Off The Beaten Track in Kenya

Day 1: Upon arrival into Nairobi you will be met by a representative and transferred to the domestic airport where you’ll board a light aircraft flight to Nanyuki. Your light aircraft flight is an experience in itself and you will have amazing views as you fly up towards the Laikipia Plateau. You will be met by your guide and driven to your first campsite. Laikipia has miles and miles of unfenced wilderness, spectacular scenery and an abundance of wildlife that is on the increase and in greater numbers than anywhere else in Kenya (except the Masai Mara). Unlike the endless open plains in the Mara, Laikipia has a varied landscape of rocky outcrops, rivers, acacia woodlands, riverine forests, open plains and escarpments. You can expect to see elephant, giraffe, buffalo, hippo, Grevy’s zebra, warthog, hyenas, lions, bat-eared foxes and lots of antelope species. Laikipia also has excellent leopard sightings, striped hyena, and some of the best wild dog sightings in Africa. Overnight: Laikipia Meals: (Lunch/Dinner) Day 2-3: Over the next two full days you’ll embark on an adventurous walking safari, fully supported by camels and led by experienced Masai, Samburu, and Turkana walking guides. Laikipia is one of the only places in Kenya where you can go on a walking safari and by using camels rather than vehicles you’ll get to areas that vehicles cannot reach. You’ll be walking through breathtaking landscapes, tracking animals on foot and climbing hills and rocks for phenomenal views, before reaching your next camp. You’ll typically walk for three hours in the morning and another couple of hours in the afternoon. In the afternoon you can relax at the camp, enjoy a swim in a nearby river, or have a siesta, before going for an evening walk and sundowners. At night you’ll sleep in tents, with a hot bucket shower and long drop toilet nearby. Your evening meal is cooked over the coals and you’ll eat under the stars. Overnight: Laikipia Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) Day 4: Today you’ll say goodbye to your guides and the camels before being driven north. You’ll notice the landscape change around you as you enter Samburuland, the driest region of the country. For the next two nights you’ll stay in a lodge either on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River in Samburu Game Reserve, or in the heart of the Kalama Community Wildlife Conservancy, about 7 km from the northern border of the Samburu National Reserve. Leopard are often seen in the rocky outcrops surrounding the lodges and the Ewaso Nyiro river is home to Africa's most approachable elephants. Overnight: Samburuland Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) Day 5: Today you’ll have a full day to explore this stunning region. You can enjoy exciting morning, afternoon and night game drives and walking safaris with professional Samburu guides. Samburu National Reserve has a good number of lions, leopards, elephant, monkeys, and impalas as well as many wildlife species endemic to northern Kenya. Overnight: Samburuland Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) Day 6: This morning you will be driven to the wild, undiscovered northern frontier of Kenya to ‘Saruni Rhino’ in the Sera Community Conservancy. Saruni Rhino offers the first rhino tracking experience in East Africa and over the next two days you’ll have the chance to enjoy an incredible walking safari tracking black rhino, accompanied by an expert Saruni guide and a highly-trained Sera Community Conservancy ranger, equipped with a transmitter connected to the GPS whereabouts of the 11 rhinos throughout the vast sanctuary. This fenced in sanctuary is one of the most advanced conservation projects in Kenya. Overnight: Sera Conservancy Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) Day 7: Today you’ll have a full day for game drives and black rhino tracking in the sanctuary, plus you can visit Reteti Elephant Orphanage which provides protection for orphaned and abandoned elephant calves with an aim to release them back into the wild. We also recommend a visit to Fifty Wells, ‘Kisima Hamsini’, a series of 50 springs where local pastoralists take their livestock to water, digging up water from the wells to fill up holders and troughs. Overnight: Sera Conservancy Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) Day 8: This morning you will be driven to the airstrip where you’ll take a light aircraft flight to the Masai Mara. Upon arrival at the Masai Mara you will be met by a representative and driven to your luxury safari lodge or camp where you will stay for the next three nights. This afternoon you’ll head out on your first game drive on the plains of the Masai Mara. Overnight: Masai Mara Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) Days 9-10: Over the next two days you’ll enjoy morning and afternoon game drives in the Masai Mara National Reserve. This iconic reserve offers amazing wildlife viewing opportunities and it’s highly likely that you’ll see zebra, impala, gazelle, wildebeest, buffalo, rhino and elephant, plus lions, cheetahs and leopards. Your lodge or camp may also offer the opportunity for a night game drive where you’ll see nocturnal animals such as aardvarks and honey badgers. As well as game drives, there are a range of other activities that you can participate in during your time in the Masai Mara, including cultural visits to Maasai villages and markets, guided bush walks, horse riding, and black rhino tracking experiences. You can also experience a magical hot air balloon flight over the plains of the Masai Mara followed by a champagne breakfast. Overnight: Masai Mara Meals: (Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) Day 11: After breakfast you’ll check out of your accommodation and you’ll be driven back to the airstrip for your light aircraft flight to Nairobi. If your international flight from Nairobi departs late in the evening we can arrange for you to have a car and driver for the afternoon to ensure that you don’t waste the final day of your holiday. You may wish to visit the endangered Rothschild giraffes at the Giraffe Centre in Lang'ata, or you can visit the Karen Blixen Museum. Or you may wish to do some last minute shopping at the various markets that sell African handicrafts, such as Utamaduni, the Maasai market at Galleria Mall. Alternatively you may wish to consider fostering an elephant via the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and then you’ll have the opportunity to visit the orphanage at 5pm during the foster parents feeding time. Your driver will transfer you to Nairobi International Airport in the evening in time to catch your flight home. Overnight: International flight Meals: (Breakfast)