The Safari Experience
The Safari Experience
Three of Kenya’s most distinctive landscapes, joined by scheduled light aircraft rather than long days on the road, this 10-day journey is built for travellers who want maximum time in the bush and minimum time getting there. From Amboseli’s elephant herds beneath Kilimanjaro to Samburu’s rugged, river-fed wilderness in the north, and finally four nights in the lion-dense plains and private conservancy surrounding the Maasai Mara, this itinerary covers extraordinary ground without ever feeling rushed.
Each stop has its own character and its own specialist wildlife, big tuskers and Kilimanjaro views in the south, the rare northern species found nowhere else in Kenya, and finally the open grassland and golden light that made the Mara the most famous safari destination on earth.
Detailed Safari
Day 1: Arrival in Nairobi
You are met on arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and transferred to the Tamarind Tree Hotel, where you’ll spend the night on a bed and breakfast basis, with breakfast served the following morning.
Day 2: Fly to Amboseli National Park
A scheduled flight departs Wilson Airport at 0730hrs, with collection from the Tamarind Tree beforehand, landing in Amboseli at 0805hrs. You’ll be met by your host on arrival and transferred to Tortilis Camp, with an afternoon game drive to follow almost immediately.
Amboseli sits at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, and takes its name from the Maasai phrase for “the place of water,” a fitting description for a park whose swamps and springs are fed by snowmelt filtered through thousands of metres of volcanic rock. All meals and your overnight stay are at the camp.
Day 3: A Full Day of Game Drives at Amboseli National Park
You’ll spend the entire day exploring Amboseli across morning and afternoon game drives. Among the species regularly seen are elephant, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, impala, and leopard, with a rich birdlife that includes pelican, bee-eater, kingfisher, African fish eagle, and pygmy falcon. Amboseli remains one of Kenya’s most beloved parks: a home to massive elephant herds and Africa’s tallest peak, in equal and constant view of one another. All meals and your overnight stay are at Tortilis Camp.
Day 4: Fly via Wilson Airport to Samburu National Reserve
You’ll fly from Amboseli to Wilson Airport in Nairobi, connecting onward to a scheduled morning flight into Samburu. On arrival at the airstrip, your host meets you for the transfer to Elephant Bedroom Camp, set on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River beneath a canopy of doum palms, a setting the camp’s name lives up to rather literally, since elephant herds pass directly through the grounds on most days.
After lunch, a game drive runs until sunset across the reserve, where a substantial population of antelope has drawn strong numbers of lion and leopard. The reticulated giraffe and Grevy’s zebra, rare elsewhere in Kenya, are common here, alongside the unmistakable, long-necked gerenuk. Dinner and your overnight stay are at Elephant Bedroom Camp.
Day 5: A full Day at Samburu Game Reserve
You’ll spend the entire day in Samburu, with early morning and late afternoon game drives bracketing a relaxed midday at camp. Samburu is a beautiful, game-abundant reserve, home to species rarely found elsewhere in Kenya: the Beisa oryx, Grevy’s zebra, blue-necked Somali ostrich, and reticulated giraffe, all found only north of the equator. Optional activities include a visit to a local Samburu village, camel riding, and guided nature and bird walks. All meals and your overnight stay are at Elephant Bedroom Camp.
Day 6: Fly to Maasai Mara Game Reserve
After breakfast, you’re transferred to the airstrip for a scheduled flight to the Maasai Mara, where the camp team welcomes you on arrival. From the moment you land, the landscape and its sounds announce themselves entirely differently to anything in Samburu or Amboseli. Settle in before your first game drive, where the cast of characters tends to include red-billed hornbills perched on acacia branches, gatherings of elephant, buffalo, giraffe, lion, and cheetah, wildebeest and zebra grazing across the open plains, and the resident warthogs that wander confidently through camp itself.
Over the days ahead, you’ll have a wonderful range of excursions to choose from: game drives, nature walks, night drives, or Maasai community visits (the latter at an additional cost). Catch the moment when sunrise spills across the grassland and lights up the flat-topped acacias scattered to the horizon, the very landscape that has inspired filmmakers and photographers for generations. All meals and your overnight stay are at Entumoto Safari Camp.
Day 7, 8 & 9: Four Full days exploring the Maasai Mara Game Reserve
Days on safari can be shaped entirely to your preference: head out at sunrise with a picnic breakfast and return for lunch, set off after breakfast with a picnic lunch instead, or pack two picnics and spend the whole day exploring the Mara’s wildlife from dawn to dusk, one of the loveliest ways to experience this landscape. Equally, there’s no obligation to do any of it: relax at camp with a book by the pool, or settle into a rocking chair on your tent’s deck and simply watch the plains go by. As the sun dips behind the escarpment, evenings often end with Maasai warriors at the boma and a dinner of classic safari food, plated rather than served from a buffet line.
Day 10: Journey’s End – Fly to Nairobi
After breakfast, you’ll transfer to the airstrip for a scheduled flight back to Wilson Airport. Depending on your onward departure time, a final transfer carries you to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, marking the end of your safari.
This itinerary is a starting point. Every Trevaron journey is shaped around you. Speak to our safari designers to tailor the camps, timing, and details of your own Kenya wildlife and lakes safari.
Every Trevaron safari is shaped around you. Tell us what you’re dreaming of and our safari designers will tailor every detail around your pace, your group, and the moments that matter most.
