How to Organize a Safari Honeymoon Itinerary in Africa

We’ve sourced information from various travelers who recently went on honeymoon trips to Africa, and have come up with the best itinerary to ensure you’ll have an enjoyable, worry-free vacation. Africa can be a crazy place and it’s recommended that you use a reputable travel guide while there, and perhaps even a travel agent in your home country who’s had plenty of experience with this part of the world.

Day 1 – Fly to Nairobi, stay overnight

Stay at the Fairview Hotel — it’s across from the Israeli Embassy so felt very secure and safe. Beautiful grounds and great food.

Day 2 – Short (ish) drive to Lake Nakuru Game Park

Along the way you get to see the Great Rift Valley. This is a small park so there are plenty of animal sightings: flamingos (depending on time of year) and rhinos (white and black) are the main draws. Because it’s small and fenced in, animal sightings are easy and almost guaranteed.

We stayed at the Flamingo Hill Camp — it’s one of the few hotels in the park and was quite nice.

Day 3 – Game drives in Lake Nakuru Game Park

Day 4 – Drive to Masai Mara

This drive is long and the road is absolutely terrible. Most people recommend that you fly into Masai Mara or ensure that your safari operator has a Safari Truck/SUV (NOT a van). You’ll want to time your visit to the Masai Mara so that you are not in the middle of their rainy seasons (though given the global climate disruptions these are harder to predict). During the time that the Wildebeest Migration crosses the Mara River it can be very busy in the park and hotels could be booked out well in advance.

Stay at the Ashnil Mara — it’s a great hotel, on a river with hippos in it (electric fences surround the property so you are safe from them and other animals). As with all the camps/hotels in Africa all meals are provided (almost always buffets) and they have lots of options. We were quite impressed with the food provided when we were there.

Days 5 – 6 – Game drives in Masai Mara

You can also visit a Masai Mara village (takes about a half day).

Day 7 – Drive to Tanzania (Serengeti)

We drove to Tanzania and crossed the land border. As with the drive into the Masai Mara the road was horrendous and I do not recommend it — you should probably fly in. We were booked for 2 nights at a resort on Lake Victoria which was also a disaster, I wouldn’t recommend that people go to the lake. Instead just head into Masai Mara.

Days 7 – 11 – Game Drives in the Serengeti

Massive park. We stayed in two hotels:

Sopa Lodge
Part of a safari hotel chain. Very large and comfortable, good service and food/drinks.

Lake Masek
There are two places to stay here. One is more luxurious (tented camp) and the other is more rustic (under canvas). We booked the tented camp but due to a booking mix up we ended up in the under canvas ones. Turns out we loved the under canvas camp! The two are about a 10 minute drive from each other.

Day 12 – Drive to Ngorongoro Crater

Drive here in the morning and spend the afternoon in the crater on game drives. The driver should have a prepared (boxed) lunch for you to eat in the picnic area. This was one of my favorite places we visited. We stayed at another Sopa Hotel — it was great and on the crater’s edge.
http://www.sopalodges.com/ngorongoro-sopa-lodge/the-ngorongoro-crater

Day 13 – Tarangire National Park

We were supposed to go here and stay at this Sopa Lodge, but we were burned out by all the driving and travel. Unless you are really into the driving and adventure this trip is a bit long. So instead we spent a night in Arusha at the Lake Duluti Lodge, which was awesome — it’s on a small working coffee farm. You drink the coffee they make there and you can also buy it.

Days 14 – 20

We flew from Arusha to Zanzibar — a scary as shit flight as we were on a tiny plane and flew in a storm. I would recommend that you research the airlines and pick a safe/reputable one.

We stayed in a resort — Melia — that was awesome. The main beach in front of the hotel is coral but they have a private beach area with a beach bar/club with tons of umbrellas and chairs down the beach. A golf cart transfers you there. The food was great, as were the messages.

We did the Old Stone Town tour but it was terrible. We wished we could have done a spice tour.