Overview
This is a 8 day 7 nights safari at Amboseli, the Rift Valley and Maasai Mara.
Itinerary
Upon arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, you will be met by our representative and transferred to the 5-star hotel The Boma. Dinner (not included) can be taken at the hotel or at any of the city’s many restaurants. Overnight at hotel
Breakfast at your hotel. Thereafter, you will drive to the famous Amboseli National Park and check-in to Ol Tukai Lodge. Built in 1996 and one of Amboseli’s best-known lodges, Ol Tukai Lodge lies at the very centre of the park. Close to the main swamp area, it enjoys stunning views of Africa’s highest mountain and the legendary ’Snows of Kilimanjaro’. In the afternoon, take a game drive around this panoramic yet compact park, which is dotted with emerald green swamps in which great herds of elephant wallow half-submerged in the papyrus grasses. These permanent marshlands also provide a potent draw to hippos and buffaloes, while offering a haven for the abundant water birds. In the evening, enjoy sundowners in one of the lodge’s two bars, explore the wildlife library, or take a swim in the pool. After dinner in the atmospheric central dining room, enjoy a display of traditional Maasai dance or a wildlife talk (optional). Breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Ol Tukai Lodge (or similar)
Spend the entire day game-driving in the park, which is an International Biosphere Reserve featuring the dried-out lakebed of prehistoric Lake Amboseli, rolling savannah and lush green swamps. The plains offer numerous antelopes, spotted hyenas, jackals, warthogs, olive baboons, vervet monkeys and the chance of spotting a lion, leopard or cheetah. Observation Hill, a conical peak, which is easily climbed, offers stunning views of Mount Kilimanjaro. Lunch and dinner will be taken at the lodge, whose grounds also offer the opportunity of optional nature walk with bird-spotting (150 species in the grounds alone). Breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Ol Tukai Lodge (or similar)
After an early breakfast at the lodge, drive to Nairobi and down the spectacular Great Rift Valley. In the afternoon, arrive at the Lake Naivasha, a freshwater lake, the highest of the string of lakes that glitter down the vast trench of the Great Rift Valley. Towered over by the brooding bulk of Mount Longonot (2,776 m), and featuring a submerged volcanic island known as Crescent Island, this beautiful lake is best known for its high numbers of water birds. In the afternoon check into the luxurious Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge, lunch and spend the afternoon relaxing by the pool, taking an optional boat-ride on the lake, or exploring the lake shore.
After breakfast, depart the lodge and continue down the Great Rift Valley, passing Lake Elementeita before arriving at Lake Nakuru National Park in time for a morning game drive around the lake. This offers you the change to catch your first glimpse of the Lake’s fabled 1.2 million flamingos, and perhaps find rhinos grazing on the lakeshore (this park is the nation’s largest rhino sanctuary. Arriving at the Lake Nakuru Lodge, check-in and enjoy a leisurely lunch before setting off on another game drive around the lake, arriving back at the Lodge in time for a swim, optional cocktails and a sumptuous buffet supper. Lunch and dinner at the Lake Nakuru Lodge (or similar)
Leaving Lake Nakuru Lodge after breakfast, continue up the floor of Rift to arrive at the Masai Mara Sopa Lodge in time for lunch and spend the afternoon game-viewing across the rolling savannah plains of the famous Masai Mara National Reserve. Return in time to take a swim in the luxury pool before dinner and overnight.
A full day’s safari in one of the world’s most famous reserves. Offering an abundance of herbivores, the Mara makes the ideal hunting ground for Kenya’s famous ‘big cats’ and hosts her largest population of lions. Historically teeming with wildlife, the Mara is famous for the large herds of elephant and buffalo that wander its plains, and for the annual migration of the wildebeest (seasonal). Spend the night at Mara Sopa Lodge (or similar)
Drive or optionally fly (flight at an additional cost) back to Nairobi and take lunch at the famous Carnivore Restaurant with its glowing BBQs serving all manners of meats to include ostrich, crocodile and more (plus fish, vegetarian choices, salads etc). Transfer/Drop off at NBO for flight home.
