Waterholes, Lakes and Savannahs of Kenya

On the first day of your Kenyan safari you will be picked up from your Nairobi hotel or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and transferred to the wonderfully scenic Aberdare National Park in Kenya’s Central Highlands. We arrive in good time for lunch at our unique ‘tree lodge’, which is strategically sited right in front of a magical natural waterhole and saltlick, which is floodlit at night. The park is home to elephant, black rhino, buffalo, leopard, spotted hyena, olive baboon, black-and-white colobus monkey and bushbuck among many others. Your lodge is raised on stilts above the forest floor and serves as a ‘hide’ with wooden viewing decks, balconies and lounges to provide superb game-viewing—even after dark when you’ve enjoyed your first dinner on safari.

• Overnight inAberdare National Park
• Accommodation at your tree lodge
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner included
• Drinking water is provided. All other drinks are extra

After an early breakfast and a last glimpse at the ever-busy waterhole, we depart for Lake Nakuru National Park on the floor of the Great Rift Valley. We will game drive on the way to lunch in the pretty gardens of your lodge, and then after relaxing, go back out into the park for late afternoon game-viewing. The lake is surrounded by wooded and bushy grassland, and the birdlife is world-renowned with more than 450 species. These include pelicans, eagles, rollers, starlings, herons, plovers, egrets, marabou storks and more, and you may see stunning flocks of lesser and greater flamingos, which literally turn the lakeshore a brilliant pink. Lake Nakuru National Park is also home to both the white and black rhino, rare Rothschild giraffe, and numerous antelope including gazelle, waterbuck and impala. Lion and leopard are frequently seen, and at the scenic lookout points on the cliffs overlooking the lake, you’ll spot playful baboons and vervet monkeys.

• Overnight in Lake Nakuru National Park
• Accommodation at your camp or lodge
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner included
• Drinking water is provided. All other drinks are extra

After an early breakfast, we game drive on the way out of Lake Nakuru National Park and then it’s a short leisurely drive to Lake Naivasha, another of the picturesque Great Rift Valley lakes. Much of the lake is surrounded by grassy forests of impressive giant yellow-barked acacia trees, which are full of birds and black-and-white colobus monkeys. Here we enjoy a boat ride to spot Naivasha’s many pods of hippos and water birds including pelicans, cormorants, and fish eagles, and take a guided walk in Crescent Island Game Sanctuary to stroll among small antelope, zebra, and giraffes.

We then continue and stop for lunch and refueling at the Masai town of Narok, and then into the world-famous Masai Mara National Reserve, named in honor of the Masai people, the ancestral inhabitants of the area. Look out for the herds of herbivores like waterbuck, zebra and Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelle, all expertly identified by your Kenyan safari guide. Depending on the season, you may witness the annual wildebeest migration, when an estimated two million hooved animals move between the Masai Mara and Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park following the rains and fresh pastures. Over dinner at your comfortable camp/lodge, reflect on the amazing animals you have seen on this action-packed day.

• Overnight in Masai Mara National Reserve
• Accommodation at your camp or lodge
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner included
• Drinking water is provided. All other drinks are extra

After an early breakfast and with packed lunches that will be served picnic-style by the Mara River, a full day is spent game-driving. On the grassy tree-studded plains and around the rocky kopjes look for the big cats, and the Masai Mara is famous for its large prides of lion and cheetah that are seen hunting in family groups. Other predators like jackal, hyena and bat-eared fox can be seen on the prowl in the early morning, the acacia woodlands are inhabited by giraffe, eland, impala, topi and hartebeest, and the Mara River is home to half-submerged hippos and some of the biggest crocodiles in Africa. An optional hot air balloon safari can be arranged for US$425 per person, and it’s a wonderful experience to float over the plains and rivers in the first light of dawn and watch the wildlife below. Visiting a Masai village is another optional extra for US$20 per person, and this is an interactive introduction to the culture of the semi-nomadic Maasai warriors who have a deep and symbolic relationship with the lands and animals of the Mara.

• Overnight in Masai Mara National Reserve
• Accommodation at your camp or lodge
• Breakfast, lunch and dinner included
• Drinking water is provided. All other drinks are extra

On your final day on safari, enjoy a last early morning game drive in the Mara followed by breakfast at your camp or lodge, and then drive back to Nairobi. On the way we stop on the Great Rift Valley escarpment to take in the sweeping views of the lakes, rivers and arid plains. We then transfer you to your Nairobi hotel or the airport for your onward flight.

• No accommodation; this is the last day
• Breakfast & lunch (dinner not included)
• Drinking water is provided. All other drinks are extra