12 Day Best of Kenya Bush Adventure

Nairobi - Amboseli National Park

Day 1: Welcome To Africa!

You will be transferred from the airport or your hotel in Nairobi town to start your adventure. You will drive via Emali to Amboseli National Park.

Located at the foot of the mighty Mount Kilimanjaro, allows the 390.26 km² at Amboseli National Park - like no other park in Kenya - to experience wildlife in front of the snow-covered scenery of the highest mountain in Africa.

Although a large part of the park is dusty and flat, swamps of fresh water attract many wild animals and allow them to survive in this otherwise very dry environment.

Enjoy a game drive on the way to the lodge to watch elephants, buffalos, hippos, as well as antelopes, giraffes, and lions.

Amboseli National Park

Day 2: Marvel At Mt. Kilimajaro

The view of Mt. Kilimanjaro is normally best in the morning hours, so wake up early and enjoy Africa’s highest mountain (5.895 m). Go on a game drive before breakfast while it's still cool and the animals are active.

After around 2 hours you will come back to the lodge for breakfast. Then you will go for the second game drive to spot more wildlife like hyenas, zebras, gazelles, gerenuks and many water birds.

Come back for lunch at the lodge and rest a bit before you go for an afternoon game drive at 4 p.m. Enjoy your sundowner on a small hill with a view over the swamps. Return for dinner at the lodge.

Amboseli National Park - Nanyuki/ol Pejeta

Day 3: Go For A Game Drive At Ol Pejeta Conservancy

After a very early breakfast, go on a game drive en route to Nairobi and then to the North.

You will drive via the fertile region around Karatina to Laikipia Plateau. This is a highland in the west of Mt. Kenya, mostly grassland and savannah at an altitude of almost 2,000 m above the sea level.

Enjoy a picnic on the way. In the afternoon/evening you will reach Ol Pejeta Conservancy to go for a first game drive on the way to your camp. It’s a private sanctuary of more than 90,000 acres with amazing wildlife.

It is the home to the big 5 and many others like African wild dogs, reticulated giraffes.

Ol Pejeta (Nanyuki)

Day 4: Visit The Only Chimpazee Sanctuary In Kenya And See Two Last Southern White Rhinos

Enjoy an early morning game drive to spot lions or hyenas hunting or at a kill. After around two hours you will go back to the camp for breakfast.

Then, go for another game drive, e.g. to visit the chimpanzees’ sanctuary, the only one in Kenya.

Here you can watch these human-like apes up close and the rangers will explain everything about them. 

For lunch you will head back to the camp and after some time to relax you will set out for a third game drive.

At Morani Rhino Information Center you can watch, feed and touch Baraka, a blind black rhino, and you can see the last 2 southern white rhinos in the world from far!

Learn about mammals at Ol Pejeta and see what poaching has done with the rhino population over the last 30 years.

Especially in the morning and evening, the chances to have a clear view of Mt. Kenya are high.

After dinner, you might watch the animals at the lit waterhole.

Ol Pejeta (Nanyuki) - Samburu National Reserve

Day 5: Watch Mt. Kenya At Sunrise

Watch Mt. Kenya at sunrise, it is beautiful!

After breakfast, drive to Samburu National Reserve. Go for your first game drive on the way to the camp.

Although the 165 km² National Reserve is located geographically in the center of Kenya, however, the climate is already semiarid – dry and hot.

The southern boundary of the reserve is marked by the Ewaso Ngiro River.

Its shores are lined with acacias, doum palms and gallery forests, where on game drives many wild animals are observed as well as birds.

To the north there are grass savannahs, which turn into a dry bush and some picturesque hills.

The wildlife is also a bit different: reticulated giraffes, gravy zebras, Beisa oryx and Somali ostrich are some of the animals which can be found here, but also lions, leopards, and cheetahs.

After lunch, relax with a view of the river. At 4 p.m. you will go on an evening game drive until sunset.

Samburu National Reserve

Day 6: Discover The Stunning Diversity At Samburu National Reserve

After a cup of tea or coffee start on your early morning game drive while the air is still cool and the animals are more active.

Along the river you might find elephants and crocodiles, but also other animals come for drinking to the shores.

Return for breakfast at the camp before you go for a second game drive until noon, after which you will come back for lunch.

After some relaxing time, set off on an afternoon game drive to look for leopards. Come back to the camp for dinner.

Samburu National Reserve - Lake Nakuru National Park

Day 7: Enjoy The Sensational Birdwatching At Lake Nakuru National Park

After an early breakfast, go on a last game drive on the way out of the reserve and then drive to Nakuru with a stop at Thomson Falls (75 m high) and Rift Valley Viewpoint.

In the early evening go on your first game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park on the way to your lodge.

With over 450 different bird species, the park is a heaven for birders. But also lions, leopards, hyenas, buffalos, waterbucks, baboons, monkeys and many other mammals can be seen here.

Lake Nakuru National Park

Day 8: Search For A Leopard, Rothschild Giraffe Or Rhino

Start with an early morning game drive in search of a leopard.

In the forests in the north and south of the lake, the are good chances to find it.

Return to the lodge for breakfast and go for a second game drive.

Enjoy the view over the lake from one of the viewpoints and see how big the lake has become. 

After lunch at the lodge you can relax at the lodge. At 4 p.m. you will start another game drive.

Try to find the Rothschild giraffe or some rhinos, or visit Makalia waterfall in the south.

Return to the lodge in time for dinner.

Lake Nakuru National Park - Masai Mara

Day 9: Make Your To Legendary Masai Mara And Explore The Amazing Diversity

After breakfast, you will leave the park and to head South.

On your way through the Rift Valley, you pass Lake Elementaita and Lake Naivasha. Then you'll turn southwest and drive to Masai Mara via Narok, the economic center of Masai land.

After Narok, you will cross mostly flat land and drive thorn bushland before you reach the open savannah and start a long game drive on the way to the camp.

Have a lunch picnic on the way.

Spot lions, leopards, cheetahs and wildebeest, zebras and other types of antelopes and gazelles.

You will arrive at the camp by the late afternoon/evening. 

Masai Mara National Reserve

Day 10: See Lion In Mara

Enjoy two full days in Masai Mara – one of the most spectacular places for wildlife in Kenya.

Nowhere else is it almost guaranteed to spot lion, but in Mara, the chances are so high that you will! 

Enjoy an early morning game drive before sunrise to spot hyenas or other predators with a kill.

Masai Mara National Reserve

Day 11: Enjoy A Magnificent Set Of Game Drives Today

The second day here will see you face some new adventures. 

Have breakfast at the camp and go on another game drive until lunch time.

Go on an afternoon game drive for more impressive sightings.

Masai Mara National Reserve - Nairobi

Day 12: Farewell, Nairobi!

After breakfast, enjoy a last game drive on your way out of the park.

Then drive back to Nairobi with your packed lunch.

Transfer to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in time for your flight home or to your Nairobi Hotel for your beach extension the next day.