The Safari Experience
The Safari Experience
Sixteen days gives you room to do something most safaris can’t: properly inhabit Nairobi’s culture and history before heading into the bush, work through Kenya’s classic wildlife circuit at an unhurried pace, and close the entire journey with four full days on Lamu, one of East Africa’s most singular and well-preserved corners of Swahili heritage. This itinerary moves from Nairobi’s elephant orphanage and colonial-era museums to the Maasai Mara, the Rift Valley’s lake country, Amboseli beneath Kilimanjaro, a scenic train ride to the coast, and finally a flight out to Lamu’s car-free streets and centuries-old Old Town.
It is, in every sense, a complete portrait of Kenya: wildlife, history, culture, and coastline, woven into a single, generously paced journey.
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.
Day 2: Nairobi National Park & the Elephant Orphanage
At 0600hrs, you’re collected from the hotel and driven to the Nairobi National Park gate for an early morning game drive, a remarkable way to begin the day given this is one of the only protected wildlife areas found within a capital city anywhere on earth. From there, you’ll head to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s elephant orphanage, a world-famous animal refuge where the daily feeding begins at 11am. Watching dozens of baby elephants come running to their keepers, latching onto oversized milk bottles before tumbling into the mud for their afternoon bath, tends to be the single moment most visitors remember Kenya by.
This haven takes in orphaned elephants from across Kenya and beyond, animals who lost their mothers to drought, accident, or poaching, and has become the most successful sanctuary of its kind anywhere in the world, having saved over 200 baby elephants as well as young rhinos. Lunch follows at the famous Carnivore restaurant, before you’re transferred back to the hotel to relax for the evening.
Day 3: Museums, Giraffes & Kazuri Beads
At 9am, you’re collected from the hotel for a tour of the National Museum of Kenya, an introduction to the country’s rich history, art, and paleontological heritage. The museum aims to interpret Kenya’s heritage as a single, comprehensive stop for both education and leisure, and includes the Nairobi Snake Park and Nairobi Gallery within its grounds.
At midday, you’ll drive to Langata to visit the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife’s Giraffe Centre, where you can interact with and hand-feed endangered Rothschild’s giraffe from a raised platform. Lunch follows at a restaurant in the Karen area, such as the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden, after which you’ll visit the Karen Blixen Museum, the historic home of the Danish author whose 1937 memoir “Out of Africa” chronicled her years running a coffee farm here, a book later adapted into the Oscar-winning 1985 film of the same name. The museum preserves much of the house’s original furniture alongside expansive gardens at the foot of the Ngong Hills. You’ll round out the day with a visit to the Kazuri Beads factory, where local women hand-craft ceramic beads using techniques developed here over decades.
Day 4: Drive to Maasai Mara Game Reserve
Your safari departs Nairobi in the morning, driving down to the floor of the Rift Valley with a brief stop at the Rift Valley Viewpoint to take in the most eye-catching panorama along the entire route. From there, you’ll continue on to Kenya’s premier wildlife park, the Maasai Mara, home to the resident wildlife once made famous by the BBC’s Big Cat Diary, arriving in time for lunch at Mara Sarova Game Lodge. After lunch, an afternoon game drive carries you en route to Mara Sopa Lodge, the vast plains delivering incredible game viewing along the way. Dinner and your overnight stay are at Mara Sopa Lodge.
Day 5: A Full Day in Maasai Mara Game Reserve
You’ll spend the entire day in the Mara, Kenya’s most popular game sanctuary, with the best opportunity anywhere in the country to spot the Big Five: lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino. Choose your own rhythm: take a picnic lunch and spend most of the day out in the park, returning to the lodge in the late afternoon, or split your time into an early pre-breakfast game drive and a second outing later in the day. An optional visit to a local Maasai village is available at an additional cost. All meals and your overnight stay are at Mara Sopa Lodge.
Day 6: Drive to Lake Naivasha
After breakfast, you’ll drive to Lake Naivasha, arriving in time for lunch at Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge. The afternoon brings a boat ride across the lake to Crescent Island for a walking safari, one of the few places anywhere in the world where you can wander on foot among wild animals with no predators in sight. Dinner and your overnight stay are at Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge.
Day 7: Cycling, hiking, and a Volcanic Hot Spring at Hell’s Gate & Olkaria
After breakfast, you’ll drive to Hell’s Gate National Park, a World Heritage Site protected for its globally unique natural features, entering via Elsa Gate or Olkaria Gate. You’ll hire bicycles and cycle toward Fischer’s Tower, enjoying game viewing in a genuinely safe, predator-free setting along the way.
From there, the Ol Njorowa Gorge hike takes you through a narrow, scenic canyon with a local guide, recommended both for safety and for the chance to learn about the area’s hot springs and rock formations, with a picnic lunch enjoyed within the park itself. After the hiking and cycling, relax in the large, naturally heated mineral pools at the Olkaria Geothermal Spa, warmed entirely by volcanic activity beneath the ground. You’ll drive back to Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge for dinner and your overnight stay.
Day 8 & 9: Drive South to Amboseli National Park
After breakfast, you’ll drive south by road through Kamba land, dotted with circular houses and small shopping centres, and Maasai land beyond, to Amboseli National Park, where you’ll spend two nights. Amboseli sits at the foot of Africa’s highest mountain and the highest free-standing mountain on earth, the majestic, snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro. You’ll arrive at Amboseli Sopa Lodge in time for lunch, with leisure hours afterward for a siesta or a swim, before departing around 1600hrs for an afternoon of game viewing, returning to camp before sunset.
The park holds large herds of wildebeest, zebra, elephant, giraffe, and lion, alongside a wealth of other wildlife and birdlife, all drawn here by Amboseli’s permanent water supply, fed by Kilimanjaro’s melting snow. Amboseli’s elephant population is among the few in Africa that has lived genuinely undisturbed, and these families have been studied for decades by the world-renowned researcher Cynthia Moss. Dinner and your overnight stay are at Amboseli Sopa Lodge.
Day 10: To the Coast by Rail – Mombasa
After breakfast, you’ll drive to Emali Terminus to board a train departing at 0900hrs for Mombasa, arriving at 1400hrs. On arrival, you’ll be met by your driver and transferred to Severin Sea Lodge for two nights in a Deluxe Bungalow Suite, booked on a half-board basis.
Day 11: A Full Day on Bamburi Beach
A full day to enjoy Severin Sea Lodge at your own pace, with optional activities available to arrange privately through the hotel. A visit to nearby Haller Park lets you see rescued animals, giraffe, and hippo in a rehabilitated former quarry, while an afternoon Mombasa city tour takes in Fort Jesus, the Old Town, and Mackinnon Market. Evenings bring live music and performances at the hotel.
Day 12: Fly Onward to Lamu
After breakfast, you’re transferred to Moi International Airport for a flight to Lamu’s Manda Airport. On arrival, a short 10 to 15-minute boat transfer carries you across to Shela, where Kijani Hotel’s staff meet you for the final leg to the hotel, booked on a bed and breakfast basis. Kijani blends relaxed island living with genuine Swahili heritage, its rooms built within coral-walled, makuti-roofed structures that began life as private Shela homes. Days here typically involve walks to nearby Shela Beach, boat trips into Lamu’s Old Town, sunset dhow cruises, and fresh seafood enjoyed on the hotel’s terrace, with snorkelling and visits to Manda Toto among the other options on offer.
Day 13 to 15: Four Days in Lamu Island
Four days to properly explore Lamu Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in East Africa, alongside long, unhurried stretches on Shela Beach. Activities available at Kijani include sunset and moonlight dhow cruises, barbecue days out on the water, and boat trips to Manda Toto, Kipungani, or Kinyika. Cultural tours bring guided walks through Lamu Town and workshops in traditional Swahili arts, while wellness offerings include yoga and in-room massage, and water sports cover kayaking and paddleboard hire. All of these activities are arranged directly through the hotel at an additional cost.
Day 16: Journey’s End – Fly to Nairobi
After breakfast, you’re transferred to Manda Airport for a flight back to Nairobi. On arrival, you’re transferred to the Four Points by Sheraton airport hotel for an overnight stay on a bed and breakfast basis, with dinner on your own account.
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 Lamu beach 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.
