Kenya · Safari

5-Day Kenya Wildlife Safari through Amboseli, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara

5 Days Round trip from Nairobi Easy pace

The journey

Trip highlights

01 Admire amazing views of Mount Kilimanjaro from Amboseli
02 Meet a variety of birds near the alkaline Lake Nakuru
03 Visit Masai Mara National Reserve, famous for the wildebeest migration
04 Spot savannah animals near the Mara River

Go on an adventurous wildlife safari through Kenya's popular national parks, starting in Amboseli National Park, where large herds of elephants roam beneath the backdrop of snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro. Continue to Lake Nakuru National Park to spot flamingos, rhinos, and a rich variety of birdlife around its alkaline waters. The journey ends in Masai Mara National Reserve, where you can look out for the Big Five and explore one of Kenya's most celebrated wildlife areas.

Go on an adventurous wildlife safari through Kenya's popular national parks, starting in Amboseli National Park, where large herds of elephants roam beneath the backdrop of snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro.

From the itinerary

At a glance

What this trip includes

Duration 5 Days

Tour type Shared

Activity level Easy

Accommodation Included · Standard

Transport Included

Wheelchair access Not applicable

Cities Nairobi, Masai Mara, Amboseli National Park, Lake Nakuru National Park

Languages English

Day by day

The itinerary

Day 01

Nairobi to Amboseli National Park

Pick up from your Nairobi hotel or airport in the morning and drive to Amboseli National Park, famous for its scenery, with snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro dominating the landscape and open plains.
Arrive in time for lunch, followed by an afternoon game drive.
Proceed to the area of Lake Amboseli, a vast salt pan consisting of permanent swamps. This area has abundant game, large and small, including a high concentration of elephant, rhino, buffalo, Burchell's zebra, eland, Masai giraffe, and small species of the antelope family such as the common waterbuck, klipspringer, Grant's gazelle, impala, and topi, along with much other wildlife.
Return to the camp or lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 02

Amboseli National Park to Lake Nakuru

Have an early breakfast at your camp or lodge and then depart for Lake Nakuru National Park, arriving at your lodge in time for lunch.
Enjoy a sumptuous lunch and relax before the afternoon game drive.
See a variety of birds, including the Egyptian goose and different kinds of ducks that come from Europe. Since there is no existing drainage, Lake Nakuru is alkaline and is the perfect place for flamingos to feed on the blue-green algae. The greater flamingo attains a height of about 4.26 feet, and its plumage is almost white with pale pink and a black-tipped beak.
You can also see different types of wildlife, including the white rhino and black rhino, cheetah, lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and other members of the Big Five.
All meals and overnight at Lake Nakuru Lodge or similar.

Day 03

Lake Nakuru to Masai Mara Game Reserve

Depart for the Masai Mara Game Reserve after an early morning breakfast at the lodge.
Arrive in time for lunch and an afternoon game drive. Masai Mara offers wonderful scenery and plenty of game. It is perhaps the only region left in Kenya where a visitor may see animals in the same super-abundance as existed a century ago.
Explore this part of the Northern Serengeti Ecosystem, where the great wildebeest migration takes place. The plain is literally covered with these animals. Grunts and other animal sounds are heard, and territorial fights are commonplace.
Return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 04

Full-Day Game Viewing in Masai Mara

After breakfast, enjoy a full-day game viewing experience in Masai Mara, which offers an absolutely unique variety of animals. The reason is that this hilly region is both humid and fertile and is crossed by the Mara and Talek rivers, which are full of crocodiles and hippos. The abundance of water and excellent availability of food are the reasons Maasai Mara has the greatest population of wild animals in the whole of Africa.
Drive by the river, which is a great place to spot wildlife. This area is a photographer's delight where, with any luck, you will be able to take amazing pictures of the hippos and crocodiles in the water. The small size funnels animals into a tight space; park rules allow for off-road driving, which means that guests can venture into plains with hundreds and thousands of animals.
Return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 05

Masai Mara to Nairobi

Enjoy early morning game viewing in Masai Mara to see the park one more time before returning to Nairobi.
Drive back to the lodge or camp for final check-out, then start the journey back to Nairobi.

The route

Where you'll travel

Tour route map — Round trip from Nairobi 4 cities · 5 Days

The fine print

Trip details

What's Included

Park fees (for non-residents)
All activities (unless labelled as optional)
All accommodation (unless listed as upgrade)
A professional driver/guide
All transportation (unless labelled as optional)
All taxes/VAT
Roundtrip airport transfer
Meals (as specified in the day-by-day section)
Drinking water (on all days)

What's Not Included

International flights (from/to home)
Additional accommodation before and at the end of the tour
Tips (tipping guideline: US$10.00 pp per day)
Personal items (souvenirs, travel insurance, visa fees, etc.)
Government-imposed increase of taxes and/or park fees

Know before you go

The migration, now declared the Seventh Wonder of the World, takes place from the end of July to September. Soak in the abundance of untamed wilderness and fresh, natural scenery, filled with exotic wildlife during expertly guided game drives enjoyed in open vehicles. Renowned for its magnificent Big Cat population that hunts the wildebeest, zebra, and other plains game that dominate the Mara, it has even been nicknamed the "Kingdom of the Lions". Finding a pride of lions (there are some 400 lions resident in the reserve and neighbouring conservancies) is usually relatively easy - and high on most visitors' must-see lists. Leopards are also seen increasingly often, and good sightings of cheetahs can be expected. Other predators regularly seen throughout the reserve and conservancies include fascinating spotted hyenas (rarely bothered by human observers and compelling in their social interactions), black-backed and side-striped jackals, and cute pairs of bat-eared foxes. With luck, you may also see a serval - a skinny, striped and spotted cat of tall grass and bush, adept at catching small mammals and birds. The rarest predator of the Maasai Mara, the wild dog, is a beautiful, nomadic pack animal. At one time almost extinct in the region, one or two packs (and what appear to be smaller scouting parties of two or three individuals) are being seen in many areas, though still not regularly.
Other optional tours and excursions in Masai Mara include:
- Maasai village visit: US$20 per person. You may wish to visit a Maasai village to see their traditional life. Photography is not prohibited here. A Maasai guide at the village will escort you and explain their experiences in English. A Maasai lady will give you a lecture on how to make a beaded bracelet at their library. It will be one of your souvenirs once completed. Duration: approximately 2 hours, starting from 10:00 AM.
- Hot air balloon safari: US$420 per person. What could be more uplifting than an early morning safari in a hot air balloon flying over the vast plains of Africa? You drift above the browsing game and have tremendous opportunities for unusual photographs while flying over enormous plains. Witness an African sunrise as a plethora of wildlife roams the land beneath you. At the end of the flight, you land on the plains amidst this enchanting savannah, where a champagne breakfast is laid out with the aroma of sausages, eggs, and bacon sizzling over a charcoal fire. Duration: 1-hour flight, starting at around 5:00 AM.

Logistics