8-DAY AMBOSELI/LAKES NAIVASHA & NAKURU/HELL’S GATE/MASAI MARA NATIONAL PARKS

7:30 am This is how our grand tour begins – your Hidaya Africa Tours & Travel driver/guide will come by your hotel, residence, or other place of your choosing in a private 4 x 4 Land Cruiser Jeep. Hop aboard and we’ll proceed down the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway past open fields of small farms and perhaps Masai tribespeople herding their cattle. We should be at Amboseli in time for lunch at your accommodation. Take in the wonder of this park, framed by the majesty of iconic Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest peak in Africa. We’re certain to spot herds of great elephants but also keep an eye out for lots of other game in this busy park. Toward evening, if the clouds hovering around Kilimanjaro’s summit disperse, we may get a view of its snow-capped peak, an unforgettable sight. We’ll head back to our safari lodge or tented camp for dinner and a relaxing evening.

This is our first full day of game drives – enjoy as many as you please. But you can also reserve time for relaxation at your accommodation. Just tell your driver/guide how you’d like to plan your day. We’ll start with a pre-breakfast game drive – then after watching the wildlife get their breakfast, we’ll head back for ours. A mid-morning safari drive will follow and then lunch. Besides being known for its generous population of elephants, Amboseli features a great variety of wildlife and birdlife along its marshes. The park’s Observation Hill lives up to its name and we’ll drive up here to view the variety of wildlife and enjoy more vistas of the environs. Come late afternoon, we’ll head back to our safari lodge or tented camp for a relaxing evening.

Let’s go for one more early game drive and take in Kilimanjaro as we exit Amboseli, headed for Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley. The park is a treat of small game and varied birdlife, like ostrich, pelican, heron, eagle, and more. Ever go on a sailing safari? We will – a peaceful sail across the lake, gliding by hippos in their natural habitat, while nearby on the shore antelope, zebra, giraffe and others watch us, watching them. Another little jewel is the private sanctuary of nearby Crescent Island. We’ll take a guided walking safari past buffalo, antelope, and lots of shorebirds on this pastoral and peaceful little haven. We’ll spend the night at our Lake Naivasha accommodation.

This Rift Valley region is filled with nearby parks featuring all sorts of safari opportunities. This morning, we can take a walking or bicycle safari in neighboring Hell’s Gate Park, exploring the canyons and meadows, as we pedal by grazing antelope, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, and more. Now we’ll pile back into the 4 x 4 Jeep for the quick trip to Lake Nakuru National Park, home to rhinos, leopards, and even pink flamingos. The park is a pretty respite, blessed with waterfalls, acacia forests, and towering cliffs. Besides the flamingos, expect to see pelicans, cormorants, kingfishers, and ostriches along the lake’s shoreline. Delightful in its color and variety, the park also offers surprises like rare Rothschild’s giraffes ambling through its acacia woods and black and white rhinos. We’ll wind up this colorful day at our Lake Nakuru safari lodge or tented camp with dinner and plans for tomorrow’s journey to the great Masai Mara.

The early morning is a perfect time to see the day’s early light play upon the lake and the acacia woods – a time to enjoy the exotic birdlife gathered about the still waters. But now it’s time to push ahead on our Africa safari to the great Masai Mara Reserve. We should arrive in the mid-afternoon, with plenty of time for our first game drive in the park. For the next four days, we’ll explore the park, its rolling hills, golden savannahs, and signature acacia trees. The great park is a refuge for wildlife large and small – over 95 mammals inhabit its famous expanse. Be prepared for some impressive sunsets. Come this time of day, we’ll head to our Mara accommodation, our home for the next three nights.

Let’s rise early to see the park in its full early morning splendor. You’ll soon realize you’re in a special place – the Masai Mara is easily the richest ecosystem in the region, alive with an overflowing abundance of wildlife. Be on the lookout for the many prides of lions inhabiting the reserve as well as leopards, cheetahs, and hyenas. We’ll enjoy our lunch down at the Mara River – here you’ll see crocodiles and hippos in their natural habitat. Here too, you’ll witness the wonder of the Great Migration, (July – October) an unending train of wildebeests and zebras crossing over the river from the Serengeti, in search of taller grasses. It’s an astonishing sight of nature’s profusion on display. Toward evening we’ll head back to our Mara safari lodge or tented camp.

This is a rare opportunity – two full days spent at the Maisa Mara! Talk with your guide about any special areas you’d like to revisit or perhaps explore some new aspects of the park. We offer two optional activities to enhance your safari experience: Visit with the local Maasai people in their nearby village and get to see their lifestyle closeup. Learn about their herding way of life and perhaps pick up some souvenir beadwork. For a different perspective on the Great Migration, take the optional early morning hot air balloon safari over the park. Rising with the sun, you’ll look down upon the park coming to life in the morning light and the great trains of herding wildlife stretching out to the horizon. This might be the peak of your safari week. As we wrap up another day on the great Mara plains, we’ll retire to our accommodation for our final safari evening.

Day eight and we still have time for more game drives. Let’s take a pre-breakfast safari through the park to our favorites spots. Then back to our safari lodge or tented camp for breakfast and perhaps reminiscences about all that we have seen. Now it’s time to hit the road and journey back to Nairobi. We should get to town in the late afternoon, about 4:30 pm. We’ll bring you back to your hotel, residence, or other place of your choosing. More than a week on safari, and you have seen so much – landscapes, wildlife, cultures… You can easily say you have seen it all. Congratulations! And thanks for your serious commitment to learning about nature, wildlife, and our very precious natural world. From Hidaya Africa Tours & Travel – Asante!