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12 Days Big Five Safari and Zanzibar Beach

12 Days Big Five Safari and Zanzibar Beach

Twelve days in search of the Big Five, from the rhino sanctuaries of Solio and Lake Nakuru to the Masai Mara, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, then the white sand of Zanzibar, privately guided across two countries and an island.

12 DaysDuration Kenya & TanzaniaCountries PrivateGroup type
Overview Highlights Daily itinerary Accommodation Inclusions
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Overview

12-day Bush Safari and Beach Holiday

Experience the thrill of a lifetime with the 12 Days, Big Five Safari and Zanzibar Beach itinerary from Kenya Tanzania Safari.

This exclusive, tailor-made adventure offers you an unparalleled chance to see all of the Big Five—lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino—while exploring the stunning wildlife sanctuaries of Kenya and the iconic parks of Tanzania. Complete your journey with three blissful nights on the idyllic beaches of Zanzibar’s north coast. Best experienced between July and October, this trip promises a seamless adventure across the Kenya and Tanzania border.

Your unforgettable journey begins with the elusive rhino at Solio, a private sanctuary nestled between the breathtaking Aberdare Range and Mount Kenya, followed by the stunning Lake Nakuru National Park. Here, you’ll dedicate the first two days to getting up close with these magnificent creatures. Next, discover the wild wonders of the Masai Mara, where majestic lion prides and vast herds of elephants roam the golden plains. Venture into the Serengeti, home to formidable lion prides and the mysterious leopards of Seronera’s lush riverine forests. Don’t forget the iconic Ngorongoro Crater, renowned for its rich wildlife, including buffalo, elephants, and a chance to spot the remarkable black rhino within this unique caldera.

With six luxurious stays, one smooth border crossing, and an exhilarating flight to the Indian Ocean, this safari experience is perfectly tailored to your pace and rhythm. While no honest operator can guarantee specific wildlife sightings—especially of the elusive leopard or rhino—the thrill of discovering these majestic animals in their natural habitat is what makes this adventure truly extraordinary. Don’t miss out on the holiday of a lifetime—book your Big Five safari today!

At a glance

  • Duration12 Days
  • CountriesKenya & Tanzania
  • Group typePrivate

Activities

A few additions past travellers have asked for on this route

A dawn hot air balloon safari over the Masai Mara or the Serengeti
A visit to a Maasai community near the Masai Mara
A sunset dhow cruise off the Zanzibar coast
A guided half-day in Stone Town, with its spice markets and historic waterfront
Moments to note

Standout moments

The parts of this particular route past travellers mention most

I

A Real Chance at All of the Big Five

Rhino at Solio and Lake Nakuru, elephant in the Mara, the Serengeti and the crater, and lion, leopard and buffalo throughout, though no sighting, least of all a leopard, can ever be promised.

II

Two Rhino Sanctuaries in Two Days

Solio, a private sanctuary of about 71 square kilometres, and Lake Nakuru National Park both protect black and white rhino, giving this route a strong chance at them.

III

Two Nights in the Masai Mara

Two nights at Enkakenya Camp on the Olare Orok River, with a full day on the plains of a reserve of about 1,510 square kilometres, home to resident lion prides, elephant and buffalo.

IV

Two Nights in the Serengeti

Seronera's lion prides have been studied continuously since the 1960s, and leopard are regularly found resting in the riverine forest along the Seronera River.

V

A Full Day on the Ngorongoro Crater Floor

A caldera some 20 kilometres across and 600 metres deep, holding around 25,000 large animals, with elephant, buffalo and lion, and black rhino possible though never guaranteed.

VI

Three Nights on Zanzibar's North Coast

A direct flight of about an hour and a quarter from Arusha leads to white sand and water that stays swimmable at any tide, with Stone Town's UNESCO-listed old town a short transfer away.

Day by day

How the days break down

A starting shape: pace, order and length of each stage are all adjustable.

Day
01
Solio
Nairobi to Solio

Arrival, and an Afternoon Among the Rhino of Solio

Your journey opens at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where your guide awaits and a private transfer leads north, roughly three and a half to four hours by road, into the highlands between the Aberdare Range and Mount Kenya. The road climbs through farmland and tea country, with the great mountain appearing and vanishing in the cloud, before turning onto the private land of Solio.
Solio is a privately owned wildlife conservancy of about 71 square kilometres, a former cattle ranch fenced as a rhino sanctuary in 1970, and one of the places from which Kenya's other rhino populations were rebuilt. An afternoon game drive follows luncheon, with black and white rhino the particular quarry, along with buffalo, giraffe, zebra and the open-country antelope.

Where you rest

A lodge or tented camp on or beside Solio · One night here.

Day
02
Lake Nakuru
Solio to Lake Nakuru National Park

A Last Morning With the Rhino, and a Second Sanctuary by the Lake

An early drive at Solio gives a second chance at the rhino in the cool of the morning, before the road leads south and west into the Rift Valley, a journey of roughly three to four hours, arriving at Lake Nakuru National Park in time for an afternoon game drive.
Lake Nakuru's fenced sanctuary protects both black and white rhino, and Rothschild's giraffe, an endangered subspecies reintroduced for its own protection, move through the acacia woodland along the shore, with lion, leopard and buffalo also present in the park. The lake is part of the Kenya Lake System, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011, and its famous flamingo flocks have shrunk sharply in recent years, so the park is visited today for its rhino and giraffe, with flamingo a possibility rather than a promise.

Where you rest

A lodge overlooking Lake Nakuru · One night here.

Day
03
Masai Mara
Lake Nakuru to the Masai Mara

Into Kenya's top wildlife destination

An early start takes the road west from the Rift Valley through Narok, roughly five to six hours, the last stretch on unpaved track, before the first sight of the Mara's open grassland, an extension of Tanzania's Serengeti ecosystem and Kenya's most celebrated reserve, protected as a national reserve since 1961 and covering about 1,510 square kilometres.
Arrival is timed for an afternoon game drive, with the Mara's resident lion prides, elephant and buffalo, and, according to the season, the migrating wildebeest that cross from the Serengeti, among the sightings travellers remember most from the first evening. The camp stands beside the Olare Orok River, with nothing fencing the wilderness out.

Where you rest

Enkakenya Camp, an unfenced tented camp on the Olare Orok River, inside the Masai Mara reserve · Two nights here, positioned for a full day exploring the reserve.

Day
04
Masai Mara
Full day exploring the Masai Mara

A Full Day on the Mara's Golden Plains

Morning and afternoon game drives cross the open grassland and follow the riverine forest along the Mara's rivers, home to lion, elephant, buffalo and, with some fortune, leopard and the occasional black rhino, with luncheon taken in the bush or at camp. The Mara is small enough to be crossed in a day and rich enough to demand the whole of one, and a full day allows the reserve to be seen in different light and different sectors.
A dawn hot air balloon safari is available as an add-on, drifting over the same grassland as the sun rises, followed by a breakfast laid in the bush, and a visit to a Maasai community can be arranged for a change of pace. From roughly July to October the herds of the Great Migration may be crossing the Mara River, which your specialist will advise on for your dates.

Where you rest

Second night at Enkakenya Camp · Second night here

Day
05
Serengeti
Masai Mara to the Serengeti

Across the Frontier, From the Mara to the Serengeti

The Mara and the Serengeti are one continuous ecosystem, yet the frontier between them is a real one, with no direct scheduled flight across it, and so today is a cross-border transfer by air and road: a flight from the Mara to Migori, a short road transfer over the Isebania border with immigration formalities, then a flight from Tarime into the Serengeti. Vehicles and guides change at the border, as Kenyan and Tanzanian safari vehicles do not cross.
The air connection runs only in the high seasons, mid-December to the end of March and from July to the end of October, so your specialist confirms the routing for your dates. Arrival in the Serengeti is in the afternoon, in time for a first game drive across ground that holds resident lion and leopard in numbers to rival anywhere on the continent.

Where you rest

A lodge or tented camp in central Serengeti, near Seronera · Two nights here, positioned for a full day exploring the park.

Day
06
Serengeti
Full day exploring central Serengeti

A Full Day Among Seronera's Lion, Leopard and Granite Kopjes

The day begins early, whilst Seronera's resident prides are at their most active, the morning drive passing through open grass and amongst the granite kopjes, ancient rock rising from plains that run unbroken to every horizon. The Serengeti covers close to 15,000 square kilometres, roughly ten times the size of the Masai Mara, and was established as a national park in 1951 and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981.
After a midday rest at camp, the afternoon follows the Seronera River's riverine forest, prime leopard habitat and one of the most dependable places in Africa to find a leopard resting in a tree, though a leopard can never be promised. A dawn hot air balloon safari is available as an add-on for those who would see the same plains from above.

Where you rest

Second night in central Serengeti · Second night here

Day
07
Ngorongoro Crater
Serengeti to the Ngorongoro Crater

Up From the Plains, to the Rim of the Crater

An early start leaves the Serengeti for the Ngorongoro highlands, the grassland giving way to highland forest as the road climbs, a drive of roughly three to five hours with a stop at Olduvai Gorge on the way if time allows, one of the most important palaeoanthropology sites on Earth, where fossil discoveries reshaped scientific understanding of early human evolution.
Arrival at the crater rim is timed for luncheon above the caldera, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area having been created in 1959 and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. The afternoon is left at leisure, the crater spread out below in the evening light, and tomorrow is given wholly to the floor.

Where you rest

A lodge on the Ngorongoro Crater rim · Two nights here, positioned for a full day on the crater floor.

Day
08
Ngorongoro Crater
Full day on the Ngorongoro Crater floor

A Full Day Inside the Crater, With Rhino Sightings Possible

The descent begins at first light, down a steep track into a collapsed volcanic caldera some 20 kilometres across and 600 metres deep, holding an estimated 25,000 large animals. A full day on the floor covers lion, buffalo, elephant, zebra, wildebeest and hippo, and the crater is one of the places in East Africa where black rhino can still be seen, though never with certainty. Giraffe are absent from the crater floor.
Poaching cut the crater's black rhino from over 100 in the 1960s to fewer than 20 by the mid-1980s, and today's population of around 30 is the largest single group left in Tanzania. Luncheon is taken beside a hippo pool on the floor, and the climb back to the rim is timed for the last of the light, the vehicles all required to be out by 6:00 pm.

Where you rest

Second night on the Ngorongoro Crater rim · Second night here

Day
09
Zanzibar Island
Ngorongoro to Zanzibar, by road and air

Down From the Highlands, and Out to the Indian Ocean

There is no commercial airport on the crater, and so the day begins with a slow morning on the rim before the road descends through the farmland and coffee country of the Karatu highlands to Arusha Airport, a drive of about three and a half to four hours. A scheduled flight of about an hour and a quarter then carries you to Zanzibar, the open grassland giving way below to farmland, then forest, then the sudden, unmistakable turquoise of the Indian Ocean as the aircraft descends.
A private transfer leads to a beachfront lodge on the island's north coast, where the water stays swimmable at any tide, unlike the island's east coast, where the sea recedes dramatically twice a day. The rest of the day is left deliberately empty, a walk along the sand and an early dinner as the light turns gold.

Where you rest

A beachfront lodge on Zanzibar's north coast · Three nights here, with nothing scheduled beyond what you choose.

Day
10&11
Zanzibar Island
Two full days on Zanzibar's beaches

Two Full Days on Zanzibar's White Sand

The two full days here are deliberately unstructured, the island's warm, calm water and white sand the main event, with a traditional dhow cruise at sunset on offer for travellers who want one organised outing rather than none at all, and snorkelling on the reef for those who prefer to be in the water.
For those who would like a change of pace, Stone Town's spice-scented alleys and historic waterfront are a short transfer away, a UNESCO-listed old town built on centuries of Swahili, Omani and colonial trade, and Jozani Forest, home to the endemic Zanzibar red colobus monkey, found nowhere else on Earth, makes a worthwhile half-day detour.

Where you rest

Second and third nights at the same beachfront lodge · Two full days here.

Day
12
Home
Departure

A Final Morning on the Beach Before Flying Home

There is time for one last swim or a slow breakfast looking out at the water, before the transfer to Zanzibar's international airport, a short drive from most of the island's beaches. Depending on your onward routing, the flight home may connect through Dar es Salaam, Nairobi or another regional hub, and your specialist confirms the routing once flights are booked.
Twelve days after landing in Nairobi, the journey closes having searched for the Big Five across two countries, from the rhino sanctuaries of Solio and Lake Nakuru to the plains of the Mara and the Serengeti and the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater, and ended on the beach.

What you'll likely see

Key species on this route

Based on past travellers' experiences, here's what this route is really about.

· · · · · · ·
Zebra
Zebra
95% chance
Giraffe
Giraffe
95% chance
Buffalo
Buffalo
95% chance
Lion
Lion
90% chance
Elephant
Elephant
90% chance
Wildebeest
Wildebeest
80% chance
Hippo
Hippo
80% chance
Spotted Hyena
Spotted Hyena
75% chance
White Rhino
White Rhino
70% chance
Cheetah
Cheetah
60% chance
Black Rhino
Black Rhino
60% chance
Leopard
Leopard
40% chance
The details

What's included

What's included

  • Entry fees at every park, reserve and conservancy on the route
  • Masai Mara to Serengeti cross-border transfer by air and road, Day 5, with a vehicle and guide change at the border
  • Scheduled flight from Arusha to Zanzibar, Day 9
  • Private vehicle and driver guide throughout the safari, with a guide change at the border on Day 5
  • Private road transfers to and from every airstrip and airport
  • Airport transfers on arrival in Nairobi and departure from Zanzibar
  • All meals during the safari (full board)
  • Bottled water throughout
  • Game drives at every wildlife stop

What's not included

  • International flights to and from East Africa
  • Visa fees for Tanzania and Kenya's Electronic Travel Authorisation
  • Travel insurance
  • Alcoholic drinks and premium beverages
  • Optional extras such as hot air balloon safaris, dhow cruises, Stone Town and Jozani tours, and community visits
  • Tips and gratuities for guides and lodge staff
  • Personal expenses (laundry, phone calls, curio purchases)

Notes about this trip

  • The Big Five are a real chance on this route, not a promise: rhino are most likely at Solio and Lake Nakuru, leopard is a rare sighting anywhere, and no sighting can be guaranteed
  • This itinerary crosses the Kenya and Tanzania border once, on Day 5, with no re-entry to Kenya, current entry requirements for your nationality should be confirmed well before travel
Responsible travel

Responsible Travel

Park, reserve and conservancy fees across this route fund ranger operations, rhino protection and reef conservation in two countries and on an island.

I

Rhino Protection Across Three Sanctuaries

Solio, Lake Nakuru and the Ngorongoro Crater each protect rhino, and Solio's breeding programme has helped restock other Kenyan sanctuaries, supported in part by the fees visitors pay.

II

One Ecosystem, Two Sets of Fees

The Serengeti and the Masai Mara protect the same migration landscape from either side of the border, and the fees paid on this route support ranger patrols in both.

III

Reef Protection on Zanzibar

Activities such as snorkelling and boat trips around Zanzibar typically include marine conservation area fees that fund reef and coastal protection.

IV

Plain About What We Cannot Promise

Rhino and leopard cannot be promised, and Lake Nakuru's flamingo flocks have shrunk sharply, so each claim here is one we can stand behind, rather than a list of sightings that cannot be kept.

Make it mine

Twelve days is arranged around the rhino, the great cats and a beach to finish. Add a night at Solio or Lake Nakuru for a slower start, a second night in the Serengeti for a longer stay among the cats, a dawn hot air balloon safari over the Mara or Seronera, or an extra night on Zanzibar. If the Mara River crossings are the priority, your specialist can suggest a northern Serengeti stay in place of Seronera.

With the route as a starting point, your specialist will adjust the pace, camps and add-ons until the itinerary feels like yours.

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Common questions

Before you enquire

The Big Five are the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino. This 12-day itinerary gives a real chance at all five, with rhinos most likely at Solio and Lake Nakuru, elephants in the Masai Mara, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, and lions and buffalo throughout. No sighting can be guaranteed, and the leopard is the one most often missed.

Rhino are most likely at Solio and Lake Nakuru National Park, which both protect black and white rhino in managed sanctuaries. Black rhino are also possible on the Ngorongoro Crater floor, where around 30 survive, and are rare in the Masai Mara. A sighting is never guaranteed.

Solio is a privately owned wildlife conservancy of about 71 square kilometres in the highlands between the Aberdare Range and Mount Kenya, not a national park. It began as a cattle ranch, was fenced as a rhino sanctuary in 1970, and has supplied rhino to other Kenyan sanctuaries, including Lake Nakuru.

July to October is the strongest window, because the Masai Mara to Serengeti air connection on Day 5 runs then, and the dry season suits game viewing. That connection also runs from mid-December to the end of March. Outside those windows, your specialist arranges a longer routing between the Mara and the Serengeti.

By a seasonal air and road connection, because no direct flight crosses the border. It uses a flight from the Mara to Migori, a short road transfer over the Isebania border and a flight from Tarime into the Serengeti. It runs only from mid-December to the end of March and from July to the end of October, needs at least two passengers, and limits luggage to 15 kg in soft bags.

By road and air, because there is no commercial airport on the crater. The drive from the rim to Arusha Airport takes about three and a half to four hours, followed by a scheduled flight to Zanzibar of about an hour and a quarter. Your specialist confirms the airline, timings and baggage allowance for your dates.

Yes. Most visitors need Kenya’s Electronic Travel Authorisation before arrival and a Tanzanian visa, which covers Zanzibar, and a yellow fever certificate is also required on entry to Tanzania from Kenya. The East Africa Tourist Visa covers Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda but not Tanzania. This trip crosses the border once and does not return to Kenya.

The island’s north coast, where the water stays swimmable at any tide, unlike the east coast, where the sea recedes dramatically twice a day. Stone Town, a UNESCO-listed old town, is a short transfer away for a half-day visit.

Light aircraft limit luggage, typically to around 15 kg per person in soft-sided bags, and the Day 5 connection specifically allows 15 kg. Scheduled flights to Zanzibar can differ by airline, and your specialist confirms each allowance, and can store larger luggage in Nairobi for the safari portion.

This is a private safari with its own vehicle and guide, tailored to your dates and group. Rates are not published on this page, because every trip is built around your dates, camps and group size, and an enquiry returns a tailored quotation from your specialist.

Ready when you are

Ask about 12 Days Big Five Safari and Zanzibar Beach

Tell us your dates and we'll confirm whether the timing works, then adjust the route from there.

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