14-Day Western Kenya Safari and Culture Tour with Lake Victoria

• Pick up from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and head to Nakuru town. It's a 4-hour drive with a stopover at the Great Rift Valley viewpoint.
• Check in at Chester Hotel Nakuru for dinner and relaxation.

• Have breakfast and proceed for a game drive at Nakuru National Park from 0730 hrs to 1130 hrs. Nakuru comes from the Maasai word 'Nakurro', referring to the characteristically barren scrublands around the Lake Nakuru basin. Lake Nakuru is also referred to as the pink lake because of its famous flocks of flamingos. Wildlife to see at Lake Nakuru includes white and black rhinos, Rothschild and Maasai giraffes, buffalos, zebras, wild dogs, leopards, lions, eland, waterbuck, and many more. High cliffs, forest, grass plains, and a dusty shoreline with cracked soda earth are also home to many other bird species.
• After lunch, visit Menengai Crater for an exciting hike into the crater with volcanic rubble, rare plants, and birdlife. It is an extinct volcano that offers striking views of Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogoria, and the crater itself. It is the second-largest volcanic crater in the world and plunges 483 m. It is also believed that the crater is a historic battleground where the Maasai community fought for grazing land and pastures on the slopes of the Rift Valley.

Later, check in back at Chester.

• Take breakfast and check out.
• Leave for Kitale at 0700 hrs. It's a five-hour drive with a stopover at Eldoret.
• En route to Kitale, experience the beautiful scenery of tea and other plantations.
• After arriving in Kitale, take lunch and, after resting, visit the Kitale Museum, the first domestic museum to be opened in Kenya. It was originally known as the Stoneham Museum. It first opened to the public in 1924 and was later established by the National Museums of Kenya in 1974. The museum includes a nature trail and snake park with Nile crocodiles, leopard tortoises, and various venomous snakes such as the puff adder, rock python, Gabon viper, and rhinoceros viper.

Later, check in at Villa Serene Hotel for dinner and the night.

• Take breakfast at 0700 hrs and head to Mt. Elgon National Park, about 11 km from Kitale.
• While on the game drive, have a packed lunch. Mt. Elgon is an extinct shield volcano straddling the Kenya-Uganda border. It is the eighth-highest mountain in Africa and has the largest base area of any freestanding volcano in the world. It is famous for its elephant cave, 700 ft long, where elephants mine salt. The park has buffalos, monkeys, giant forest hogs, elephants, and rich birdlife. It is also a great moorland for hiking. The highest point, 'Wagagai', is in Uganda.

Check in back at the hotel for dinner.

• Have breakfast at 0730 hrs and leave for Kakamega.
• On the way, visit Saiwa Swamp National Park, the smallest national park in Kenya at 2.9 square kilometres. It was established to protect the endangered sitatunga, a semi-aquatic antelope. Other wildlife found here includes otters, genets, serval cats, mongooses, bushbucks, and monkeys, along with 372 recorded bird species.
• At 1000 hrs, proceed to Kakamega via Webuye town, with a stopover at Nabuyole Falls, also known as Broderick Falls.
• Check in at Golf Hotel Kakamega for lunch.
• After resting in the afternoon, visit Kakamega Market, which is always busy with local fare and clay pots.

Check in back at the hotel for dinner and the night.

• Take breakfast and head to Kakamega Forest at 0730 hrs. Kakamega Forest is the only rainforest left in Kenya, part of the ancient Guinea-Mongolian rainforest that once cut a thick belt across Africa's midriff until a few centuries ago. It is home to rare beauties such as blue monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, De Brazza's monkeys, and black-and-white guereza colobus monkeys. Its birdlife is spectacular, with stunning great blue turacos and more than 400 other bird species.
• After taking a picnic lunch, head to Rosterman Gold Mines in Ikolomani to see the typical actions of what actually happens in a gold mining firm.

Later in the day, check in back at the hotel for the night and dinner.

• Have breakfast and check out at 0800 hrs.
• On the way to Kisumu, have a quick stopover at the Crying Stone of Ilesi, also known as Ikhonga Murwi, for a photo shoot. This 131 ft-high granite stone is believed to be weeping non-stop by the side of the Kisumu-Kakamega road, a myth fueled by its almost human shape. The water is from the rock formation, with glitzy gneiss forming a vertical column.
• On arrival in Kisumu town, take a quick lunch and rest for a while, then take a city tour around Kisumu. Kisumu is one of the modern towns that still retains some old architecture along Oginga Odinga Road, which runs the length of the CBD.

After the city tour, check in at the Imperial Hotel for dinner and rest.

• Take breakfast and check out, then head to Kisumu Museum at 0800 hrs, a one-room museum featuring ethnic artefacts, wildlife, an aquarium, a snake park, and a Luo homestead called Ber Gi Dala.
• At 1000 hrs, head to Impala Sanctuary, which was created to protect the impala that was common in town until the 1960s. Other animals in the sanctuary include hippos, monitor lizards, lions, leopards, cheetahs, giraffes, buffalos, zebras, rhinos, and monkeys.
• Take lunch, then proceed to Bondo with a stop at Kit Mikayi, a rock formation, or tor, around 120 m high and situated about 29 km west of the town of Kisumu. Kit Mikayi means the stone of the first woman in Dholuo.

Check in at Bondo Pride Hotel for dinner and the night.

• Have breakfast at 0800 hrs and pay a visit to the world's famous grandma, Mama Obama, in the famous village of Kogelo. It is the ancestral home of the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.
• At 1000 hrs, go to Ramogi Hill, which is 20 km from Bondo. It is believed that the first Luo from South Sudan settled here first. Ramogi is a Luo word meaning father. The site boasts great views of the Yala Swamp, which flows into Lake Victoria. Ramogi Forest features Ramogi Stone, a huge rock that Ramogi used as an altar.
• Take lunch and check in back to the hotel for personal activities.

• Take breakfast and check out at 0800 hrs. Head to Rusinga Island via airbus.
• On arrival at Rusinga Island, go to Tom Mboya Mausoleum, which sits high on the lakeshore on family land with the grave of Tom Mboya. Tom Mboya was a politician who served as a trade union leader, Minister for Labour, Minister for Constitutional Affairs, and finally Minister for Economic Planning. He was the force behind the Mboya Airlift. The mausoleum is shaped like the bullet that cut short his life.
• After lunch, engage in other activities like mountain biking, visiting the fishing village, and visiting prehistoric and archaeological sites at an extra fee, which is not included in the package.

Retire and check in at the hotel at one's will.

• Take breakfast and take a boat trip to Mfangano Island, the largest Kenyan island. At the mouth of Winam Gulf, the road runs around the island, fringed with Luo fishermen and beaches where the women dry 'omena' (tiny fish).
• Climb Mawanga Hill to the prehistoric Mawanga Cave rock, which dates between 1000 and 4000 years ago.
• Also, pay a visit to Kwitone, which has more spectacular rock art.
• Take lunch and engage in personal activities such as sun-worshipping, fishing, village walks, and birding.

In the evening, take the boat trip back to Rusinga Island for dinner and the night.

• Take breakfast and check out at 0800 hrs.
• Head to Maasai Mara National Reserve, an approximately five-hour drive with a stopover at Kisii town.
• On arrival at Mara, check in at Fisi Camp Hotel for lunch. Enjoy a game drive from 1430 to 1630 hrs. Maasai Mara is famous for its eighth wonder of the world: the migration of wildebeests from Serengeti to Mara and vice versa. It was named in honour of the Maasai community. Wildlife in Mara includes the Big Five, Maasai giraffes, elephants, spotted hyenas, and many more.
• Check in back to the hotel for dinner and the night.

• Take breakfast at 0700 hrs and head for a game drive from 0800 to 1700 hrs.
• During the game drive, have a packed lunch at a picnic site.
• Later, interact with the Maasai community at an extra fee of $10. The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central, and southern Kenya. The word Mara means spotted due to the many short bushy trees that dot the landscape.

• Early game drive from 0630 hrs to 1030 hrs, then come back to the hotel and take breakfast.
• Check out from the hotel and head back to Nairobi National Park.
• Depending on the departure time, you can also tour Nairobi city or visit Two Rivers, one of Africa's largest shopping malls.