Journeys: Kenya Safari Experience
8 days, Nairobi to Nairobi
Itinerary
Day 1Nairobi
Arrive at any time. Arrival transfer included.
Our trips throughout Kenya and Tanzania have a maximum group size of six travellers in addition to a CEO and a driver who are both trained safari guides. That means everyone gets a window seat and twice the insight about the astounding wildlife all around you.
This trip covers long distances to visit 3 different wildlife parks in a short period of time and is a very busy trip. Please be prepared for a lot of driving over some very rough, bumpy and often unmaintained roads, which is the norm for Kenya.
Airport Transfer
Settle in and scan the scenery from the comfort of your private vehicle.
Arrival Day and Welcome Meeting
The adventure begins tonight. Feel free to explore before your welcome meeting, but make sure you’re back in time to meet the group. Check for the meeting time on the welcome note at the hotel. After introductions, your CEO will review the details of your tour. Please note that normal check-in times apply at our start hotels, but you can usually store your luggage for the day if you arrive early.
Day 2Nairobi/Masai Mara
Travel to our comfortable tented camp located in the heart of the wildlife reserve. Enjoy a wildlife safari drive this evening, then settle back at the camp and enjoy views overlooking the plains of the reserve.
After breakfast, we depart for the world famous Masai Mara National Reserve. With its vast open plains and flat-topped acacia trees, no visit to Kenya would be complete without a visit here. In the afternoon, we will arrive in the area, and get settled at our safari camp, our base for our time here. Then we’ll make our way into the reserve for an afternoon wildlife safari drive, with excellent chances of seeing the Big Five: buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion, and rhino.
The road in and back out of the park is very rough and very bumpy but once you catch a glimpse of the stunning wildlife, it is worth a bit of discomfort.
Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride.
Maasai Mara Wildlife Safari Drive
Maasai Mara is one of the world’s top safari destinations, known for its abundance of big cats – cheetahs, leopards and lions – as well as the two million wildebeest, Thomson’s gazelles and zebra that migrate annually across the vast grasslands in search of water. Set off on safari with our driver/guide and keep your eyes and ears peeled for movement and memories. Watch elephants and giraffe grazing, photograph zebras and wildebeest and, with a little luck, you'll even spot animals feasting on a recent kill.
Meals included:
Breakfast | Lunch | DinnerDay 3Masai Mara
Enjoy an early morning wildlife safari drive. The day continues with more wildlife viewing as you cross the rolling hills of the African savannah. Also enjoy a late afternoon/evening safari.
Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride.
Maasai Mara Wildlife Safari Drive
Maasai Mara is one of the world’s top safari destinations, known for its abundance of big cats – cheetahs, leopards and lions – as well as the two million wildebeest, Thomson’s gazelles and zebra that migrate annually across the vast grasslands in search of water. Set off on safari with our driver/guide and keep your eyes and ears peeled for movement and memories. Watch elephants and giraffe grazing, photograph zebras and wildebeest and, with a little luck, you'll even spot animals feasting on a recent kill.
Free Time
In the evenings, settle back at the camp with a cool drink and enjoy sweeping views of the plains of the wildlife reserve.
Optional Activities - Day 3 HideShow
Maasai Mara Balloon Safari
The adventure begins just before dawn and lasts an hour in the sky. Fly over the Mara River, plains, and forests of the Maasai Mara. Toast your return to earth with a champagne breakfast, cooked wherever you land.
Please note that single passengers can book on this activity, the balloon will require a minimum of two passengers to take flight. In the rare case that this minimum is not reached by the time of your flight, passengers will be refunded for this activity.
Meals included:
Breakfast | Lunch | DinnerDay 4Masai Mara/Lake Nakuru National Park
Depart early on a long, but beautiful, drive to Lake Nakuru. En route, stop in at a G Adventures for Good-supported project, Ubuntu Café — an initiative that trains and creates local jobs for women. Visit the craft centre, meet some of the Mamas in the program, then sit down to a delicious farm-to-table lunch. Continue to our safari lodge inside the Lake Nakuru National Park. Enjoy a late afternoon wildlife safari drive, paying special attention to the rare rhinos who make this area their home.
On this afternoon wildlife safari drive, keep an eye out for the resident black and white rhino, buffalo, impala, and the elusive leopard.
Today is a very long driving day but we do break it up with a wonderful visit and lunch at the Ubuntu Cafe.
Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride.
Your Journeys Highlight Moment: Café Ubuntu and Ubuntu Made
In the rural settlement of Maai Mahiu is the very special G Adventures for Good supported project, Ubuntu Café. A true social enterprise in the heart of Kenya, this initiative empowers the community, creating over 400 sustainable local jobs for mothers of children with disabilities, and supporting pediatric health and education programs in the region. Enjoy a guided tour of the centre and meet some of the mothers who work here creating handicrafts. Learn how the lives of these "mamas" have been impacted and, in turn, their communities empowered through this G Adventures-supported initiative. Then, sit down to a delicious, organic farm-to-table lunch. Enjoy the real tastes of quality coffee, breakfast tacos, soup, salad, freshly made pizzas, curry dishes,and burritos.
Your G for Good Moment: Café Ubuntu 3-Course Farm-to-Table Lunch
In the rural settlement of Maai Mahiu is the very special G Adventures for Good supported project, Ubuntu Café. A true social enterprise in the heart of Kenya, this initiative empowers the community, creating over 400 sustainable local jobs for mothers of children with disabilities, and supporting pediatric health and education programs in the region. Enjoy a delicious, organic farm-to-table lunch with tastes of quality coffee, breakfast tacos, soup, salad, freshly made pizzas, curry dishes and burritos.
Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride.
Lake Nakuru Wildlife Safari Drive
Search for, buffalo, impalas, hyenas, and even lions and leopards on the wildlife safari drive in this renowned national park. Head to the shores of Lake Nakuru to see pelicans and cormorants. The park is also rich in other bird life, including grebes, white winged black terns, stilts, avocets, and ducks.
Meals included:
Breakfast | Lunch | DinnerDay 5Lake Nakuru National Park/Amboseli National Park
After a morning wildlife safari drive, venture south to famed Amboseli National Park located at the foot of Africa's highest mountain, Mt Kilimanjaro. The snow-capped peak of the mountain dominates every aspect of the park, providing the ultimate photo backdrop.
Lake Nakuru Wildlife Safari Drive
Search for, buffalo, impalas, hyenas, and even lions and leopards on the wildlife safari drive in this renowned national park. Head to the shores of Lake Nakuru to see pelicans and cormorants. The park is also rich in other bird life, including grebes, white winged black terns, stilts, avocets, and ducks.
Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride.
Meals included:
Breakfast | Lunch | DinnerDay 6Amboseli National Park
Enjoy morning and afternoon wildlife safari drives today. During your down time, relax at camp, enjoying views of Mt Kilimanjaro and wildlife visiting the camp's watering holes. Gain a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding poaching and elephant conservation during a lecture by an accredited speaker from the Kenya Wildlife Service.
Amboseli Wildlife Safari Drive
Charge up your camera batteries and get ready to document the drama of Amboseli. Big sky. Big mountain. Big elephants. Visit with some of the 1,500 African elephants that roam the park. Look for other wildlife and meet the resident Maasai along the journey. Marvel in the beauty of Mt Kilimanjaro, the world’s highest free-standing mountain, as it reigns over the landscape of this uniquely African location.
Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride.
Your Journeys Highlight Moment: Kenya Wildlife Service Conservation Talk
Amboseli National Park is renowned for its incredible elephant population. Gain a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding human and wildlife conflict and elephant conservation during a lecture here by an accredited speaker from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). The KWS strives to sustainably conserve and develop Kenya’s wildlife and its habitats, as well as create programs to enable communities living in wildlife areas to benefit from wildlife revenue. National Geographic has supported many research projects working jointly with KWS researchers in the field. The chairman of the KWS is renowned conservationist Richard Leakey, a long-time collaborator and multiple grantee of the National Geographic Society.
Meals included:
Breakfast | Lunch | DinnerDay 7Amboseli National Park/Nairobi
Enjoy the stunning African sunrise on our last wildlife safari drive, before departing back to Kenya's capital.
Rise early for a final morning wildlife safari drive, enjoying the African sun as it rises over the savannah of the Amboseli plain. Return to Nairobi in the late afternoon and opt to join the CEO in a farewell dinner.
Amboseli Wildlife Safari Drive
Charge up your camera batteries and get ready to document the drama of Amboseli. Big sky. Big mountain. Big elephants. Visit with some of the 1,500 African elephants that roam the park. Look for other wildlife and meet the resident Maasai along the journey. Marvel in the beauty of Mt Kilimanjaro, the world’s highest free-standing mountain, as it reigns over the landscape of this uniquely African location.
Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride.
Meals included:
Breakfast | LunchDay 8Nairobi
Depart at any time.
Departure Day
Not ready to leave? Your CEO can help with travel arrangements to extend your adventure.
Optional Activities - Day 8 HideShow
The Carnivore Restaurant
130USD per personFeast on a range of familiar and exotic meats roasted over an open flame barbecue pit. Ever wanted to try ostrich or crocodile? Here's your chance to do so (at a world-renowned restaurant, at that). Price includes the price of a meal (without a beverage) and hotel pick-up.
National Museum
53--3USD per personTake a stroll through this museum to get a better understanding of Kenya's rich heritage through a range of cultural and natural-history exhibits. Learn more about the region's bird population at the Birds of East Africa exhibit, a huge gallery of at least 900 stuffed specimens. Get a refreshing take on Kenyan history counterpoint to colonial historiographies at the Historia Ya Kenya display. Entrance fee and hotel pick-up included.
Bomas of Kenya Tour
120USD per personThis tour gives you a glimpse into the life of 42 different tribes of the country that make up Kenya's rich culture. Get a better understanding of village life by visiting homesteads and enjoy a display and sounds of folk dances performed. Entrance fee and hotel pick-up included.
Karen Blixen Museum
34-75USD per personConverted from the former home of pioneer coffee farmer and acclaimed writer Karen Blixen, this museum provides visitors insight into life of a Danish settler in pre-Independence Kenya. Take a walk through the home, and magnificent gardens that provide a stunning view of the Ngong hills. Hotel pick-up and entrance fee included.
Railway Museum
6-34USD per personAdjacent to the Nairobi railway station, this museum contains exhibits from the East African Railways opened in 1971.