Travel advisory: Travellers should know that the US currently advises reconsidering travel to Tanzania, and the UK advises against all but essential travel within 20 km of the Cabo Delgado (Mozambique) border. The walking routes below are in Arusha, Moshi, Dar es Salaam and Stone Town, none of them in that zone. Check the US State Department and UK FCDO first. Tanzania’s wildlife reputation hides a good walking country. Streets, ridges and rainforest paths offer a slower view than a vehicle, and several are cheap.

Walking among zebra with no fence between you is possible in only a few African parks, and Hell’s Gate is one of them. Kenya is a safari country first, but its walks are good ones: a volcanic gorge, an urban forest, Nairobi’s central markets and long coastal beaches. Hell’s Gate gorge The park near Naivasha allows walking and cycling, so you can follow the sandstone walls of Ol Njorowa Gorge on foot.

Mount Kilimanjaro rises behind grazing elephants at Amboseli, and it is the kind of view Kenya produces almost casually. Four parks make the core of any sightseeing plan, each with its own landscape, season and price, and a handful of coastal sights add culture between the safaris. Maasai Mara National Reserve Open golden grassland, lion prides, cheetahs hunting gazelle and the chance to see the Big Five make the Mara the best known.

Travel advisory: The US government currently advises reconsidering travel to Tanzania, and the UK advises against all but essential travel within 20 km of the Mozambique border (Cabo Delgado). The views described here are in the north and on Zanzibar, away from that area. Read the latest on travel.state.gov and gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/tanzania before you book. Tanzania’s best views come from the edge of something: a caldera rim, an escarpment road, a waterfront promenade.

Travel advisory: The US currently advises travellers to reconsider travel to Tanzania, and the UK advises against all but essential travel within 20 km of the Mozambique (Cabo Delgado) border. The lodges and beaches covered below are far from that area. Check the US State Department and UK FCDO before booking. Two days of Tanzania romance sum up the country: a dawn balloon over the Serengeti plains, then a sandbank walk at low tide on Zanzibar.

Sunrise over the Mara plains, seen from a basket drifting at a few hundred feet, is the one moment Kenya sells to couples again and again. Romance here is built from a small number of real options, each with a clear cost: a balloon flight, a night in a tented camp, and slow days on the Indian Ocean coast. The Mara at first light A hot-air balloon flight leaves before dawn, floats over the plains and ends with a champagne breakfast in the bush.

The drive from Nairobi to the Maasai Mara takes 5 to 6 hours each way, with the last stretch beyond Narok on rough unpaved track, so the reserve rewards nights rather than hours. Four multi-day routes cover most of what travellers want from Kenya, each with different costs and a different pace. Route one: the Mara in 2 to 3 nights Two nights is the minimum, and three gives time for a dawn and dusk drive on each of two days.

Travel advisory: At the time you plan, the US advises reconsidering travel to Tanzania, and the UK advises against all but essential travel within 20 km of the Cabo Delgado border with Mozambique. When routing a long trip, keep clear of the southern border belt around Mtwara and Ruvuma. Look up the current US State Department and UK FCDO pages before paying deposits. The best multi-day trips in Tanzania are built from four blocks: the northern safari circuit, a mountain, the southern reserve at Nyerere, and a stretch of beach.

Travel advisory: Families should know that the US advises travellers to reconsider travel to Tanzania, and the UK advises against all but essential travel within 20 km of the Mozambique (Cabo Delgado) border. The family destinations below are in the north and on Zanzibar. Check travel.state.gov and the UK FCDO guidance before booking. Age limits decide a family trip to Tanzania more than distance does. The parks set few of them, the lodges set many, and the mountain sets a hard one.

Children aged 3 to 12 pay half price at the Giraffe Centre, and the giraffes will lean down and take pellets from a small hand. Kenya suits families well when days stay short and the biggest sights are saved for age and attention span. Giraffe Centre in Karen Open 9:00 to 17:00 every day, this is the easiest first stop. Non-resident adults pay KES 1,500, children 3 to 12 pay KES 750, and under-3s enter free.

Lions with a city skyline behind them are 20 minutes from downtown Nairobi, which makes the capital one of the few places where a safari fits before lunch. Kenya rewards day trips close to Nairobi and Diani, while the famous reserves farther away need nights. Nairobi National Park and the Wildlife Trinity The park holds lions, rhinos and giraffes within sight of the towers. Non-resident adults pay US$80 and children US$40, prepaid through the Kenya Wildlife Service eCitizen portal .

Travel advisory: The US currently advises reconsidering travel to Tanzania, and the UK advises against all but essential travel within 20 km of the border with Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province. Arusha, Moshi and Zanzibar are not in that border zone. Read the US State Department and UK FCDO advice again just before you pay for anything. Plenty of people ask whether the Serengeti works as a day trip. It does not, and the arithmetic explains why: about 8 to 9 hours by road from Arusha to Seronera, much of it gravel after the Ngorongoro gate.

Baby elephants drinking from giant bottles are the image most visitors bring home from Nairobi, and getting in takes a booking weeks ahead. Kenya’s best-known attractions are small, timed and priced separately, so a little planning turns a rushed day into an easy one. David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust The orphaned elephant calves are open to the public for one hour a day, 11:00 to 12:00, every day except 25 December. Keepers walk the calves out for feeding and mud baths and explain how each was rescued.

Travel advisory: Washington currently asks travellers to reconsider travel to Tanzania, while London advises against all but essential travel in the 20 km strip along the Cabo Delgado border with Mozambique. The attractions below are in the north and on Zanzibar, outside that strip. Confirm the latest wording on travel.state.gov and the UK FCDO Tanzania page before booking. A crater, a gorge, a gemstone museum and a spice farm: Tanzania’s best-known attractions are spread across two regions and several price tiers.

A single day in the Maasai Mara can cost twice as much in October as in March, and that is before the lodge bill. Kenya’s headline activities are priced in tiers, so the useful way to plan is by what each one costs, then build a route around the ones that matter to you. Before you fly: entry and paperwork Most visitors need an Electronic Travel Authorisation, applied for online at etakenya.

Travel advisory: The US State Department currently advises travellers to reconsider travel to Tanzania, and the UK advises against all but essential travel within 20 km of the Mozambique (Cabo Delgado) border. The safari parks, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar sit far from that strip. Check the US State Department and UK FCDO pages before you book. Every Tanzania itinerary starts with the same question: which entry fee do you pay first?