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Lions resting under a bush on the edge of the plains in the Maasai Mara

Kenya · Budget

4 Days Maasai Mara & Lake Nakuru Budget Safari

A 4-day budget safari through the Maasai Mara and Lake Nakuru. Budget nights at Miti Mingi Eco Camp (Maasai Mara) and Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru).

Duration
4 days
Route
Maasai Mara → Lake Nakuru
Comfort
Budget
Transport
4×4 Land Cruiser
Accommodation
Miti Mingi Eco Camp, Buraha Zenoni

Price per person

Low season
USD 580
High season
USD 780
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Route

The way through.

  1. 01Maasai Mara
  2. 02Lake Nakuru

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.

  1. Wildebeest walking in a line across the plains towards a band of trees in the Maasai Mara
    Wildebeest walking in a line across the plains towards a band of trees in the Maasai Mara. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Big Time Safaris
    Day 01Maasai Mara

    Into the Maasai Mara

    Nairobi → Maasai Mara

    The 4×4 Land Cruiser leaves Nairobi in the morning for the long drive to the Maasai Mara, with check-in at Miti Mingi Eco Camp before an afternoon in the reserve. First impressions of the Mara tend to be about scale: grass that runs to every horizon, broken by lone acacias and the dark lines of rivers. If you are travelling between June or July and November, the Mara Conservancy’s usual migration window, the plains may already be busy with wildebeest and zebra.

    Overnight
    Miti Mingi Eco Camp
    Meals
    Set out in your written quotation
  2. A lion lying beside a bush beneath a wide sky in the Maasai Mara
    A lion lying beside a bush beneath a wide sky in the Maasai Mara. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Big Time Safaris
    Day 02Maasai Mara

    A day with the Mara’s predators

    Maasai Mara

    A full day in the reserve gives time to look for the animals that make the Mara famous among photographers: prides of lions resting in the shade of the acacias, elephants and giraffes moving across the grass, and herds of grazers that the predators shadow. The Mara Conservancy notes that, before the herds arrive in June, the reserve has a quieter beauty of red oat grass, elephants and giraffes, so the day has something to offer in every season. Where to spend it depends on what has been seen, and good viewing often means waiting rather than moving.

    Overnight
    Miti Mingi Eco Camp
    Meals
    Set out in your written quotation
  3. Flamingos feeding in the shallows of Lake Nakuru, Kenya
    Flamingos feeding in the shallows of Lake Nakuru, Kenya. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Kandukuru Nagarjun from Bangalore, India (CC BY 2.0)
    Day 03Maasai Mara · Lake Nakuru

    From the Mara to Lake Nakuru

    Maasai Mara → Lake Nakuru

    Today the journey moves north to Lake Nakuru, swapping savannah for a Rift Valley lake. Kenya Wildlife Service notes the park lies north-west of Nairobi on the main A104 road, entered through Lanet Gate, Nderit Gate or the Main Gate near Nakuru City. After the long drive from the Mara, the evening stop is Buraha Zenoni, the property our catalogue names for Lake Nakuru, with the park itself waiting for the morning.

    Overnight
    Buraha Zenoni
    Meals
    Set out in your written quotation
  4. A southern white rhinoceros grazing in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya
    A southern white rhinoceros grazing in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Kandukuru Nagarjun from Bangalore, India (CC BY 2.0)
    Day 04Lake Nakuru

    Rhinos of Lake Nakuru, then Nairobi

    Lake Nakuru → Nairobi

    Lake Nakuru National Park became Kenya’s first government-managed rhino sanctuary in 1987, and Kenya Wildlife Service describes it as home to one of the country’s largest populations of black rhinos, alongside white rhinos. Where time allows, a morning drive moves between the semi-alkaline lake shore, grassland, acacia woodland and the rocky escarpments added to the park in 1974, so the scenery changes as often as the wildlife. In the afternoon the Land Cruiser returns to Nairobi.

    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.

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Accommodation

Where you stay.

Destinations on this journey

Places along the way.

Related journeys
All Kenya safaris
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.

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