Family cycling holiday in Kenya & Tanzania

country:	Kenya, Tanzania
trip type:	Moderate cycling holidays
departures:	2010: 24 Jul
price:	From NZ $4190 (16 days) per adult and NZ $3490 per child (up to 16 years) excluding flights. Local payment US $300. There is no minimum age (please contact us to discuss your requirements). Bike hire US $200. Price includes accommodation, transport and most meals
vouchers:	Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday

check out similar holiday ideas...

Family adventure holidays

Moderate cycling holidays

Tanzania holidays

introduction to Family cycling holiday in Kenya & Tanzania

We are a small personal travel company with a passion for getting out and exploring new and exciting destinations around the world. We have created our family adventures to include all that is special in our regular biking adventures but with reduced biking distances and extra family friendly activities added in so you and your family can truly appreciate this magnificent continent.

On our 16 day family adventure we travel from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Nairobi in Kenya (or the reverse itinerary). Travelling far from busy roads and main tourist routes you will experience a different face of Africa - local villages and traditional tribesmen, breathtaking scenery and wildlife grazing on the plains. We travel through open savannah, desert, mountain rain forest and tropical coastline. We hike in the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro with its snow-covered peaks and camp in the wilderness under a cloudless African sky.

We take a break from our bikes to visit Tarangire National Park in Tanzania and Amboseli National Park in Kenya to give you the wildlife experience that East Africa is famous for. Enjoy a day hike on the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro and visit a local school in the unspoilt Usambara Mountains. Bike through the Usambara Mountains and along the tropical Indian Ocean coastline, camp with a local Maasai family, stroke a giraffe, ride an ostrich and so much more.

day-by-day itinerary

Day 1:	Arrive in Dar es Salaam. Pre departure meeting at 5pm. NOTE- please change money on arrival at the airport for at least the first week of your trip.
Day 2:	We follow the coastal road away from Dar es Salaam and then bike through small old historic town of Bagamoyo - arriving in time to enjoy a swim in the Indian Ocean. In the afternoon visit the historic slave museum. Approx 15kms biking.
Day 3:	Departing the tropical coastline we start the day with a ride in the cool of the morning then drive along a little used dirt road and through sleepy palm lined villages. The route retraces the historical major slave and trading route through East Africa. Approx 10 - 30kms biking.
Day 4:	Climbing away from the plains we head up into the Usambara Mountains, driving up for the main climb to Lushoto - an old German colonial town nestled high in the mountains. From here we bike up to a viewpoint overlooking the endless plains below then continue further into the mountains to camp at a rustic colonial lodge. Approx 25kms biking.
Day 5:	Today we have an opportunity to visit a local primary school that we have had an ongoing relationship with for quite a few years. Meet the children and experience how school life in rural Tanzania really is! Or spend the day hiking with a local guide in the hills and forest.
Day 6:	Biking further into these beautiful mountains we pass through pristine rainforest and village farmland. This is an area that rarely, if ever gets visited by travellers and the welcome and response we receive from the local population is fantastic. After a relaxed lunch we head back down to the plains. We camp at a farm style campsite (complete with tennis court and swimming pool!). Approx 20-40kms biking.
Day 7:	Heading north we drive through the huge wide open spaces of the Maasai Steppe to the foot hills of Mt Kilimanjaro. In the afternoon hike on the lower slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain.
Day 8:	A short morning transfer brings us to Arusha. After lunch, back on our bikes and you choose between the paved road or dirt roads and tracks for approx 25kms to the Meserani and check out the vast array of reptiles and snakes in the snake park.
Day 9:	A morning ride on paved roads to really stretch out the legs as we drop down into the Great Rift Valley to Mto Wa Mbu, a small town at the foot of the Rift Valley escarpment. We encounter Maasai tribesmen herding their cattle and some plains game. In the afternoon explore the town and visit local craft markets. Approx 30kms biking.
Day 10:	With an early start we drive into the Ngorongoro Crater, a natural Garden of Eden, and spend the day game viewing the highest concentration of plains game in Africa, returning to Arusha in the evening.
Day 11:	We depart the city in the morning and drive towards Kenya. After crossing through the Kenya/Tanzania border it’s back on our bikes. From dirt roads, to less used tracks then out into scrubland and finally more open savannah and around the lower slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro to camp in the shadow of the massive mountain. Approx 15kms biking.
Day 12:	A relaxed morning gives us the chance to visit a Maasai manyatta, (village) and experience their traditional culture and lifestyle. Leaving the village we bike across the dry bed of Lake Amboseli to the edge of Amboseli National Park renown for its huge herds of elephant and stunning views of Mt Kilimanjaro. We finish the day with a short game drive into the park to the campsite. Approx 25kms biking.
Day 13:	With an early start we spend the morning on a game drive through Amboseli National Park. Leaving the park after lunch we drive on to camp at Namanga.
Day 14:	After a drive through African savannah with the occasional giraffe, zebra or gazelle, we get back on our bikes and ride through small subsistence farms to our campsite on an ostrich farm. In the afternoon relax by the pool or maybe try riding an ostrich!! Approx 10kms biking.
Day 15:	Driving on towards our destination, Nairobi, we take time to visit an elephant and rhino orphanage on the edge of Nairobi national park. Our next stop gets us up close and face to face with giraffe’s at the giraffe centre. After lunch, and yes you can feed the giraffe, we take a final drive into Nairobi and your hotel. In the evening we enjoy a final evening meal together in true African style.
Day 16:	If you are flying out today we can arrange a transfer to the airport or help you plan sight seeing in Nairobi City

how this holiday makes a difference

It is important to us that when we travel to different parts of our amazing planet that our exchange is always a mutual one and that we make a positive contribution to people and places that we visit along the way.

These days ‘responsible travel' and ‘sustainability' are hot topics. Responsible travel is not about donating large sums of money to charity (at least not without thoroughly researching the long-term intentions or effects of the charity). We believe responsible travel is about taking time to think about how our actions can benefit or how they impact the people, communities, economies, environments and eco-systems we visit, and then use this to make a difference (or sometimes more appropriately - how we can NOT make a difference). We are constantly considering our actions and how we and the people who travel with us can improve our impact on the places we visit.

Here are just some of the ways that we ‘make a difference’:

Social integration with the local people is a central part of our trips. Simply travelling by bike is a great start – a great way for our bikers and local people to meet and start a conversation. We camp with two different local families. As well as the fantastic social and cultural exchange experienced by visitors and locals alike, our visit also brings a regular income to the two communities (by paying for camping and other services).
We have a relationship with a Primary School in the Usambara Mountains. Our main goal of the visit is the fantastic social and cultural exchange experienced by both the school pupils and our bikers. During our family trips our younger bikers have the opportunity to teach a classroom about their lifestyles where they are from; and the Tanzanian children reciprocate by teaching us about theirs. Over the past years money donated by our bikers has been used to employ local carpenters to build more than 100 much needed school desks for the school.
We visit a very small Maasai Pre-School under the shade of an acacia tree. Our main goal of the visit is a mutual social exchange where children and bikers open their minds and learn more about the other’s way of life. Our bikers can also support the school by donating basic stationery if they like.
We employ a local Kenyan support driver for our Kenya and Tanzania trips.
We always buy locally grown food and shop in small local markets; we support local businesses by staying in locally owned campsites and using local operators for our safaris.
Educate our bikers – about the effects of buying products that come from endangered species, or products that are destructive to wildlife or the environment (ivory and endangered hardwoods for example).
Waste/rubbish management – when we travel we should treat our surrounding as we would treat our home (or better!). We do our best to avoid ‘single use packaging’ only using reusable or recyclable packaging. We recycle what can be, and manage any rubbish in the best possible way e.g. in Africa – all of our organic waste is feed to local domestic pigs and goats, and we always leave our campsites as we find them (or better!).
We avoid campfires to help prevent deforestation. (Three are some places where wood is purpose grown and replanted for fire wood - for the occasional campfire – but it is important to carefully check the source of firewood).
We have an environmentally conscious office – To avoid paper waste we aim to use as much computer technology as possible in our office. And when we do print we use paper from recycled sources!
For every person who flies to join our trips we donate 10 trees to a reforestation project.

Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people.

We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel.

'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays.

We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism.

This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards.

check out similar holiday ideas...

Family adventure holidays | Moderate cycling holidays| Tanzania holidays