10 Days Kenya Luxury Safari

Day 1: Arrival – Nairobi

On arrival at the airport, meet our experienced guide from Ksafaris & African Expeditions Ltd. As you are transferred to your hotel, your guide will give insights on the wonderful events head. Arrive at the upmarket suburbs of Nairobi’s Karen and to Hemingways Nairobi a boutique hotel that has elevated the standard of luxury for the high end travellers. You will be treated with the deference and kindness inherent to East African culture. Offering a personalised, bespoke service which blends the traditional values of discretion and convenience, your butler will be available all the time — from the moment you arrive, to the hour when he expertly packs your case for departure.

Day 2: A day to explore Nairobi

On your full day in Nairobi, there is much to do. You will have your own guide who will pick you up in the morning. Start your exploration of this beautiful country as you visit the Daphne Sheldrick a nursery and rehab center for infant elephants that have lost their families, as well as the occasional rhino, zebra and other wildlife. Daphne was the first person to successfully raise an orphan infant elephant, discovering a formula that has now been used widely.

The widow of the famous naturalist and warden of Tsavo from 1948 to 1976, David Sheldrick, Daphne has dedicated her life to conservation. These infants are eventually released into the wild at Tsavo East National Park and end up in the care of other orphans who have been successfully reintroduced to the wild. Your next stop will be at the Giraffe Center a center that has been ostensibly set up as a breeding center for the endangered Rothschild Giraffe. It was started by Jock Leslie-Melville, the Kenyan grandson of a Scottish Earl, when he and his wife Betty captured a baby giraffe to start a programme of breeding giraffe in captivity at their home in Langata – home of the present centre.

Since then the programme has had huge success, resulting in the introduction of several breeding pairs of Rothschild Giraffe into Kenyan national parks. There are also some fun and interesting shops. Among our favourites is Utamaduni, in Langata. It is an old colonial house in which each room features crafts from various tribes and craftsmen. Some are very simple, and some extremely sophisticated. Another one is the Kazuri Bead factory.

Kazuri means “small and beautiful” in Swahili and this describes each and every beautifully hand-made ceramic bead which is shaped by hand by the women who work at the Kazuri workshop in Karen.

The beads are kiln fired once, glazed and then fired again before being strung. After lunch at the Utamaduni restaurant, finish the day visiting Karen Blixen Museum. Here you will get an idea of some Kenya’s history as you enter the home where the author of Out of Africa, Karen Blixen, had her farm. It provides an idea of what life in Nairobi was like for the colonial settlers less than a century ago. Return later to Hemingways.

Day 3: Fly to Amboseli National Park

Early this morning you will be transferred to the Wilson airport. Fly on your scheduled flight to Amboseli famous for the dramatic views of Kilimanjaro, the highest free standing mountain in the world, and the highest peak on the African continent. Kilimanjaro at 19,340ft or 5,894m rises dramatically out of the 4000ft (1,200m) Amboseli plains.

Amboseli is also famous for its elephant herds, which have been followed and documented by world renowned researcher Cynthia Moss. On arrival at the airfield in a scenic location, your knowledgeable guide will welcome you and immediately start your game viewing drive. There is an abundance of game within the Amboseli ecosystem that concentrates during the dry season around the spring fed swamps of the park.

Overnight stays will be at Tawi Lodge a small boutique lodge set in a private Kilitome conservancy perfectly integrated with the environment. At Tawi Lodge, when not on game drives, you will enjoy the swimming pool and massage area: all types of massages and beauty treatments available, hot bath at sunset in front of the wildlife drinking from the waterhole a few meters away. Game drives in open 4×4 vehicles, night game drives, bird watching are some of the activities offered at the lodge.

Day 4,5&6: Loisaba – The Africa of your Dreams

Your flight this morning whisks you (via Nairobi) to Laikipia, at the foothills of Mt. Kenya. Your guide will be waiting with cool drinks to refresh you before the drive you to your lodge, where you will stay for three nights. Loisaba is a private oasis on the Laikipia Plateau.

The views alone will keep us rapt for hours—an impossibly beautiful golden panorama with Mount Kenya looming mighty in the distance. You will roam this protected wilderness in complete privacy, seeing an array of wildlife difficult to find elsewhere, including leopard, elephant, hippo, cheetah, beisa oryx and the ever-elusive wild dog.

It’s nonstop adventure: game viewing via ATV, horseback, camels or by vehicle, rafting the Ng’are Narok River, mountain biking down the escarpment, lounging by the pool or playing tennis. Youngsters explore with their Safari Director and older teens covet those ATVs!

For an experience like no other, opt for a night in Loisaba’s one-of-a-kind Star Beds. Set on raised platforms, we nestle under cozy duvets on huge four-poster beds, cocooned in diaphanous mosquito netting, with only the wide and wondrous African firmament as our rooftop. It’s pure bliss.

Day 7,8,9: Fly to Naboisho conservancy’s Ol seki Hemingways Mara

We now fly to the extraordinary destination of the Maasai Mara. Scenically, it epitomises the Africa of childhood imaginings: the lone Acacia tree against the cobalt sky, rolling plains that positively heave with life, the sluggish curves of the Mara River choc-a-bloc with hippo and crocs and the odd red “shuka” of a Maasai herdsman who carry on their normal pace of life, largely oblivious of all the commotion around them.

Experience Kenya’s breath-taking scenery and wildlife at Ol Seki Hemingways Mara, a luxury tented camp located in the Naboisho Conservancy and adjacent to the stunning setting of the world-famous Masai Mara Game Reserve. There are 10 superbly appointed safari tents, each with a spectacular 270-degree view of the Mara plains below, offering comfort and luxury in the African bush.

You will have the chance to witness some of the rare wonders of the natural world, including the annual wildebeest migration (Jul – Oct) and the Big Five. The Conservancy itself comprises 200 square kilometres of rolling savannah where elephants, buffaloes and plains game graze and prides of lion roam. Private game drives take place in Naboisho Conservancy and the Mara National Reserve.

Other activities include night game drives, moonlit bush dinners, bush breakfasts, game walks, sundowners and a visit to the local Maasai village. Balloon rides are a fun way to view the game and enjoy the expanse of the Mara. It is also an exhilarating way to view the wildebeest migration in action.

Day 10: Nairobi – Departure

Wake up at sunrise for your last game drive; who knows, you may see some wildlife that you hadn’t seen before. Return to the camp and collect your bags and transfer to the airstrip for your Scheduled flight to Wilson airport. A day room has been reserved for you at the Eka Hotel where you will get some time to freshen up before being transferred to the airport for your departure flight.