5 Days Kenya Wildlife Circuit

Your driver guide collects you from your Nairobi hotel or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the morning. The road climbs out of the city to the edge of the Great Rift Valley, where a viewpoint looks down over the valley floor and the extinct volcano of Mount Longonot. From there it is a short descent to Lake Naivasha, about two hours from Nairobi, and you arrive at your lodge in time for lunch.

In the afternoon a boat ride takes you out among pods of hippo, with African fish eagles, kingfishers and herons along the papyrus shore. The boat can stop at Crescent Island, a private sanctuary with no big predators, where a guide leads you on foot among giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and waterbuck. It is one of the few places on a Kenya safari where you can walk freely among the animals.

Activities: Rift Valley viewpoint, Lake Naivasha boat ride, optional Crescent Island walk (entry fee extra)
Meals: Lunch and dinner  ·  Overnight: Lodge, Lake Naivasha

After breakfast you drive about 90 minutes north west to Lake Nakuru National Park, with a game drive on the way to your lodge. The park is a fenced rhino sanctuary and one of the most reliable places in Kenya to see both black and white rhino, along with the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe, buffalo and waterbuck. Lions sometimes rest in the acacia trees near the shore, and leopards hide in the yellow fever forest.

After lunch at your lodge, the afternoon drive heads to the south of the park and Makalia Falls, a seasonal waterfall in the woodland that is at its fullest after the rains and a good place to stretch your legs. You finish at Baboon Cliff for a wide view over the lake, where flamingo numbers rise and fall with the water level and pelicans and hundreds of other bird species are seen all year.

Activities: Game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park, Makalia Falls, Baboon Cliff viewpoint
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner  ·  Overnight: Lodge, Lake Nakuru

Set out early for a short morning game drive, a last chance to find rhino before the park gets busy. You then head south through the farmland of the Mau escarpment to Narok, the last large town before the reserve, and on through Maasai country to the Masai Mara. The drive takes about five hours, most of it on tarmac with the final stretch on gravel, and you arrive at your tented camp in time for lunch.

Your first game drive in the Masai Mara starts in the late afternoon, as the heat fades and the predators begin to move. The open grassland makes wildlife easy to spot: lion prides, elephant herds, topi, gazelle and, with patience, cheetah hunting on the plains. You return to camp at sunset for dinner.

Activities: Morning game drive in Lake Nakuru, drive to the Masai Mara, afternoon game drive
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner  ·  Overnight: Tented camp, Masai Mara

A full day in Kenya’s most famous reserve, with a picnic lunch in the shade of an acacia so you can travel further without returning to camp. Your guide plans the route around recent sightings, often heading for the Mara River, home to large pods of hippo and Nile crocodile. Between July and October this is where the wildebeest migration crosses, one of the most dramatic sights in nature.

For an extra cost you can begin the day with a hot-air balloon flight at sunrise and a champagne breakfast on the plains. In the afternoon you can also visit a Maasai village to see traditional homes, dances and beadwork. The Mara is home to all of the Big Five, so keep your camera ready all day.

Activities: Full day game drive with picnic lunch, optional balloon flight and Maasai village visit
Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner  ·  Overnight: Tented camp, Masai Mara

Rise early for a final game drive in the cool of the morning, when lions and cheetahs are most active and the plains look their best. You return to camp for breakfast and check out.

The drive back to Nairobi takes five to six hours with a short break on the way, and you reach the city in the middle of the afternoon. Your driver guide drops you at your hotel or the airport for your flight home. If you would rather skip the drive, you can fly from a Mara airstrip to Wilson Airport in Nairobi in about 45 minutes for an extra cost.

Activities: Early morning game drive, drive back to Nairobi
Meals: Breakfast  ·  Overnight: Departure day