Safari in Kenya two young elephant calves dry savannah

Undiscovered Kenya

Trips/Kenya Safari

10 days

Most people only visit south Kenya when on safari. While that's an excellent plan, as the Maasai Mara is one of the world's best game parks, you can have an even more epic experience by heading north to Samburu too! Join us in northern Kenya for striking landscapes and a wholly different sort of safari, then head south as well to enjoy the incredible spectacle that is the Great Migration!

Detailed Itinerary

Kenya-Map-infographic

Day 1: Arrival day

Your local leader meets you when you arrive at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) and drives you to your hotel where you can freshen up after what's probably been a long journey! If there's still time in the day, we can take you to meet endangered Rothschild's giraffes at the Giraffe Centre or visit the Karen Blixen Museum which was made famous by the book (and movie) Out of Africa. There's also a lovely coffee garden at the museum which is a great place for afternoon tea.

Giraffe Centre Nairobi newborn and mother

Day 2: Drive north to the Samburu region

You have an early start today as you need to cover a fair distance on today's drive north to the Samburu region in the Rift Valley. The Samburu people, who have close historical ties with the Maasai, are sometimes referred to as the 'butterfly people' because their clothing and jewellery are so colourful! The northern half of Kenya where the Samburu live is much drier than the south and has a different sort of beauty. The drier landscape also makes wildlife easier to spot!

Samburu ladies in traditional dress and colourful beaded jewellery

Day 3: Go on a Special Five of Samburu game drive

Samburu National Reserve has a so-called Special Five, which are five unusual animals you can't spot anywhere else in Kenya! They are gerenuks (dainty, long-necked antelopes), Somali ostriches (also called blue-necked ostriches), Grevy's zebras (which are endangered and have thin stripes), reticulated giraffes (an endangered species with a very 'neat' grid patterning), and beisa oryxes (which only live in the Horn of Africa and have straight horns of around 80 cm!).

Gerenuk in Samburu region, Kenya safari

Day 4: Reteti Elephant Sanctuary

Today you drive through traditional Samburu villages to visit the incredible Reteti Elephant Sanctuary. This community-run elephant orphanage rescues and homes elephant calves and some other orphaned animals like giraffes. Your tour of the sanctuary includes watching a fun and frenetic feeding session, where the calves jostle excitedly for the bottles of milk wielded by their keepers!

Elephant keepers feeding time at Reteti

Day 5: Visit Il Polei mountain and go on a baboon walk

It's another exciting day in northern Kenya! This morning you visit Il Polei (1,988 m), a pretty mountain in the Udzungwa range. It's then on to Twala-Tenebo, a Maasai women's cooperative that engages in sustainable aloe farming and tourism. Learn about the manyatta (settlement) and Maasai culture, and also go on a guided walk to visit a troop of habituated baboons!

Twala-Tenebo Baboon walk

Day 6: Do a game drive in Solio to find rhinos

This morning you travel to Solio Game Reserve, which is home to a very successful rhino conservation programme. In fact, the reserve has over 200 black and white rhinos, as well as an abundance of other animals like lions, black-backed jackals and hartebeests. There's also a lovely marsh to visit, and birders can look for over 300 different species, including frequent sightings of crimson-rumped waxbills.

4 Rhinos seated in dry landscape

Day 7: Visit Lake Naivasha and walk among giraffes

Today you travel to Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley. You enjoy a boat ride on the lake, and are even able to stretch your legs on Crescent Island. Here, the resident giraffes and zebras are very tame and let you come remarkably close, all the better to appreciate their beautiful patterns. The lake is also home to large populations of flamingoes, pelicans and other waterbirds, who paint stripes of colour across the water from a distance.

Hippo yawning in Lake Naivasha, Kenya, green season

Day 8: Afternoon game drive in the Mara Triangle

Travel south to Maasai Mara National Reserve today and enjoy a late afternoon game drive in the Mara Triangle, the southwestern corner of the reserve, known for its wonderful density of wildlife. Keep your eyes open as you travel across vast plains and through acacia forests for the Big Five (lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes and rhinos) as well as other notable faces like giraffes, elands, hippos and cheetahs.

Seated eland eating vegetation

Day 9: Great Migration safari drive

Today you have a full day in Maasai Mara National Reserve to witness the enormous wildebeest, zebra and antelope herds of the Great Migration. The world's largest land-based animal migration, this is a spectacle you have to see for yourself to truly appreciate! If you're lucky, things might even be timed right for you to see some of the herds undertaking a dangerous (and often chaotic) river crossing.

Ours. Wildebeests are crossing Mara river. Great Migration

Day 10: Travel back to Nairobi and fly out in the late evening

It's your last day in Kenya, but you can expect to enjoy some further animal spotting during your drive back to Nairobi. Your local leader drops you off at the airport for your flight home, memories galore in your back pocket for reliving over a lifetime!

Wildebeest standing along in vast grassland plain with orange sky and setting sun, Africa safari

Inclusions

Price Includes

All accommodation

All transport from start to end of trip

A spacious safari vehicle for game drives

Professional, English-speaking safari guide and driver

All meals except for any in Nairobi on arrival day and any meals after breakfast on departure day

Bottled drinking water in the vehicle throughout the trip

Price Does Not Include

International airfares

Kenyan tourist visa

Traveller's insurance

Tips (customary)

Alcohol and soft drinks

Where you'll stay

samburu-intrepids-tented-camp-kenya-bedroom

Samburu Intrepids

Samburu Intrepids is an oasis within Samburu Game Reserve. The tented luxury camp overlooks the great Uwaso Nyiro River where elephants sometimes make an appearance and crocodiles lounge on the banks.

swimming-pool at Le Rustique in Kenya

Le Rustique Hotel

With an open-air heated pool, this charming hotel in the Kenyan highlands feels like a rustic country manor in Morocco. What's more, its fine-dining restaurant offers delicious Mediterranean cuisine.

Water feature among lush vegetations at Lake Naivasha Simba Lodge in Kenya

Lake Naivasha Simba Lodge

This beautifully situated lodge offers the ideal resting place between your different daytime adventures! All bedrooms have a private balcony where you can sit and enjoy the resident wildlife.

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Aug 2024

10 Day - Undiscovered Kenya

Aug 9, 2024

fromUSD4,350
DepositUSD1,300

10 Day - Undiscovered Kenya

Aug 26, 2024

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DepositUSD1,300

Sep 2024

10 Day - Undiscovered Kenya

Sep 7, 2024

fromUSD4,350
DepositUSD1,300

10 Day - Undiscovered Kenya

Sep 23, 2024

fromUSD4,350
DepositUSD1,300

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Our dedicated travel consultants make adventuring easy for you by taking away all of the admin. Your only jobs are to train for the adventure if necessary and then pack your bags!
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Local guides
Our local guides look after you in every way. Our goal is to give every traveller the feeling you get when a friend is showing you their country.
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On average, over 70% of your trip price stays in the local economy. It's important to us that the visited communities benefit the most since they're the ones hosting travellers.
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Gallery

White rhino and calf standing in grassland with acacia tree in background
Dorothy+Lowuekuduk elephant
Karen Blixen Museum, Kenya
Leopard in a tree in Kenya
Great Migration wildebeests Mara River crossing Tanzania safari