at Kenya's largest open-air market, the Kikuyu Karatina Market, on its most important day of the week. Arrive the Aberdare Country Club for lunch with an afternoon free or to book an optional walking safari into the club's private game reserve, where you'll have the chance to get close to giraffe, eland, zebra and more. Dinner and overnight at the club.  [b-l-d]

Sunday, March 13
After breakfast the safari enters the Aberdare National Park. Once inside the park, elephant, buffalo and giraffe are usually seen. Most visitors to the Aberdare see nothing but the periphery adjacent the tree hotels, and we end the day at the best one. But for the rest of the day we explore this vast park, through its considerable bamboo forests and as far up as the tundra. We enjoy a picnic among some spectacular waterfalls before ending the day at The Ark tree hotel for dinner and overnight game viewing.  [b-l-d]

Monday, March 14
This morning the safari enters the large region known as Laikipia. The first stop is at the Equator for photos and curio shopping before visiting the Nanyuki Weavers, a benevolent womens organization very successful and typical of Kenya's local community self-help projects. After a picnic lunch on the grounds of the weavers, the safari drives around Mt. Kenya through some breathtaking scenery. Then --in the span of about 40 minutes -- the drive leaves the expansive wheat and sheep farms in the pine forests of Mt. Kenya and drops onto the desert, a descent of 4,000 feet onto what is called the Northern Frontier. This is one of the most spectacular drives in all of Africa. The desert town of Isiolo resembles an Arab oasis in the desert, and many visitors wonder what on earth they're doing in this wind-swept, barren terrain where the only animal seen is a camel. But shortly the drive meets the Ewaso Nyiro River at Samburu National Park and the desert blooms. The safari game views through the park to the luxurious Larsen's Camp for dinner and overnight.  [b-l-d]

Tuesday, March 15
The day is spent game viewing in Samburu National Park. There will also be opportunities to visit a Samburu village. Meals and overnight at Larsen's Camp  [b-l-d]

Wednesday, March 16
We game drive to the Samburu airstrip for the flight back to Nairobi, where we connect onto an international flight into Tanzania which arrives in the afternoon. We'll have a quick tour of Arusha town before checking-in to the Arusha Coffee Lodge.  [b-l- ]

Thursday, March 17
This morning we drive out of Arusha over the Maasai Plains and into Tarangire National Park. We'll enjoy a picnic lunch overlooking the great Tarangire River and spend the remainder of the afternoon game viewing in the northern sector. Arrive Swala Camp for dinner and overnight.  [b-l-d]

Friday, March 18
The day is spent game viewing in this wild and remote wilderness that in many respects is more like a southern than East African game park. Jim will take you to the Silale swamp and tell you the story of Stanley finding Livingstone as well, since this is a swamp of the sort Stanley had to cross in that journey. Meals and overnight at Swala Camp.  [b-l-d]

Saturday, March 19
This morning we game view out of Tarangire into the Great Rift Valley with its spectacular scenery. Time to browse the Maasai markets at Mto-wa-Mbu before climbing the dramatic escarpment and continuing to Gibb's Farm for lunch. The afternoon is free for a variety of Gibb's activities, including a walk with an armed ranger into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to known elephant caves. Dinner and overnight.  [b-l-d]

Sunday, March 20
Dawn game drive in Lake Manyara National Park famous for its tree-climbing lions. We'll enjoy a bush breakfast on the shore of the lake that is often used by thousands of flamingoes. Return to Gibb's Farm for a late lunch and free afternoon for more of Gibb's activities, including a visit to the local town, or a tour of the organic farm. Dinner and overnight at the farm.  [b-l-d]

Monday, March 21
We leave Gibb's early for a day's game drive in Ngorongoro Crater National Park with a picnic lunch. The crater is widely considered "Africa's Garden of Eden" and at this time of the year, as many as 20,000 animals reside on its 100 sq. mile floor. Game drives at this time of the year usually see thousands of wildebeest calves, dozens of lion and hyaena. At the end of the afternoon we ascend the opposite side of the crater in time to view the sunset. Dinner and overnight at at Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge.  [b-l-d]

Tuesday, March 22
Beautiful morning drive around the crater rim past the impressive alter-crater and into the great Serengeti. First stop is Olduvai Gorge where so many precious finds of early man were found. Afterwards the safari heads just to the south of the Serengeti National Park. This is normally where the great herds are found at this time of the year, and the afternoon's game viewing is often among the most spectacular of the safari. Along with the great herds come the predators, the kills, and the large number of hyaenas and jackals cleaning up. Big funnels of vultures are seen in the sky, and everywhere is found the Thomson's gazelle peppering the endless veld. Enjoy a picnic lunch somewhere enroute, usually with a view that extends to 50 or 60 miles over the plains. By the end of the day Jim brings you to Ndutu Lodge in the southwest lakes area of the park. This modest but popular little lodge is the only permanent facility normally close to the Great Migration at this time of the year, and lodge guests are usually from all over the world in search of the migration experience.  [b-l-d]

Wednesday, March 23
Ndutu and the lakes area technically lies right on the border of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti National Park. The safari is not constrained by this technicality, as fees will have been paid for both parks, allowing the safari to travel wherever the animals are. The schedule that Jim works out with his driver/guides depends on the situation at the time, but often includes full-day excursions to such areas as the Gol, Moru and Kusini Kopjes, all which are normally active with large herds at this time of the year. The area is vast, and normally a game drive is 6-8 hours long, taking a picnic breakfast or lunch. Meals and overnight at Ndutu Lodge.  [b-l-d]

Thursday, March 24
The lodge sits on a small plain overlooking the not so distant Lake Ndutu. All sorts of game wander regularly into the area, including elephant, and the night is usually punctuated with the sounds of lion and leopard, hyaena and jackal. Game drives around the lakes are stunningly beautiful, reflecting the looming head of Ngorongoro on flamingo-filled ponds. It's easy to see why the wildebeest like it here, for immediately outside the lake and its surrounding acacia forests are the endless plains of the Serengeti, the grassland which extends for as far as the eye can see! Meals and overnight at Ndutu Lodge.  [b-l-d]

Friday, March 25
After a final morning of game viewing, the group flies back to Arusha arriving around noon. We enjoy lunch at a popular local restaurant, with time to shop, before continuing to Kilimanjaro Airport. Everyone has a private room at the lodge adjacent the airport, KIA Lodge and the lodge shuttles guests to the terminal as required to begin their departures home.  [b-l- ]