Amboseli · Lake Naivasha · Lake Nakuru · Maasai Mara
Kenya – The Nine-Day Signature
Amboseli is where you get the postcard: elephant herds crossing the open pans with Kilimanjaro's snow behind them, close enough to fill the frame. This journey opens with two nights there, breaks the drive north with a spa night on Lake Naivasha, and finishes with three unhurried nights in the Mara. It's the classic Kenya — the mountain, the rhino, the big cats — at a pace built for watching rather than rushing.
- Length
- 9 days
- Regions
- 4
- Vehicle
- Private 4×4 Land Cruiser · window seat for every guest · max 6
- Game viewing
- National park / reserve
From $5,310 per person for two, or $4,217 per person when four share a vehicle.
per person for two. Land only, pp sharing, long-rains low season; migration months ~40–50% higher; flights, eTA, drinks, tips and optional activities extra; rate fixed at confirmed bookingDay by day
Day 1 — Arrive Nairobi
You’ll be met inside Jomo Kenyatta International with a Wesley Chapel Travel board — no hunting for a stranger in a crowd after a long flight — and driven the short way to the Tamarind Tree Hotel. The rest of the day is yours. Sleep, sit by the pool, or do nothing at all; the safari starts properly tomorrow and there’s no sense arriving at Amboseli already tired.
Overnight: Tamarind Tree Hotel · breakfast included
Day 2 — Nairobi to Amboseli
South out of the city toward the Tanzania border and Amboseli National Park, the park that sits in Kilimanjaro’s shadow. You’ll reach Kibo Safari Camp in time for lunch, settle into your tent, and head out on a first game drive in the afternoon. Amboseli is elephant country above all — some of the largest, oldest herds in Kenya move across its open pans — and on a clear afternoon the mountain stands over the whole scene, snow on the summit, the reason half the world’s safari photographs are taken here. Lion, cheetah, buffalo, giraffe, zebra and a great deal of birdlife fill in around the elephants.
Overnight: Kibo Safari Camp (deluxe tent) · lunch, dinner, breakfast
Day 3 — Amboseli
Day 4 — Amboseli to Lake Naivasha
A travel day, broken properly. You’ll drive back up toward Nairobi and stop for an unhurried lunch — included — at the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden, then carry on to Lake Naivasha, a freshwater lake in the Rift Valley ringed by tall acacias and papyrus. Tonight is the one entry-luxury night of the trip, at Enashipai Resort & Spa, and it’s placed here on purpose: a hot shower, a good dinner and a proper rest between two fuller days. If you’d like to get out on the water, there are two optional add-ons — a boat ride on the lake and a guided walk on Crescent Island, one of the few places in Kenya you can walk on foot among giraffe, zebra and antelope with no predators around. Both need arranging in advance and run about US$70 per person.
Overnight: Enashipai Resort & Spa · lunch, dinner, breakfast
Day 5 — Naivasha to Lake Nakuru
Pick up a packed lunch and drive the short distance to Lake Nakuru National Park. Nakuru is small, fenced and easy to work in a day, and it’s one of the real conservation successes in Kenya — home to both black and white rhino, which makes it one of the surest places in the country to see them. Alongside the rhino you’ll find Rothschild’s giraffe, lion, buffalo, waterbuck and, depending on the water levels and the season, the flamingos the lake is famous for. Dinner tonight looks out over the park from Sarova Lion Hill.
Overnight: Sarova Lion Hill Lodge · lunch, dinner, breakfast
Day 6 — Nakuru to the Maasai Mara
A last game drive on the way out of Nakuru, then on to the Mara — the Kenya most people picture when they think of safari. You’ll reach Mara Maisha Camp in time for lunch and be out on a first afternoon game drive the same day. The camp sits just outside the reserve near the Talek gate, so mornings and afternoons are spent driving into the Mara for game viewing and returning to camp in between. The reserve delivers year-round: lion, elephant, buffalo, cheetah, leopard and antelope in enormous variety across open grassland that runs to the horizon.
Overnight: Mara Maisha Camp (deluxe room) · lunch, dinner, breakfast
Day 7 — Maasai Mara
A full day in the reserve, either as morning and afternoon drives or one long day out with a picnic lunch — your guide will read the conditions and the wildlife and plan accordingly. This is Big Five country, and the day is built around finding them and whatever else the Mara turns up.
Overnight: Mara Maisha Camp (deluxe room) · lunch, dinner, breakfast
Day 8 — Maasai Mara
A second full day, and the one that changes the trip. Two days in the Mara means you can work different parts of the reserve, sit with a single sighting instead of rushing to the next, and give the photography the time it actually needs. Predators one day, elephant herds and open plains the next — this is the day people remember.
Overnight: Mara Maisha Camp (deluxe room) · lunch, dinner, breakfast
Day 9 — Return to Nairobi
After breakfast you leave the Mara and drive back to Nairobi, arriving in the afternoon and transferring to Jomo Kenyatta International for your onward flight home.
(If your international flight leaves late in the evening, tell Milli — a day room at an airport hotel so you can shower and rest before a long flight is easy to arrange, and worth it.) Meal plan: Breakfast
Photography: Sarova Lion Hill Lodge
Where you'll stay
Included
- All park and reserve entry fees, government taxes and levies
- Private 4×4 Land Cruiser with pop-up roof and English-speaking driver-guide throughout
- A window seat for every guest
- Full board while on safari (all meals as listed, including the Day-4 lunch at Karen Blixen Coffee Garden)
- Indian vegetarian and other dietary options at every lodge, confirmed before you travel
- Eight nights' accommodation, including your arrival night in Nairobi
- Airport meet-and-greet and all transfers
- AMREF Flying Doctors emergency evacuation cover — airlift or road transfer to a Nairobi hospital
- Bottled water in the vehicle on every game drive
- 24-hour standby contact number
Not included
- International flights
- Kenya travel authorization (eTA) — US$30 per person
- Travel insurance — comprehensive cover is required, not optional
- Hospital and medical treatment costs (the evacuation is included; the treatment is not)
- Alcoholic and other drinks unless stated
- Tips and gratuities — about US$10 a day for your driver-guide is the local norm
- Optional experiences — Naivasha boat and Crescent Island (~US$70pp), balloon safari, Maasai village
- Snacks between meals, personal expenses, phone and internet
What we'd rather tell you now
Most of what goes wrong on a trip is an expectation nobody corrected in advance. So here's what this journey is not, before you spend anything.
- This is a reserve journey, not a conservancy one Amboseli, Nakuru and your three Mara nights are inside national parks and reserves, under park rules: vehicles stay on the tracks, no night drives, fixed gate times. Conservancy properties can do all three; they also cost considerably more. We can build that instead if it matters to you.
- A driver-guide, not a private guide One professional English-speaking driver-guide drives, spots and explains, and is good at all three. What you don't get is a separate naturalist travelling alongside you; that's a different tier of trip at a different price.
- The Mara camp is just outside the reserve Mara Maisha sits about 4.5 km from the Talek gate, so each game drive begins with a short drive to the entrance rather than straight from your tent. The trade-off is a quieter setting; we'd rather you knew the drive-to-gate is part of the day.
- Drinks aren't included Meals are full board, but beverages — including water beyond what's in the vehicle — are charged to your room. Budget for it rather than be surprised at checkout.
- Evacuation is covered; treatment isn't AMREF Flying Doctors cover is included and will airlift or drive you to a Nairobi hospital if it's ever needed. What it does not cover is the hospital and treatment costs once you're there — which is why comprehensive travel insurance with medical and evacuation cover is a condition of travelling with us, and we'll ask to see it.
- The safari vehicle is not air-conditioned The pop-up roof is built for game viewing and the windows open, but there's no A/C, worth knowing for the warm days in Amboseli and Nakuru.
Plan this journey
Every price here is a starting point. Tell Milli your dates and who's traveling, and she'll come back with the exact trip and the exact number, in a written quote — not a brochure.
Plan your Journey →