The Tembo Explorer Safari

Your East African journey begins as soon as you step off the plane at Kilimanjaro International Airport, where a Thomson Safaris representative meets you to assist with baggage and oversee your smooth transfer to Arusha. Arrive at The Arusha Hotel, a historic property founded in 1894, nestled near the famous Clock Tower roundabout—the geographic midpoint between Cairo and Cape Town. Spend the rest of your day settling in and resting from your long flight. Stroll through the quiet green gardens, relax on the terrace with a cold drink, or recharge in your comfortable room.

The Eastern Serengeti Nature Refuge is a private 10,000-acre sanctuary set aside through a 45-year partnership with the local Maasai community. Built on decades of trust, mutual respect, and shared goals, these deep-rooted relationships grant Thomson guests exclusive access to a protected ecosystem where people and wildlife thrive side by side. Time spent here offers a rare, intimate look at what authentic community-driven conservation achieves on the ground.

Mornings begin at camp watching baboons and warthogs gather at the nearby watering hole as you sip your coffee. Free from national park restrictions, you can step out of the vehicle to explore the savanna on foot alongside local Maasai guides—learning to identify animal tracks in the soil while giraffes and zebras graze on the horizon. After dark, set out with spotlights to scan the plains for elusive nocturnal species like hyenas, bat-eared foxes, and aardvarks. Between tracking sessions, meet local artisans at the Enjipai Women’s Group market and spend your evenings gathered around the campfire as Maasai elders share traditional folklore, giving you a genuine connection to the land and the people who have stewarded it for generations.

Drive west into Serengeti National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of roughly 5,700 square miles and one of the oldest intact ecosystems on earth. Its name comes from the Maasai word for "endless plains," but the park is far more varied than that suggests. Grasslands give way to granite kopjes, acacia woodland, river corridors, and wetlands, and each supports its own mix of wildlife. Lions and leopards use the kopjes as lookouts, rock hyraxes and klipspringers live among the boulders, and cheetahs hunt across the open plains. Topi, ostriches, and secretary birds move through the grass, while hippos and Nile crocodiles fill the rivers. The wildebeest of the Great Migration travel through the ecosystem all year, and their movements shape where the predators hunt.

Two full days of wildlife drives give you time to cover this range. Your guide reads tracks, alarm calls, and the behavior of other animals to locate wildlife, and with no schedule pushing you along, you can stay at each sighting as long as you like. Each evening, you return to your seasonal Nyumba camp for a warm dinner and a night under the stars.

The drive to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area includes a stop at Olduvai Gorge, where fossil discoveries have reshaped what scientists know about early human origins. From there, the road climbs into the cool highlands to your camp on the crater rim, so the next morning's descent into the caldera begins just steps from where you sleep.

Ngorongoro is one of the few places in Africa where you can look for the Big Five in a single morning. At dawn, you drop 2,000 feet to the crater floor, a 100-square-mile area with one of the highest concentrations of wildlife on the continent. Lions, elephants, and buffalo are the main sightings, along with the critically endangered black rhino, which is far easier to find here than almost anywhere else. Leopards, the fifth of the Big Five, live in the crater's woodland and are seen less often. A picnic lunch by a hippo pool breaks up the day before you climb back to the rim for a campfire and a hearty dinner at camp.

Travel overland back toward Arusha for a cultural interlude at the Cultural Heritage Centre, exploring extensive galleries of African art, intricate woodcarvings, and rare tanzanite gemstones. Bidding farewell to your Tanzanian safari crew, make your way to the nearby Arusha Coffee Lodge to enjoy a delicious lunch set within the leafy coffee estate gardens.

In the afternoon, board your flight across the border into Kenya, landing in the vibrant capital of Nairobi. Transfer smoothly to your hotel for the evening, relaxing in comfort as you prepare for the next chapter of your journey focused on Kenya's leading frontline wildlife conservation initiatives.

Take a morning flight north to the Laikipia Plateau, touching down in the expansive 90,000-acre Ol Pejeta Conservancy with Mount Kenya looming in the distance. This thriving sanctuary supports healthy populations of black rhinos, elephants, lions, and the rare Grevy’s zebra. Enjoy flexible safari activities across three days, combining traditional morning wildlife drives with evening night drives that reveal active predators and nocturnal wildlife.

During your stay, go behind the scenes of Ol Pejeta’s groundbreaking conservation model to see how anti-poaching units, livestock integration, and community outreach protect native species. Highlighted by an emotionally stirring visit to meet Najin and Fatu—the last two northern white rhinos on Earth—you’ll stand just feet from these heavily guarded creatures while learning directly from the rangers dedicated to saving their subspecies.

Board a flight north into the rugged, granite-peaked wilderness of the Namunyak Community Conservancy, a striking landscape stewarded by local Samburu communities. Here, wildlife protection is deeply woven into local tradition. Visit the inspiring Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, Africa's first community-owned elephant orphanage, to watch dedicated keepers bottle-feed rescued calves and learn how young elephants are rehabilitated for eventually returning to wild herds.

Experience deeply authentic cultural moments as you visit the ancient Samburu Singing Wells, where local herders sing unique family melodies to lead their livestock down to water in the dry riverbeds. Spend your afternoons walking through mountain valleys and enjoying peaceful wildlife drives across this untamed landscape before unwinding each night in an intimate, eco-friendly bush camp.

Take a final scenic flight back from Namunyak to Nairobi, taking in aerial views of Kenya's varied terrain one last time. Upon arrival in the capital, head directly to your private day room at the Four Points by Sheraton Nairobi Airport to relax and refresh ahead of your long flight home. When it's time for departure, step right over to the airport terminal for your evening flight home.