12 Days Kenya Family Safari & Diani Beach Holiday

Overview

Highlights

• ✦Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary (kids' favorite)
• ✦Last two northern white rhinos on Earth at Ol Pejeta
• ✦Lake Nakuru rhinos and flamingos
• ✦Three Maasai Mara safari days with junior-ranger program
• ✦Six nights on Diani Beach — Africa's #1 ranked beach
• ✦Family-sized rooms throughout
• ✦Private 4x4 Land Cruiser for safari portion
• ✦Optional dhow cruise to Wasini Island and Kisite Marine Park

Day-by-day itinerary

1. 1

   Arrive Nairobi

   Nairobi

   Welcome to Kenya. Your driver-guide meets you at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with a Family Holiday Safaris name board and transfers you in a private vehicle to your Nairobi hotel — usually a 45-minute drive depending on traffic. After check-in, the rest of the day is at leisure to recover from your flight, swim, and have a quiet welcome dinner at the hotel. Your guide returns in the evening for a 30-minute briefing on the days ahead: route, lodges, packing, money, voltage, what to expect each morning. Overnight at your Nairobi hotel — Hemingways, Eka, Crowne Plaza or similar depending on your preference and budget.

   Meals: Welcome dinner · Stay: Hemingways Nairobi or Eka Hotel (family rooms)

2. 2

   Nairobi → Ol Pejeta Conservancy

   Nairobi → Ol Pejeta

   Depart Nairobi after breakfast for the four-hour drive north past coffee farms, crossing the equator at Nanyuki where the children get a souvenir certificate and the equator water demonstration. Lunch at your Ol Pejeta Conservancy lodge. The afternoon is built around children: a guided visit to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary where the kids meet rescued chimps from across Africa and learn about conservation; an unforgettable private viewing of the last two northern white rhinos on Earth, Najin and Fatu; and a short game drive across the conservancy to spot lion, elephant, giraffe and the endangered Grevy's zebra. Bonfire dinner under equator stars and overnight at the lodge. The kids will sleep heavily, full of stories.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Sweetwaters Serena Camp or Ol Pejeta Bush Camp

3. 3

   Ol Pejeta → Lake Nakuru

   Ol Pejeta → Lake Nakuru

   After breakfast and an early morning game drive at Ol Pejeta — last chance for the white rhino crash and the conservancy's habituated lion prides — depart for the three-hour drive south to Lake Nakuru. Lunch at your lodge, then an afternoon game drive in this compact, action-packed park. White and black rhino, Rothschild's giraffe, lion, leopard, defassa waterbuck, hippos at the lake edge and flamingos in their tens of thousands when conditions are right. Children love the visible density of wildlife — there is rarely a dull moment in Nakuru, and the open plains make spotting easy from the pop-top roof. Sunset photography from Baboon Cliff. Dinner and overnight at the lodge.

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

4. 4

   Lake Nakuru → Maasai Mara

   Lake Nakuru → Maasai Mara

   After breakfast and a morning game drive at Lake Nakuru, drive south through the Rift Valley to the Maasai Mara — a five-hour journey broken with a hot lunch at a highland restaurant. Arrive at your Mara safari camp by 4pm in time for a short afternoon game drive. The Mara is a child's safari paradise: open plains where every animal is visible, big cats in good numbers, and friendly camp staff who often bake special treats for the children. Many camps offer a "junior ranger" program — kids learn to identify tracks, scat and birdcalls, earning a certificate at the end. Dinner around the campfire with traditional Maasai songs, and overnight in your family-sized tent.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Mara Sarova Camp or Ashnil Mara Camp (family tents)

5. 5

   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 4

6. 6

   Maasai Mara — Full day with cultural visit

   Maasai Mara National Reserve

   A second full Mara day allows you to explore corners of the reserve missed yesterday — the Mara Triangle in the west, the Talek River area, or Musiara Marsh where the legendary Marsh Pride lives. Mid-morning, your guide can arrange an authentic visit to a Maasai manyatta where you are welcomed with the traditional adumu jumping dance, learn how the Maasai light fire by friction, and tour the dung-and-stick houses. The visit fee directly supports the community. Return to the lodge for lunch, then a final golden afternoon drive — many travelers see their best wildlife on this fifth-day drive when guides know exactly where the prides have settled. Dinner and overnight under a Mara sky that holds more stars than you have ever seen, the distant whoop of hyena drifting across the plains.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 4

7. 7

   Maasai Mara → Wilson Airport → Mombasa → Diani Beach

   Maasai Mara → Diani Beach

   A final morning Mara game drive and breakfast, then drive to the Mara airstrip for a short scheduled flight to Wilson Airport in Nairobi (or direct to Mombasa via Wilson on a connecting flight). On arrival in Mombasa, your coastal driver-guide meets you at Moi International Airport and transfers you south across the Likoni ferry to Diani Beach — about 90 minutes total. Check in at your beach resort, change into swimwear and walk straight onto the white sand. The reef-protected lagoon is perfect for an afternoon swim with the children, and the resort hosts a sunset welcome cocktail on the beach. Dinner of fresh tropical fish on the terrace and overnight at your Diani Beach resort. The bush dust is washed away.

   Meals: B, D · Stay: Diani Reef Beach Resort or Leopard Beach Resort (family rooms)

8. 8

   Diani Beach — Day 1 leisure

   Diani Beach

   A full beach day at your own pace. The kids spend the morning in the lagoon — body-boarding, snorkeling in the rock pools at low tide, building sandcastles, hunting hermit crabs. Parents alternate between the beach loungers and the spa. Lunch is a long, slow affair on the terrace — fresh tropical fruit, grilled kingfish, coconut rice. The afternoon drifts into a family snorkel trip to Kisite Marine Park (optional) where you swim with dolphins and see hawksbill turtles, parrotfish and dazzling reef life. Sundowners on the beach with the children running in the shallows.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 7

9. 9

   Diani Beach — Wasini Island dhow cruise

   Diani Beach → Wasini Island

   A morning dhow cruise to Wasini Island, the traditional sailing boat carrying you across the channel to a Swahili seafood lunch under coconut palms — grilled lobster, crab, prawns and fresh tropical fruit. The kids snorkel directly off the dhow at the Mpunguti reef, swim with dolphins (in season), and explore the ancient coral village of Wasini with its 18th-century mosque and fossilized coral garden. Return to Diani by mid-afternoon for free time on the beach. Sunset and dinner at the resort.

   Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 7

10. 10

    Diani Beach — Shimba Hills & Colobus reserve

    Diani → Shimba Hills

    A day at the Colobus Conservation reserve and Shimba Hills. Morning at the Colobus reserve — a guided forest walk to meet the endangered Angolan colobus monkey, sykes' monkey and bushbabies, with conservation talks for the children. Afternoon transfer up to Shimba Hills National Reserve, the coast's only true safari park — sable antelope (found nowhere else in Kenya), elephant, giraffe and the dramatic Sheldrick Falls in the rainforest. Picnic lunch in the forest. Return to Diani by sunset for one more night on the beach.

    Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 7

11. 11

    Diani Beach — Free day

    Diani Beach

    An entirely free beach day — the resort, the lagoon, the sand. No alarm clock, no schedule. Late breakfast, late lunch, sunset cocktails and a slow, golden evening. Some families take the kids on the camel-ride along the beach; others take a glass-bottom boat trip to the reef; others simply hammock-and-book all day. After ten days of bush travel, this is the day everyone needs. The lagoon, the palms, the trade wind, and the sound of the Indian Ocean.

    Meals: B, L, D · Stay: Same as Day 7

12. 12

    Diani Beach → Mombasa Airport — Departure

    Diani → Mombasa

    A leisurely final breakfast on the beach, late check-out, and transfer to Mombasa Moi International Airport (or Ukunda airstrip for a Wilson Airport connection) for your departing flight. If your flight is in the late afternoon or evening, we can arrange a guided half-day Mombasa Old Town walking tour: the 16th-century Portuguese Fort Jesus, the carved Swahili doors of the Old Town, the spice market and the dhow harbour. End of safari. We will be waiting for your next visit — perhaps Tanzania and the Serengeti, perhaps Mount Kenya, perhaps a return trip to introduce a friend or family member to the Africa you have just discovered.

    Meals: B · 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
• • Reef shoes for the lagoon
• • Snorkel mask if children have a preferred fit
• • Children's medication and any prescription needs

Frequently asked questions