14
days program
Day 1: Nairobi - Masai Mara
After breakfast, we will pick you up from your Nairobi hotel and
thereafter depart for Masai Mara Game Reserve via the viewpoint
of the Great Rift Valley, lunch en route. Arrive in time for an
afternoon game drive in this pristine, unequalled ‘big game
country’.
Dinner and overnight at the lodge /camp-site
Day 2: Masai Mara
This will be a day of tracking game with your guide, after an
early breakfast. The Mara’s landscape is scenic savannah
grassland on rolling hills, which enables the reserve to attract
sufficient rainfall to maintain and support a large population
of herbivores, together with the predators that follow. Elephant,
lion, buffalo can be seen with relative ease though luck is a
necessary factor for spotting rhino and leopard that complete
the big five as the two animals are very timid and sparsely numbered.
Plains game like wildebeest, zebra and Masai giraffe abound as
well as hippos and a wide variety of antelopes including impala,
dik dik, hartebeest, Grant’s gazelle and Thompson’s
gazelle among others. We will cater for a picnic lunch at the
hippo pool.
At around 4:30pm there is a choice between a game drive, nature walk
escorted by our armed Masai guides and visit a local Masai village
to see their nomadic lifestyle; the Masai are famous for their bravery,
as they have co-existed with the animals over the years. All meals
and overnight at the lodge or camp-site
Day 3: Masai Mara – Naivasha / Hell's Gate
After breakfast, nature walk escorted by our armed Masai guides
or visit to a Masai village. Early lunch at the lodge or camp-site
After lunch, leave Masai Mara for Lake Naivasha. Lake Naivasha,
a Wetland of International Importance (RAMSAR), is a papyrus-lined
freshwater lake, surrounded by fever tree acacias, visited by
hippos, giraffe, buffalo and colobus monkeys and a world class
birding destination with over 400 avian species. Hell's gate national
park is one of the only two parks in Kenya where you can walk
or cycle without a ranger.
Night in Lake Naivasha
Day 4: Naivasha / Hell's Gate – Nakuru
Morning game drive or nature walk/cycling. In the afternoon proceed
to Lake Nakuru for dinner and night.
Dinner and overnight at the lodge / budget hotel
Day 5: Lake Nakuru - Aberdare
Early morning game drive in the park. The major attraction of
the park is the pink flamingos. You will also see various water
birds that breed in the lake’s salty water including white
pelicans and marabou stork. White rhino may be seen as well as
the rare Rothschild’s giraffe, cape buffalo and other plains
game in this park that is 188 square kilometres. In the afternoon
depart for Aberdare National Park.
Dinner and overnight in a lodge or in a camp-site
Day 6: Aberdare - Bogoria
Morning game drive in Aberdare National Park. While the park has
elephants, lions, rhinos, black leopards and the beautiful but
elusive bongo antelope, it is rarely visited by safari companies
and individual travellers.
After lunch drive to Bogoria where the hot water springs abound and
plenty of medicinal springs. Dinner and overnight at a budget hotel
/ lodge.
Day 7: Bogoria – Baringo
After lunch, visit Lake Baringo. One hour boat trip to see various
species of birds and very ancient caves.
Dinner and overnight at a budget hotel / lodge.
Day 8: Samburu
After breakfast depart for Samburu Game Reserve via the Thompson Falls,
which are named after Joseph Thompson, one of the first European explorers
who walked from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in the 1880’s. Lunch
in Nanyuki. Arrive in time for a short evening game drive. Dinner
and overnight in a lodge or in a camp-site
Day 9: Samburu
Morning and afternoon game-viewing sessions tracking the rare, drought
resistant animals species which can only be seen north of the equator;
these are: the reticulated giraffe, grevy’s zebra, the gerenuk
or giraffe-gazelle, Beisa Oryx and the blue shanked Somali ostrich.
The Ewaso Nyiro River traverses this park, it’s source being
the Aberdare ranges. There are therefore very high chances of spotting
crocodile in a natural environment though its water level varies seasonally.
You will have a lunch and leisure break in the mid afternoon. Rest
of meals and overnight at a lodge / camp-site
Day 10: Samburu - Marsabit
After breakfast depart for Marsabit National Park via the singing
wells of the Boran people who form a long chain and sing and ululate
in their mother tongue as they fetch water and water their livestock
simultaneously. Proceed to Marsabit for an afternoon game drive in
the park. Elephants, buffalo and kudu can be seen next to the Marsabit
Lodge at the water filled crater. Marsabit is an oasis and extinct
volcano, which is densely forested on the upper slopes while the lower
slopes, are scorched and dry. The park is home to jumbo elephants
and was home to Ahmed, the elephant’s whose statue is outside
the National Museum in Nairobi who was one of the largest elephants
ever seen in Kenya. Access to some parts of the park is hampered by
extensive dense forest and undergrowth. All meals and overnight at
the campsite.
Day 11: Marsabit - Kalacha
After breakfast make your way past the lava flows to Kalacha, a small
settlement at the edge of the Chalbi Desert where you will camp for
the night.
Day 12: Kalacha - Lake Turkana
After breakfast, depart for Loiyangalani, the name used for the southeastern
shore of Lake Turkana, arriving in the mid afternoon, across the Chalbi
Desert. The desert cannot be crossed in wet weather as the whole of
it becomes a shallow lake but alternative roads are available around
the north and south. Rest of the day at leisure, dinner and overnight
at the campsite.
Day 13: Lake Turkana – Maralal
Morning relaxing on at the lake or visit the village of the El Molo
tribesmen who are said to be the smallest tribe in Africa. Drive to
Maralal, which is the administrative centre for the Samburu people.
Lunch will be served enroute. Dinner and overnight at in Maralal.
Day 14: Maralal – Nakuru or Laikipia – Nairobi
Depart very early and quick visit to Laikipia National Park. Lunch
en route. Arrive in Nairobi in the evening.
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