Kenya

Walking Tours / Mt. Kenya Trek / Birdwatching / 8 day Samburu + Masai Mara
8 day Tsavo + Amboseli / 11 day Aberdare , Samburu, + Masai Mara
11 day Tsavo, Amboseli + Masai Mara / Lodging Info / Park Info
14 day Tsavo, Amboseli, Samburu + Masai Mara

11 days Aberdares, Samburu + Masai Mara

Day 1: Arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta airport in Nairobi. Road transfer to the Norfolk Hotel for overnight. (B+B)

Day 2: Aberdare Country Club.
Your driver will pick you from the Norfolk Hotel and take you to the Aberdare Country Club (ACC) in Central Kenya, home of the Kikuyu tribe. The 3 hrs journey will take you through the main farming areas of Kenya with a lot of coffee and pineapple plantations. Game viewing will start at the gate of the ACC: the Warthogs and Impalas roam free on the golf course of the sanctuary.

After settling in the luxurious cottages, from where you will have unchallenged views of Mount Kenya, the Aberdare Range and the plains below, we will enjoy a hearty lunch. In the afternoon you will walk in the game sanctuary with a lot of nice interruptions because you will encounter Thompson and Grant’s Gazelles, Zebras, Reticulated Giraffes and the biggest antelopes: Elands. On their own these animals are a wonder to watch but to do so while you are walking is an experience that has always brought joy to our guests. Warning: kindly reserve your films or memory space! There is a big temptation to shoot all the pictures on this day but take our word: there will still be other opportunities.
Accommodation: 2 nights at the Aberdare Country Club. (B,L,D)

Day 3: Solio Ranch.
After breakfast we drive to the nearby Solio Ranch. This is an 18000-acre private reserve and it is Kenya's main Rhino conservation sanctuary. It has the world's largest concentration of Black Rhinos. The White Rhino is also found here as well as the Buffalo, Giraffe, Leopard, Lion and a wide range of plains game and bird life. We will drive around in the ranch but since this private sanctuary is little visited by the main tour operators, we will not have many cars surrounding us. Back to the ACC for lunch, free afternoon.

Day 4: Tree Hotel.
Many people who come to the Aberdare NP expressly visit the tree hotels for game viewing. Their interest is highly justified; to see Elephants, Buffaloes, Rhinos and other game coming to a floodlit waterhole right below the balcony of your room is really amazing. But must you wait until the game comes to the waterhole? No, so we will leave the ACC after breakfast and go for a game drive in the Aberdares Park – this way we will see the animals right in the forest. We will then have our lunch at The Ark, which is the most exclusive of the tree hotels in the Aberdares. Resembling and named after Noah’s Ark it has numerous balconies and lounges for game viewing. A ground level bunker provides excellent photographic opportunities and takes you closer than you would believe possible to the animals. The comfortable cabins are fitted with buzzers to announce the arrival of one of the “Big Five” at the waterhole. This explains why some beds are still found neat in the morning, their owners having decided that this is their night of a lifetime and they will miss nothing.
Accommodation at The Ark. (B, L, D)

Day 5,6+7: Samburu Game Reserve
On day 5 transfer by road to Samburu game reserve. This park in the northern part of Kenya is hot and dry with unique vistas of rounded hills and undulating plains. The Ewaso Nyiro River is its lifeline and gives it a good mix of wood and grassland with riverine forest and swamps. Animals found here include the rare Reticulated Giraffe, Grevy's Zebra, Elephant, Oryx, Somali Ostrich, Hippos, Crocodiles, Long-necked Gerenuk, Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah and Hyena. For a birder Samburu is a real gem, the diverse habitat supports many species of birds.
Accomodation 3 nights at Samburu Intrepids. (B,L,D)

Day 8,9+10: Masai Mara Game Reserve
On day 8 there's a morning transfer by plane to Masai Mara.This game reserve is part of the Mara - Serengeti ecosystem and is the most popular park in East Africa. It has a high density of easy to see game: Elephants, Buffaloes, Leopards, Lions, Rhinos, Giraffes and many types of plains game. The rivers crossing the park are home to Hippos and Crocodiles. 452 bird species, 53 of which are raptors, have been recorded.

Although game is available throughout the year the park becomes a life’s wonder during the annual migration from the plains of the Serengeti to the Mara grasslands of Wildebeest, Zebra and Gazelle. These are tracked by predators: Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Hyena and circled by Vultures as the journey unfolds. To witness the migration plan your safari for July through October.

With wide-open savannah, lone trees and rolling grasslands Masai Mara is the kind of African landscape that you see in documentaries and movies.
Accommodation: 3 nights at Fig Tree Tented Camp. (B,L,D)

Day 11: Nairobi
Morning flight to Nairobi where a day room awaits you in the Norfolk Hotel (dayrooms available until 6 p.m.) and enjoy lunch and dinner (meals on your own account) before your transfer to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.(B)

Price: US$ 2970p.p. sharing. Single supplement US$ 770.

Price includes 2 domestic flights (Samburu - Masai Mara and Masai Mara - Nairobi), all accommodation as per itinerary, airport and road transfers, the transport by car, park entrance fees, bush walks, 2 game drives per day and a Flying Doctors evacuation cover.