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Seychelles to the Serengeti: An Expedition Cruise and Private Safari
Seychelles To The Serengeti Grand Adventure
Duration
21 DaysStarts In
Mahe IslandRoute
Mahe Island, Zanzibar Island, Arusha, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park
This is the mirror image of a grand two-part journey — and its own complete story. It begins not on land but at sea, aboard Aqua Lares as it threads through the Seychelles' most remote atolls: the conservation stronghold of D'Arros, the untouched dive sites of Astove and Providence, and the tortoise-covered shores of Aldabra, home to more than 100,000 of the world's largest population of giant tortoises. From there, the voyage carries guests west to Zanzibar for two nights of spice-scented rest before the journey shifts entirely onto dry land — into Tanzania's Northern Safari Circuit, tracing Tarangire's ancient baobabs, Lake Manyara's escarpment views, the endless plains of the Serengeti, and the wildlife-dense floor of the Ngorongoro Crater. Twenty-one days, one continuous arc, and a genuinely rare pairing of deep ocean and open savannah — sailed and driven in a single unforgettable sequence.
EXPEDITION CRUISE & PRIVATE SAFARI 21 Days / 20 Nights featuring a Catamaran Cruise from the Seychelles Islands aboard Aqua Lares to Zanzibar combined with a Private Safari in Tanzania. Includes arrival & departure transfers, luxury cabin accommodations, all onboard meals, soft drinks, all visits and daily excursions with bilingual Naturalist guide, onboard cruise director and snorkeling, Kayaking and paddleboarding equipment., lodge accommodations in Arusha, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation area, and game drives as indicated in the itinerary.
Includes
- Accommodations as per itinerary
- Meals as per itinerary; breakfast (B), lunch (L), dinner (D)
- Shore excursions as per itinerary
- Cruise director throughout the cruise
- Special onboard entertainment per itinerary
- On ship gourmet dining including buffet breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight snack
- Keytours 24-hour emergency assistance
- Cruise Cabin accommodation: at category shown in the itinerary
- Private arrival and departure transfers as per itinerary
- National Park Entrance Fees
- Game Drives: As Per Itinerary
Excludes
- Items of a personal nature
- All other items not mentioned as included
- Domestic flights; please inquire with your Keytours travel consultant
- Travel insurance; please inquire with your Keytours travel consultant
- Gratuities for drivers, guides, and escorts
Itinerary
Day
1
1
Day 1
Day 1: Setting Sail — Mahé and the Outer Horizon
Board Aqua Lares at L'Escale Marina on Mahé, where the Cruise Director and Naturalist Guides welcome you aboard before a steward shows you to your design suite and its private balcony overlooking the harbor. Take time to explore the ship — sundeck, lounge, and dining room — while a safety briefing and welcome orientation outline the days ahead. As Aqua Lares pulls away from the marina, sundeck views trace the silhouettes of Mahé's forested peaks and neighboring islands before they fade astern, the opening notes of a westward crossing that will carry guests from the Seychelles' most remote atolls to the shores of East Africa, and ultimately onto safari. A welcome dinner and first night at sea close out the day.
Day
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2
Day 2
Day 2: A Conservation Frontier — D'Arros Island
D'Arros opens the voyage on a high note: a privately managed coral cay in the Amirantes Group, safeguarded by the Save Our Seas Foundation, where decades of sustained conservation have produced some of the richest waters in the Indian Ocean. A morning dive or snorkel at St Joseph Channel drifts among reef sharks, eagle rays, and green turtles gliding through the current, with naturalist guides pointing out the marine research underway just offshore. After lunch back on board, an afternoon excursion to Turtle Town adds another layer to the day, tracing shallow sandflats where hawksbill turtles forage undisturbed. Round out the evening with sundowners on deck as the light fades slowly over the lagoon, the first of many such evenings at sea.
Day
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Day 3
Day 3: Coconut Groves and Coral Gardens — Saint-François Atoll
Tenders carry guests into the Alphonse group for a morning ashore among lush coconut forest and quiet sandy paths, with a snorkel over hard coral formations just offshore rounding out the visit before lunch back on board. In the afternoon, Saint-François Atoll itself takes center stage, its mangrove channels sheltering juvenile sharks, crabs, and crab plovers moving quietly through the shallows. The surrounding lagoon and barrier reef invite snorkeling, diving, kayaking, and paddleboarding in equal measure, with naturalist guides on hand to point out the atoll's varied marine life along the way. Guests content to stay dry can walk the shoreline instead, watching seabirds work the reef flats as the tide slowly turns toward evening.
Day
4
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Day 4
Day 4: Unmapped Waters — Providence Atoll
Providence unfolds in shades of azure, its reef system still largely unexplored by recreational divers and left in something close to a pristine state by its remoteness. Snorkelers and divers here have a rare shot at coral formations few outsiders have ever seen, let alone photographed, naturalist guides treating each outing as a small act of discovery. Overhead, red-footed boobies circle in steady numbers, riding the thermals above the lagoon, while beneath the surface, reef fish move through coral gardens rarely disturbed by visitors. Conditions permitting, expect a full day of snorkeling and diving across sites barely marked on any chart, followed by an evening on board reflecting on some of the most remote waters of the entire crossing.
Day
5
5
Day 5
Day 5: The Underwater Grand Canyon — Astove Island
Astove's defining feature lies beneath the surface: the Astove Wall, a dramatic four-mile drop-off draped in soft coral and sponges, with visibility stretching to an extraordinary 40 meters in ideal conditions. It's a genuine bucket-list stop for serious divers, who descend along the sheer face into deep blue water alive with pelagic species, while curious snorkelers hover nearer the surface to take in the scale of it from above. The island itself remains largely uninhabited; its lagoon and surrounding reef rarely visited outside expedition voyages like this one. Naturalist guides accompany all excursions, offering context on the wall's formation and the marine life it supports, before an evening on deck closes out one of the voyage's most memorable days.
Day
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Day 6
Day 6: Seabird Sanctuary — Cosmoledo Atoll
A guided tender excursion opens the day, tracing Cosmoledo's lagoon in search of masked gannets and brown boobies found almost nowhere else in Seychelles waters, their colonies drawing birdwatchers from around the world. Naturalist guides point out nesting sites along the way and explain the conservation efforts protecting these fragile seabird populations from disturbance. Beneath the surface, the atoll's protected reefs offer some of the most undisturbed diving and snorkeling of the entire voyage, largely untouched by the pressures affecting more accessible reef systems elsewhere. Expect vivid coral gardens, healthy fish populations, and the quiet satisfaction of exploring waters that see remarkably few visitors each year, most of them fellow guests on this same crossing.
Day
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Day 7
Day 7: Ancient Ground — Aldabra Atoll
Aldabra shelters one of the planet's most isolated ecosystems and its most famous residents — more than 100,000 giant tortoises spread across four islands, the largest such population found anywhere on Earth. Morning brings a guided visit to the Aldabra Research Station and the atoll's old settlement, where scientists and rangers share insight into decades of conservation work protecting this UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is followed by a dive or snorkel off the island's sheltered side, where coral formations teem with life. An afternoon drift dive uncovers tropical fish, reef sharks, and turtles gliding through the current, with manta rays an occasional bonus, a fitting close to a day steeped in natural history and quiet island resilience.
Day
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Day 8
Day 8: The Quiet Edge — Assumption Island
Assumption rounds out the Aldabra group with a deliberate pause in the voyage, a remote and largely untouched island where the morning's agenda is simply presence in a beautiful, quiet place. Ease into ocean swims, paddleboarding, or kayaking in clear, current-calmed water just off the beach, or retreat to the sundeck to watch the horizon and keep an eye out for seabirds wheeling overhead. The afternoon brings a snorkel or dive among reefs teeming with turtles, rays, and tropical fish, the coral here left largely undisturbed by its isolation. Few places on this crossing feel as far from everything as Assumption does, and that sense of remoteness is very much the point.
Day
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Day 9
Day 9: Westward Passage — A Day at Sea
With Tanzania still ahead, the day belongs to the ship itself and the easier rhythm that settles in between island stops. Unwind at the spa or jacuzzi, catch up on rest in your suite, or watch from the sundeck for red-footed boobies working the swells in search of flying fish skimming the waves. Naturalist presentations run through the day, tracing the geology and ecology that connect the Seychelles' remote atolls to the East African coast still to come, useful context for the days ahead. It's a welcome pause between the reef-diving and birdwatching behind you and the whale sharks and coral reefs of Tanzania still on the horizon, dinner and stargazing from the Sun Deck closing out the evening.
Day
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Day 10
Day 10: Giants of Mafia Island — Kilindoni Bay & Mange
Mafia Island marks the crossing into Tanzanian waters, renowned as one of the only places in the country where whale sharks reliably gather throughout the season. At Kilindoni Bay, snorkel alongside these gentle giants of the deep as they filter-feed near the surface, an encounter naturalist guides rank among the trip's highlights. Return aboard for lunch before an afternoon dive or snorkel from the ship itself, exploring reef life just beyond the anchorage. The day winds toward Mange, a pristine sandbank rising from Mafia's coastal shallows like a mirage, where sundowners on the sand mark the transition from island-hopping to the atoll adventures behind you, drinks in hand as the sun dips toward the horizon.
Day
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Day 11
Day 11: Beach Club and Bay — Mange & Chole Bay
Morning unfolds at Aqua Lares' Beach Club on Mange, a stretch of sand set up for the day with loungers, water toys, and easy access to the coral reefs just offshore, alive with tropical fish for snorkelers and swimmers alike. Return aboard for lunch before the ship continues to Chole Bay, where lagoon-clear water and coral gardens thick with fish make for excellent snorkeling or diving. Visibility here is typically excellent, and the sheltered bay allows for easy, relaxed exploration regardless of experience level. Those content to stay dry can instead take a slower kayak through the lagoon, watching the reef pass beneath the hull, before an evening back on board as the light fades over the bay.
Day
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Day 12
Day 12: Back to Shore — Arrival in Zanzibar
A final breakfast on board offers a last look at the sea before Aqua Lares docks at Azam Marine in Zanzibar, eleven days after departing Mahé. Bid farewell to the Cruise Director, Naturalist Guides, and crew who have shaped the voyage before a transfer delivers you to a beachfront hotel for the first of two nights unwinding on the island. It's a deliberate shift in pace after so many days at sea, sea legs giving way to sand underfoot and the slower rhythm of the Swahili coast. Spend the afternoon settling in, or venture out to explore Stone Town's historic alleyways, past latticed balconies and bustling markets steeped in centuries of trading history, before a quiet evening ahead of tomorrow's full day at leisure.
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Day 13
Day 13: Salt Air and Spice — A Day at Leisure
A full day belongs entirely to the island, with no fixed plans beyond your own preference. Swim in the warm turquoise shallows just off the beach, relax poolside with a cold drink in hand, or continue exploring Zanzibar's coastline at your own unhurried pace. For those wanting to venture further, an optional excursion into Stone Town's winding historic quarter uncovers centuries of trading history, or head inland to a spice farm, where guides walk you through cardamom, clove, and cinnamon groves, sharing tastes and stories along the shaded paths. This is the last stretch of pure relaxation before the shift from sea to savannah tomorrow, so there's little reason to rush.
Day
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Day 14
Day 14: Crossing Over — Zanzibar to Arusha
After a final leisurely morning on the island, transfer to Zanzibar's airport for a short flight to Kilimanjaro International, the coastline giving way to mainland Tanzania below. Touch down and clear the terminal before your driver-guide greets you, handles your luggage, and walks you to your transfer vehicle for the drive into Arusha. Set beneath the wooded slopes of Mount Meru amid former coffee plantations on the shores of Lake Duluti, this gateway city marks the true start of Tanzania's famed Northern Safari Circuit. Your lodge for the night unfolds across landscaped gardens styled after a colonial-era coffee estate, offering a relaxed, low-key evening to settle in before tomorrow's first game drive. Optional nature walks, mountain biking, and canoeing on the lake can be arranged on request.
Day
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Day 15
Day 15: Elephant Country — Onward to Tarangire
Enjoy a leisurely morning at the hotel, with optional activities available directly on site, before a safari briefing and relaxed lunch precedes your departure for Tarangire National Park. As Arusha's outskirts give way to open plains scattered with traditional Maasai homesteads, you may glimpse young herders guiding cattle and goats across the landscape, a timeless rhythm of rural Tanzanian life, while the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley rises on the horizon ahead. Tarangire spans 2,850 square kilometers and is famed for its vast elephant herds, striking baobab-studded scenery, and more than 550 recorded bird species, making it one of the richest wildlife areas on the circuit. Game viewing continues en route to your lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day
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Day 16
Day 16: Rift Valley Views — Onward to Lake Manyara
Following a leisurely breakfast, check out of the lodge for a late-morning game drive, a final chance to encounter Tarangire's wildlife and dramatic baobab-dotted landscapes. Return for lunch before continuing to Lake Manyara National Park, the road climbing the Great Rift Valley escarpment as the scenery grows increasingly dramatic with every bend. By late afternoon, arrive at your lodge, perched above the valley with panoramic views over the lake and surrounding plains stretching toward the horizon. Lake Manyara itself, a shallow alkaline lake covering much of the park's 330 square kilometers, is known for tree-climbing lions and more than 400 recorded bird species. Dinner and overnight are taken at the lodge, with the valley view as backdrop.
Day
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Day 17
Day 17: Endless Plains — Onward to the Serengeti
After breakfast, set out on a morning game drive through Lake Manyara National Park, where varied ecosystems, from groundwater forest to open plains, offer excellent opportunities for wildlife and birdlife sightings. Return to the lodge for lunch before continuing north to the Serengeti. Beyond the iconic Naabi Hill Gate, game viewing continues en route to your lodge, the landscape opening into the endless golden horizons the region is famous for. The Serengeti spans roughly 14,750 square kilometers of golden plains and is home to all of Africa's Big Five, alongside cheetah, hyena, and the vast herds that make up the annual Great Migration, one of the natural world's most extraordinary spectacles. Arrive in good time for dinner and overnight.
Day
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Day 18
Day 18: Above the Plains — A Day in the Serengeti
An optional shared hot air balloon safari can be arranged for this morning, at additional cost: a pre-dawn transfer to the launch site, a safety briefing as the balloon inflates, and a sunrise lift-off over the plains, with the pilot alternating between high vantage points and low, silent passes over grazing wildlife, followed by a shared bush breakfast on landing. For those not ballooning, morning and afternoon game drives cover the Serengeti's grasslands and riverine habitat in search of lion, leopard, and the resident herds that call this ecosystem home. Dinner and overnight are taken at the lodge, with the plains stretching endlessly beyond the windows into the fading light.
Day
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Day 19
Day 19: Descent to the Crater — Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Depart the lodge after breakfast, with game viewing continuing en route to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a picnic lunch served along the way amid the surrounding wilderness and open country. By afternoon, arrive at your lodge, perched dramatically on the crater rim, with time to relax and savor the sweeping views before dinner is served. Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest intact volcanic caldera, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site home to an estimated 30,000 animals, among them lion, elephant, flamingo, and the elusive black rhino. The surrounding conservation area also encompasses Empakai Crater and Olduvai Gorge, known as the "Cradle of Mankind" for its remarkable fossil and archaeological finds.
Day
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Day 20
Day 20: Into the Caldera — Ngorongoro Crater Floor
Set off early for a descent into the Ngorongoro Crater, often called a natural Eden, its floor spanning just 102 square miles yet supporting an astonishingly dense population of more than 30,000 mammals, with good odds of spotting all of Africa's Big Five in a single day. Explore the crater's varied terrain, from acacia woodland to shimmering soda lakes, all enclosed by the steep, forested walls of the caldera rising around you. A picnic lunch is served at a scenic spot within the crater before the afternoon ascent back to the rim above. Dinner and a final overnight are taken at the lodge, closing out the most concentrated wildlife day of the entire trip.
Day
21
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Day 21
Day 21: Journey's End — Return to Arusha
Early risers can catch the sunrise breaking over the eastern rim of the crater before breakfast and departure for the return journey to Arusha, the road winding back through the highlands and countryside of northern Tanzania. Arrive in the city in time for a leisurely lunch at a local restaurant before transferring to Kilimanjaro International or Arusha Airport for your onward departure flight, marking the end of a week and a day spent across Tanzania's most celebrated parks and conservation areas. From Tarangire's elephant herds to the Serengeti's endless plains and the crater's ancient caldera, this journey traces the heart of the Northern Safari Circuit's wildlife, landscapes, and living Maasai culture.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Seychelles to the Serengeti Grand Adventure tour includes several stunning destinations: Mahé Island and Aldabra in the Seychelles, Zanzibar Island in Tanzania, and various national parks in Tanzania, including Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This package offers a unique combination of ocean exploration and safari experiences, making it a comprehensive adventure across two beautiful regions.
This itinerary spans 21 days and includes 20 nights of accommodations. Travelers will spend 11 nights aboard the Aqua Lares catamaran exploring the Seychelles and Zanzibar, followed by 9 nights in Tanzania, where they will experience luxurious lodge accommodations in Arusha and various national parks.
The price of the Seychelles to the Serengeti Grand Adventure tour includes several key elements: - Accommodations as per itinerary - All meals onboard the cruise and at lodges - Shore excursions and game drives as specified - National Park entrance fees - Private arrival and departure transfers - A cruise director and naturalist guides throughout the journey - Keytours 24-hour emergency assistance. Please note that domestic flights and travel insurance are not included and can be arranged through your Keytours travel consultant.
Yes, this itinerary offers several optional activities and excursions that can enhance your experience. While the main activities are included, travelers can opt for additional experiences such as a hot air balloon safari over the Serengeti, guided nature walks, or visits to local spice farms in Zanzibar. These options can be discussed and arranged with your Keytours travel consultant based on your preferences.
Travelers will experience a combination of sea and land transportation throughout this itinerary. The journey begins with a cruise aboard Aqua Lares, which takes guests through the Seychelles and to Zanzibar. After arriving in Zanzibar, travelers will take a short domestic flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport, followed by private transfers to their lodge in Arusha and subsequent game drives to the national parks. This seamless transition between sea and land ensures a comfortable and efficient travel experience.
Yes, this package offers customization options to tailor your experience. Travelers can choose from different accommodation types based on their preferences and budget. Additionally, optional activities and excursions can be added or adjusted according to your interests. Keytours Vacations encourages guests to discuss their desired modifications with a travel consultant to create a personalized itinerary that suits their needs.
Before booking this tour, travelers should be aware of a few important details: - Final arrangements, including transportation schedules and accommodations, depend on the selected travel date and availability. - It is advisable to review visa and entry requirements for Tanzania and the Seychelles prior to departure. - Personal expenses, gratuities for guides and drivers, and travel insurance are not included in the package price. - It's best to book well in advance to secure preferred accommodations and activities. - Keytours provides 24-hour assistance during the trip for any support needed.
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