THE SAFARI OVERVIEW
This 8-day Kenya wildlife safari begins and ends in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, and takes you to Amboseli National Park, which is noted for its stunning splendor and hundreds of elephant herds set against a backdrop of snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro. Visit Maasai villages to understand more about the Masai’s traditional ways, then explore two of the most famous Rift Valley lakes, Naivasha and Nakuru, taking in their fantastic birdlife and a wide variety of animals before concluding with Kenya’s showpiece, the Masai Mara National Reserve, widely regarded as the best wildlife destination on the planet.
The safari highlights
- Spot the Big 5
- See African Big Cats like lions, leopards, and Cheetahs
- Watch Black and white rhinos in the Wild
- See big tusked elephants in Amboseli
- View the snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro – Africa’s tallest mount
- Meet the Maasai People and learn about their culture
- Photograph over 400 bird species at Lake Nakuru
- Enjoy daily game drives across the savanna
- See the Wildebeest Migration in season
- Boat trip on Lake Naivasha
- Enjoy a nature walk on Crescent Island
- Drive through the dramatic Great Rift Valley
- Optional balloon ride over Maasai Mara
Detailed Itinerary of the 8 days Kenya safari tour
Day 1: Transfer from Nairobi to Amboseli national park
After breakfast, the driver will pick you up from your pre-hotel in Nairobi and transport you to Amboseli, arriving in time for lunch at the foothills of the spectacular Kilimanjaro. Amboseli is located on the Tanzanian border, immediately north of Mount. Kilimanjaro. Amboseli is arid, with limited flora, dusty volcanic soils, and a Pleistocene lake basin. It does, however, include beautiful wetlands where spectacular herds of African elephants congregate. Aside from elephants, Amboseli is home to herds of zebras, wildebeests, giraffes, buffalos, and antelopes, as well as predators including lions, leopards, cheetahs, and hyenas.
You will go on an afternoon game drive to explore the park in the late afternoon after lunch. Explore the park’s beautiful fauna, which includes amazing mountain backdrop panoramas that provide ample photographic opportunities. You may see Amboseli’s stunning elephants as well as heavyweight predators such as lion, leopard, hyena, and cheetah, as well as their prey such as buffalo, giraffe, zebra, and antelope. Return to your hotel in the evening for dinner and an overnight stay.
Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 2: Full-day game drive in Amboseli national park
The day starts with an early breakfast, and you spend the entire day in Amboseli, including a picnic lunch and amazing views of Mount Kilimanjaro. Yellow baboons, Blue wildebeest, Coke’s hartebeest, spotted hyena, striped hyena, Black-backed jackal, Honey badger, Bat-eared fox, fringe-eared Oryx, long-necked gerenuks, towering giraffes, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Serval, Warthog, and Zebra will be seen. Smaller species, such as black-faced Vervet monkeys and Yellow baboons, Black-backed jackals, and Bat-eared foxes, are also common. Amboseli is also home to around 420 bird species for bird watchers.
You can visit a local Masai village in the late afternoon before returning to the lodge for dinner. Discover the culture and traditions of the Masai people of this region of Kenya, as well as how they use preservation to their benefit.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 3: Transfer to Lake Naivasha
This day begins with a relaxing breakfast at the lodge. After breakfast, you will be driven for around 5 hours south to Lake Naivasha near Hell’s Gate National Park, one of the Great Rift Valley’s soda lakes. Your tour will include a break at a vantage point overlooking the Great Rift Valley for breathtaking views of a series of connected geological trenches. You will check into a hotel for lunch and rest upon arrival.
In the afternoon, take a leisurely boat ride across the lake to see hippos, crocodiles, waterbucks, and other types of water birds up close. After a boat trip, take a walk through the lake’s Crescent Island Game Sanctuary, where you’ll see Zebra, Giraffes, Colobus monkeys, and other serene, tranquil wild animals since the sanctuary is free of predators. In the evening, you’ll return to your lodge for leisure, dinner, and overnight.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 4: Game drive in Hell’s Gate national park and transfer to Lake Nakuru national park
After a leisurely breakfast, you will be led to Hell’s Gate National Park for game viewing. It has towering cliffs, yawning gorges, parched valleys, and perfectly sculpted volcanic columns; oddly, this is where the concept for the film “The Lion King” came from. The only national park in Kenya that may be visited on foot or by bike, with some of the oddest and most striking panoramas.
Hells Gate National Park has gained popularity due to its proximity to Nairobi. The valley with steep cliffs that runs through the park is referred to as “Hells Gate.” Throughout your game-viewing experience here, you will be able to see buffalo, giraffes, zebras, and gigantic rodents. The park does not have any dangerous animals, with the exception of one of the Big Five, “the buffaloes.” However, for self-guided game drive viewing, you must always be accompanied by an armed guide. Following the game drive, you will return to your hotel for lunch and relaxation.
In the afternoon, you will be driven for about 2 hours northward with stunning views of the Great Rift Valley to one of the valley bottom soda lakes, Lake Nakuru National Park. Nakuru National Park is one of Kenya’s most attractive parks, with a rocky environment, acacia woods, and waterfalls. The park is a birder’s dream and was formerly famous for its massive flock of flamingos that blanketed the lake in pink plumes. You’ll check into the Lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 5: Full day in Lake Nakuru national park
After a leisurely breakfast, you go on a game-viewing drive in Lake Nakuru Park in search of the park’s rich birds and diverse animals. This Kenyan game park has kept its reputation as an ornithologist’s paradise due to the presence of over 400 bird species. Among the many bird types are the Great White Pelican, African Spoonbill, Yellow-billed Stork, Lesser and Greater Flamingos, and Long-crested Eagle. The park’s massive populations of buffalo, as well as the presence of both black and white rhinoceros, have made it more well-known than its once-famous flamingo population. On the game drive, keep an eye out for the game park’s lions, waterbuck, buffalo, leopard, and baboons. Return to the lodge for lunch and relaxation. In the evening go for more game drive activities or relax at the shores of the lake. Retire at the lodge for dinner and night rest.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 6: Transfer to Masai Mara national reserve
On this day, start your day with an early breakfast before embarking on a 4 to 5-hour trip and approximately 240km travel to Masai Mara National Reserve. Masai Mara Reserve is generally considered the world’s best wildlife tourist attraction. The Masai Mara is home to the Great Wildebeest Migration, which is considered one of the world’s greatest wildlife spectacles, one of Africa’s Seven Natural Wonders, and one of the world’s ten wonders. The reserve also has one of Africa’s largest concentrations of Big Cats. (Lions, cheetahs, and leopards).
You’ll arrive at your hotel just in time for lunch and some rest. In the afternoon, you will go on your first game drive in the Masai Mara.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 7: Full-day game drive in Masai Mara national reserve
You will explore the park’s very dense game population after breakfast at the lodge. An outstanding African safari experience in a full day of game drives with a picnic lunch along the Mara River while appreciating the landscape of crocodiles sunbathing on the brown-muddy river banks. The sweeping grasslands of the Maasai Mara offer superb wildlife viewing and photographic opportunities, and the fields of grass are broken up by rocky outcrops that serve as popular midday resting areas for Lions.
Every year, millions of wildebeest cross the Mara River from Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park to Kenya’s Maasai Mara Game Reserve. As a result, the Mara becomes a center of “wildlife activities,” attracting hundreds of pastoral game and predators. In the evening after a full-day game drive, return to your lodge for relaxation, dinner, and an overnight stay.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 8: Transfer to Nairobi for departure flight
On the final day of this magnificent wildlife safari, you will have a peaceful breakfast before being picked up by your guide or driver and transferred to Nairobi, finally to the airport for your departure flight depending on the time of your flight, bringing this amazing wildlife safari to a close.
Meal plan: Breakfast