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A lion lying beside a bush beneath a wide sky in the Maasai Mara

Kenya · Budget

6 Days Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru & Lake Naivasha Budget Safari

A 6-day budget safari through the Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha. Budget nights at Miti Mingi Eco Camp (Maasai Mara), Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru) and Leisure Apex (Lake Naivasha).

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

Price per person

Low season
USD 830
High season
USD 1,030
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Route

The way through.

  1. 01Maasai Mara
  2. 02Lake Nakuru
  3. 03Lake Naivasha

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. Rolling grassland below distant hills in the Maasai Mara
    Rolling grassland below distant hills in the Maasai Mara. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Big Time Safaris
    Day 01Maasai Mara

    Out of the city and into the Mara

    Nairobi → Maasai Mara

    Nairobi falls away behind the 4×4 Land Cruiser as the day’s long drive heads for the Maasai Mara. Check-in at Miti Mingi Eco Camp can be followed by an afternoon game drive, the first of several in the reserve, when arrival time allows. With three nights ahead in the Mara, there is no need to rush this first outing: it is a good moment to learn how to read the plains, where vultures circling might mean a kill and where a line of grazers might hide a waiting cat.

    Overnight
    Miti Mingi Eco Camp
    Meals
    Set out in your written quotation
  2. A lion rolling on its back in the grass in the Maasai Mara
    A lion rolling on its back in the grass in the Maasai Mara. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Big Time Safaris
    Day 02Maasai Mara

    Watching, not racing

    Maasai Mara

    The Mara Conservancy’s advice to visitors is that the best Mara days are the unhurried ones, spent watching rather than racing between rumours, and a full day in the reserve puts that into practice. In migration season that might mean an hour on a ridge watching the herds pour across a valley; out of season, a long wait by a lion pride or a herd of elephants. Either way, the reserve rewards those who stay put.

    Overnight
    Miti Mingi Eco Camp
    Meals
    Set out in your written quotation
  3. A rocky shore on a broad river below a wooded bank in the Maasai Mara
    A rocky shore on a broad river below a wooded bank in the Maasai Mara. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Big Time Safaris
    Day 03Maasai Mara

    A third day in the reserve

    Maasai Mara

    The extra day is what sets this journey apart from the shorter Mara circuits. It can be used to return to the most rewarding area of the past two days, to explore a different part of the reserve, or in season to spend more time near the Mara River, where herds may mass on the banks. In the reserve you may only leave the vehicle at designated points, and standing on the roof or sitting in the window to photograph is not allowed, rules that keep both animals and visitors safe.

    Overnight
    Miti Mingi Eco Camp
    Meals
    Set out in your written quotation
  4. A lone acacia tree on the grassy plains in the Maasai Mara
    A lone acacia tree on the grassy plains in the Maasai Mara. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Big Time Safaris
    Day 04Maasai Mara · Lake Nakuru

    From the Mara to the Rift Valley lakes

    Maasai Mara → Lake Nakuru

    After three nights on the plains, the journey moves to Lake Nakuru, one of three lakes listed together, with Bogoria and Elementaita, as the Kenya Lake System World Heritage Site. Kenya Wildlife Service describes a park that moves between lake shore, grassland, acacia woodland and rocky escarpments, with black and white rhinos protected inside its fence. The night is at Buraha Zenoni, the property our catalogue names for the lake.

    Overnight
    Buraha Zenoni
    Meals
    Set out in your written quotation
  5. Dead trees reflected in the still water of Lake Naivasha
    Dead trees reflected in the still water of Lake Naivasha. Illustrative photograph. Photo credit: Lake Naivasha Crescent Camp (opens in a new tab)
    Day 05Lake Nakuru · Lake Naivasha

    Lake Nakuru to Lake Naivasha

    Lake Nakuru → Lake Naivasha

    A morning drive in Lake Nakuru National Park is the day’s main game viewing, with the best chances of the rhinos the park is known for. The journey then continues south to Lake Naivasha, a freshwater lake of papyrus and lakeside grassland, and the gateway to two national parks: Hell’s Gate, with its cliffs, gorges and geothermal features, and Mount Longonot, a young volcano. Leisure Apex is the night’s stop.

    Overnight
    Leisure Apex
    Meals
    Set out in your written quotation
  6. An African fish eagle carrying a fish over Lake Naivasha, Kenya
    An African fish eagle carrying a fish over Lake Naivasha, Kenya. Illustrative photograph. Photograph: Charles J. Sharp (CC BY-SA 4.0)
    Day 06Lake Naivasha

    Lake Naivasha and the road home

    Lake Naivasha → Nairobi

    The final morning is by the lake, where the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute has long studied the water, the fish and the hippos that graze the shore. It is a calm close to a busy week, with time to take in the papyrus beds and the birdlife before the Land Cruiser turns for Nairobi. By evening the journey is back where it began, six days and three very different landscapes later.

    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
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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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