5 – 6 Hour Drive
Meals: Lunch & Dinner

7:30 am It’s time to start your adventure. From your hotel, residence, or another place of your choosing, grab your bags and hop into your private 4 x 4 Land Cruiser Jeep.

Your driver/guide will tell you about the park and the homesteads you’ll pass on the way. Entering Maasai country you may spot the herders dressed in their traditional colorful shuka wraps, tending to their cattle.

We’ll arrive at the park in time for lunch. Settle in and refresh at your safari lodge or tented camp. Then we’re off to begin the first of our unlimited game drives during our 9-day expedition.

The Mara is a special and popular park blessed with over 95 mammal species and you’ll find all of Africa’s “Big Five” here – lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo, and elephant. But also, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, gazelle, and so much more.

As we near sunset, we’ll head back to our accommodation to relax, have dinner and perhaps sit by the fire of our boma.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

We like to get up early while on safari and you’ll get into that rhythm over the next week or so. This is a full day of game drives, but please know that you can design your safari to your preferences. Want more relaxing time? Just tell your guide. He’s here to customize your adventure to your liking.

Besides its healthy population of big cats, the Mara is known for the Great Migration. This is the annual movement of wildebeests, zebras, and gazelles into the park, crossing the Mara River from the neighboring Serengeti plain.

We’ll head down to the river where crocodiles lie in wait for the thousands of crossing animals. Of course, most make it into the park but then they must be wary of waiting lions, leopards, cheetahs, and other predators. It’s a timeless cycle of the drama of nature playing out before us.

For more drama still, experience our optional hot air balloon safari over the park. This pre-dawn flight will take you over the savannah as the sun breaks upon the fields and hills, lighting up the wildlife as it emerges into the new day. An unforgettable adventure.

For a more cultural moment, enjoy an optional visit to a nearby Maasai village. You’ll meet the indigenous people of this area and learn about their lifestyle, customs and ceremonies.

We’ll spend our second safari evening at our Mara accommodation.

6 – 7 Hour Drive
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

One of the fun features of this area is the close-by assortment of parks that are easily accessed. In just minutes we’ll arrive at another Rift Valley lake – Naivasha. It’s an easy park filled with wildlife and birdlife. We’ll take a water safari across the lake gliding by swimming hippos with views of nearby pelicans and buffalo, impala, and waterbuck cooling off at the nearby shore.

Then it’s on to the next park, Crescent Island, a private sanctuary where we’ll take a walking tour close to grazing zebra, gazelle, and more birdlife.

Our last stop (optional) on this 3-park day is the aptly named Hell’s Gate, for its busy geothermal hot springs and steam vents. If you want, take a bicycle safari through its canyons, past its cliffs, and pedal by zebra, giraffe, and buffalo. A most unique way to visit the wildlife.

We’ll spend the evening at our Lake Naivasha accommodation.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

One of the fun features of this area is the close-by assortment of parks that are easily accessed. In just minutes we’ll arrive at another Rift Valley lake – Naivasha. It’s an easy park filled with wildlife and birdlife. We’ll take a water safari across the lake gliding by swimming hippos with views of nearby pelicans and buffalo, impala, and waterbuck cooling off at the nearby shore.

Then it’s on to the next park, Crescent Island, a private sanctuary where we’ll take a walking tour close to grazing zebra, gazelle, and more birdlife.

Our last stop (optional) on this 3-park day is the aptly named Hell’s Gate, for its busy geothermal hot springs and steam vents. If you want, take a bicycle safari through its canyons, past its cliffs, and pedal by zebra, giraffe, and buffalo. A most unique way to visit the wildlife.

We’ll spend the evening at our Lake Naivasha accommodation.

5 – 6 Hour Drive
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

We’ve got a healthy drive to Amboseli, but we’ll be making stops to stretch, eat and enjoy the sights of the Great Rift Valley all around.

A sign that we’re getting near the park is the iconic form of Mt. Kilimanjaro rising in the distance. Amboseli rests near the base of the great mountain which serves as a most picturesque backdrop to the park’s southern border.

We’ll take a brief game drive and if we’re lucky, the clouds often obscuring Kilimanjaro’s snow-capped peak may part giving us a glimpse of one of Africa’s prettiest sights.

We’ll rest up at our Amboseli lodge or tented camp.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

This will be a day of game drives, but you can also chill at your accommodation if you wish. Just talk to your guide about how you’d like to plan your time.

Amboseli is famous for its two “giants”. We’ve already talked about one of them, Kilimanjaro. But the vast herds of giant free-ranging elephants here are known throughout the safari world. They are just so numerous you’re guaranteed to see them marching about, going to their waterholes, and practically posing for pictures by the scenic backdrop of Kilimanjaro.

Amboseli also is home to other large wildlife like lions, leopards, buffalo, and rhino, plus many smaller species, as well as birdlife, settled around its marsh areas.

Towards evening we’ll head back to our lodge or tented camp.

2 Hour Drive
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

We’ve been on safari for a full week and getting into the rhythms of the natural world. As usual, we’ll be up early for another busy day.

We’ll take a short game drive around the park before heading out to nearby Tsavo West.

The park is a gift of unusual landforms like volcanic artifacts, unusual baobab trees, and equally unexpected wildlife. This is the home of the short-maned Tsavo lion of legendary fame.

Not far from the park’s Chyulu Hills we’ll find the lush oasis of Mzima Springs, home to exotic fish, birds, hippos, and crocodiles. We can take a break from our 4 x 4 Jeep here and walk along the shaded palm-covered shores, viewing the park’s wildlife that frequents the springs for its unlimited crystal waters.

Dinner and rest tonight is at our Tsavo West accommodation.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Good morning! We’ll take a last turn around the park before heading next door to sister park, Tsavo East.

The reserve is the largest and one of the oldest parks in Kenya. You’ll love its wild, terrain, accented with a rusty red oxide soil. The big elephants here like to roll in the dust, giving themselves a rosy “makeover” which you can’t help but notice as they parade about.

Tsavo East also shows off unique volcanic formations and several unique watering holes – Aruba Dam – great places for wildlife spotting.

We’ll settle in and enjoy dinner at our last accommodation, here in the park.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

It’s our last day on safari after more than a week of traveling, exploring, and discovering so much of Africa’s best parks. We’ll take an early game drive before departing Tsavo East.

We’ll head over to the train station at Voi where your guide will make sure you are safely boarded in first-class.

This high-speed train is built for air-conditioned comfort with soft reclining seats. The large picture windows will provide colorful vistas of Tsavo East’s great plains and wildlife.

Should you be hungry or want to stretch your legs, visit the buffet car for drinks and snacks. You’ll soon arrive at the modern train station in Mombasa.

You did it. Nine full days of safari action. Very few have seen what you have and immersed themselves into the heart of Kenya’s brilliant wildlife parks. We’re certain you have volumes of stories to tell and memories to share. Now, onto the Kenya Coast and the diamond sands of Diani Beach.