21 jours à moto en Tanzanie, Kenya et Kilimandjaro

Day 1: Arrival - Nairobi

You will be picked up from the airport by the driver and brought to the hotel on the south side 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, you will proceed south. Follow the busy Mombasa road for a short while and then turn right towards a much quieter road. This road brings you to the busy border town between Kenya and Tanzania. It will be later in the afternoon once you have cleared all formalities and are riding in Tanzania towards the first small town called Longido. Accommodation is very basic today, but you are staying in the best hotel in town.

Day 3: Longido - Mto Wa Mbu

Only the first few kilometers in town to the turnoff is on asphalt road today as the rest is gravel. Once you 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.

You will have a simple lunch in a small Masaai town before you get a beautiful view of Mount Lengai, the sacred Masaai Mountain. After the turnoff to the South, you will see the outside wall of the Ngorongoro Crater. Just before you reach your destination, you 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 - day trip to Ngorongoro

You will not ride today but instead will have a full day dedicated to a jeep safari in the Ngorongoro Crater. The crater entrance is about 50 kilometers from the town. After the gate, you ride up the crater’s ridge and afterward ride down into the crater. The crater 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 your way through the park. Then you 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, you will turn off and follow a small track. The car is not able to follow. You meet again back on the main road.

Just before your destination, you 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. You will visit their villages and see how they live. They speak their own unique language with a very distinguished clicking sound. It is impressive to see how their culture has survived and how they have lived for many generations. Stay at a basic hotel in the town of Gorpa.

Day 6: Lake Eyasi - Babati

For the first bit, you follow the same road as you came from yesterday and enjoy a coffee stop at Karatu. From Karatu, you take another dirt road south again and wind through the hills enjoying beautiful views. In Mbulu, you will have lunch followed by the most beautiful road of the day. The road follows the top edge of the mountain and sharp bends bring you down the edges of Lake Burungi. 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 from the busy bustling Babati township.

Day 7: Babati - Moshi

You 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, you proceed to the big town of Arusha over recently-asphalted roads and travel onwards to Moshi, the big town, on your way to the east.

Day 8: Moshi - Mambo

Today entails a long ride over asphalt for the first 95% of the route. You will pass Kilimanjaro and if you are lucky, you will see the top without clouds surrounding it. After this highest mountain on the continent, you pass the Pare Mountains on the left-hand side and you turn off at the start of the Usambara Mountains.

You follow a dirt road to the foot of the mountain range before you start the 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, you arrive in a completely different part of Tanzania. It is cool, windy and very green. It is a short dirt road ride to the hotel at the edge of a cliff with magnificent views over the plains to the south.

Day 9: Mambo - rest day

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

Day 10: Mambo - Same

You descend through a different route with stunning views and some tricky bends. When you reach the foot of the mountains, you follow a dirt track through the bushes and past a dammed lake. You pass small Masaai settlements and a few small towns. There are only a few kilometers of asphalt on today’s route.

You pass the Mkomazi National Park on your right-hand side and you may see some wildlife at the roadside. This park is connected with the huge Tsavo Parks in Kenya. Before reaching Same, you follow a beautiful track through the eastern Para Mountains. Stay overnight in the small town of Same.

Day 11: Same - daytrip to 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. You 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

You start with a short hour of asphalt riding before you turn towards the Para mountains again and follow dirt tracks through the hills. You ride very close to the Kenya border. Close to Marangu, you 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, you need to climb a little bit and within this short ride, you will see nature become greener and greener.

Day 13: Marangu - Emali

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

Day 14: Emali - Matuu

This area is seldom visited by tourists. 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. You stay in a small village but at a nice guesthouse.

Day 15: Emali - Mount Kenya

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

Day 16: Mt Kenya - Molo

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

Day 17: Molo - Maasai Mara

Today is another adventurous day. You will swindle around the main road southwards and you will explore tracks and paths only used by the Maasai people and wildlife. Again, there will be a track where you 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. You 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. The landscape in the Maasai Mara is splendid. You 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. You 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

Leave early to spin the wheels of your motorbikes again. In the morning, there is a lot of game along the road. You will follow a long dirt road to reach the asphalt to Narok. Then, you enter the green country again - the green highlands. You make your 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. You'll stay at the lake.

Day 20: Naivasha - Nairobi

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

Motorcycle(s) available for this tour

During this trip, you ride on a Kibo 250cc.

Tour leader

This trip will be led by an international English / Dutch / German-speaking guide on a motorcycle.

Support vehicle

A support car will accompany this trip starting from fir participants This will be driven by a local driver. The support vehicle will transport the luggage, spare parts, and tools. There is space in the support car for any companion passengers who do not wish to or cannot double up on a motorcycle.

Difficulty and offroad

The altitude reached during this tour through Kenya and Tanzania isn’t really worth a mention. Daily distances are not very long. There is enough time for photo opportunity stops on route and for visits to villages. This tour is suitable for all healthy motorcyclists. You ride on asphalted main roads and frequently follow a variety of narrow routes off the beaten track. About a third of the route is on unpaved roads. These vary from hard-packed gravel roads to small dirt tracks in thick bush. The unpaved roads are not difficult but Motor Trails recommends that you have basic off-road skills.

Skill level(s) required for this tour: Beginner, intermediate, and advanced

Beginner:

• Can ride for 2-3 hours
• Minimal riding experience
• Assistance required
• Comfortable with curves and leans
• Basic experience with unsurfaced roads
• Short distance ascents and descents

Intermediate:

• Can ride for 3-4 hours
• Average riding experience
• Little assistance required
• Comfortable with extreme curves and leans
• Average experience with unsurfaced roads
• Steep ascents and descents

Advanced:

• Can ride for 5-6 hours
• Extensive riding experience
• Assistance on demand (if required)
• Experienced with riding a variety of motorcycles
• Comfortable with any terrain and weather conditions