relax,rejuvenate and enjoy your Trip to Kenya
Kenya Family Safari,Tailor Made
- COUNTRY:
- Kenya
- LOCATION:
- Masai Mara
- DEPARTURES:
- This trip can be tailor made to suit your requirements
- PRICE:
- From US $2,005 (EU €1,450) - US $3,070 (EU €2,220) (7 days) inc accomodation
- MORE INFO:
- US $915 (EU €662) - US $1,450 (EU €1,049) per child (under 12 yrs sharing with 2 adults). Price includes transport from Nairobi, game drives, park fees.
Photo Gallery: Kenya Family Safari,Tailor Made
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Kenya family safari, tailor made
Designed specially for families, this holiday offers comfortable accommodation and activities for the children. Beginning with some unforgettable animal encounters near Nairobi, your wildlife safari continues to 2 very different reserves, rich with game - Samburu and the Maasai Mara. There is an option of a beach holiday afterwards. After a night at the Southern Sun Mayfair Hotel, with its attractive tropical gardens and two swimming-pools for the children to enjoy, we will take you for a day to meet baby elephants and rare giraffe.
The Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage overlooking Nairobi National Park, cares for African Elephant and Black Rhino orphans - from all over Kenya and farther afield - rearing and socialising them before eventually releasing them back into the wild. As the expert handlers introduce the lively orphans and feeding time begins, you will have a close encounter with these delightful little creatures which come up to visitors to be stroked.
Before lunch at the Karen Blixen Restaurant, we also visit the nearby Giraffe Centre. From its tree-house balconies you can look these graceful mammals in the eye. The giraffes at the Centre are so at ease with their human visitors that they will happily eat from your hand! After another night at Southern Sun, we transfer you for a 1 hour flight to Samburu National Park, set amidst a chessboard of spectacular rocky hills on the edge of Kenya's arid North Eastern province. Samburu boasts wildlife not found in many other Kenyan parks - Reticulated Giraffe, Grevy's Zebra (larger with narrow stripes) the long-necked gerenuk gazelle and the blue-legged Somali Ostrich as well as elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah and other African wildlife species. In the morning and evening you may also have views of distant Mt Kenya. You will stay 2 nights at Samburu Intrepids, where your game drives are with expert guides in 4x4 safari vehicles (not vans), and the children can take part in their Adventurers’ Club activities.
Samburu National Park and the Maasai Mara are owned and managed by local councils on behalf of the respective Samburu and Maasai communities, with park entry fees going towards amenities such as schools and medical facilities for the local people. Your safari then takes you by light aircraft direct to the legendary Maasai Mara, with its rolling hills and life-bringing rivers. Mara Intrepids is your home for 2 nights, set on the banks of the Talek River. From here you will go on game drives in the reserve, again in 4x4 safari vehicles and with excellent guides. The Mara is renowned for its population of lions and of course, the annual wildebeest migration, not to mention an abundance of plains game and gazelles. If you are interested in birdlife, the Mara holds a vast array of species, and several migrants from Europe over-winter here.
Day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Met by our representative at Nairobi airport and transfer to the Southern Sun Mayfair Hotel, Nairobi, for 2 nights Bed & Breakfast. |
| Day 2: | Visit Daphne Sheldrick's Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi National Park to see the baby elephants and rhino, followed by a visit to the Giraffe Centre. Lunch at Karen Blixen Cottages and return to Southern Sun Mayfair Hotel. |
| Day 3: | Transfer to Nairobi Wilson Airport for the 1 hr flight to Samburu for lunch and 2 nights FB at Samburu Intrepids. Children can take part in the activities of the Adventurers' Club. Afternoon game drive in Samburu Reserve. Dinner and overnight Samburu Intrepids. |
| Day 4: | Morning and afternoon game drives, and children's activities. Samburu Intrepids, FB. |
| Day 5: | Fly direct from Samburu to Maasai Mara for lunch and 2 nights FB at Mara Intrepids. Children can take part in the activities of the Adventurers' Club. Afternoon game drive in Mara Reserve. Dinner and overnight Mara Intrepids. |
| Day 6: | Morning and afternoon game drives, and children's activities. Mara Intrepids, FB. |
| Day 7: | Morning game drive and fly back to Nairobi arriving 12.15 (option to go on to Diani or Watamu for a stay at a beach hotel) |
How this holiday makes a difference
Daphne Sheldrick was the first person to successfully hand-rear newborn and thus fully milk-dependent African Elephant orphans. It took 28 years of trial and error to achieve. By 2004 the Sheldrick Trust had successfully saved and hand-reared over 55 infant African Elephant calves, 2 from the day of birth. Several of the Trust's hand-reared elephants are now fully established and living free amongst their wild peers in Tsavo, some returning with wild-born young to 'show' to their erstwhile human family. The Nairobi National Park Elephant and Rhino Nursery has a trained team of competent Elephant Handlers who replace the orphans' lost elephant family until such time as the transition to the wild herds has been accomplished, something that can take up to 10 years.
The Giraffe Centre has a herd of Rothschild Giraffe, a rare species originally found in Western Kenya. By 1980 loss of habitat to agriculture had reduced their wild numbers to less than 140. Funds were raised to captive-breed the animals and eventually 4 herds were reared and released into suitable National parks and Reserves including Lake Nakuru National Park. Today the wild Rothschild Giraffe population in Kenya is over 300, and the site remains a breeding centre and even more importantly, an education centre for the public. Every day groups of local school children visit the centre free of charge, and for most it is their first time to see a live giraffe. In recent years, over 55,000 children have had this remarkable experience.
Many of the staff at both the Samburu and Mara Intrepids Clubs hail from the respective local Samburu and Maasai community, and each camp has established a Community Development Fund receiving a portion of their visitor fees for supporting local schools, training initiatives, clinics, women's groups and more. In Samburu they use solar power for water heating, and in the Mara hot water is generated from burning used coffee-husks as opposed to charcoal from the local area. Biodegradable waste from both camps is mulched for use in their gardens as compost, whilst other waste is returned to Nairobi for proper disposal. The waste-water at Mara Intrepids is recycled through a wetland scheme.
