10 Days Kenya Grand Lodge Safari

Overview

Highlights

• ✦Seven of Kenya's most important wildlife regions in one circuit
• ✦Elephant herds beneath Mount Kilimanjaro in Amboseli
• ✦Tsavo's red-dust elephants and Mzima Springs
• ✦Treetop lodge night above an Aberdare waterhole
• ✦Samburu's special five wildlife species
• ✦Both white and black rhino at Lake Nakuru
• ✦Three full days in the Maasai Mara
• ✦Cross the equator at Nanyuki

Day-by-day itinerary

1. 1

   Nairobi → Amboseli National Park

   Nairobi → Amboseli

   Collect from your Nairobi hotel after breakfast for the four-hour drive south on the Mombasa highway, then off the tarmac onto red murram into Amboseli National Park — the legendary park where elephant herds amble beneath the snow-capped silhouette of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak. After lunch at your lodge, head out on the afternoon game drive. Amboseli's open plains, swamps and dust-bowls offer some of the best elephant viewing on the continent — the matriarchs here are among the most studied in the world, with families known by name to researchers. You will also see hippo pods at Enkongo Narok swamp, Maasai giraffes browsing acacia, plains zebra in their hundreds, hyena, jackal, wildebeest and over 400 bird species. Return to the lodge for sundowners on the verandah and dinner with Kilimanjaro glowing pink at dusk.

   Meals: L, D · Stay: Amboseli Sopa Lodge

2. 2

   Amboseli — Full day with Kilimanjaro views

   Amboseli National Park

   Today is a full Amboseli day timed around Kilimanjaro. Pre-dawn coffee, then out by 6am to catch the mountain at its clearest — its glaciers blushing rose, then white, then dazzling in the rising sun before cloud builds by 10am. Drive the swamp circuit where elephant families wade chest-deep through the green wallows, climb Observation Hill for a panoramic view, and watch the resident hippos in Enkongo Narok. Return to the lodge for late breakfast and a long lunch. The afternoon drive heads to the western plains for hyena clans, jackal and serval. Optional cultural walk to a Maasai manyatta in the buffer zone — the Maasai of Amboseli are some of the most traditional in Kenya. Sundowners on the lodge verandah as Kilimanjaro reappears in the cool evening air.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 1

3. 3

   Amboseli → Tsavo West with Mzima Springs

   Amboseli → Tsavo West

   After breakfast and a final Amboseli game drive en route, head east on the dramatic drive across the Chyulu Hills — Hemingway's "green hills of Africa" — and into Tsavo West National Park, a vast volcanic wilderness of basalt cones, lava flows and palm-fringed springs. After lunch at your lodge, visit the famous Mzima Springs where 250 million litres of crystal-clear water surge daily from the lava fields. From the underwater viewing chamber you can watch hippo and crocodile glide silently past at eye level, and shoals of barbel turning in the current. Continue with an afternoon game drive on the Tsavo West circuit, where the red-dust elephants for which Tsavo is famous emerge from the bush in family groups, dyed terracotta from rolling in the iron-rich soil. Dinner and overnight at your Tsavo West lodge.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Kilaguni Serena Lodge

4. 4

   Tsavo West → Nairobi → Aberdare

   Tsavo West → Aberdare

   After breakfast and a final Samburu game drive en route, drive south back across the equator and up into the misty highlands of the Aberdare range — a different Africa entirely, a cool emerald world of bamboo forest, waterfalls and mountain moorland rising to over 13,000 feet. Lunch at the Aberdare Country Club, then a short transfer to one of the famous treetop game-viewing lodges — The Ark or Treetops — built directly over a forest waterhole and salt-lick. From your room balcony and the lodge's viewing decks you watch through the night as elephant, buffalo, bushbuck, giant forest hog, white-tailed mongoose and even the rare bongo come to drink and lick the mineral-rich earth. A bell rings whenever a new species arrives — sleep with one ear open. Dinner and overnight in the forest canopy.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: The Ark or Treetops

5. 5

   Aberdare → Samburu

   Aberdare → Samburu

   Depart Nairobi after breakfast for the six-hour drive north, climbing past Mount Kenya's snow-capped peak and crossing the equator at Nanyuki (photo stop at the official equator sign with a demonstration of how water spins differently on each side). Continue down into the arid Samburu landscape — northern Kenya's frontier country, semi-desert dotted with doum palms, baobabs and termite cathedrals. After lunch at your Samburu lodge on the banks of the Ewaso Ng'iro River, take an afternoon game drive in search of Samburu's "special five" — Grevy's zebra with its narrow stripes, reticulated giraffe, Beisa oryx, gerenuk and the long-necked Somali ostrich — none of which are found in Kenya's southern parks. Elephants come to drink at the river at sunset. Dinner and overnight at the lodge.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Samburu Sopa Lodge

6. 6

   Samburu — Full day game drives

   Samburu National Reserve

   A full day in Samburu with morning and afternoon game drives along both banks of the Ewaso Ng'iro. The river is the lifeline of this dry land and concentrates wildlife in spectacular numbers. Track lion prides through the doum palm forests, look up into the river's tall acacias for leopards (Samburu has one of the highest leopard densities in Kenya), and watch elephant family bath time at the river's edge. The Samburu and Buffalo Springs ecosystems together support over 450 bird species, including the vulturine guineafowl with its electric-blue breast and the rare Somali bee-eater. Optional cultural visit to a Samburu manyatta — the Samburu are northern cousins of the Maasai and share many traditions. Sundowners on a riverbank kopje, gin and tonic in hand, as elephants drink fifty meters away.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 5

7. 7

   Samburu → Lake Nakuru

   Samburu → Lake Nakuru

   After early breakfast and the morning game-viewing on the lodge decks, descend the mountain back to the Aberdare Country Club where your driver-guide is waiting. Continue west across the floor of the Rift Valley to Lake Nakuru National Park, arriving for a late lunch. Spend the afternoon on a long game drive in this rhino sanctuary — Lake Nakuru is one of the best places in Kenya to see both white and the rare black rhino, often within meters of the road. Climb Baboon Cliff for the iconic panorama of the lake, its alkaline waters fringed with pink flamingos and circling pelicans. Look out for the resident lions that famously climb the yellow-bark acacia trees here. Dinner and overnight at your Lake Nakuru lodge.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge

8. 8

   Lake Nakuru → Maasai Mara

   Lake Nakuru → Maasai Mara

   Depart Lake Naivasha after breakfast for the five-hour drive south through Narok and Maasai country to the Maasai Mara National Reserve — 1,510 square kilometres of golden savanna pressed against Tanzania's Serengeti. Lunch is served at your safari lodge inside or adjacent to the reserve. By 4pm you are back in the Land Cruiser for your first Mara game drive, when the savanna's prides emerge from rest. Lions sprawl on rock outcrops, cheetahs scan the plains for Thomson's gazelle, and elephant herds crest the horizon in gold dust. From July to October the wildebeest migration thunders across these plains — over 1.5 million animals in the world's last great mammal migration. Dinner around the campfire and overnight at your Mara camp or lodge, the night air rich with the smell of woodsmoke and wild sage.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Mara Sopa Lodge

9. 9

   Maasai Mara — Full day game drives

   Maasai Mara National Reserve

   Today belongs to the Mara. After early coffee, head out at 6am for the dawn game drive when the big cats are still hunting — the diamond hours when leopards descend from sausage trees and lions finish their kills. You return to the lodge around 10am for a full breakfast and a few hours of leisure: swimming pool, spa treatment, a lazy verandah read or laundry turnaround. After lunch, set out again at 4pm for the golden-hour drive. Between July and October your guide will track radio reports of wildebeest crossings at the Mara River, where Nile crocodiles wait — one of the most dramatic wildlife spectacles on Earth. An optional sunrise hot-air balloon safari can be arranged at $450 per person, ending with a champagne bush breakfast cooked beside your landing site. Dinner and overnight at the lodge.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 8

10. 10

    Maasai Mara → Nairobi

    Maasai Mara → Nairobi

    Breakfast and a final short Mara game drive en route out of the reserve — last chances for cheetah cubs, hippo pods and elephant herds at the river. Around 10am you begin the drive back to Nairobi, stopping at a roadside curio market where Maasai women sell beaded jewellery, hand-carved soapstone and wood. A hot lunch is served at a highland restaurant overlooking the Rift Valley before the final stretch through tea-country green to the city. You arrive in Nairobi between 4pm and 5pm. We can drop you at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for international flights, transfer you to Wilson Airport for a Mombasa or Zanzibar coastal extension, or back at your Nairobi hotel. End of safari — but very much, we hope, the start of a lifelong love of East Africa.

    Meals: B, L · Stay: N/A (departure)

What to bring

• • Lightweight neutral-color clothing (khaki, olive, beige)
• • Warm fleece for cool early morning game drives
• • Sun hat and sunglasses with UV protection
• • High-SPF sunscreen and lip balm
• • Insect repellent (DEET)
• • Comfortable walking shoes and sandals
• • Swimsuit for lodge pools
• • Binoculars (8x42 ideal for safari)
• • Camera with telephoto lens (200mm or longer)
• • Spare batteries, memory cards, power bank
• • Refillable water bottle
• • Small daypack
• • Anti-malarial prophylaxis (consult your doctor)
• • Copies of passport and travel insurance

Frequently asked questions