21 Day Kenya Tanzania Kilimanjaro Guided Motorcycle Tour

Day 1 - Arrival – Nairobi

You will be pickup up from the airport by our driver and brought to the hotel in the southside of the big city. This is a good location to start the tour in order to avoid riding through the busy city traffic on the first day.

Day 2 – Nairobi – Longido

After the tour leader briefing, we will proceed south. We follow the busy Mombasa road for a short while and then turn right towards a much quieter road. This road brings us to the busy border town between Kenya and Tanzania. It will be later in the afternoon once we have cleared all formalities and are riding in Tanzania towards the first small town called Longido. Accommodation is very basis today, but we are staying in the best hotel in town.

Day 3 – Longido – Mto Wa Mbu

Only the first few kilometers in town to the turnoff are on asphalt road today as the rest is gravel. Once we are on the gravel roads, the landscape changes into wilderness and there are no more villages apart from a few small houses. You will see the first giraffes moving through the bushes. Small pockets of sand can make these routes a bit challenging at moments. We will have a simple lunch in a small Masaai town before we get a beautiful view of mount Lengai the sacred Masaai Mountain. After the turnoff to the South, we will see the outside wall of the Ngorogoro crater. Just before we reach our destination, we will have a challenging track through dense forests and open plains. Mto Wa Mbu is translated into Musquuito river. It is a nice busy town close to the entrance gate to the Ngorogoro and Serengeti.

Day 4 – Mto Wa Mbu – daytrip Ngorongoro

Today there is the option to dedicate the whole day to a jeep safari in the Ngorongoro crater. The crater entrance is about 50 km from town. After the gate, we ride up the crater’s ridge and afterwards ride down into the cater. The cater is huge and full of wildlife. You will most likely see the big five here. In the afternoon, the jeep will return to Mto Wa Mbu. The safari is optional and not included in the tour price.

Day 5 – Mto Wa Mbu – Lake Eyasi

The first half an hour will be on asphalt road twisting our way through the park. Then we turn left towards the south on a dirt road. It is a bumpy dusty ride but with nice views over the farm fields. Halfway through the day we will turn off and follow a small track. The car is not able to follow. We meet again back on the main road. Just before our destination, we visit the village of the Hadza tribe. This is a unique tribe and since the San in Namibia have lost this part of their culture, the Hadza are the only original hunting tribe left in Africa. We will visit their villages, see how they live and let them teach us how to hunt in the wild. They speak their own unique language with the very distinguished clicking sound. It is impressive to see how their culture has survived and how they have lived for many generations. We stay at a basic hotel in the town of Gorpa.

Day 6 – Lake Eyasi – Babati

For the first bit, we follow the same road as we came from yesterday and enjoy a coffee stop at Karatu. From Karatu we take another dirt road south again and wind through the hills enjoying beautiful views. In Mbulu we will have lunch followed by the most beautiful road of the day. The road follows the top idge of the mountain and sharp bends bring us down the edges of lake Burungi. We enjoy spectacular views during our descent but have to be careful during the ride since the curves can be bad in some places. After reaching the flatlands again, it is not far to the busy bustling Babati township.

Day 7 – Babari – Moshi

We start the day with an optional canoe trip over lake Babati. Be careful not to fall out of the canoe because the lake is full of crocodiles! After this trip, we proceed to the big town of Arusha over recently asphalted roads and travel onwards to Moshi -the big town on our way to the east.

Day 8 – Moshi – Mambo

Today entails a long ride over asphalt for the first 95% of the route. We will pass Kilimanjaro and when lucky we will see the top without clouds surrounding it. After this highest mountain of the continent, we pass the pare mountains on the left-hand side and we turn off at the start of the Usambara mountains. We follow a dirt road to the foot of the mountain range before we start our climb. The sharp bends are sometimes tricky so stay focused but also take time to admire the impressive views which become more impressive after every turn upwards. After reaching the top, we arrive in a completely different part of Tanzania. It is cool, windy and very green. It is a short dirt road ride to our hotel at the edge of a cliff with magnificent views over the plains to the south.

Day 9 – Mambo – stay

In this beautiful place we will have a rest day. You can just relax or go on a few hours trekking with a local guide to see the small villages and the dense forest. We can also go for a short ride in the surrounding mountains.

Day 10 – Mambo – Same

We descend through a different route with stunning views and some tricky bends. When we reach the foot of the mountains, we follow a dirt track through the bushes and past a dammed lake. We pass small Masaai settlements and a few small towns. There is only a few km of asphalt on today’s route. We pass the Mkomazi National Park on our righthand side and we may see some wildlife at the roadside. This park is connected with the huge Tsavo parks in Kenya. Before reaching Same, we follow a beautiful track through the eastern Para mountains. We stay overnight in the small town of Same.

Day 11 – Same – Daytrip Mkomazi

Same is not far from the Mkomazi National Park. This park is connected to Tsavo National Park on the Kenyan side of the border. Mkomazi is famous for its Rhino populations. We can use this day to take a safari in this park. Since it is out of the way for most tourists, there will not be as many safari cars around.

Day 12 – Same – Marangu

We start with a short hour of asphalt riding before we turn towards the Para mountains again and follow dirt tracks through the hills. We ride very close to the Kenya border. Close to Maragnu, we come to the main road again. Marangu is at the foot of the Kilimanjaro Mountain. If you rise early tomorrow, you may see a cloudless top. Before reaching Marangu we need to climb a little bit and within this short ride you will see the nature become greener and greener.

Day 13 – Marangu – Emali

In the morning we ride a winding road through the mountains with some challenging dirt tracks that bring us down to the border town of Loitokitok. After formalities, we are back in Kenya and we follow a nice road to the town of Emali.

Day 14 – Emali – Matuu

This area is seldom visited by tourists. We cross through plantations, use small bridges and pass lively villages. All roads in this area are dirt roads even if they are the main roads. This is the real countryside of Kenya. We stay in a small village but at a nice guesthouse.

Day 15 – Matuu – Mount Kenya

We are just south of Mount Kenya, the highest mountain of Kenya. It is the little brother of the Kilimanjaro. We move north on the western side of the mountain and have lunch in a small mountain town. Just before we reach our hotel, we enter a small track through dense jungle at the foot of the mountain. We will stay overnight in a tiny village in a family run basic guesthouse.

Day 16 – Mount Kenya – Molo

In the morning we start with another small track through jungle. After hitting the main road again, we will stop at the equator signpost. After this photo op, we follow a large dirt road through a deserted part of the country. We will see many camels on the way. After lunch we are back on the main road and follow this through the beautiful mountain area. At Nakuru we have a little bit of highway and optional jungle tracks just before we finish in Molo.

Day 17 - Molo – Maasai Mara

Today is another adventurous day. We will swindle around the main road southwards, and we will explore tracks and paths only used by the Maasai people and wildlife. Again, there will be a track where we will depart from the support car. You will notice that the landscape changes into dry hills and there is less human activity. However, there are more animals along the way now. We will stay at a nice camp near the National Park

Day 18 - Maasai Mara – stay

People are not allowed to live in a National Park. It is hardly fenced. Apparently, that is enough for a rich animal life. Landscape in the Maasai Mara is splendid. We leave the motors partly at rest and take an optional car safari. You will be encountering large herds of buffalo, wildebeest, zebras and antelopes. You will also see giraffes and lions crossing or walking on the road. We can ride around until late in this magnificent wild park of Kenya. There is an option for Motor safaris too! Take enough power and memory cards for your camera because it is really beautiful. This is the real safari experience.

Day 19 - Maasai Mara - Lake Naivasha

We leave early to spin the wheels of our motorbikes again. In the morning, there is a lot of game along the road. We will follow a long dirt road to reach the asphalt to Narok. Then we enter green country again - the green highlands. We make our way to Lake Naivasha. The lake and its surroundings are rich in natural bounty, and the fertile soils and water supply have made this one of Kenya’s prime agricultural regions. You can find many (Dutch) flower farmers here. We stay at the lake.

Day 20 - Naivasha – Nairobi

This is our last, but not the least day. We start with an optional boat ride, enjoying the bird activity and visiting the hippo pool. Then we start the engines again. We will ride on a mix of asphalt, spectacular tracks and dirt roads towards Nairobi. We will pass Mount Suswa Conservancy and ride around the Ngong Hills Natural reserve. The closer we reach Nairobi, the busier it becomes with air pollution, traffic jams, high buildings and people on the move. On arrival at Nairobi, we enjoy a well-deserved drink to celebrate and share our memories.

Day 21 - Nairobi – Departure

Depending on the time of your flight, you either leave very early or will have the day to explore Nairobi: to visit the Maasai Market, Nairobi National Park, one of the big malls, or just relax in the hotel.