KENYA Safari with Keri & Nicola - Mar 2025

Upon arrival you’ll be at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by a driver/guide and transferred to your hotel. Check-in, rest of the day at leisure. As today is an arrival day, there are no planned activities however, Keri and Nicola would love to meet with you this evening once you are settled.

• Overnight: Tamarind Tree Hotel
• Meals: -/-/-

After breakfast, we set out on the start of our adventure together by heading south! We drive to the Amboseli National Park lying below the most famous symbol of Africa, Mt Kilimanjaro located just across the border in Tanzania.

Arrive for check-in to our Luxury Tented Camp and lunch followed by an afternoon game drive or Walking Safari* in the park. Amboseli is famous for its large herds of elephants but also boasts abundant other wildlife including giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, and hundreds of bird species.

Return in the late afternoon for dinner.

• *Walking safari may occur on another day
• Overnight: Amboseli Tulia Camp
• Meals: B/L/D

Today we’ll spend the day in Amboseli National Park with both morning and afternoon game drives. In the evening we can enjoy chatting around a campfire.

• Overnight: Tulia Amboseli Camp
• Meals: B/L/D

After breakfast drive via Nairobi to the Aberdares, a beautiful mountain range in the central highlands of Kenya. We’ll enjoy a picnic lunch en route and later proceed to the one of a kind, Ark Lodge. The Aberdares are an isolated volcanic range that forms the eastern wall of the rift valley, running roughly 100km north-south between Nairobi and Thomsons Falls.

The Ark overlooks a floodlit waterhole and salt lick, which attracts a host of awesome wildlife. Resembling and named after Noah’s Ark, The Ark comprises of three decks from which numerous balconies and lounges provide a superb location for wildlife to be seen.

Please note that only overnight luggage is allowed at The Ark Lodge. The rest of the luggage will be left at the base hotel – Aberdare Country Club.

• Overnight: The Ark Lodge
• Meals: B/L/D

Breakfast at the lodge and later drive to the Samburu National Reserve. Rugged and remote, this wildlife reserve provides some of the best and most colourful game viewing in the country.

Lunch at the camp. Our gorgeous Luxury Camp features an outdoor swimming pool surrounded by sun lounges, a garden and a Lounge bar offering views of the African savannah.

Afternoon game drive. The reserve is rich in wildlife gaining fame for its abundance in rare northern species such as the Grevy Zebra, Somali Ostrich, Reticulated Giraffe, Gerenuk and the Beisa Oryx (also referred as Samburu Special). The reserve is also popular with a minimum of 900 elephants.

• Overnight: Ashnil Samburu Camp-Luxury Tent
• Meals: B/L/D

All-day is spent exploring the Samburu National Reserve with morning and afternoon game drives.

• Overnight: Ashnil Samburu Camp-Luxury Tent
• Meals: B/L/D

Breakfast at the camp and afterward drive via Nyahururu to the Lake Nakuru National Park. The most famous of the Great Rift Valley lakes, Lake Nakuru is renowned for its magnificent birdlife, especially the flamingos which seasonally flock there to be deemed ‘the greatest bird spectacle on earth’. Its alkaline waters, the pink-frosted shores and sky-mirrored waters of Lake Nakuru yield some of the most evocatively beautiful photo images in Africa. This 188 square kilometre park is a paradise for those who are particularly interested in ornithology and also offers the opportunity of seeing both white and black rhino, the rare Rothchild’s giraffe, large herds of cape buffalo, and an abundance of various plains game. Sightings of a leopard resting in the branches of acacia trees are very common.

Late lunch at the lodge followed by an afternoon game drive.

• Overnight: Bweha Camp – Luxury Tents
• Meals: B/L/D

Leaving the lodge after breakfast, continue up the floor of Rift to arrive in the famous Masai Mara
National Reserve, and at the Zebra Plains Maasai Mara in time for lunch. In the afternoon, enjoy your first game-drive in the Mara.

Offering an abundance of herbivores, the Maasai Mara makes the ideal hunting ground for Kenya’s famous ‘big cats’ and hosts her largest population of lions. It also offers the best chance of spotting a leopard in the wild as well as other predators such as cheetah and spotted hyena.

Historically teaming with wildlife, the Mara is famous for the large herds of elephant and buffalo that meander its plains; also for the fat pods of hippo that wallow in its mud-brown rivers. Other stars of the reserve include the distinctive Maasai giraffe, plum-coloured topi, Coke’s hartebeest, Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelle, zebra, impala, Kirk’s dik-dik, bushbuck, waterbuck, and red duiker. The Maasai Mara also boasts plentiful Nile crocodile, monitor lizard, baboon, vervet monkeys, blue and red-tailed monkeys, nocturnal bush babies, and tree hyrax plus a plethora of resident and migratory birds.

Technically an extension of Tanzania’s renowned Serengeti National Park, the Mara constitutes only 4% of the entire Serengeti ecosystem but its rolling grasslands, meandering rivers and towering escarpments offer one of the world’s most rewarding and evocative wildlife arenas.

• Overnight: Zebra Plains Maasai Mara
• Meals: B/L/D

With a full day to enjoy all that the Mara has to offer, we will have a morning game drive and, in the afternoon, a chance to sample nature and some of the wildlife on foot (Walking Safari*). With a guide and in the company of an armed ranger, we walk along the edge of the park identifying birds, animals and plants along the way.

This evening, we will spend around the campfire reflecting on our Magical Kenya Safari.

*Walking safari may occur on another day

• Overnight: Zebra Plains Maasai Mara
• Meals: B/L/D

After an early breakfast, drive to Nairobi, Kenya’s colourful capital city.

Transfer to Jomo Kenyatta International airport for your homebound flight. Here you bid farewell to your driver/guide as well as Magical Kenya! Option to extend to a Kenyan beach (Diani beach) or to Zanzibar or elsewhere! Ask us for options.

• Meals: B/-/-

NAIROBI

Nairobi, (taken from the Maasai Nyrobi meaning place of cool waters) is aptly known as the ‘Safari Capital of the World’.

The capital city has a population of approximately 3 million people and came into being in May 1899 as an artificial settlement created by the European builders of the East African railway at Mile 327. Easily the largest city in East Africa, Nairobi is also the youngest, the most modern, the highest (at 1700m) and the fastest growing.

As the birthplace of the safari, Nairobi city is a natural starting point for most Kenya safari itineraries. Indeed nearly all of the famous safaris of colonial history set off from here, some with lines of ‘bearers’ miles long. But before you set off, you might like to spend a few days relaxing and discovering for yourself some of the many treasures of this surprising Kenya city.

Nairobi attractions:
• Karen Blixen Museum
• Giraffe Centre
• Grand City Tour
• Cultural Tour
• Carnivore Restaurant
• The Nairobi National Park
• Golf, Polo, Racing… You name your pleasure

AMBOSELI

Towered over by the magnificent bulk of Mount Kilimanjaro (5,896 m), Africa’s highest mountain, Amboseli is one of Kenya’s oldest, famous and most-visited parks. Endlessly panoramic, yet comparatively compact, it is dotted with emerald green swamps in which great herds of elephant wallow; half submerged in the papyrus grasses. The permanent marshlands also provide a potent draw to hippos and buffaloes, while offering a haven for the abundant water birds. An International Biosphere Reserve, the park largely constitutes the usually dried-out lakebed of Lake Amboseli, which is surrounded by flat grasslands relieved by very few trees. On the plains are numerous antelopes, spotted hyenas, jackals, warthogs, olive baboons and vervet monkeys. Lions are rare.

Observation Hill, a conical peak, which is easily climbed, offers stunning views of Mount Kilimanjaro. Amboseli is world-famous for its populations of large mammals. The swamps are a centre of activity for elephants, hippos, buffaloes and abundant water birds. The surrounding flat grasslands are home to grazing antelopes. Spotted hyenas are plentiful, as are jackals, warthogs, olive baboons and vervet monkeys. No longer present in their original numbers, lions can still be found in Amboseli though the famous black-maned lions have long since disappeared, as have the black rhinos that were once so plentiful.

Wildlife highlights: lion, cheetah, leopard, elephant, zebra, hippo, spotted and striped hyena, giraffe, oryx, wildebeest, gerenuk, impala and Grant’s gazelle. Birds: 425 recorded species.

ABERDARES

The Aberdares are an isolated volcanic range that forms the eastern wall of the rift valley, running roughly 100km north south between Nairobi and Thomsons Falls. Soils are red and of volcanic origin, but rich in organic matter. There are two main peaks, Ol Donyo Lesatima (3,999m) and Kinangop (3,906m) separated by a long saddle of alpine moorland at over 3,000m. The topography is diverse with deep ravines that cut through the forested eastern and western slopes and there are many clear streams and waterfalls. The Aberdares are an important water catchment area providing water to the Tana and Athi rivers and part of Central Rift and Northern drainage basins. The National Park lies mainly above the tree line running along the 10,000ft contour with some forest and scrub at lower altitude in the ‘salient’ area near Nyeri with the boundary running down to the 7000ft contour the unusual vegetation, rugged terrain, streams and waterfalls combine to create an area of great scenic beauty in the National Park. The park is surrounded by a predominantly indigenous forest, whose management is under a MoU between KWS and the Forest Department. Mist and rain occur throughout much of the year, with precipitation varying from around 1000mm yearly on the north western slopes to as much as 3000mm in the south east. Heavy rainfall occurs through most of the year.

Attractions are Lesatima peak, Kinangop peak, waterfalls, walks in the moorlands, Twin hills, Elephant hills and Table mountains, Elephants, Second largest population of black rhinos in Salient and Northern Aberdares, Queen Elizabeth learned of her accession to the throne at Tree-tops, The Kimathi Hideout, Night viewing of wildlife at the Ark & Treetops.

SAMBURU GAME RESERVE

Lying in the lower curve of the dry northern Kenya region, the three reserves of Samburu, Buffalo Springs and Shaba make up a combined area of over 235sq. kms, and are well worth a visit to view an ecosystem that spans arid terrains, hills, shrubland and grassland. The main water source, the Uaso Nyiro River, feeds the riverine forest and swamp. The patches of forest and doum palm dotting the landscape provide an ideal setting for exuberant primates, sombre hippo and sedate crocodile. Elephant families visit the river’s shallows to give themselves a shower or immerse themselves totally in the invigorating, cool water.

The exciting animal life also includes game only seen north of the equator, namely grevy’s zebra, beisa oryx and reticulated giraffe. Other residents are gerenuk gazelle, the Somali ostrich, ‘big five’, and more common savannah game. As the name implies, this is Samburu land. The Samburu are a colourful tribal people who have lived in harmonious accord with nature over the years, maintaining cultural conservation practices based on a deep respect for the ecosystem.

LAKE NAKURU

The most famous of the Great Rift Valley lakes, Lake Nakuru is renowned for its magnificent birdlife, beautiful scenery and teeming with wildlife. This 188sq. kms. park is a paradise for those who are particularly interested in ornithology and also offers the opportunity of seeing white rhino, the rare Rothchild’s giraffe, large herds of buffalo and an abundance of various plains game. Sightings of leopard resting in the branches of acacia trees are very common though not guaranteed on every safari.

The 40sq. kms. alkaline Lake Nakuru lies within the park and has been given the conservation world’s Ramsar Site designation. As you move further afield into the woods, you find black and white colobus monkey and closer to the escarpment walls and rocky ridges, mountain reedbuck, dik dik, rock hyrax and klipspringer, making game viewing well worth while.

MAASAI MARA

Justifiably one of the most famous reserves in Africa, its’ dominant feature are the great rolling plains of savannah grasslands,

which sustain the greatest variety of wildlife in Africa and indeed in the world. The concentration of game is at its highest from July through October when the Mara is host to the annual migration of more than a million wildebeest.

However, game viewing is excellent year round with giraffe, buffalo, zebra, eland, hartebeest and Thompson’s gazelle offering a rich choice for the predators lion, leopard and cheetah. It should be noted, however, that during the rainy season, the grass is fairly tall in some areas, which may affect visibility and restrict game drives slightly.

The Maasai people, after whom the park is named, are nomadic. While on game drives, you will often notice young tribesmen herding their cattle amongst the plains game. They are colourfully attired, usually wrapped in bright red cloths, and armed with spears.