Richseen Private Journeys · Africa

Africa Grand Safari by Private Jet

Maasai Mara · Serengeti · Okavango Delta · Cape Town · Private Jet
10–14 Days · East & Southern Africa
From USD 65,000+ per person
"The Maasai Mara at dawn, the Okavango Delta by mokoro, and Cape Town from the Atlantic — Africa's most complete single safari arc, connected by private jet between ecosystems that no commercial routing assembles in one journey."
The Journey

Africa,
Four Ecosystems, One Journey

Africa contains the most concentrated wildlife biodiversity on Earth — and its most significant safari destinations are separated by distances that the commercial aviation network serves through Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in routing whose hub dependency makes the multi-ecosystem journey an exercise in logistical compromise rather than experiential coherence. The Maasai Mara and the Serengeti share the same ecosystem across the Kenya-Tanzania border, but the commercial connection between them requires a return to Nairobi before the onward flight to Kilimanjaro. The Okavango Delta in Botswana is served by small charter aircraft from Maun whose seat availability and scheduling make the multi-camp programme's sequencing dependent on the commercial operator's capacity rather than the guest's programme. The private jet eliminates all of this — connecting the Maasai Mara bush airstrip directly to the Serengeti's Grumeti airstrip (45 minutes), then to Maun in Botswana (3.5 hours), then to Cape Town International (2 hours), in a sequence whose travel time between each ecosystem is measured in under an hour rather than the half-day that the commercial alternative requires.

The Africa Grand Safari by Private Jet covers four of the continent's most biologically distinct ecosystems in a single coherent 10-to-14-day arc: the Maasai Mara in Kenya (the northern end of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, where the Great Migration's river crossings and the resident big cat population combine to produce the most consistently rewarding single safari destination in East Africa); the Serengeti in Tanzania (the 14,763-square-kilometre national park whose southern plains host the wildebeest calving from January to March and whose western corridor hosts the Migration river crossing from July to October); the Okavango Delta in Botswana (the UNESCO World Heritage inland delta whose seasonal flooding creates the most complex and biodiverse wetland ecosystem in Africa, accessible only by small aircraft and mokoro canoe); and Cape Town (the end-of-journey urban conclusion whose Table Mountain, Atlantic coastline, and Winelands provide the most immediate single urban contrast to the bush experience available on the continent).

This itinerary stays at Singita (the conservation brand whose Grumeti, Sabora, and Mara River Tented Camp properties represent the most conservation-aligned luxury safari lodges in East Africa); andBeyond (whose Bateleur Camp in the Maasai Mara and Ngorongoro Crater Lodge in Tanzania represent the brand's flagship addresses in the East African circuit); and Royal Malewane in the Greater Kruger (for guests extending south to the Limpopo bushveld before Cape Town). The private jet routing is confirmed at the time of booking alongside the lodge programme whose advance reservation requirements in peak season make coordinated planning the essential first step.

Signature Moments

Six Encounters
with Africa

The Mara River crossing at first light, the Okavango Delta by mokoro at dawn, and the Cape Town sunset from the Atlantic whose specific quality no African city replicates.

01
The Mara River Crossing — The Migration's Most Dramatic Single Event
The wildebeest Mara River crossing between July and October — the event that the 1.5 million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra, and 500,000 gazelle of the Great Migration perform at the Kenya-Tanzania border when the river's grass-covered southern bank draws the herds across the Nile crocodile gauntlet whose individuals can reach 5 metres in length and 900 kilograms in weight. The crossing that occurs multiple times per day during the peak weeks of August and September; the guide's knowledge of the crossing points and the herds' assembly behaviour that makes the timing most predictable; and the specific quality of observing the crossing from the riverbank at first light before the other vehicles assemble — the experience that the andBeyond Bateleur Camp or Singita Mara River Tented Camp guide makes most accessible.
02
Okavango Delta by Mokoro — Africa's Most Complex Wetland at Water Level
The Okavango Delta in Botswana — the UNESCO World Heritage inland delta (inscribed 2014) whose seasonal flooding of the Kalahari basin creates the most biodiverse wetland ecosystem in Africa across 15,000 square kilometres of papyrus channels, lily-covered lagoons, and palm-island game viewing areas. The mokoro (dugout canoe) programme from the andBeyond camp: the poler navigating through the papyrus channels at dawn, the red lechwe running through the shallows, the hippo pods in the lagoon, and the African fish eagle calling from the fever tree above. The helicopter game drive from the island airstrip for the aerial perspective whose elevation reveals the delta's hydrological complexity most immediately.
03
Ngorongoro Crater — The World's Largest Intact Volcanic Caldera
The Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania — the 19-kilometre-wide, 610-metre-deep volcanic caldera whose enclosed ecosystem supports approximately 25,000 large mammals in the most concentrated wildlife density on Earth. The crater floor's game drive whose single morning produces encounters with black rhino (one of the highest concentrations of the critically endangered eastern black rhino in East Africa), lion pride (whose territorial ranges within the crater walls make them more reliably located than any open savannah population), elephant, hippo, flamingo in the crater lake, and wildebeest, zebra, and buffalo in the permanent resident population that does not migrate. The andBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge on the crater rim whose view of the caldera floor at dawn produces the most immediately dramatic single lodge perspective in Africa.
04
Singita's Conservation Programme — The Business Case for Wildlife
Singita's conservation mandate across its East African portfolio — the Grumeti Fund in Tanzania (whose 350,000-acre community wildlife management area around the Grumeti concession manages the western Serengeti corridor through anti-poaching, community development, and invasive species control in the model that Rwanda's gorilla conservation borrowed); the Singita Mara River Tented Camp (whose position in the Migration corridor makes it the most productively timed single camp for the July-to-October crossing programme); and the broader Singita philosophy that the luxury lodge must function as the economic engine for the conservation outcome — that the guest's presence is not incidental to the wildlife but directly responsible for its protection.
05
Cape Town — Table Mountain, the Atlantic, and the Winelands
Cape Town as the safari journey's urban conclusion — the city at the southwestern tip of Africa whose Table Mountain (the flat-topped sandstone massif rising 1,086 metres directly above the city bowl and the Atlantic coastline), the Boulders Beach penguin colony, and the Cape Point drive produce the most immediately dramatic single urban landscape in sub-Saharan Africa. The Constantia Winelands for the Cape Blend tasting (the pinotage-based blend that distinguishes South African red wine most immediately from the European and New World alternatives); the V&A Waterfront for the harbour sunset; and the private drive along the Chapman's Peak road whose coastal cliff passage above the Atlantic is the most specifically South African single scenic drive available from the city.
06
Private Jet — Mara to Grumeti in 45 Minutes, Not a Half-Day via Nairobi
The private jet routing that makes the Africa Grand Safari feasible as a single coherent programme — the Maasai Mara bush airstrip to Grumeti airstrip in the western Serengeti (45 minutes direct, versus the half-day commercial routing via Nairobi and Kilimanjaro); Grumeti to Maun International Airport in Botswana (3.5 hours direct); and Maun to Cape Town International (2 hours direct). The aircraft whose departure times are determined by the final morning game drive rather than the commercial flight's cut-off; whose arrival at each destination preserves the afternoon programme; and whose routing between Botswana and Cape Town eliminates the Johannesburg connection that the commercial network requires. The private jet as the argument that the Africa multi-ecosystem safari is a single journey rather than a sequence of separate trips.
Key Highlights

What Makes This Journey

01 🦁
Four Ecosystems — Mara, Serengeti, Okavango, Cape
The Africa Grand Safari's ecosystem arc — the Maasai Mara (savannah grassland, Migration river crossing, resident lion pride); the Serengeti (the 14,763-square-kilometre national park whose western corridor and Ngorongoro Crater extension provide the most complete single Tanzania wildlife programme); the Okavango Delta (UNESCO World Heritage inland wetland, mokoro canoe, helicopter game drive); and Cape Town (Table Mountain, Atlantic coastline, Winelands). Four ecosystems whose ecological distinctiveness makes each arrival a fundamentally different wildlife and landscape experience — and whose combination in a single 10-to-14-day programme the private jet makes uniquely possible.
02 🐘
The Great Migration — 1.5 Million Wildebeest, the Mara River, the Crossing
The Great Migration programme across the Kenya-Tanzania border — the 1.5 million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra, and 500,000 gazelle whose circular movement through the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem constitutes the most concentrated single terrestrial wildlife movement on Earth. The Mara River crossing (July to October) from andBeyond Bateleur Camp or Singita Mara River Tented Camp; the wildebeest calving on the southern Serengeti plains (January to March) from Singita Sabora or andBeyond Serengeti Under Canvas; and the hot air balloon safari at dawn whose 300-metre altitude reveals the Migration's scale as no ground-based vehicle can.
03 ✈️
Private Jet — Mara to Serengeti to Okavango in Under a Day
The private jet routing that transforms the multi-ecosystem safari — Maasai Mara bush airstrip to Grumeti airstrip (45 minutes, versus the half-day commercial routing via Nairobi and Kilimanjaro); Grumeti to Maun, Botswana (3.5 hours direct); and Maun to Cape Town (2 hours direct). The aircraft whose schedule is determined by the final game drive rather than the commercial cut-off; whose arrival preserves the afternoon programme at each destination; and whose routing eliminates the Nairobi and Johannesburg connections that the commercial network cannot avoid.
Sample Itinerary

Key Segments & Movements

The Africa safari season varies by ecosystem: the Maasai Mara and Serengeti Migration river crossings peak July to October; the wildebeest calving is January to March on the southern Serengeti plains; the Okavango Delta's peak water levels (and best game viewing) are May to October; Cape Town's best weather is November to April. Richseen adjusts the itinerary sequence based on the client's preferred season and wildlife programme priorities.

Every Richseen Africa Grand Safari is individually arranged. Singita and andBeyond lodges require advance booking of six months or more in peak season. The private jet routing is confirmed alongside the lodge programme. Game drive vehicles, bush aircraft transfers within each ecosystem, and walking safari permits are all confirmed by Richseen's Africa specialist team as part of the single coordinated programme.

Day 1
Arrival — Nairobi · Cultural Orientation · Karen Blixen
Private jet to Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport or Wilson Airport; private car to the Giraffe Manor in Karen (the boutique hotel where the resident Rothschild giraffe population visits the breakfast room through the elevated windows — the most immediately engaging single hotel wildlife encounter accessible from Nairobi) or the Fairmont Norfolk for the historical colonial context. Afternoon: the Karen Blixen Museum in the coffee farm house that Blixen described in Out of Africa (1937); the Nairobi National Park drive whose city-edge lion and buffalo sightings make it the only national park visible from a capital city's skyline. Expedition briefing and equipment check for the next morning's bush flight departure.
Nairobi — Giraffe Manor / Fairmont Norfolk
Days 2–4
Maasai Mara — andBeyond Bateleur Camp · River Crossing · Walking Safari
Bush aircraft from Wilson Airport to the Maasai Mara airstrip (45 minutes). Transfer to andBeyond Bateleur Camp — the 18-tent property in the Maasai Mara National Reserve's most productive game-viewing zone. Three days of twice-daily game drives: the lion pride whose territorial range the guides know on a named-individual basis; the cheetah coalition on the open plains north of the Mara River; the elephant herds crossing from the reserve's southern section; and the leopard in the riverine forest below the camp. Day 3: the Mara River crossing observation (in season) — the guide's knowledge of the crossing point timing whose accuracy makes the 5am departure most productive. Day 4: the Maasai village visit and the guided walking safari with the Maasai tracker whose knowledge of the smaller mammals, birds, and plant species makes the on-foot encounter most educationally complete.
andBeyond Bateleur Camp, Maasai Mara
Days 5–7
Tanzania — Singita Grumeti · Ngorongoro Crater · Serengeti Plains
Private jet from the Maasai Mara bush airstrip to Grumeti airstrip in the western Serengeti (45 minutes direct). Transfer to Singita Grumeti — the Grumeti Fund concession property in the western corridor whose conservation programme and the Migration's river crossing timing make it the most productive single July-to-October safari address in the Serengeti. Days 5–6: the western Serengeti game drives; the Grumeti River hippo pool walk; and the Mwiba Hills for the panoramic view across the Serengeti plains at sunset. Day 7: private vehicle to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (2.5 hours) for the crater descent — the full-day game drive on the crater floor (25,000 large mammals in 310 square kilometres) and the overnight at the andBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge on the rim.
Singita Grumeti / andBeyond Ngorongoro
Days 8–10
Okavango Delta — Mokoro · Helicopter · Big Five · Wilderness
Private jet from Kilimanjaro International Airport to Maun International Airport, Botswana (3.5 hours direct). Bush aircraft from Maun to the andBeyond Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge or Xaranna Okavango Delta Camp (30 minutes over the delta). Three days in the world's most biodiverse inland wetland: the dawn mokoro excursion through the papyrus channels (the red lechwe bounding through the shallows, the jacana walking on lily pads, the African fish eagle overhead); the helicopter game drive that reveals the delta's full hydrological complexity from 300 metres; and the big-five game drive from the island camp whose floodplain position provides access to the buffalo herds, elephant crossing, lion, leopard, and the sitatunga antelope that the delta's wetland specialises. The night drive for the spotted hyena clan and the leopard on the kill whose behaviour in the delta is most productively observed in the spotlight conditions that the national park's rules do not permit in East Africa.
andBeyond Okavango Delta Camp
Days 11–13
Cape Town — Table Mountain · Chapman's Peak · Winelands
Private jet from Maun to Cape Town International Airport (2 hours direct). Private car to the Ellerman House in Bantry Bay (the Cape Dutch mansion above the Atlantic whose 11 suites and the art collection make it the most considered boutique hotel address in Cape Town) or the Silo Hotel in the V&A Waterfront grain silo conversion. Day 11: the Table Mountain cable car for the summit plateau view; the Boulders Beach African penguin colony at Simon's Town (the 3,000-bird breeding colony whose swimming proximity to human visitors makes it the most immediately engaging single wildlife experience in the Western Cape). Day 12: the Constantia Winelands for the Cape Blend and pinotage tasting; the Buitenverwachting or Groot Constantia estate lunch. Day 13: the Chapman's Peak drive (the 9-kilometre coastal cliff road above the Atlantic from Hout Bay to Noordhoek) and the Kalk Bay harbour for the fishing boat dock and the fresh snoek lunch.
Ellerman House / Silo Hotel, Cape Town
Day 14
Departure — Cape Town International Airport
Final morning in Cape Town — the Signal Hill sunrise above the city bowl at 6am (the view of Table Mountain from the north, with the Atlantic Seaboard below and the Cape Flats extending to the east, in the conditions of the Cape winter or spring morning light that makes the mountain most photographically immediate); the Old Biscuit Mill Saturday market in Woodstock for the South African craft food culture at its most concentrated. Private jet departure from Cape Town International to the homeward city — London (11 hours direct), Doha (8 hours), or the connection hub of choice. The Africa Grand Safari complete: four ecosystems, four countries, the continent's most significant wildlife concentrations, and the private jet routing that made the combination coherent rather than exhausting.
Cape Town International Airport
Luxury Stays

Where You Rest Matters

Serengeti · Maasai Mara · Selected Properties
East Africa — Singita Portfolio
Singita (selected properties)
Grumeti · Sabora · Mara River Tented Camp · and East African reserves
Singita across the East African safari circuit — Singita Grumeti in the western Serengeti corridor (the Grumeti Fund's 350,000-acre conservation concession whose anti-poaching programme and community development model make it the most conservation-aligned luxury lodge in Tanzania); Singita Sabora in the Serengeti's calving plains (the tented camp whose canvas construction and the southern Serengeti position make it most productive for the January-to-March programme); and Singita Mara River Tented Camp in the Maasai Mara (the six-tent property whose position on the Mara River bank makes it the most specifically positioned single camp for the July-to-October river crossing programme). The Singita brand whose conservation mandate makes every stay a direct contribution to the wildlife that the guest has come to observe.
Maasai Mara · Ngorongoro · Okavango · Selected Properties
East Africa & Botswana — andBeyond Portfolio
&Beyond (selected properties)
Bateleur Camp · Ngorongoro Crater Lodge · Okavango Delta
andBeyond across three ecosystems — Bateleur Camp in the Maasai Mara (the 18-tent property in the reserve's most productive game-viewing zone, whose Maasai guide programme and the sundowner with the Maasai dancers provide the cultural dimension most directly); the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge on the crater rim (the 30-suite property whose vertiginous position above the caldera's 610-metre depth produces the most dramatic single lodge perspective in Africa); and the andBeyond Okavango Delta properties (Sandibe, Xaranna, and the Wilderness camps) whose mokoro, helicopter, and game drive programme makes the delta's wetland ecosystem most completely accessible. The andBeyond conservation philosophy — Care of the Land, Care of the Wildlife, Care of the People — applied across three of the most biologically significant protected areas in Africa.
Greater Kruger, Limpopo, South Africa
South Africa — Optional Extension
Royal Malewane
Thornybush Game Reserve, Greater Kruger, Limpopo
Royal Malewane in the Thornybush Game Reserve — the Greater Kruger's most luxurious single lodge address, whose eight suites with private pools and the Malewane spa occupy the malaria-free zone of the Limpopo bushveld in conditions that make the Big Five game drives most accessible without the prophylaxis requirement that East Africa's lake-region lodges necessitate. The Royal Portfolio brand (also Birkenhead House in Hermanus and La Residence in Franschhoek) whose specific design philosophy applies the most sophisticated South African residential aesthetic to the safari lodge format; and the Malewane's guide team whose tracker-and-guide combination produces the most technically accomplished single game drive experience in the Greater Kruger ecosystem.
Exclusive Experiences

Moments Designed for You

🦓
Great Migration
Mara River Crossing — The Nile Crocodile Gauntlet at First Light
The wildebeest Mara River crossing from andBeyond Bateleur Camp or Singita Mara River Tented Camp — the guide's pre-dawn assessment of the herd's assembly point and the crossing site whose selection depends on the water level, the bank topography, and the herd's own hesitation behaviour. The 5am departure from the camp; the positioning at the crossing bank before the other vehicles arrive; and the one-to-three-hour observation of the herd's decision process — the approach, the retreat, the false starts, and the eventual commitment — that precedes the crossing itself. The experience whose quality depends entirely on the guide's knowledge of the herd's behaviour and the timing whose accuracy the Richseen programme's advance planning makes most precise.
🚁
Balloon & Helicopter
Hot Air Balloon at Dawn · Helicopter Over the Okavango
Two aerial programmes across the safari circuit — the hot air balloon safari over the Serengeti or Maasai Mara at dawn (the balloon's silence above the plains at 300 metres, the Migration visible in the grassland below, the sunrise over the Oloololo Escarpment, and the champagne breakfast on the bush at landing); and the helicopter game drive over the Okavango Delta (the aerial perspective at 200 to 500 metres whose elevation reveals the delta's papyrus channel network, the floodplain islands, and the wildlife distribution across the wetland in a single composition that no ground-based vehicle can produce). Two perspectives whose specific value is most immediately legible from the contrast with the standard game drive vehicle view.
🛶
Mokoro
Okavango Delta by Dugout Canoe — Water Level in the World's Finest Wetland
The mokoro programme from the andBeyond Okavango Delta camp — the traditional dugout canoe whose water-level passage through the papyrus channels provides the most specifically Botswana single safari experience available in the delta. The poler navigating at dawn through the channels whose papyrus walls reduce visibility to the immediate waterway; the red lechwe whose bound through the shallow floodplain is most easily observed from the mokoro's low freeboard; the African fish eagle's call from the sycamore fig above; and the sitatunga antelope in the papyrus whose wetland specialisation makes it the most specifically delta-resident large mammal on the programme. The experience whose silence and the water-level perspective make it most different from any game drive vehicle encounter.
🏔️
Cape Town
Table Mountain, Chapman's Peak, and the Constantia Winelands
Cape Town as the safari journey's urban and natural conclusion — Table Mountain (the cable car to the 1,086-metre summit whose fynbos biome is one of the world's six floral kingdoms, containing 8,500 plant species in an area the size of a small city, accessible from the summit plateau in the conditions of the clear Cape morning); Chapman's Peak (the 9-kilometre coastal cliff drive above the Atlantic whose engineering required 18 months of blasting through the Chapmans Peak granite); and the Constantia Winelands (South Africa's oldest wine estate district, established 1685, whose Cape Dutch manor houses and the pinotage and chenin blanc tastings provide the most specifically South African conclusion to the 14-day Africa safari).
Visual Journey

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Every game drive, every crossing, every dawn departure — composed entirely around you across Africa's most extraordinary ecosystems. Speak with your dedicated Richseen journey consultant today.

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