Kenya Classic: Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Amboseli

Overview

Kenya packs an extraordinary amount of Africa into a short drive. This seven day loop out of Nairobi links the three parks that made the country famous, and it does it slowly enough that you are watching animals rather than watching the road. You begin on the floor of the Great Rift Valley at Lake Nakuru, where flamingos work the shallows and both black and white rhino graze the acacia woodland. From there you climb west into the Masai Mara for two full days on the plains, timed so that your long game drive falls on the middle morning, when the big cats are still moving and the light is worth the early start. Between July and October the wildebeest herds are on the Mara River and the crossings are within reach of camp. The return leg is deliberately unlike the first. Lake Naivasha is freshwater and green, with hippo pods offshore and a walking sanctuary on Crescent Island where you can get out of the vehicle and cover ground on foot. The trip closes at Amboseli, whose elephant families are the most studied on the continent and whose backdrop, on a clear morning, is the whole of Kilimanjaro. Departures are capped at twelve travellers in 4x4 pop-top cruisers with a guaranteed window seat for everybody, and the same KPSGA-certified guide stays with the group from arrival to departure. The itinerary is a starting point rather than a fixture: tell us how long you have and what you most want to see, and we will rework it around you.

Day by Day

1. 1
   

   Day 1

   Arrive Nairobi, Giraffe Centre and the city's own national park

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   Your guide meets you in the arrivals hall at Jomo Kenyatta International and drives you into the city. If your flight lands early there is time for an afternoon game drive in Nairobi National Park, the only national park in the world inside a capital city, where black rhino and lion graze against a skyline of office towers.

   Later, an hour at the Giraffe Centre in Karen, a breeding programme for the endangered Rothschild's giraffe, where you feed them from a raised deck at head height.

   The evening is a trip briefing over dinner: route, timings, what to have in the vehicle, and what the wildlife is doing this week.

   Photos from Nairobi National Park

   

   Main destinations

   • 

     Nairobi National Park

     Overnight stay: Savannah Trails Nairobi House

   • 

     Giraffe Centre, Karen

   Overnight

   Nairobi

   Meals included

   Dinner

2. 2
   

   Day 2

   Down the Rift Valley escarpment to Lake Nakuru

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   An early start north west out of Nairobi. The road climbs to the Great Rift Valley viewpoint, where the escarpment drops away and the extinct volcanoes of Longonot and Suswa stand out on the valley floor. We stop for the view and for coffee.

   You reach Lake Nakuru National Park in time for lunch and spend the afternoon on a game drive. Nakuru is a fenced rhino sanctuary and one of the most reliable places in Kenya to see both species in a single afternoon, along with Rothschild's giraffe and the tree-climbing lions of the southern woodland.

   • Flamingo and pelican flocks on the shoreline
   • Black and white rhino in the acacia woodland
   • Baboon Cliff for sunset over the lake

   Photos from Lake Nakuru National Park

   

   Main destinations

   • 

     Lake Nakuru National Park

     Overnight stay: Savannah Trails Nakuru Lodge

   • Great Rift Valley Viewpoint

   Overnight

   Lake Nakuru

   Meals included

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

3. 3
   

   Day 3

   West to the Masai Mara and a first afternoon on the plains

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   You leave Nakuru after breakfast and drive south west through Narok, the last town before the reserve, arriving at camp for lunch.

   The afternoon is your first game drive in the Masai Mara National Reserve. We work the Talek river frontage, which holds resident lion prides year round and where elephant and buffalo come down to drink in the last two hours of light.

   Back at camp for dinner under canvas, with the plains close enough that you fall asleep to them.

   Photos from Masai Mara National Reserve

   

   Main destination

   • 

     Masai Mara National Reserve

     Overnight stay: Savannah Trails Mara Camp

   Overnight

   Masai Mara

   Meals included

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

4. 4
   

   Day 4

   A full day in the Mara, with an optional balloon at dawn

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   The whole day is yours in the reserve, with a picnic lunch carried in the vehicle so you never have to break off a sighting to drive back for a meal. This is the day the itinerary is built around.

   We are out before first light for the big cats, which are still moving at that hour, and push west toward the Mara River. Between July and October the wildebeest herds mass on the banks and the crossings, when they come, are the single most dramatic thing on this trip.

   Optional: a hot air balloon flight at dawn over the plains, landing to a champagne bush breakfast. It has to be booked in advance and is listed under the extras.

   Photos from Masai Mara National Reserve

   

   Main destinations

   • 

     Masai Mara National Reserve

     Overnight stay: Savannah Trails Mara Camp

   • 

     Mara River

   Overnight

   Masai Mara

   Meals included

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

5. 5
   

   Day 5

   A Maasai village, then east to Lake Naivasha

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   A last morning game drive, then a visit to a Maasai manyatta bordering the reserve. The community runs the visit itself and the fee goes to them directly, so it is a conversation about grazing, livestock and conservancy leases rather than a performance.

   You drive north east in the afternoon to Lake Naivasha, a freshwater lake on the Rift Valley floor and a complete change of scene: fever tree forest, fish eagles and hippo pods a few metres offshore. An evening boat ride takes you out among them.

   Photos from Lake Naivasha

   

   Main destination

   • 

     Lake Naivasha

     Overnight stay: Savannah Trails Naivasha Lodge

   Overnight

   Lake Naivasha

   Meals included

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

6. 6
   

   Day 6

   Crescent Island on foot, then south to Amboseli

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   An early walk on Crescent Island, a private sanctuary in the lake with no predators, which is why you are allowed out of the vehicle. Zebra, giraffe, waterbuck and impala graze within a few metres and there is no engine noise at all.

   The long drive south then takes you to Amboseli National Park in time for an evening game drive. Amboseli's elephant families are the longest studied population anywhere in Africa, and on a clear evening they cross the marsh with Kilimanjaro filling the sky behind them.

   Photos from Crescent Island Game Sanctuary

   

   Main destinations

   • 

     Crescent Island Game Sanctuary

   • 

     Amboseli National Park

     Overnight stay: Savannah Trails Amboseli Camp

   Overnight

   Amboseli

   Meals included

   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

7. 7
   

   Day 7

   Kilimanjaro at sunrise, and back to Nairobi

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   The mountain is clearest in the first hour of light, so we are out early for a final game drive and a climb up Observation Hill, which looks over the whole swamp system and the herds working through it.

   Back to camp for a late breakfast, then the drive north to Nairobi, arriving mid afternoon. We drop you at Jomo Kenyatta International for an evening flight, or at a city hotel if you are staying on.

   Extending? Diani and the south coast are a forty minute flight away and pair well with this route.

   Photos from Observation Hill, Amboseli

   

   Main destinations

   • 

     Observation Hill, Amboseli

   • Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

   Overnight

   Departure

   Meals included

   Breakfast

What’s Included

Getting There

• Starts and ends in Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) or any hotel in Nairobi.
• A transfer from and back to the airport is included.

1. 1Arrive Nairobi, Giraffe Centre and the city's own national park, Nairobi
2. 2Down the Rift Valley escarpment to Lake Nakuru, Lake Nakuru
3. 3West to the Masai Mara and a first afternoon on the plains, Masai Mara
4. 4A full day in the Mara, with an optional balloon at dawn, Masai Mara
5. 5A Maasai village, then east to Lake Naivasha, Lake Naivasha
6. 6Crescent Island on foot, then south to Amboseli, Amboseli
7. 7Kilimanjaro at sunrise, and back to Nairobi, Departure

Traveller Reviews

Offered By

Savannah Trails Safaris

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