Kenya Trails

Your Kenya safari begins with an arrival into Nairobi, East Africa's most cosmopolitan capital. A guide meets you at the airport, provides a safari briefing, and transfers you to a comfortable hotel tucked away in the leafy Karen suburb. The rest of the day is yours to settle in, review your welcome materials, and look ahead to the journey. Dinner is available at the hotel's Club restaurant at an additional cost.

A note to prepare: A good portion of the day is spent exploring by vehicle, and the roads are likely bumpy and dusty.

After an early breakfast and a brief safari briefing, you meet your driver guide and head out into Nairobi National Park for a morning game drive. From there, make your way to an elephant orphanage run by a dedicated wildlife trust, where baby elephants rescued from threatening situations across Kenya's national parks are being rehabilitated. You may watch the calves being fed and playing with the staff. Next, visit the Karen Blixen Museum, housed in the preserved colonial home where the Danish author lived from 1917 to 1931 on what was once a vast coffee estate known locally as 'bogani.' The house and grounds were made famous by the film Out of Africa and offer a vivid glimpse into colonial life in early 20th-century Kenya. After lunch at a local restaurant, you drive north from Nairobi into the Great Rift Valley and arrive at your hillside lodge overlooking Lake Nakuru.

Note to prepare: The drive from Nairobi to Lake Nakuru Sopa takes about 3 1/2 hours on a good tarmac road. (Please note that the roads inside the park are not tarmac.)

A full day in Lake Nakuru National Park, with two game drives. The park sits on the western rim of the Great Rift Valley and is home to more than 56 species of mammals, including lion, leopard, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, white and black rhino, antelope, and various primates. Flamingos and other water birds are a major draw along the lake shore. Your hillside lodge delivers sweeping views over the lake and its surrounding parkland throughout the day.

Check out after breakfast and transfer to the Masai Mara National Reserve, arriving in time for lunch at your tented camp. The afternoon is a chance to rest and take in the savannah landscape from your veranda before heading out for your first game drive as the temperature cools in the early evening. The Mara's acacia-dotted plains, tree-lined rivers, and open woodlands support year-round wildlife in remarkable concentrations. You may encounter lion prides, elephant herds with calves, or pods of hippo in the river. Dinner is served back at camp under the stars.

Note to prepare: Today's drive is approximately 5 hours, with some sections of the road being bumpy.

Rise early for a morning game drive across the Mara plains in search of the Big Five and other wildlife. Early mornings are prime viewing time as animals are most active before the heat builds. After a mid-morning break and lunch back at camp, head out again in the afternoon for another round of game viewing. Your guide takes you to the Mara River to observe the regular river crossing routes used during the wildebeest migration, when an estimated two million animals move between Tanzania and Kenya following the rains.

A final full day in the reserve, with morning and afternoon game drives. Use the time to seek out any wildlife still on your list, or simply absorb the landscape and its rhythms at a pace that allows for longer observation.

After breakfast, check out and pick up your picnic lunch boxes. You'll then be driven back to Nairobi and dropped off at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for your departure.

Note to prepare: Today's drive is approximately 6 hours, with some sections of the road being bumpy.