African Honeymoon Safari - Kenya - Giraffe Manor, Cottars Camp, Shompole, Fundu Lagoon

Day 1 - Giraffe Manor, Nairobi, Kenya

On arrival into Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport, Kenya, from your International flight you will be met and transferred to Giraffe Manor where you stay for one night (bed and breakfast).

Kenya provides a beautiful location for a once in a lifetime safari with some fantastic safari memories. Kenya has some of the most luxurious lodges for the perfect African safari honeymoon.

Giraffe Manor is a beautiful elegant manor house built in 1932 by Sir David Duncan, situated in one hundred and twenty acres of beautiful forested land just eight miles from Nairobi city centre.

In 1974 Jock and Betty Leslie-Melville relocated five baby Rothschild giraffe to the grounds and guests can now feed them and their descendants from the second floor bedroom windows.

The home is spacious and elegantly furnished, with five bedrooms. Furniture and books from Karen Blixen and Denys Finch Hatton are to be found around the house.

In the grounds is a primeval forest with small game and many species of birds.

Days 2 to 5 - Cottars 1920's Camp, Masai Mara, Kenya

In the morning you will be met and transferred to Nairobi's Wilson Airport to board a scheduled flight departing at 1000 to the Mara. On arrival at 1045 you will be met and transferred to Cottars 1920's Camp where you stay for four nights (fully inclusive of meals and activities).

Cottars 1920's Camp is a superb stylish and luxurious camp on a vast 22,000 acre private area of land in the heart of the Masai Mara, Kenya. The camp is set on a hilltop with views for a dozen miles across rolling hills and expansive open plains dotted with acacia trees which are the setting for the world's biggest animal migration between July and September as one and a half million wildebeest and zebra pass through the Mara.

Cottars is owned and run by Calvin and Louise Cottar who have been operating safaris in the Masai Mara for many years and who know their private conservancy and the entire Masai Mara Reserve intimately. The camp is very traditional with huge white canvas tents, open at the sides during the day, with proper beds, comfortable furniture and en suite w.c and shower, and from the chairs at the front of your tent you can enjoy the fine views across the plains. The camp is run with a good sense of style and the standard of food and service is excellent. Because it is set on a large private reserve you can enjoy walking with an armed guide, tracking animals through the bush and safari game viewing by vehicle during the day and at night, knowing that you will encounter no other tourists or vehicles. You can also venture further afield into other parts of the Mara following the huge migrating herds and seeing countless lion, leopard, cheetah, giraffe, elephant and buffalo in the company of Calvin and his other highly expert guides.

More so than any other camp in East Africa, Cottars manages to combine simplicity with a real sense of relaxed style and inspired guiding, cuisine and attention to detail, all of which goes to create an unforgettable African safari.

Days 6 and 7 - Little Shompole, Masai Mara, Kenya

After your morning activity you will be transferred by private charter flight to Little Shompole where you stay for two nights (fully inclusive of meals and activities).

The Shompole area has an amazing variety of typically African scenery with acacia woodland and open grassy plains irrigated by rivers. There is also a small area of rainforest and swamp while at the foot of the Nguruman escarpment is the vast watery expanse of Lake Natron, one of the best breeding grounds for flamingos. This considerably varied landscape supports large numbers of animals including elephant, hyena, antelope and a wide range of plains game including zebra and giraffe. Shompole is also a good place for seeing predators, both the more spectacular ones such as lion and cheetah, as well as smaller cats such as serval.

Safaris are lead by experienced guides and colourfully clad Masai guides and trackers from the local community, and you can enjoy walking safaris, river trips, fascinating visits to Lake Natron and drives by open vehicle both during the day and at night. Guests can also enjoy a nights fly camping where a special temporary camp is set up for the night by a small support team in a particularly remote part of the reserve.

Overlooking the stunning expanse of the Great Rift Valley, the lodge is positioned ideally to make the most of both an incredible view and the cool breeze. Constructed using naturally occurring white quartz stone, pale thatch and fig wood. Two spacious suites, open to expansive views accommodates a lounge and sundeck, his and hers moulded wash basins, en-suite toilet and cascade shower and private cool pool. Each bed rests under a romantic high-canopied netting and canvas tent which can be closed at night against insects.

Little Shompole is ideal for Honeymooners seeking a remote and relaxing safari in a location where you are extremely unlikely to encounter any other tourists, and one where you can enjoy a wider variety of safari game viewing options than is possible in most parts of East Africa. It is the high level of comfort and peacefulness which is particularly conducive to for a relaxing stay, and the lodge is run as a genuine partnership with the local Masai community who participate in the guiding and whose local communities benefit from income which the lodge receives.

Days 8 to 13 - Fundu Lagoon, Pemba Island, Tanzania

After your morning activity you will be transferred to the airstrip to board a private charter flight to Nairobi's Wilson Airport. On arrival you will be met and assisted to Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport to connect with the Kenya Airways flight KQ492 departing at 1300 to Zanzibar. On arrival you will be met and transferred by a light aircraft flight to Pemba Island to stay for six nights at Fundu Lagoon at the beachside suite (fully inclusive of meals and non-motorised watersports).

Fundu Lagoon is located on the crescent-shaped island of Pemba, which lies to the north of Zanzibar. It is one of the most secluded and romantic small resorts around East African coast and provides superb snorkelling and diving opportunities. Fundu Lagoon is a fantastic beach destination for a Honeymoon with its crystal clear waters and star lit skies you can loose yourselves in the mystery of Africa.

Guests are accommodated in fourteen very spacious and luxurious canvas under thatch rooms constructed of local materials, each set on raised wooden decking creating a veranda which gives you marvellous views across the Indian Ocean, especially when having sundowners after a long and dusty safari game drive. Inside there is a large bedroom/living area and en-suite bathroom and each room is tastefully and comfortably furnished with coconut-wood furniture and large four-poster bed.

Recent additions to the lovely accommodation at Fundu Lagoon are two beautiful beach front superior suites which enjoy stunning views. This flagship accommodation is extremely spacious and incorporates a gorgeous stone wall bathroom with a double vanity unit and shower. A romantic queen size double bed and expansive open plan lounge leads out onto the private deck where you have your own large plunge pool. This accommodation is perfect for a romantic stay for Honeymooners as you feel more private and set back from the other guests.

From your cottage you can wander through the trees down to the pristine white sand beach, which stretches for over three miles beside the multi-hued blues of the Indian Ocean. Fundu has a fine restaurant where delicious meals are served featuring locally caught seafood as a speciality. There are two bars, including one a couple of hundred metres down the beach where a Swahili barbecue is sometimes created.

Fundu has a wide range of watersports including water-skiing, knee-boarding, snorkelling, dhow rides and kayaking through mangrove swamps. There is also a fully-equipped PADI diving centre and experienced divers will be able to enjoy the superb array of coral reefs which encircle the island and which include some fine opportunities for wall-diving. Dive boats are capable of fifty knots and can take divers to any part of the island and surrounding reefs, while novices can enjoy shorter shallow dives with well-qualified instructors.

Kenya combines an overland African safari with a beach break perfectly, as romance and tranquilty are the main factors of this remote luxury honeymoon safari.

Day 14

You will be transferred by light aircraft to Zanzibar to board a scheduled flight KQ493 departing at KQ493 departing at 1515 to Nairobi. On arrival at 1700 continue with your international flight.

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/african-honeymoon-safari-kenya-giraffe-manor-cottars-camp-shompole-fundu-lagoon-609324.html