7 Day Kenya Safari: Maasai Mara, Nakuru & Amboseli

After breakfast, you will depart and drive to Maasai Mara with a stopover at the Great Rift Valley. You will arrive in good time for a hot lunch at Julia’s River Camp. An afternoon game viewing will follow from 4:00 pm to sunset, then return to the camp late in the evening, just in time for dinner. A campfire gathering under the clear African sky follows after dinner and overnight. Masai Mara is well known for wildebeest migration which is a flurry of activity. “Migrants’ tag along with the big cat team (lion-the jungle king, leopard – Mr. Military camouflage, cheetah – race track ruler that gets attracted to this “rhythm of a feast” as they prey on the migrants. The silver-backed jackal, African wild dog, the sly fox, and of course the maniacal spotted hyena “true garbage-man of the savannah” can be spotted lurking in the shadows, waiting for their meaty fill, as the soaring vulture eagerly waits for the remains only to clean up after the party. Accommodation will be at Julia’s River Camp.

You will spend a day at the Maasai Mara game reserve. You will drive across the plains in search of the big cats (black-maned lions, cheetahs, and leopards) with a picnic lunch served at the Mara River picnic site. Vast herds of wildebeest and zebra wander across the Mara grasslands in huge numbers within the savanna grassland more so in the month of June through August to the end of October, when millions of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle traverse the Mara plains landscape to feed on the rich new grass from the Serengeti National Park. You also have a chance to see other plain games like the Topi, hartebeest, and eland.

You can start an early morning sunrise game viewing within the savanna grassland in search of game until late around midday when the sun is overhead and most of the wildlife goes into hiding. You can then return to the camp for a hot lunch followed by a guided nature walk or Maasai village visit, as no visit to Kenya is complete without this truly unique cultural experience. You can see the lifestyle of the Maasai first hand by visiting a functioning Boma, an authentic residence of local Maasai who welcomes clients into their homes. A small contribution of 20 USD per person to them is very much appreciated to enable them to buy some items for their school-going children, payable direct. Finally, you can pace yourself for an evening game viewing from 16:00 to sunset for a good shot on the wild games and also taking photos of the giraffe as it follows the sun sinking into its horizon. You can return to the camp more excited than ever after accumulating all the extraordinary events of the day.

Soon after breakfast we shall set off and drive to Lake Nakuru National Park, arriving in good time for lunch. In this park, you will proceed on an extensive game viewing in search of cats in this park. Acacia trees are the leopard’s favorite, and we will also be in search of white and black rhino. Lake Nakuru is the home to the white rhinos and has tens of black rhinos too.
This park is well known for its millions of flamingos and other water birds like the pelicans and cormorants. No wonder America’s finest photographer, Roger Tory Petersen, described it as the best photographic paradise in the world for its seasonally large concentrations of greater and lesser flamingos — Lake Nakuru boasts of some 600-bird species. It is also known as a rhino sanctuary, as well as home to other rare wildlife species such as the Rothschild giraffe.
Dinner and overnight will be at the lodge right inside the park for better evening game viewing, and for good sceneries as the sun sets into its horizon.

After breakfast, you’ll have a game viewing session in Lake Nakuru before heading to Amboseli National Park.
Lunch will be followed by a drive to Amboseli National Park. This park lies at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa (5,896m) whose snow-capped summit presents a splendid view on clear days.
Amboseli National Park is often referred to as “The Home of Elephants’, as some of the largest elephant herds are found here. The park also contains vast groups of zebras, wildebeests, giraffes, buffalo, hippos, and antelopes. Also to be found here are lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhinos, and many species of plain games.

If you want to see Mount Kilimanjaro and the wildlife that wanders in the park early in the morning before the scorching sunrise hits their back, you can have an early morning wake-up call. You will go on morning and afternoon game drives across the park’s dusty roads. You’re likely to spot wildebeest, giraffes, gazelles, impala, and zebra attracted to the marshes and swamps fed by the melting snows of Kilimanjaro. You may also spot lions on the fringes of the marshes as well as a great variety of birdlife (some 425 species of bird populate the park). With Kilimanjaro providing a dramatic backdrop, your photographs capturing elephants will be beautiful, which is another reason for Amboseli’s popularity.

This will mark the end of the seven-day safari with us. Before we set off for Nairobi this morning, we will go on an early morning game viewing until the expiry of the park entry ticket. Thereafter, together with your well-dressed, disciplined, knowledgeable, and cautious driver, safely exit the park and onward trip to Nairobi to arrive in good time a transfer to the airport.