6 Day Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru & Amboseli Family Safari

Pick up from your hotel or airport and drive to Masai Mara National Reserve, a 5- to 6-hour drive, arriving in time for lunch. Masai Mara is a pristine wilderness of haunting beauty, it promises its visitors a profusion of wildlife, prolific birdlife and the opportunity of catching up with all the members of the ‘Big Five’ in one morning. The 1,800sq km of this veteran reserve offers a mix of African imagery; miles of lion-gold grasslands, shoals of lilac-misted hills, a meandering river, acres of thorn-bush and mile upon mile of undulating wilderness. Game viewing in the Masai Mara is excellent all year round thanks to the diverse population of resident game, including the Big Five—lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino—and popular species like zebra, giraffe, hyena, eland and gazelle. The Mara’s big cats are even the stars of a popular wildlife TV series. Enjoy an afternoon game drive to spot the Big Five as your introduction to the park. Return for dinner and your overnight.

Enjoy a full day in the Masai Mara with morning and afternoon game drives. Masai Mara National Reserve offers one of the best opportunities to see cheetahs and lions in Africa. A visit to this reserve in July will allow you the best chance to witness and watch firsthand as thousands of wildebeest migrate across the swollen crocodile-infested Mara River. This is one of nature’s greatest wildlife spectacles, the wildebeest migration. The sheer number of wildebeests arriving in the area is staggering. The migration is a dramatic mass movement of almost two million wildebeests, zebras and gazelles in a seasonal annual cycle driven by rainfall. In order to reach Masai Mara fresh grazing, wildebeests make dramatic river crossings, facing enormous crocodiles to feast on the Mara plains and regain their strength. November’s short rains trigger the last leg of the migration when the wildebeest move south to Serengeti. Return to the tented camp for dinner and your overnight stay.

Enjoy breakfast at the camp followed by check out. You might want to optionally visit a local Maasai Village for a cultural tour at an extra cost. Drive to Lake Nakuru National Park with on-route lunch. On entering the park, enjoy a game drive to spot wildlife. It is a shallow alkaline lake where visitors can enjoy the wide ecological diversity with varied habitats that range from the lake itself to the surrounding escarpment and picturesque ridges. A game drive is the main activity at Lake Nakuru. Foragers, grazers, hunters and scavengers all play their roles in the natural existence of Lake Nakuru. The park also has over 450 bird species including flamingos. The lake is famed as one of the world’s greatest ornithological spectacles. The park is also home to zebras, gazelles, Rothschild giraffes, impalas, black and white rhinos sanctuary and other large mammals. Dinner and your overnight stay are at the camp.

After an early breakfast, you will have morning game drives in Lake Nakuru National Park, one of the few Great Rift Valley attractions in Kenya that have the potential to hold a large number of birds. You will then depart to Amboseli National Park with a picnic lunch on the way. Arrive at Amboseli in the evening for dinner and overnight at the lodge with spectacular views of Africa’s highest mountain—Mount Kilimanjaro.

Enjoy a full day in Amboseli with game drives in the morning and afternoon to explore the park and have magnificent views of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. View large herds of elephants, renowned to be residents of this park. Amboseli is popular with breathtaking views of Kilimanjaro and reliably good elephant viewing. Nature lovers can explore five different habitats here ranging from the dried-up bed of Lake Amboseli, wetlands with sulphur springs, the savannah and woodlands. You can also visit the local Maasai community who live around the park and experience their authentic culture. Animals to be found here include the leopard, cheetah, wild dog, buffalo, elephant, giraffe, zebra, lion, crocodile, mongoose, hyrax, dik-dik, lesser kudu, and nocturnal porcupine. There is also a prolific birdlife featuring 600 species. All meals and your overnight stay are at the lodge

After an early breakfast, you will head out for an extended morning game viewing drive in Amboseli National Park as you see the majestic Kilimanjaro. The park emits the classic Hollywood images of Africa. Set in rolling savannah scenery it is dwarfed by the presence of the pink-tinged, snow-capped peak of Mount Kilimanjaro at 5896 meters. It is the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Against this magnificent backdrop roam vast herds of elephants accompanied by lions, buffalo, cheetahs, giraffes, baboons, gazelles, hippos and wildebeests.

You will then exit the park and make a return journey back to Nairobi with a drop-off at the airport or hotel.