Tour Overview
Everyone should visit Kenya at least once - not just for the spectacular wildlife, but also for its beautiful lakes and beaches and for the sweeping vistas of the Great Rift Valley. The landscape is just as memorable and photogenic as that lion walking, right there, beside the Land Rover. Kenya is located on the east coast of Africa. Its two major rivers, the Tana and the Galana, originate in the country's midsection and flow through the eastern part of the country before emptying into the Indian Ocean. Lake Victoria (which is shared with Tanzania and Uganda) and the Rift Valley are the two main geographical features of western Kenya. Mt. Kenya, the country's highest peak, is in the central highlands.Day by Day Itinerary
Day 1: Nairobi, KenyaArrive Jomo Kenyatta International. Upon clearing Customs and Immigration, you are met and transferred to your hotel for check. This afternoon visit the Karen Blixen Museum and the Giraffe Center. Nairobi. As the sun rises each morning in equatorial East Africa, Nairobi is already bustling with traffic, streams of pedestrians and people pushing carts. In the city's markets, the floors are washed, and fresh produce is artfully arranged; the tea sellers unlock their stalls and light their fires; merchants raise the iron screens from their store windows. Flowers are everywhere. The museum, once part of Karen Blixen’s vast coffee estate, ‘Mbogani’ was Karen’s home from 1917 until 1931, and made famous by the film ‘Out of Africa’. Here you get a glimpse of typical colonial life in Kenya at the turn of the twentieth century. As well as many of Karen’s original belongings, and replicas replace items that have been lost over the years. The Giraffe Center is the headquarters for the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife. Giraffe Manor was established in 1983 as a sanctuary for the then endangered Rothschild giraffe. The breeding program has been a great success and you can watch these gentle giants at eye level from a raised platform. Probably Kenya’s most famous hotel – and certainly its oldest – The Norfolk has been drawing the rich and famous to its hallowed doors since they first opened on Christmas Day 1904. In many respects, Nairobi grew up around the Norfolk, which occupies a central but quiet location opposite the National Theatre.
Norfolk Hotel Day 2: Nairobi- Sweetwaters Game Reserve
Meet your driver-guide for road transfer to Sweetwaters Game Reserve in time for lunch. Sweetwaters Camp lies in the heart of 24,000-acre Sweetwaters Game Reserve, with magnificent views across the plains to the snow capped peaks of Mount Kenya. Luxury tents overlook the waterhole, floodlit by night, providing excellent and secluded rarely seen game viewing. This game sanctuary is the closest reserve to Nairobi (2.5 hours drive) home to all the big five game and it has the highest ratio of game-to-area of any park or reserve in Kenya. Enjoy an afternoon game drive that includes a visit to the Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Additional activities (extra cost) are camel riding, horse riding and nature walks.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Sweetwaters Tented Camp Day 3: Lewa Downs Private Reserve
After a leisurely breakfast, you will transfer to Lewa Safari Camp, your home for the next two nights.
Lewa Safari Camp is set on the 45,000 acre privately owned Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Lewa Downs. Situated against the dramatic backdrop of the snow-covered massif of Mt Kenya and with the magnificent Northern Frontier District stretching out to the North, Lewa is an outstanding tourist destination, offering spectacular scenery, superb game viewing and exciting activities for the discerning traveler. The conservancy, formerly a working cattle ranch and otherwise known as Lewa Downs, has been in the Craig family since 1924. Three generations of the family continue to be involved in daily operations on Lewa. With wildlife densities as high as anywhere in Africa, it is possible to see all of Africa’s Big Five on Lewa, and the conservancy provides a refuge for several endangered species. Enjoy an afternoon game viewing activity.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Lewa Safari Camp Day 4: Lewa Downs Private Reserve
Activities at Lewa Safari Camp include day and night game drives in search of rhino and other wildlife, guided walks, and visits to pre-historic sites. Cultural excursions to visit the II'Nguesi, Ndorobo and Samburu peoples; horseback riding and camel riding are available at an extra cost.
Time at Lewa Downs is a unique combination of hospitality, spectacular scenery and abundant wildlife.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Lewa Safari Camp Day 5: Maasai Mara National Park
After breakfast drive to the airstrip for the scheduled flight to the Maasai Mara. You will be met at the Ol Kiombo Airstrip and transferred the short distance to the Mara Intrepids Camp, your base for the next three nights.
Sheltered in a shady indigenous forest on a broad sweep of the Talek River, Mara Intrepids is a delightful, homely camp set in one of Kenya’s prime wildlife-viewing areas. With its 30 tents arranged in small clusters along the riverbanks, Mara Intrepids has the feel of a small, intimate camp, with its bar and dining areas nestled under groves of acacia and fig trees. The tents themselves are a picture of old-world elegance, with large four-poster beds, fine mahogany furniture, and modern en suite bathrooms with flush toilets and electricity. The camp’s amiable staff will pamper to your every need, while the very knowledgeable guides offer game drives and walking safaris to order. Mara Intrepids also boasts its exciting Adventurers’ Club – a club specifically for children between the ages of 4-12. Accompanied by highly trained naturalists and cultural specialists, children are treated to an enlightening series of walks, talks, games and activities, designed to help them better understand their wild surroundings. A dedicated team of Kenyan naturalists and teachers with a long experience of hosting children’s safaris runs the Adventurers’ Club. After checking in, there’s time to freshen up before taking lunch. This afternoon take your first game drive in the Maasai Mara in search of its famous inhabitants.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Mara Intrepids Club Day 6: Maasai Mara National Park
You have the whole day to enjoy the sights and sounds of Maasai Mara on your early morning and late afternoon game viewing drives. The jewel in Africa’s crown, Maasai Mara is host to the most spectacular array of wildlife. Her 320 square kilometers of open savannah, woodlands and tree-lined rivers creates an eco-system that supports huge numbers of bird and mammal species. The western border of the
Park is the spectacular Siria Escarpment, and together with the acacia dotted plains, creates scenery of stunning beauty. Lion are found in abundance throughout the park, as are elephant, giraffe, a variety of gazelle species and zebra. Cheetah and leopard are also regularly seen and, if lucky, you may also find rhino. Game viewing is never dull in the Mara, and patience is often rewarded with unique sightings: a pride of lion stalking their prey; a solitary leopard retrieving its kill from the high branches of an acacia tree; male wildebeest sparring to attract females into their harem; or even a herd of elephant protecting their young from opportunistic predators. The annual wildebeest migration traditionally is present in the Mara from July-September and at this time nature’s dramas unfold before your very eyes at every turn. As well as wildlife, the Maasai Mara is also home to many members of the colorful Maasai tribe who may be seen around the borders of the park – morans (warriors) loping across the plains, young boys herding goats, or elders grouped under a tree discussing matters of the day.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Mara Intrepids Club Day 7: Maasai Mara National Park
You have another full day to enjoy the splendors of the Maasai Mara. There will also be the option to take a balloon safari or visit to Rusinga or Mfangano Island on Lake Victoria (at an extra cost). Balloon Safari (extra cost)
As the balloon is inflated against the first rays of sunrise your pilot will go through safety procedures. It’s then time to climb aboard. Once aloft, the balloon floats gently over the plains, giving a bird’s eye view of the game below as the sun creeps slowly over the horizon. Spread beneath you is a panorama of Africa – elephants looking improbably small; giraffe browsing amongst the treetops; antelope grazing; a pair of lionesses stalking a herd of wildebeest; an eagle guarding his eerie; and cheetah glancing up as the shadow of the huge balloon crosses their paths. After around one hour the balloon lands and nearby breakfast is already being prepared. The smells of bacon, sausages and eggs drift on the breeze as you begin breakfast with platefuls of exotic Kenyan fruits and homemade pastries and, of course, glasses of bubbly to toast your flight in a tradition initiated by the Montgolfier brothers. Lake Victoria Adventure (extra cost) An early start this morning with a transfer to take you to the airstrip for a 0630 hrs flight (25 minutes) by light aircraft to Mfangano or Rusinga Island on Lake Victoria. There will be the opportunity to try fishing for the legendary giant Nile perch found in these waters as you explore the myriad of tiny islands found in this region of the lake. An experienced and knowledgeable fisherman captains each boat. Nile perch weighing over 150 lb are regularly caught on the lake. Lake Victoria is a spectacular sight: the world's second largest freshwater lake, an inland sea covering some 68,800 square kilometers. Although an area comparable in size to Scotland, Lake Victoria remained unknown to the outside world until the middle of the 19th century. Birdlife is abundant and includes the spectacular fish eagles that can be seen perching high in the treetops or dramatically swooping across the lake as they capture fish in their fiery talons. There is the chance to stop at a traditional fishing village and see how the villagers live from day to day before returning to the island for your return flight to the Maasai Mara. The afternoon is available for a game viewing drive and/or other activity in the Mara whether or not you take the optional adventure.
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Mara Intrepids Club Day 8: Maasai Mara- Nairobi- Depart
Enjoy an early morning game drive and breakfast before your transfer to Maasai Mara Airstrip for your scheduled flight to Wilson Airport. On arrival you will be transferred to Norfolk Hotel where you can relax in your dayroom. Enjoy lunch and dinner (meals for your own account) before your transfer to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Breakfast
Norfolk Hotel - Dayroom
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