Destination: Masai Mara, Dopoi Center
Accommodations: Tipilikwani Luxury Camp
Activities: Welcome ceremony and orientation at the Dopoi Center, MERC; Boma visit; Medicinal plant tour (educational/research extension possible)

After breakfast, your guide will take you to the nearby Dopoi Center, the headquarters of the Maasai Education, Research, and Culture Institute, located on ten acres of land overlooking the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in a rural and remote high savannah area of the Rift Valley near the town of Talek. Here, you will be welcomed in traditional, festive fashion by members of nearby Maasai Villages, including talented singers and dancers. For the first time, you will have the opportunity to witness the famous adumu! Afterwards, you will be given an orientation lecture about the Maasai people—their customs, way of life, and history—in the Memorial Garden and taken on a tour of the Center to learn about MERCs activities toward Maasai Empowerment. Return to the garden for a picnic lunch. Your guide will then take you to a nearby Maasai “boma”, a traditional village, where you can see the day to day operations of this pastoralist community. Villagers will take you into the surrounding bush to share their traditional knowledge of the medicinal plants in the area. Return to see (and perhaps purchase samples of) the fabulous traditional beadwork of a local women’s beading cooperative. Return to camp for sundowners and dinner. (There is much to learn and explore at MERC. Inquire about possible educational/research extensions here.)

Destination: Masai Mara
Accommodations: Tipilikwani Luxury Camp
Activities: Game Drive

Wake to the sounds of nature surrounding your tent and enjoy an early breakfast before departing on a full day game drive in the famous Masai Mara National Reserve. The Masai Mara offers wildlife in such variety and abundance that it is difficult to believe: over 450 species of animals have been recorded here. It is in the Mara and the bordering Serengeti of Tanzania to the south (which you will visit toward the end of your Maasailand highlights tour) that perhaps the most spectacular event of the natural world takes place—the annual wildebeest migration. In the Mara, you will easily see wildebeest and zebra migrations, lions, rhinos, hippos, crocodiles, giraffe, buffalo, warthogs, hyenas, jackals, wild dogs, buffalo, leopards, many kinds of antelopes, and elephants. Return to the camp for an enchanting sunset bush dinner alongside the riverbank.

Destination: Serengeti National Park
Accommodations: Pumzika Camp
Activities: Walking Safari

Today you leave Kenya and enter the Maasailand of Tanzania via the great Serengeti National Park, the world’s most famous game park. After an early breakfast, you will be transported to the Migori airstrip where you will board a flight for the Seronera area of Serengeti National Park. Lunch will be served on the flight. By early evening, arrive at Pumzika Camp, an eco-friendly tented camp reminiscent of the first safaris at the turn of the 20th century, with furniture made by local craftsmen and decorated with handmade carpets woven by the Mbulu women’s community. Set inside the Seronera area, Pumzika occupies a unique and privileged paradise within the Serengeti, far from main roads and civilization, surrounded by the two of the biggest and most prolific lion prides in the park. After settling in and enjoying an afternoon tea and biscuit, depart for a walking safari close to the camp. Return in time for sundowners beneath an acacia tree on the open savannah followed by a bush dinner.

After breakfast, continue with both morning and afternoon game drives in Serengeti national Park. Totaling 14,763 km2 in area, the park is appropriately named after the Maasai word for “endless plains”. Here you are certain to get up close and personal with the “Big Five” (Lions, Elephants, Rhinos, Leopards, and Cape Buffalo), if you haven’t already, and hosts of other iconic and lesser known species. Given the vast terrain, weather patterns, and migratory patterns of the innumerable species, many animals of the Serengeti are constantly on the move. This makes for an adventurous game drive! Your drives will depend on the move of the migrants; your expert naturalist guide knows very well how to locate the herds. Bush lunch and bush dinner will be at Pumzika.

Destination: Oldupai Gorge, Ngorongoro Crater
Accommodations: Isiotok Camp Manyara
Activities: Game drive; Oldupai Gorge Visit

Leaving camp after breakfast, enjoy a brief morning game drive as you depart the Serengeti on your way to the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. En route, stop and visit Oldupai Gorge (often misspelled as Olduvai), commonly referred to as the “Cradle of mankind”. This site is where the Leakeys made some of the world’s most important archaeological discoveries, including discovering the remains of several early hominids estimated to be around 3.7 million years old. Oldupai is the Maasai word for the wild sisal plant (Sansevieria ehrenbergii), which grows in the gorge. After departing Oldupai, drive the short distance to Ngorongoro Crater and descend to its floor for a half-day tour, inclusive of a picnic lunch by the hippo pools. Often referred to as ‘the eighth wonder of the world’ the Ngorongoro Crater is one of Africa’s best-known wildlife areas. An UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is also one of the largest volcanic craters in the world (almost 20 kilometers wide, 610-760 meters deep and covering a total area of 264 square kilometers). An utterly unique biosphere, the Crater harbors grasslands, swamps, forests, saltpans, a fresh water lake and a glorious variety of birdlife, all enclosed within its towering walls. Due to its high concentration of wildlife, close-range viewing opportunities and striking scenery it is also Tanzania’s most visited destination. In the evening, check into Isiotok Camp Manyara, a unique, sustainable luxury tented camp situated in the Maasai area known as Esilalei on the soft rolling hills of Losimingori, 13km away from the Lake Manyara National Park. Set in a rich wild savannah bush location with an altitude of 1075 metres above sea level, this relaxing, intimate camp of only 8 beautiful tents blends into the bush and also offers wonderful opportunities to delve further into your Maasai immersion experience. After a delicious dinner, featuring Swahili international cuisine, retreat to your tent sleep soundly to the night chorus of crickets, cicadas, tree frogs, and the occasional soulful call of a hyena and other passing wildlife.

Destination: Lake Manyara National Park
Accommodations: Isiotok Camp Manyara
Activities: Game drive; Adumu and musical performance; Viewpoint Walk

After breakfast, depart for a morning drive in Lake Manyara National Park, which lies at the base of the western wall of the eastern arm of the Rift Valley. Typically shimmering in a golden heat haze, the lake is often frosted with thousands of flamingos, while the trees that surround the lake are famous for their tree-climbing lions. The park also offers abundant sightings of monkeys, jackals, mongoose, hyenas, hyraxes, zebras, hippos, warthogs, buffalos, Maasai giraffes, duikers, waterbucks, and impalas. Significant numbers of elephants are also resident in the park, while sightings of black rhino and leopard are not uncommon. Return for lunch followed by a performance of the adumu, other traditional dances, and singing performed by members of the nearby villages with whom Isiotok enjoys fruitful relationships and supports through giving programs. Towards sunset, join your camp host and Maasai scout who will take you up to one of several viewpoints overlooking Lake Manyara and The Great Rift Valley. Sundowner snacks and a beverage of your choice are available whilst you soak in a melting sunset overlooking Lake Manyara. Return to camp for a dinner and a restful night in your private tent.

Destination: Lake Manyara National Park

Accommodations: Isiotok Camp Manyara

Activities: Game drive; Traditional goat sacrifice and BBQ

Let the morning birds and the smell of fresh local coffee gently rouse you out of your slumber. After an early breakfast, depart the lodge for a brisk morning game drive on which you can gain a different view of the fauna and flora of Lake Manyara. Return to camp for lunch and a stretch. On this final day at Isiotok, have the privilege of witnessing a traditional goat sacrifice in the Korongo, not far from the camp. As you will have learned by this point in your cultural immersion experience, the Maasai have peacefully co-existed with wildlife by raising cattle and goats as a main source of food in the bush. A goat, or more rarely, a cow is slaughtered to celebrate a special occasion and feed the whole village. The animal’s life is honored as it is sacrificed and nothing goes to waste. Isiotok’s Maasai workers will reveal their skills in butchery and unveil the practice that has been passed down from generation to generation, after which you will be treated to a traditional goat BBQ and Swahili buffet spread in the bush. Retreat for another restful night under canvas.

Destination: Departure to Arusha or connection to Southern Circuit, Western Circuit, Kenya, Uganda, or Zanzibar

After a hot breakfast and optional nature walk, drive back to Arusha for an optional day or overnight at Rivertrees Country Inn or connect to the next leg of your wildlife safari in the Southern Circuit, chimp trekking in Mahale National Park or Gombe Stream or, gorilla trekking in Uganda. Alternatively, connect with a flight to the magical island of Zanzibar, which lies just off the coast of Tanzania. See our complimentary itineraries for these locations.

To reserve this trip we require $500 per person. The remainder is due 59 days before departure. All major credit cards and PayPal are accepted. We will send a secure payment link when you are ready to confirm this trip.

Please note that we offer these variations to demonstrate some of the ways that we can modify an itinerary to suit your preferences (destinations, activities, level of luxury, type of accommodations, length of stay, budget, etc.). If none of these options looks best for your group, we are more than happy to gather more information from you and customize the perfect trip. You can call us at +1 530 574 9519 or email us at to discuss this itinerary or others on our website.

Karibu Africa!
The Adumu Safaris Team