- Duration: 7 Days
- Tour Type : Daily Tour
- Group Size: Unlimited
- Languages: Africa, English
This magical six-night safari experience delivers the best of the Serengeti from the exclusive vantage of Singita lodges, sensational accommodation set in prime positions in the Grumeti Reserve. A private concession bordering the Serengeti National Park, the reserve was created to protect both the path of the annual wildebeest migration and the amazing biodiversity of this vast ecosystem. It is a place of classic savannah landscapes, grazing herds and stealthy predators – Africa at its most dramatic.
Itinerary
The journey begins in Arusha where you will be met and transferred to Arusha Airport to meet your scheduled charter plane. A two-hour scenic flight wings you over the endless, rolling plains known to the local Maasai as Siringitu, ‘the place where the land moves on forever’.
Arriving at Singita Sasakwa airstrip, your guide meets you for a game drive to Singita Sabora Tented Camp. The drive allows you in breathe in the untrammelled wildness of the region and whet your appetite for the wildlife experience that awaits you.
This one of the planet’s last remaining natural migration corridors and one of the oldest ecosystems on earth. The climate, vegetation and fauna have remained mostly unchanged over the past million years. Also unchanged is the natural instinct that drives the annual Great Migration of more than a million wildebeest, gazelle and zebra – an instinct so powerful that neither drought nor crocodile-infested rivers can halt it. Outside of the migration period, a host of wildlife remains to be seen. This is classic Big 5 country set in an epic landscape of vast proportions.
Arriving at Singita Sabora Tented Camp, you notice this intimate 1920s-style explorer’s camp is permeated by a sense of nostalgic adventure. With a unique character and atmosphere of opulence, the lodge stands in delightful contrast to the savannah plains that surround it. Wood, canvas, leather and detailed finishing touches are the dominant themes – you might feel as though you have just stepped into the pages of Karen Blixen’s “Out of Africa”.
Your luxurious suite is a welcome haven that you might not want to leave, but wander over to the lounge area where a sumptuous high tea awaits you. After a refreshing drink and a sample of the delicacies on offer, embark on your first afternoon game drive.
Game drives here are varied and exciting. With a vast wilderness available to explore with your expert guide, allow nature hold you enthralled as you take in this extraordinary landscape and the animals that inhabit it. As the sun lowers in the sky, lending a golden tinge to the landscape, your guide selects a scenic spot for a sundowner. With a chilled drink in hand and a nibble from the snack hamper, toast the setting sun as it slowly disappears over the far-flung hills beyond the great open plains before you. This is a magical time in the African bush, as the day gives way to the evening stars above you, and a fitting end to your first day on safari.
A spot-lit night drive back to the camp reveals lesser-seen nocturnal creatures emerging to forage and hunt. Their gleaming eyes reflect the light, giving their presence away to your observant guide.
Today you bid farewell to Singita Sabora Tented Camp and take a leisurely game drive across the concession to the banks of the Grumeti River. Built on a gentle slope overlooking the river and a waterhole, multi award-winning Singita Faru Faru Lodge is your next accommodation and a place where you can quite literally expect the unexpected.
Sleek and modern but with an earthy touch, Faru Faru is quirkily informal yet styled with close attention to detail and practicality. Stone and canvas come together in an elegantly colonial manner while enormous glass picture windows allow stunning views over the landscape. Here the signature is similar, yet surprisingly different in aspect, as you observe the daily comings and goings of the wildlife at the water below.
Your personal attendant takes care of every detail, allowing you the space to soak up and enjoy the wonder and timelessness of the scenes around you.
Apart from the daily game drives and even horse-back safaris, an incredible way to see the Serengeti is from above: nothing can compare to silently drifting over the plains in the basket of a hot air balloon. From the vantage of a soaring bird of prey, gaze out over this vast and ancient landscape, dotted with wildlife wherever you look. On your return to earth, the fizz from a glass of champagne transports you back to those dizzying heights above.
Your final accommodation is Sasakwa Lodge, situated on the top of Sasakwa Hill. Taking in the majestic Serengeti plains below, the views from the lodge’s spacious veranda are stupendous.
What Sasakwa is most famous for however are its horse-back safaris. The in-house equestrian centre has a number of horses to choose from, depending on your ability. This is an unrivalled experience – the feeling of absolute freedom and unity with your mount as you approach game more closely than ever before. Gallop alongside a herd of zebra, revel in the wind in your hair, the pounding hooves below you.
The blissful days are filled with game drives and safari walks, horse-back safaris and archery lessons. Perhaps you feel like a set of tennis or two before indulging yourself at the spa; this is the life of a colonial grandee lived out in splendour above the spectacular plains of the Serengeti.
The turn-of-the-century manor house and cottages have been designed with a sense of colonial grandeur, fused with European style and interspersed with East African touches. Here you encounter a refined splendour and comfort plus old-world elegance. From this superb vantage point, one can become absorbed in the marvel of this extraordinary scene. While exuding the grandness of a bygone age, the service is impeccable and facilities are state of the art.
After the excitement and thrills of a day in the saddle, return to your lodgings for a refreshing poolside cocktail at sunset. Enjoy a cordon bleu dinner in the grand surroundings of the dining room below crystal chandeliers, or share an intimate meal on your own private deck.
After a leisurely breakfast you have time for a game drive as you make your way to the airstrip and your charter flight to Arusha and onwards. Relive the moment you encountered your first leopard, or the sound of a million thundering hooves, the low moan of a lion’s roar in the tapestry of colour woven by the African sunset.
Remember moments by the fire below the dazzling Milky Way, the chortling of hippos as you drifted off to sleep. You keep with you treasured memories of this enchanting place, the sweeping plains where the land goes on forever.