Kenya Culture & Wildlife Safari: Samburu to Maasai Mara

Board your overnight flight to Nairobi today.

Welcome to Kenya! Arrive in Nairobi and transfer to your hotel.

Please note: Most flights from North America arrive late in the evening.

Climb into four-wheel-drive vehicles and set out to discover notable landmarks and local culture in and around Nairobi, Kenya’s bustling capital city.

• Travel to the town of Limuru and visit the tranquil, family-run Kiambethu Farm, which is set within beautiful gardens surrounded by acres of tea plants and an indigenous forest
• Enjoy a tasting of tea while you hear how it became one of the country’s largest exports
• Set off on a walk through the surrounding indigenous forest alongside your guide—and keep an eye out for Colobus monkeys, with their distinctive black-and-white coloring and bearded faces
• Sit down for an included lunch on the farm’s veranda and admire the impressive views of the tea fields and Ngong Hills
• Depart the farm and head to Giraffe Centre, a preserve dedicated to raising rare Rothschild giraffes
• Learn about preservation efforts put in place to increase the giraffe population

Tonight, get to know your Tour Director and fellow travelers at a welcome dinner served with beer or wine.

Journey north to Samburu National Reserve, one of Kenya’s most unique and rewarding safari destinations. This special wildlife conservation haven is known for its abundance of rare animal species, including the Samburu Special Five—the Grevy’s zebra, Somali ostrich, reticulated Giraffe, gerenuk antelope, and beisa oryx. The reserve is also home to elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, and wild dogs.

Enjoy an included lunch, then depart for a game drive through the park and along the Ewaso Nyiro River. As you cruise around the reserve, try to spot the Samburu Special Five.

This evening, sit down for an included dinner served with beer or wine.

Head back out for a full day of game drives through Samburu National Reserve for another chance to spot the Samburu Special Five and other animals.

After an included lunch and afternoon game drive, visit the Samburu Village located inside the park. Meet with the villagers and gain insight into their culture and way of life.

• Take a walk through the village alongside one of its elders and learn about the villagers’ semi-nomadic lifestyle
• Enjoy a traditional Samburu dance performance, a type of social ritual dating back hundreds of years for villagers to let off steam, celebrate, and tell of their history and triumphant victories

Later this evening, sit down with your group for an included dinner served with beer or wine.

Make your way to the Great Rift Valley, an enormous area featuring beautiful lakes, expansive plains, and soaring mountains. Along the way, enjoy a game drive through the Solio Game Reserve, a privately owned sanctuary dedicated to rhino conservation. Keep an eye out for some of the ranch’s 200-plus rhinos, as well as other animals that make up the Big Five, and hear about the ranch’s successful black rhino breeding and protection initiatives.

Afterwards, head toward Aberdare for an included lunch. Then, continue on to your lodge.

This evening, sit down for an included dinner served with beer or wine.

Spend the morning at the vast and ancient Lake Naivasha, which lies at nearly 6,200 feet above sea level and is the highest of the Great Rift Valley’s three best-known lakes. Upon arrival, set out on a boat tour of Lake Naivasha, which is known for its substantial population of hippos and bird species.

Enjoy an included lunch at a local restaurant at Lake Naivasha. Then, head back to your safari lodge, where you’ll relax for the remainder of the day.

Sit down for an included dinner this evening, served with beer or wine.

Continue through the Great Rift Valley as you travel to the Maasai Mara, a nearly 600-square-mile national reserve in southwestern Kenya known for its vast plains and abundant wildlife. The region is also home to the Maasai people, an indigenous tribe of semi-nomadic pastoralists whose livelihood revolves around cattle. The Maasai tribe’s signature—and symbolic—red-and-blue clothing and colorful, beaded jewelry are among many traditions its people have maintained, while other tribes have adopted more modern styles of living.

• Enjoy an included lunch at your tented safari camp
• Set out on an afternoon game drive, keeping your eyes peeled for leopards, rhinos, Cape buffalo, lions, and elephants—known collectively as the Big Five
• Admire the Maasai Mara’s rolling hills, swaying savanna grasses, and iconic acacia trees

Sit down for an included dinner this evening, served with beer or wine.

Spend the morning relaxing and catching up on sleep, or add an excursion.

Today, get to know the awe-inspiring animals and people of the Maasai Mara.

• Rise before the sun for an early morning game drive—an exhilarating opportunity to spot lions, elephants, and other animals starting their day in search of food
• Head back to your tented safari camp for an included lunch
• After lunch, climb aboard a safari vehicle for an afternoon game drive, keeping watch for prides of lions snoozing in the shade, giraffes ambling among leafy trees, and sturdy warthogs trotting through tall grass

Later, immerse yourself in the Maasai way of life during a visit to a local boma, or Maasai homestead.

• Join male members of the Maasai tribe in their signature adamu, or jumping dance
• Tour a functioning Maasai boma and discover the tribe’s history and heritage
• Visit a market where Maasai people sell handiworks and crafts, and learn how money from visitors’ purchases helps sustain the tribe
• Receive your own Maasai name and learn the meaning behind it

This evening, sit down for an included dinner served with beer or wine.

En route back to Nairobi, stop in the bustling town of Maai Mahiu for a visit to the Ubuntu Life Foundation’s craft workshop for a chance to meet with the talented Maker Mums.

• Hear about the Ubuntu Life Foundation’s mission to provide health and education services and to promote inclusivity of children with special needs across the country
• Enter the Ubuntu Made Studio to meet the Maker Mums, who craft beautiful items, such as bags and shoes, by hand
• Learn how the Maai Mahiu community has been empowered by Ubuntu to gain skills and self esteem to start their own businesses for a better future

Continue to Nairobi and relax in a dayroom before boarding your flight home tonight or early tomorrow morning, or extend your stay to explore southern Kenya.

Arrive home today.