Enchanting Kenya Safari

First-Class Lodges
10 Days / 7 Nights

If your group is interested in an affordable, introductory tour of Kenya, consider this 10-day program.  It visits the Samburu National Reserve, the Mt. Kenya area, Lake Nakuru, and the Maasai Mara.  The tour offers the possibility of experiencing the Big 5, flamingos, and dozens of other species, as well as the Maasai people.  The accommodations are first-class throughout, and all meals are included while outside Nairobi.

Sample Group Itinerary 

Day 1  -  Depart USA
Depart the USA today and fly to Europe, where we connect to flight bound for Nairobi.

Day 2  -  Arrive Nairobi
Arrival this evening at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where we are met and transferred to our hotel.  Nairobi Serena Hotel.

Day 3  -  Nairobi – Samburu
After breakfast, we drive north to Samburu, on the south bank of the Uaso Nyiro River, downriver from Archer’s Post.  North of the Equator some of the animals and vegetation are a little different from those commonly found in the south. Elephant, black rhino, lion, buffalo and cheetah, as well as the usual buck and antelopes are common to both north and south of the equator.  However unusual animals in this area are the Grevy’s zebra, the reticulated giraffe and the Somali ostrich.  There is also the long neck gerenuk, beisa, and hunting dog.  Crocodiles in the river can be seen from the lodge.  The vegetation is usually dry grass with a few swampy patches. There is some forest cover along the Uaso Nyiro River and an abundance of doum palms.  Samburu Simba Lodge.  (B,L,D) 

Day 4  -  Samburu National Reserve
A full day of game viewing and exploration is planned for today in this harshly beautiful terrain where wildlife abound, especially near the river which is their only source of drinking water.   The Uaso Nyiro River flows gently through the dry landscape sustaining life in this harsh land.  In addition to Samburu, we’ll visit the Shaba National Reserve is where the famous conservationist George Adamson did his research on lions.  Samburu Simba Lodge.  (B,L,D)

Day 5  -   Samburu – Tree Hotel
Depart Samburu to visit the fast growing market town of Nyeri in time for lunch.  This is where Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boys’ Scout movement, spent the last years of his life.  Then we proceed to the Mt. Kenya area, and the Serena Mountain Lodge, Kenya’s only “tree hotel,” for lunch.  Spend the afternoon in comfort, watching the forest animals that come to the waterhole and salt lick.  In the late afternoon the waterhole is floodlit so that the visitors are able to watch in silence and undercover.  As night falls the place gets filled with large and small forest animals.  Serena Mountain Lodge.  (B,L,D)

Day 6  -   Tree Hotel – Lake Nakuru
After breakfast the tour leaves for Nyahururu to visit Thompson’s Falls, at an altitude of 7,738 feet.  The falls are named after the Scottish geologist and explorer Joseph Thompson, who was the first European to discover the falls in 1884.  Then we descend into the Rift Valley to reach Lake Nakuru National Park, where we’ll have lunch at one of the hotels.  An afternoon drive in the park to enjoy the sight of pelicans bathing in the fresh water streams which terminate in Lake Nakuru.  Since there is no existing drainage, Lake Nakuru is alkaline, the perfect place for flamingos to feed on the blue-green algae.  The greater flamingo attains a height of about 4.26 feet, its plumage is almost white with a pale pink, black-tipped beak.  It is the lesser flamingo that has the more exotic color, and is about 2.72 ft. in height, with a rosy plumage and dark red, black-tipped beak.   Lake Nakuru National Park has a great variety of bird life which includes the Egyptian goose and a variety of ducks that come from Europe to winter.  This park is truly a bird watchers paradise. T he game animals include hippos, waterbuck, gazelles, colobus monkeys, buffalo, leopard and the Rothschild giraffe.  The park is also a sanctuary for the white rhino.  This park has an abundance of acacia trees, both yellow barked (fever tree) the umbrella-topped acacia and the candelabra cactus.  Sarova Lion Hill Lodge.   (B,L,D)

Day 7   -  Nakuru – Maasai Mara
After breakfast, there is a chance to savor the beauty and tranquility of the lake, with its varied birdlife, before driving across the lunar landscape of the Rift Valley, to arrive at the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in time for lunch.  An afternoon game drive is planned, during which it may be possible to see the huge black-maned lions, for which the reserve is famous.  Mara Serena Lodge.  (B,L,D)

Day 8  -  Maasai Mara
Today we have a full day of game viewing and exploring of this -- Kenya’s finest reserve.  We may witness a lion making a kill or a leopard enjoying the meal, after dragging it up the tree with him.  The vegetation is mostly savanna type, with forested areas near the rivers, and of course the dwarf acacias which the giraffes cater on.  More than 60 species of animals are found here, as well as countless bird species, including the Maasai ostrich and the secretary bird.  This is where the great migration of the wildebeest takes place.  Mara Serena Lodge.  (B,L,D)

Day 9  -  Depart Kenya
After breakfast, we drive back to Nairobi arriving late morning.  Dayrooms will be provided at the Nairobi Serena Hotel.  You are free to explore Nairobi and possibly do some last minute shopping, before our evening transfer back to the airport for our departure. Nairobi Serena Hotel (Day Room).  (B)

Day 10  -  Arrive USA
We arrive back home today, full of lifelong memories of Kenya!