14 Days Maasai Mara Southern Parks and Diani Beach

On arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, complete immigration and collect your luggage before meeting your local representative in the arrivals area. Transfer to your Nairobi hotel, where you can check in and settle into your room after your journey.

The rest of the day is free to rest at the hotel. Enjoy a quiet afternoon in the lounge or gardens, or use the hotel facilities if you arrive early enough. Your safari briefing introduces the route, the next morning’s departure and the places you will visit with your guide.

In the evening, have dinner at the hotel or choose a nearby restaurant, depending on your arrival time. Settle in for an overnight stay in Nairobi before the wildlife journey begins.

Meal plan: Breakfast only where included in the confirmed arrival-night booking; lunch and dinner at own expense unless quoted.

After breakfast, meet your safari guide and depart for the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Travel through the Great Rift Valley, stopping at a viewpoint to admire the escarpment and take photographs. Continue through Narok and into open countryside, passing rural settlements and grazing herds along the way.

Arrive at your camp or lodge for lunch, check in and enjoy a short rest before your first game drive. The afternoon brings your first close look at the Mara’s rolling grasslands, scattered acacia trees and seasonal streams.

Head out with your guide to look for elephants, giraffes, zebras, buffaloes and antelopes. Watch the edges of tall grass and shaded areas as your guide searches for lions, cheetahs and other predators. Pause at sightings to observe the animals’ behaviour and take photographs.

Return to your camp or lodge before darkness for dinner and an overnight stay.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After an early breakfast, leave camp with a packed lunch for a full day in the Maasai Mara. Explore the open plains while the morning is still cool, looking for lions returning from a night’s hunting, cheetahs scanning the grasslands and elephants moving between feeding areas.

Continue through different sections of the reserve, pausing beside herds of zebras, wildebeest, buffaloes and gazelles. Your guide will explain the relationships between the grazing animals, predators and the landscape, with time to watch behaviour rather than hurry from one sighting to another.

Stop for a picnic lunch at a designated place, then continue your game drive through the afternoon. During the migration season, your guide may focus on areas used by the moving herds; their location and any river crossings depend on natural conditions.

Return to camp before dusk, freshen up and enjoy dinner. Spend the evening relaxing and discussing the day’s wildlife encounters.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, depart for Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley. Travel through changing farmland and lakeside countryside, arriving at your accommodation for lunch and a short break.

In the afternoon, take a boat trip on the lake with a local boat guide. Glide past papyrus beds and along the shoreline, looking for hippos from a safe distance, African fish eagles perched in trees, kingfishers and other waterbirds.

Continue with a guided walk on Crescent Island. Follow the walking trails through open grassland, where giraffes, zebras, waterbuck and other antelopes may be seen grazing. Being on foot gives you a different perspective on the landscape after several days of vehicle safaris.

Return to your lakeside lodge in the late afternoon. Enjoy time to relax in the grounds before dinner and an overnight stay. The boat outing and walk are timed around weather and local access conditions.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, depart for Amboseli National Park. Travel across changing countryside toward the plains below Mount Kilimanjaro, with a comfort stop along the way. As you approach the park, the landscape opens into dry grassland, acacia woodland and wetlands.

Arrive at your lodge or camp, have lunch and take a short rest. In the afternoon, set out on a game drive through the park’s open plains and marsh areas, where elephant families often gather to feed and drink.

Look for buffaloes, zebras, wildebeest and giraffes, as well as hippos and waterbirds around the wetter areas. Your guide will stop for wildlife photographs and, when the clouds clear, views of Kilimanjaro rising beyond the park.

Return to your accommodation before evening for dinner and an overnight stay.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Begin with an early game drive, when the air is cool and Kilimanjaro may be visible above the plains. Watch elephant families walking toward the marshes and look for lions or hyenas before they settle into shade. Return to the lodge for breakfast if you set out before eating.

Continue exploring Amboseli’s contrasting habitats, from dusty open ground to green wetlands fed by underground water from the mountain. Watch buffaloes and hippos around the marshes, and look for crowned cranes, herons and other waterbirds beside the pools.

Return to your lodge for lunch and a break during the warmest part of the day. Later, head out for another game drive, allowing time to stop beside elephant herds and observe the interactions between adults and calves.

As the afternoon light softens, enjoy the park’s broad landscapes and any clear mountain views. Return to the lodge for dinner and another overnight stay in the Amboseli area.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, leave for Tsavo West National Park. Travel into a landscape of volcanic hills, dark lava outcrops and thick bush, with game viewing along the park roads as you make your way toward your accommodation.

Visit Mzima Springs, where clear water creates a green oasis in the surrounding dry country. Follow the designated walking path with the local guidance required on the day, looking for hippos in the water, crocodiles along the banks and birds among the trees. Stop at the viewing points to appreciate the springs and their importance to the park’s wildlife.

Have lunch at your lodge or enjoy a packed lunch along the route. Continue with an afternoon game drive, looking for elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, zebras and antelopes among the wooded slopes and clearings. The thicker vegetation makes patient observation part of the experience.

Reach your lodge before evening, settle into your room and enjoy dinner and an overnight stay.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, depart for Tsavo East National Park. On reaching the entrance, begin a game drive toward your lodge through a landscape of red earth, open grassland and scattered thorn trees. Watch for wildlife along the route rather than waiting until the afternoon to begin exploring.

Arrive for lunch, check in and take a short rest. From the lodge, you may see animals moving through the surrounding bush or visiting a nearby waterhole.

In the afternoon, explore more of the park with your guide. Look for elephants coated in red dust, giraffes browsing above the scrub, zebras, buffaloes and antelopes. Search shaded areas and the edges of watercourses for lions and other predators, stopping whenever an interesting sighting develops.

Return to the lodge before darkness for dinner and an overnight stay in Tsavo East.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Head out early for a game drive in Tsavo East, when temperatures are lower and wildlife is often more active. Follow the park tracks through open plains and bushland, looking for elephant herds, giraffes, buffaloes, zebras and antelopes.

Spend time around waterholes and riverine vegetation, where animals may gather to drink and birds provide additional interest. Your guide will look for signs of predators and explain the tracks, feeding patterns and behaviour you encounter along the way.

Return to the lodge for lunch and a rest during the hottest hours. In the afternoon, explore another section of the park, pausing for photographs of the red-earth landscape and wildlife in the softer light.

Finish the game drive before dusk and return to your lodge for dinner. Enjoy a quiet evening overlooking the bush or the lodge waterhole where available.

Meal plan: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, leave your safari lodge and travel to the railway station assigned for your coast-bound train. Your guide will assist with the station drop-off, leaving time for security checks and boarding.

Take the scheduled train toward Mombasa. Watch the inland landscape pass from your seat as the journey takes you toward the coast, with stretches of dry plains, bushland and towns along the railway.

On arrival at Mombasa Terminus, meet your transfer driver and continue by road to Diani Beach. Check in at your resort and enjoy any remaining afternoon time by the pool or on the beach. Lunch is arranged around the train schedule and the confirmed package.

Have dinner at the resort and settle in for an overnight stay. If you select Chale Island accommodation, the final crossing is coordinated with the resort and tide conditions.

Meal plan: Breakfast and dinner; lunch according to the confirmed transfer and travel arrangements.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the resort, then spend the morning on the beach. Walk along the shoreline while it is cooler, watch the changing tide or find a shaded spot overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Return to the hotel for a swim in the pool and lunch according to your meal plan. The middle of the day is free to rest in your room, read in the gardens or relax on your terrace.

In the afternoon, enjoy more beach or pool time. Guests interested in a spa treatment can book one separately, while those wishing to keep the day quiet can simply enjoy the resort facilities.

As evening approaches, return to your room to freshen up before dinner. Overnight at the same beach resort.

Meal plan: Meals according to the selected hotel or resort board basis, as stated in your quotation.

After breakfast, enjoy another relaxed day at the coast. Spend the morning swimming in the pool or walking on the beach, with the freedom to return to your room whenever you wish.

For a change of pace, an optional guided snorkelling trip can be arranged at extra cost. Travel by boat to an appropriate reef site, where the crew introduces the equipment and guides you in looking for tropical fish and coral formations. The outing operates subject to tides and sea conditions.

If you prefer to stay ashore, enjoy the resort and have lunch according to your meal plan. The afternoon remains free for swimming, reading or relaxing in the gardens.

Enjoy dinner at the resort and another overnight stay. The snorkelling excursion is optional and is not included in the standard beach program.

Meal plan: Meals according to the selected hotel or resort board basis, as stated in your quotation.

Enjoy breakfast and make the most of your final full day beside the Indian Ocean. Return to your favourite stretch of beach, take a morning swim or settle beside the pool with a book.

Have lunch according to your resort meal plan, followed by time to relax in the shade. Keep the afternoon unhurried so you can enjoy the coast and pack comfortably before tomorrow’s departure.

As the heat eases, take a final beach walk or enjoy the view from the resort grounds. Confirm your airport collection time with the local representative and settle any personal hotel charges.

Enjoy your last dinner at the resort and an overnight stay, ready for the onward journey tomorrow.

Meal plan: Meals according to the selected hotel or resort board basis, as stated in your quotation.

Enjoy breakfast at the resort and spend any remaining free time relaxing before check-out. If your flight leaves later in the day, you may have time for a final walk in the gardens or a quiet morning beside the pool.

At the agreed time, meet your driver and transfer to Moi International Airport in Mombasa. Leave sufficient time for the road journey, airport check-in and security formalities. Guests staying on Chale Island connect first with the resort’s island transfer.

Arrive at the airport for your onward flight, bringing your Kenya holiday to a close. Additional meals and any room use after normal check-out are arranged separately when required.

Meal plan: Breakfast; other meals at own expense unless included in your final quotation.