Kenya · Budget
A 6-day budget safari through the Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Samburu. Budget nights at Miti Mingi Eco Camp (Maasai Mara) and Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru), with camp or lodge stays at the other stops.
Price
Price on request
Places as named in the journey title. Nights in each are set out in your itinerary.
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.
Nairobi → Maasai Mara
Your safari heads first to the Maasai Mara, a long morning’s drive from Nairobi in the 4×4 Land Cruiser, with Miti Mingi Eco Camp as the base for the first two nights. Where arrival time allows, an afternoon game drive is a gentle introduction: the reserve’s grassland stretches away in every direction, and part of the Mara’s magic is how much is visible at once, from grazing herds to the trees where lions often rest. Later in the trip, Samburu will offer a very different kind of wildlife country.
Maasai Mara
The Maasai Mara National Reserve includes the Mara Triangle, run by the Mara Conservancy, whose community scouts help manage the reserve’s border along the Siria Escarpment. A full day of game drives gives time to explore and to see the reserve’s character change with the light. In the migration season the plains may hold huge numbers of wildebeest; at other times, look for the topi standing sentinel on termite mounds and the giraffes moving between the acacias.
Maasai Mara → Lake Nakuru
The journey turns north-east to Lake Nakuru today. The park is a fenced sanctuary, protected by an electric perimeter fence since 1986, and that protection is why it can hold one of Kenya’s largest black rhino populations, alongside white rhinos. Depending on arrival time, an afternoon drive may give a first chance to find them. The night is at Buraha Zenoni, the property our catalogue names for this stop, ready for the long road north.
Lake Nakuru → Samburu
Today’s journey is about distance and change. Leaving the Rift Valley, the road heads north towards Samburu National Reserve, whose main entrance, Archer’s Gate, lies near Archer’s Post just off the Marsabit highway. The landscape grows drier and more open as you go, until the doum palms along the Ewaso Nyiro mark the river at the heart of the reserve.
Samburu
Samburu is home to dry-country animals that the Mara and the Rift Valley lakes cannot show you, and the County Government of Samburu groups the most sought-after as the Samburu Five: Beisa oryx, Somali ostrich, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk and Grevy’s zebra. A day of drives along the river and across the grassland gives a good chance to find several of them, along with the reserve’s elephants. Lion, leopard and cheetah are present too, but sightings depend on luck.
Samburu → Nairobi
Birdlife in Samburu is prolific, and an early drive before leaving, where time allows, is a good time to look for its hornbills and vulturine guineafowl, two of the birds the County Government of Samburu singles out. The reserve is small, but the county ranks its wildlife density among the highest in Kenya, so a short final drive can still be rewarding. The road then leads south to Nairobi, completing a journey from the south-west to the north of the country.
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.
Maasai Mara · Budget
Lake Nakuru · Budget
Other stops: overnight at a camp or 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
Samburu · Mt Kenya · Lake Nakuru · Lake Naivasha · Maasai Mara
Budget nights at Miti Mingi Eco Camp (Maasai Mara), Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru) and Leisure Apex (Lake Naivasha), with camp or lodge stays at the other stops.
Samburu · Nakuru · Bogoria/Baringo · Maasai Mara · Amboseli
Budget nights at Miti Mingi Eco Camp (Maasai Mara), Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru) and Nyati Safari Camp (Amboseli), with camp or lodge stays at the other stops.
Big Time pick
Samburu · Ol Pejeta · Lake Nakuru · Maasai Mara
Lodge accommodation, with Buraha Zenoni (Lake Nakuru).
Tell us your dates, who is travelling and anything you would like to change. Our team will tell you what this journey can include.
