CLASSIC JOURNEYS WILDLIFE SAFARI
HIGHLIGHTS OF KENYA WILDLIFE SAFARI PROGRAM
Day 1: NAIROBI
On arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, you will be met by our representative who will transfer you to the Eka Hotel for check in and overnight stay.
Situated 160 km south of the equator, Nairobi is the capital of Kenya and boasts one of the finest climates in the world. This modern, cosmopolitan city is the regional headquarters for many African and Indian Ocean businesses. With delegates attracted here from around the world, they come for the friendliness of the people, the modern hotel facilities and the vast array of fascinating options available throughout the city. Although the ‘City in the sun’ is relatively young by global standards, it has fascinating history capturing explorers, missionaries, wars, cultural diversity and politics etc, each leaving their mark on the city center in some way.
Overnight: Eka Hotel
Meal Plan: Bed and Breakfast
Day 2: NAIROBI – MOUNT KENYA NATIONAL PARK
After your breakfast, you will depart for the Mount Kenya National Park to arrive in time for check in and lunch at the Serena Mountain Lodge. After lunch you will have a guided walking safari in the moorland before returning to your lodge where you will spend the rest of the evening at leisure either at the restaurant/bar or in the comfort of your rooms as you watch the wild animals come to drink water and lick salt from the nearby floodlit water hole.
Climbing to 5,199 meters, Mount Kenya is the second tallest mountain in Africa. The scenery surrounding this designated World Heritage Site is breath-taking. It is pristine wilderness with lakes, tarns, glaciers, dense forest, mineral springs and a selection of rare and endangered species of animals, high altitude adapted plains game and unique montane and alpine vegetation.
Overnight: Serena Mountain Lodge
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 3: MOUNT KENYA NATIONAL PARK – SAMBURU NATIONAL PARK
After your breakfast, you will depart for the Samburu National Park where you will arrive in time for check in and lunch at the Ashnil Samburu Camp. Thereafter, you will spend the afternoon at leisure before going for an evening game drive till dusk when you return to your camp.
The Samburu region is the best place to find several endemic Northern species; including the Gerenuk (twiga gazelle) due to her long neck, the beisa Oryx, the Reticulated Giraffe, the Somali ostrich and Grevy’s Zebra. Samburu is also an ornithological paradise, home to many birds including local species such as the Palm Nut Vulture and the Vivacious Dove. Leopards are often seen at dusk. The Samburu culture is a truly fascinating one, sharing a great deal of ancestral and linguistic ties to the Masai. The entire Samburu region is a place of breathtaking and magical beauty, a place where the vision of a deep red sunset silhouetting the doom palms along the river as a leopard emerges to hunt brings the perfect end to a day on safari……
Overnight: Ashnil Samburu Camp
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 4: SAMBURU NATIONAL PARK
Wake up before sunup and have some muffins and coffee, before you take a morning game drive. You’ll see how still and quiet the Bush is at dawn and watch it begin to stir as the sun comes up. Keep a look out for Burchell’s Zebra and Gerenuk, a species that may make you think of ET. You’ll return to camp for a late brunch; then you’ll have the option to take a safari, on-foot, to a local Samburu Village, where you’ll be exposed to Samburu traditions and nomadic culture. Head back to camp for lunch followed by a siesta, and finish up your day on an evening game drive, taking in another African sunset.
Overnight: Ashnil Samburu Camp
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 5: SAMBURU NATIONAL PARK – OL PEJETA CONSERVANCY
Depart to the privately-owned 24,000 acre reserve, Ol Pejeta Conservancy s where your drive ends and another adventure begins at your luxurious tented camp with magnificent views of Mt. Kenya. Arrive for lunch followed by afternoon game viewing drive.
One of only four private wildlife reserves in Kenya, your under canvas experience includes wildlife drives in search of the ‘Big Five’. Watch a parade of elephant, giraffe, zebra and impala come to drink at the camp’s floodlit waterhole and saltlick. Optional activities abound, you may choose to go on a night drive in search of nocturnal species, go on a nature walk or join a rhino patrol with experienced armed rangers to find and monitor black rhino.
During your stay here, you will also visit the 200-acre Chimpanzee sanctuary that has been set up here. Although chimps are not indigenous to Kenya, the aim of the project, initiated by Lonrho East Africa, Kenya Wildlife Services and the Jane Goodall Institute, was to set up a colony where chimps could be introduced, rehabilitated and taught to fend for themselves in an area similar to their natural living conditions. Priority is given to orphaned and abused chimps. The Sanctuary currently has 27 chimps, including two babies born in the Sanctuary. There is also a new Visitor’s Information Center at Morani’s Boma. While here, you will be treated to a guided walking safari. At an optional cost, you can enjoy camel safaris, and horse-back riding.
Overnight: Sweetwaters Serena Camp
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 6: OL PEJETA CONSERVANCY – LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK
Continue with your journey this morning as you drive to Lake Nakuru National Park, a shallow alkaline lake that is world-renowned for its huge concentration of flamingos; at times, hundreds of thousands of these birds give the lake a pink shimmering glow. The park boasts a huge variety of animals, including leopard which is often found snoozing on the branches of the magnificent yellow-barked acacias, lion, buffalo, hippo, waterbuck, warthog, baboon, the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe only found in this park in Kenya, white rhino and the rare black rhino which is protected and guarded here.
You arrive in time for lunch at the Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge followed by an afternoon game drive till dusk when you return to your camp. Located on a range of hills that form the western limits of Africa’s Great Rift Valley, the lodge offers spectacular views over the vastness of Africa. The lodge also overlooks Lake Nakuru and its surrounding National Park, one that is a paradise for bird watchers and wildlife lovers alike.
Overnight: Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 7: LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK – MASAI MARA NATIONAL GAME RESERVE
Your journey now takes you to the Maasai Mara, Kenya’s most famous wildlife reserve. Arrive in time for check in and lunch at the Ashnil Mara Camp followed by afternoon game viewing drive.
The Maasai Mara is arguably Kenya’s most popular game reserve. It is most famous and most visited game reserve in Kenya. The film “Out of Africa” was made to a great extend in this sanctuary. There is a profusion of all types of wildlife including the big five. A spectacle worth seeing is the annual migration of millions of wildebeests, zebras, and the gazelles from the Serengeti plains across the Tanzania border and the Mara river to reach Maasai Mara grazing fields from late June. The game reserve abounds with birdlife since close to about four hundred and fifty two odd species have been recorded.
Overnight: Ashnil Mara Camp
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 8 &9: MASAI MARA NATIONAL GAME RESERVE
You will have two more days of wildlife-viewing opportunities in the Masai Mara Reserve, also known as the “Jewel of Africa,” a site with one of the largest and the most spectacular animal migrations in the world. The reserve is inhabited by many of Africa’s most popular wild animals, including lion, cheetah, elephant, leopard, black rhino and hippo. There are also over 500 resident species of birds in the park including ostrich, larks and sunbirds as well as the lovely Lilac-breasted Roller.
The area is famous for rolling grassland and for the Mara River, which runs through the reserve from north to south. The reserve covers an area of 700 square miles and forms part of the Serengeti ecosystem, hosting the world famous spectacle of the annual migration of up to two million wildebeest, thousands of zebra and an escort of carnivores from the Serengeti plains that follow the rains and succulent new grass. A costly trek as many of the lame, laggard and sick will fall prey to the ravening pack of predators and many more will die in the swirling flood waters of the Mara River as they try to cross it. The Mara also has one of the highest concentrations of cheetah on the continent, as well as many magnificent black-manned lions.
Overnight: Ashnil Mara Camp
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 10: DEPART
After your breakfast, you will depart for Nairobi with a brief stop at the Great Rift Valley view point for a short photo taking the proceed with the drive to arrive Nairobi in time for a farewell lunch at the renowned Carnivore Restaurant. The Carnivore is the ultimate ‘Beast of a Feast’ A variety of meat including ostrich, crocodile and camel, is roasted over charcoal and carved at your table. Delicious side dishes and an exceptional array of sauces complement this fixed price feast that also includes soup, a selection of desserts and Kenyan coffee. Set in attractive tropical gardens, the service and the décor are outstanding.
Later in the afternoon, you will be transferred to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in time for your departure flight for an onward travel.
Say good bye to the wonderful country and promise to join us on another expedition