20-Day Lands of the Swahili Adventure

Day 1: Karibu Nairobi!

Karibu Nairobi, and welcome to the heart of Africa. From the moment you land, our friendly driver will be there to take you straight to the comfort of your hotel, where you can shake off the journey and feel the warm welcome of African hospitality. You really can’t beat door-to-door service.

Tonight, you’ll meet your fellow adventurers for the first time at Tamarind, one of our favourite local restaurants. Get to know your fellow Patchies over delicious Kenyan dishes. Share your excitement and clink glasses to the journey ahead. This is only the beginning.

Accommodation: Acacia Tree Lodge (or similar), Nairobi, Kenya
Included: Dinner

Day 2: Nairobi

Kick off your first full day in Kenya with a meet-and-greet with Nairobi’s ‘long-necked’ locals. Get some corn from your guide, reach your arm up high and tune in to the sounds of giraffes chomping. Don’t be surprised if they thank you with a big, slobbery kiss.

Kazuri, meaning “small and beautiful”, is the perfect description of your experience this afternoon, when you visit the Kazuri bead factory. Enter into a sea of focused chatter and colourful piles of African clay beads, as you walk through each stage of the process and meet the makers. Hearing their stories, you may take home more than beads from this encounter! 

Then, stay in the neighbourhood for a surprise visit which will have you travelling back in time and into an oasis of inspiring peace, a perfect way to come down from your first full day in Kenya!  

Accommodation: Acacia Tree Lodge (or similar), Nairobi, Kenya
Included: Breakfast and Dinner

Day 3: Nairobi Up Close

Start the day with Nairobi’s best-kept secret: the Nai Nami tour. This outing plucks you from generic sightseeing to the city’s lesser-known spots, led by those who know these areas best – former street kids! They’re ready to guide you through the city’s nooks and crannies, while sharing raw, real-life stories with you. The best part? By joining this tour, you’re not just getting behind the scenes in Nairobi, you’re also giving these resilient guides a shot at stable work opportunities.

A word of warning – this guided walk can be rather confronting for some, but what you’re seeing is the real face of Nairobi and we think you’ll come away richer for it.

After lunch, it’s a brightly coloured continuation of hope at Ocean Sole, a community-oriented non-profit organisation that salvages flip-flops from the ocean and, enlisting local artisans, turns them into spirit-lifting art. Your biggest question walking through the workshop? How to fit that giant elephant in your suitcase!

Accommodation: Acacia Tree Lodge (or similar), Nairobi, Kenya
Included: Breakfast and Dinner

Day 4: On to Amboseli National Park

After a few days of urban life, how ready are you to see some wild animals? Well, your time has come, because this morning, it’s time to head to your first national park on this trip: Amboseli. 

It’s a bit of a drive – this is when you’ll feel the bonds forming with your Patchie crew – but well worth it when you arrive. With four out of the Big Five, over 400 bird species, and up to 2,000 African elephants, this park is a feast for your safari-thirst. Kick off your stay with a short game drive upon arrival and start ticking off those boxes before settling into your lodge: a front-row, animal-watching oasis right in the middle of it all.  

Accommodation: Serena Safari Lodge (or similar), Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Included: Breakfast and Dinner

Day 5: All Out Amboseli

Today is all about Amboseli – and it’s about to blow your safari socks off. The relatively small size compared to some of the bigger game parks means your guide will be more savvy as to where the animals you want to see are hanging about.  

What’s that in the background? Pinch yourself, because yes – that’s Mount Kilimanjaro! Lunch today comes with a five-star view of the tallest mountain in Africa, and that’s a spectacle money just can’t buy.

Amboseli, which translates to “salty dust” from Maasai, is one of the top places in Africa to view large herds of elephants. Here, they’ll wander so close to you that you’ll be able to hear the flap of their ears. 

Accommodation: Serena Safari Lodge (or similar), Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Included: Breakfast and Dinner

Day 6: Taita Hills

If you’re worried about leaving the animals in Amboseli today, don’t be. You’re heading to Taita Hills for another game drive that’ll have you wishing you brought ten more memory cards for your camera. Is this the day you see a lioness expertly take down an oryx? 

Your day in the middle of the Taita Hills wildlife doesn’t end when you settle into your home for the night, either. When you get to the stilted huts at Salt Lick Lodge, high above the ground, “WOW” will hardly cut it. These huts promise more than just a good night’s sleep – they transform into front-row seats to the local watering hole, where you’ll get to watch elephants, zebras and more hanging out just below your balcony. Talk about a room with a view.

Accommodation: Salt Lick Game Lodge (or similar), Taita Hills, Kenya
Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 7: Taita Hills Safaris

So far, you’ve done game drives and safari explorations on a human-friendly schedule. Today is all about meeting the animals in their own prime time, a next-level chance to really understand the creatures who roam these lands. 

That’s why you’re rising early this morning for a walking safari near the lodge that has you eye-level with elusive animals making the most of the cool temperatures or returning back from the night’s hunt. Then, follow their lead for a midday nap, watching wildlife from your stilted perch, or just resting up before the evening’s night game drive. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it challenge of tracking big cats and other night-time hunters, as well as smaller animals in their most active moments, all while the sounds of the wild create a deep backdrop around you. What a day! 

Accommodation: Salt Lick Game Lodge (or similar), Taita Hills, Kenya
Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 8: Hello, Tanzania

Ready your passport, it’s time to say “So long, Kenya, hello Tanzania!” It’s a few hours’ drive, but you won’t be worried about counting minutes. You’ll be too busy staring out the window, as you trade the burnt orange colours of Taita Hills for the sweeping foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. 

Your home for the next few nights is the eye-popping Africa Amini Lodge, where you’ll stay in traditional earth houses built and owned by the local Maasai people. Settle in with the help of the Maasai’s famous hospitality (and afternoon sundowners around the campfire!). You may be tempted to spend the time showing off your pictures to the group, but hold tight – if you’re in luck, you may just sneak a pic at Kili here that will put the rest of your camera roll to shame. 

Accommodation: Africa Amini Lodge (or similar), Tanzania
Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 9: Get to Know the Maasai

Bush breakfast devoured, you have a full day at Africa Amini to enjoy, trying out a bunch of traditional Maasai activities that are guaranteed to toss you into the deep end of the culture. Swap tales by the campfire, test your aim with spear throwing (it’s harder than it looks!) and shake a leg with traditional dances that’ll have you working up a sweat.

Have you been eyeing the plants around you? They’re full of secrets that the Masaai have unlocked – take a walk with your hosts this afternoon to learn about which plants they use in their traditional medicine and maybe create a healing potion of your own. 

Accommodation: Africa Amini Lodge (or similar), Tanzania
Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 10: Momella Project Visit

Your stay at Africa Amini isn’t just an eye-opening experience for you – it makes a lasting impact on the community you’re in. By staying at the lodge, you help fund social, medical and educational projects for the local Maasai and Meru populations, and this morning you’ll get to see their work in action. Learn more about the project and visit one of their schools in Momella, a life-changing chance for local children to access education that leads to employment and a generational step up. How many of these kids’ smiles can you see before your heart bursts? 

Digest this morning of joy in the best possible way – picnicking underneath a tree. The rest of the afternoon is free for you to recharge your adventure batteries. What’ll it be? A dip in the pool? A Kili-viewed sweat in the sauna? A muscle-melting massage? The choice is yours! 

Accommodation: Africa Amini Lodge (or similar), Tanzania
Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 11: Arusha

Today’s the day you hit the road to Arusha for an art shopping spree that will turn a shelf back home into your own little Tanzania. Wrap a local-made, beaded bracelet (or two) around your arm and fill your pockets with hand-crafted Maasai figurines.

After you say goodbye to the colourful Maasai market, it’s time for a museum visit that’ll make you dizzy. Dive into the hypnotising tinga-tinga paintings – and did someone say ‘contemporary Tanzanian art’?

Accommodation: Olerai Lodge (or similar), Arusha, Tanzania
Included: Breakfast & Dinner

Day 12: Mto Wa Mbu Village

After a brief taste of city life, it’s time to reunite with the countryside, exploring Mto Wa Mbu Village, which 18,000 folks from 120 different tribes call home.

From the back of your tuk tuk, you’ll get the front seat view of local life as your guide (probably one of your new favourite people by now) takes you along the village’s plantations. Pause your tuk-tuk cruise through the village and connect with the locals at the fruit market. They’ll surely have recommendations for exotic fruits that you’ll try hard to find back home! A village specialty is ‘mbege’, a homemade brew of fermented banana that’s as intriguing as it sounds. Dare to take a swig? We thought so!

Accommodation: BSG Country Lodge (or similar), Karatu, Tanzania
Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 13: Ngorongoro Crater

Get your camera ready today, because Africa’s Big Five (buffalos, elephants, rhinos, lions and leopards) await you in… a volcanic crater.

Yep, this savannah-meets-caldera natural wonder is also every bird watcher’s dream come true. Selfie with a flamingo, anyone? Like a flourishing lost world, this is also one of the best places to spy the show-stopping black rhino, so as you descend to the crater floor, don’t put those binoculars down for even a second.

As you wrap up another wildlife-packed day, you’ll find yourself mulling over how, in just 13 days, women who were once strangers have turned into your tight-knit Patchie family. Who knew Tanzania could feel so much like home?

Accommodation: BSG Country Lodge (or similar), Karatu, Tanzania
Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 14: Ngorongoro to Central Serengeti

You’ll practically leap out of bed this morning as you race to pack up and hit the road, slicing through the misty veils of rainforests. On paper, it may look like a transfer day to the Central Serengeti, but the experience is anything but! As soon as you reach the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, keep your eyes peeled for the locals – cape buffalo, cheeky baboons, and, if luck’s on your side, elephants and leopards. You’ll never get tired of seeing them.

Then, as you make your way across the plains, it’s time to explore more of what the Serengeti has to offer, on a game drive that brings you face to face with the local superstars – zebras, lions and giraffes, all against that iconic golden backdrop. It’s highlight after highlight. 

Accommodation: Tamu Tamu Serengeti Camp (or similar), Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 15: Central Serengeti

Today you have the full day to soak up every second of your time in the Serengeti. Watch the sun rise over your camp, swap stories with your fellow Patchies about the coolest sightings so far and check a few more only-found-here animals off your list. By the time this day is over, you’ll be a Big Cat expert for sure. If you’re lucky, you’ll spot all three – lions, cheetahs and leopards (oh, my)!

As you watch the sun set from your perch – maybe with a cold drink in hand – you’ll know you’ve truly gathered all the most show-stopping, heart-filling safari experiences this region can offer. Unforgettable doesn’t begin to cover it. 

Accommodation: Tamu Tamu Serengeti Camp (or similar), Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Included: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Day 16: Stone Town, Zanzibar

After all this hard work of spotting exotic animals and making friends with the locals, are you ready to get a taste of island life? Enter, Zanzibar. 

After a short flight, you arrive in Stone Town just as your stomach starts to rumble – sounds like it’s time to meet the town through its food. Try the tangy, sometimes confounding mixes in urojo soup, freshly grilled meat skewers, or maybe a Zanzibar pizza (is it pizza?). 

You have the whole afternoon to explore Stone Town as you wish, and definitely time for an afternoon cuppa from a rooftop café. Find your fellow Patchies again for dinner – this one’s a stunner! You face a difficult choice: whether to focus more on your food or your surroundings. 

Accommodation: Maru Maru Hotel (or similar), Stone Town, Zanzibar
Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 17: Paje Beach

Zanzibar is known as the “Spice Island”, and on today’s spice walk, you’ll find out why – plus learn a thing or two about what spices can do for you (besides just making your food taste great)! Then, pack up your things and leave the hubbub of town behind. You deserve to spend these last few days on your trip in an absolute paradise, so you’ll move over to the east side of the island. 

What waits for you here is not just a palm-tree-lined resort where you can have one foot in your room and one on the beach – it’s also where the ocean is so impossibly sparklingly gemstone-green-and-blue that you’ll want to toss out any postcards you’ve bought, because they could never do them justice. Let your toes sink into the sand and settle in for the Good Life, it’s all here for you.

Accommodation: Cristal Resort (or similar), Paje Beach, Zanzibar
Included: Breakfast & Dinner

Day 18: Jozani Forest 

Making the most of your last days of the trip, this morning is a real highlight! Deep in the heart of the island lies Jozani Forest National Park. A biosphere bursting with biodiversity, Jozani Forest is home to the red colobus monkeys. Step past the mangroves and butterflies into the forest to spot these little unbothered monkeys going about their day without a care that you’re around. No cheeky monkey business here. 

After lunch, with a view not to be rushed through (trust us!), you’ll be treated to something truly special. At the Maluum Caves – meaning ‘special’ in Swahili – pack away your belongings and your cares to sink into the sparkling water of this natural swimming pool oasis. With limited visitors, this place will make a beautiful spot for pictures that will have your friends back home nearly as green with envy as the backdrop behind you. 

Accommodation: Cristal Resort (or similar), Paje Beach, Zanzibar
Included: Breakfast & Dinner 

Day 19: Pungume Island 

Seeing the end of your trip approach is never fun, but we try to make up for it by making this last day an absolute banger – a full day on Pungume Island. You start with a boat ride across blindingly bright seas, and it’s only up from there. Think, expansive sand bars nearly to yourselves, reef snorkelling so good you’ll lose your breath (but not literally!), turtle encounters, nirvana-level swims, or just lying on the powder-white beach chatting with Patchies who went from strangers to forever-friends over these past few weeks. The only thing that could make this day better? Crossing the waves to Kizimkazi, for a sunset view that will stay with you well after this trip’s suntan has worn off. 

Accommodation: Cristal Resort (or similar), Paje Beach, Zanzibar
Included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Day 20: Farewell, Friends!

Waking at your soul-restoring resort this morning, you may feel the need to drag out breakfast a little longer or stare out the window just one more time. No one can blame you. 

It’s been a whirlwind of adventures, but all good things must come to an end eventually. As you prepare for departure, be sure to exchange those last hugs with your Patchies and promises to stay in touch. Your transfer will ensure you’re at the airport with plenty of time to spare, and then, the only question (and perhaps the only thing that’ll make departure easier to endure) is… where to next?

Included: Breakfast