7 Days Samburu, Ol Pejeta, Lake Nakuru & Maasai Mara Midrange Safari
Big Time pick
Samburu · Ol Pejeta · Lake Nakuru · Maasai Mara
Lodge accommodation, with Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru).
Kenya · Luxury
10 Days Kenya Luxury Safari - Samburu, Ol Pejeta, Lake Nakuru & Maasai Mara
A 10-day luxury safari through Samburu, Ol Pejeta, Lake Nakuru and the Maasai Mara. Accommodation is in lodges.
- Duration
- 10 days
- Route
- Samburu → Ol Pejeta → Lake Nakuru → Maasai Mara
- Comfort
- Luxury
- Transport
- 4×4 Land Cruiser
- Accommodation
- Overnight at the lodge.
Price
Price on request
The way through.
- 01Samburu
- 02Ol Pejeta
- 03Lake Nakuru
- 04Maasai Mara
Places as named in the journey title. Nights in each are set out in your itinerary.
Day by day
Your itinerary, day by day.
Starts in Nairobi · finishes in Nairobi
The route, days and named stays are as planned. What is included at each stop, from food, park fees and drinking water to room types, permits and border arrangements, and any camp or lodge not named here, is set out in your written quotation. Game drives on travel days depend on arrival and departure times, timings can change with road and park conditions, and wildlife sightings are never guaranteed. Photographs illustrate each day’s destination; they are not pictures of a particular departure.
Elephants with a calf on open sandy ground in Samburu, Kenya. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Weldon Kennedy from London, UK (CC BY 2.0) Into the north
Nairobi → Samburu
A ten-day safari can begin at a gentle pace, and this one heads north from Nairobi to Samburu, where three nights give time to get to know a reserve that is unlike anywhere further south. Samburu National Reserve lies on the northern bank of the Ewaso Nyiro, with Buffalo Springs National Reserve across the river. After the drive north, an afternoon game drive along the river, where time allows, begins the search for its elephants.
- Overnight
- Lodge in Samburu, named in your quotation
- Meals
- Set out in your written quotation
An elephant reaching up with its trunk in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Panegyrics of Granovetter (CC BY-SA 2.0) Morning on the Ewaso Nyiro
Samburu
With two full days in Samburu, the first can concentrate on the river, where doum palms line the banks and elephants come to drink. The County Government of Samburu ranks the reserve’s variety and density of wildlife among the highest in Kenya, despite its small size, and a full day of drives shows why. Hornbills and vulturine guineafowl are among the birds that stand out here, and birds of prey are common overhead.
- Overnight
- Lodge in Samburu, named in your quotation
- Meals
- Set out in your written quotation
A gerenuk standing on its hind legs to feed in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Panegyrics of Granovetter (CC BY-SA 2.0) Dry country specialists
Samburu
The second full day in Samburu can range further, across the grassland savannah and around the rocky outcrops, looking for the Samburu Five: Beisa oryx, Somali ostrich, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk and Grevy’s zebra. Lion, leopard and cheetah are present in the reserve, though sightings depend on luck. With three nights here, there is no pressure to see everything at once, and the drives can return to the places that have been most rewarding.
- Overnight
- Lodge in Samburu, named in your quotation
- Meals
- Set out in your written quotation
An impala resting in the grass in Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Weldon Kennedy from London, UK (CC BY 2.0) South to Laikipia
Samburu → Ol Pejeta
Leaving Samburu, the safari heads south to Ol Pejeta Conservancy on the Laikipia plateau, a region Ol Pejeta describes as the richest in wildlife in Kenya outside the Maasai Mara. The conservancy is a working model of conservation alongside people and livestock, combining wildlife protection, community programmes, tourism and ranching. Where time allows, an afternoon drive introduces the conservancy’s plains.
- Overnight
- Lodge in Ol Pejeta, named in your quotation
- Meals
- Set out in your written quotation
A rhinoceros resting in the grass of Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Weldon Kennedy from London, UK (CC BY 2.0) A day at Ol Pejeta
Ol Pejeta
A full day at Ol Pejeta allows time with the conservancy’s most famous residents. It protects more than 165 critically endangered black rhinos and the last two northern white rhinos in the world, and it is the only place in Kenya where chimpanzees can be seen, in the conservancy’s care. Game drives on the conservancy’s plains look for its other wildlife too. What the day includes is set out in your quotation.
- Overnight
- Lodge in Ol Pejeta, named in your quotation
- Meals
- Set out in your written quotation
Lesser flamingos massed along the shore of Lake Nakuru, Kenya. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: shankar s. from Dubai, united arab emirates (CC BY 2.0) West to Lake Nakuru
Ol Pejeta → Lake Nakuru
From Laikipia the journey travels west and down into the Rift Valley to Lake Nakuru National Park, a fenced park with its own rhinos and a long history as a bird sanctuary. Arriving in the afternoon, there may be time for a first drive along the lake shore and into the woodland, where Kenya Wildlife Service records one of the country’s largest black rhino populations.
- Overnight
- Lodge at Lake Nakuru, named in your quotation
- Meals
- Set out in your written quotation
A flat-topped acacia below a grassy ridge in the Maasai Mara. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Big Time Safaris Nakuru to the Maasai Mara
Lake Nakuru → Maasai Mara
Where time allows, an early drive in Lake Nakuru National Park comes first, with the escarpments and acacia woodland at their best in the morning light. The 4×4 Land Cruiser then makes the long drive to the Maasai Mara, the final stop of the safari, where three nights give plenty of time to enjoy the reserve. Arriving later in the day, the first drive may wait until tomorrow.
- Overnight
- Lodge in the Maasai Mara, named in your quotation
- Meals
- Set out in your written quotation
A lion resting in the shade of leafy bushes in the Maasai Mara. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Big Time Safaris The Mara at dawn
Maasai Mara
The first full day in the Mara can begin at dawn, when the reserve is often at its most active and the light is soft. The Mara Conservancy describes the reserve as a place where around 1.2 million wildebeest pass through in migration season, alongside zebra, eland and Thomson’s gazelle, while at other times lions, elephants and giraffes are the residents to look for. Days in the Mara are best kept flexible and shaped around what is happening.
- Overnight
- Lodge in the Maasai Mara, named in your quotation
- Meals
- Set out in your written quotation
A bend in a river beneath a cloudy sky in the Maasai Mara. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Big Time Safaris Rivers, ridges and the Triangle
Maasai Mara
The second full day can explore further, perhaps towards the Mara River, Look-Out Hill or the Mara Triangle, which the Mara Conservancy runs. The Conservancy also notes the decline of the Mara’s own resident wildebeest, once migrating in from the Loita Plains and now much reduced as farming has narrowed their routes. A long day here, with time to wait at the right places, is the reward of a ten-day safari.
- Overnight
- Lodge in the Maasai Mara, named in your quotation
- Meals
- Set out in your written quotation
An elephant browsing in dry grass in the Maasai Mara. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Big Time Safaris Journey’s end in Nairobi
Maasai Mara → Nairobi
The last morning can bring one final drive in the Mara, if time allows, before the road back to Nairobi. Ten days have covered the dry north, the rhino country of Laikipia and the Rift Valley, and the Mara’s grassland, with time in each to see more than the headlines. The safari ends in the capital, with the drop-off agreed in your quotation so that it fits with any onward travel.
- Meals
- Set out in your written quotation
Like the shape of these days? Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and our team will set out the stays, meals and inclusions in a written quotation.
Where you stay.
Overnight at the lodge. The camp or lodge is discussed with you during planning and confirmed with your itinerary, subject to availability. How accommodation works on our safaris
Places along the way.
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Your journey begins with a conversation
Make this journey your own.
Tell us your dates, who is travelling and anything you would like to change. Our team will tell you what this journey can include.