Kenya Wildlife Safari

Board your overnight flight to Nairobi today.

Welcome to Kenya! Arrive in Nairobi and transfer to your hotel.

Please note: Most flights from North America arrive late in the evening.

Climb into 4x4 land cruisers and set out to discover notable landmarks and local culture in and around Nairobi, Kenya’s bustling capital city.

• Tour the Karen Blixen Estate, the former coffee plantation where the “Out of Africa” author lived for several years
• Enjoy an included lunch at the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden
• Visit Sandstorm Kenya, a company that began as a maker of safari tents and now employs 40 Maasai craftspeople who hand-make totes, backpacks, and other styles of bags from locally sourced canvas and leather
• Tour Sandstorm’s facilities to learn how its bags are made, from the sourcing of materials to the finished product
• Head to Giraffe Centre, a preserve dedicated to raising rare Rothschild giraffes, and climb to its treehouse deck to feed the giraffes by hand
• Learn about preservation efforts put in place to increase the giraffe population

Tonight, get to know your Tour Director and fellow travelers at a welcome dinner served with beer or wine.

Take in sweeping views of the countryside as you journey to the Aberdares, which is a massif, or mountainous area, that lies just west of Mount Kenya National Park.

• Enjoy lunch at Aberdare Country Club as zebras, gazelles, warthogs, and other wild animals roam nearby
• Settle in at your one-of-a-kind lodge in Aberdare National Park, which is situated next to a watering hole that attracts a variety of animals
• Watch for wildlife from the lodge’s multiple decks and open lounges
• Snap up-close photos of animals from a nearby, ground-level bunker

Sit down this evening for an included dinner served with beer or wine.

Travel through scenic, highland landscapes—and make a photo stop at the equator —on your way to the Great Rift Valley. This astoundingly beautiful region is an important center of ecological study, and its sparkling lakes and steep, rocky escarpments serve as havens for wildlife such as black rhinos, rare Rothschild giraffes, and more than a dozen globally threatened bird species.

• Continue on to the vast and ancient Lake Naivasha, which, at nearly 6,200 feet above sea level, is the highest of the Great Rift Valley’s three best-known lakes
• Enjoy an included lunch with your fellow travelers at a local restaurant
• Join a naturalist guide for an optional game walk near Lake Naivasha, which gets most of its fresh water from the Malewa River that flows from the Aberdare Mountains
• Keep your eyes peeled for zebras, giraffes, hippos, fish eagles, pelicans, kingfishers, cormorants, flamingos, and other animals and birds as you walk

Please note: For the game walk, travelers should be comfortable walking over grassy paths for one to two hours.

This evening, sit down for an included dinner served with beer or wine.

Travel to Lake Nakuru, one of the Great Rift Valley’s “soda lakes,” or extremely salty, alkaline bodies of water where fish can’t survive. Spot some of the many flamingos who make their home here.

• Take a morning game drive in a 4x4 land cruiser through Lake Nakuru National Park
• Keep an eye out for wildlife, such as zebras, monkeys, and both black and white rhinos
• Enjoy an included lunch at a lodge near Lake Nakuru

Head back to your safari lodge and sit down for this evening’s included dinner, served with beer or wine.

Continue through the Great Rift Valley as you travel to the Maasai Mara, a nearly 600-square-mile national reserve in southwestern Kenya known for its vast plains and abundant wildlife. The region is also home to the Maasai people, an indigenous tribe of semi-nomadic pastoralists whose livelihood revolves around cattle. The Maasai tribe’s signature—and symbolic—red-and-blue clothing and colorful, beaded jewelry are among many traditions its people have maintained, while other tribes have adopted more modern styles of living.

• Enjoy an included lunch at your tented safari camp
• Set out on an afternoon game drive
• Try to spot leopards, rhinos, Cape buffalo, lions, and elephants—known collectively as the Big Five
• Admire the Maasai Mara’s rolling hills, swaying savanna grasses, and iconic acacia trees

Sit down for an included dinner this evening, served with beer or wine.

Today, get to know the awe-inspiring animals and people of the Maasai Mara.

• Rise before the sun for an early morning game drive—an exhilarating opportunity to spot lions, elephants, and other animals starting their day in search of food
• Head back to your tented safari camp for an included lunch
• After lunch, climb aboard a safari vehicle for an afternoon game drive, keeping your eyes peeled for prides of lions snoozing in the shade, giraffes ambling among leafy trees, and sturdy warthogs trotting through tall grass

Later, immerse yourself in the Maasai way of life during a visit to a local boma, or Maasai homestead.

• Join male members of the Maasai tribe in their signature adamu, or jumping dance
• Tour a functioning Maasai boma—a collection of mud-hut homes—and discover the tribe’s history and heritage
• Visit a market where Maasai people sell handiworks and crafts, and learn how money from visitors’ purchases sustains the tribe
• Receive your own Maasai name and learn the meaning behind it

This evening, sit down for an included dinner served with beer or wine.

Travel tip: During select departures, and depending on the weather, you might have the option to book a hot-air-balloon ride over the Maasai Mara through your Tour Director for an additional cost.

Enjoy a free morning and an included lunch on the Maasai Mara. Then, admire Kenya’s dramatic scenery as you travel through the Great Rift Valley back to Nairobi. Along the way, stop to purchase snacks and souvenirs.

This evening, sit down for an included dinner in Nairobi, served with beer or wine.

This morning, head out on your first game drive of the day and marvel at Amboseli National Park’s huge herds of elephants, as well as ostriches, leopards, lions, and rhinos. Then, enjoy free time or add an excursion.

This afternoon, join your group for an included lunch before your second game drive through Amboseli National Park.

Celebrate your trip at tonight’s farewell dinner, served with beer or wine.

This morning, head out on your first game drive of the day and marvel at the park’s huge herds of elephants, as well as ostriches, leopards, lions, and rhinos. Enjoy free time or add an excursion.

This afternoon, join your group for an included lunch before the second game drive through Amboseli National Park.

Celebrate your trip at a farewell dinner tonight.

Transfer to Nairobi this morning. Then, relax in a dayroom before boarding your flight home tonight or early tomorrow morning, or extend your stay to explore Tanzania.

Arrive home today.