relax,rejuvenate and enjoy your Trip to Kenya
Kenya Safari,Maasai Mara
- COUNTRY:
- Kenya
- LOCATION:
- Masai Mara, Rift Valley
- DEPARTURES:
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2011: 23 Oct, 4 Dec, 18 Dec
2012: 1 Jan, 15 Jan, 29 Jan, 12 Feb, 26 Feb, 11 Mar, 25 Mar, 3 Jun, 17 Jun, 1 Jul, 15 Jul, 29 Jul, 12 Aug, 26 Aug, 9 Sep, 23 Sep, 7 Oct, 21 Oct - PRICE:
- From US $1,695 (GB £1,075) - US $1,895 (GB £1,202) (7 days) inc accomodation
- MORE INFO:
- Includes all transport, accomm as detailed, services of various local guides, all National Park entrance, camp site fees and community development donation.
Photo Gallery: Kenya Safari,Maasai Mara
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Kenya safari, Masai Mara safari
As well as superb wildlife viewing opportunities we include insights into the way of life and cultures of local communities. This way you get a much more rewarding and richer safari experience and the local people get a more direct share of the benefits that foreign visitors can bring.
Accommodation is in a bush camp (fully supported), permanent tented safari camps (with beds and hot water showers) small bungalows and optional night in local villager's house. The bush camping night on this trip allows us access to wilder areas. We do not generally use the luxury lodges but neither do we compromise on health, safety or reasonable comfort. Lodge accommodation can be arranged for private group departures if required. Equipment is carried by vehicles or local porters, you only carry a day-pack with personal gear. When camping you will not have to participate in camp chores. We buy fresh produce locally and to ensure good standards of hygiene all food is prepared by our own staff. We can cater for special dietary requirements and there are no extra food-kitty payments.
Day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Drive from Nairobi via the Maasai town of Ewaso Ngiro for lunch and colourful market visit. Then into the bush to a small Maasai homestead (“boma”) for insights into their fascinating culture and way of life. Our stay here supports their small primary school and we can arrange visits during term times. Overnight camp under acacia trees by a small spring – dinner round camp-fire, starlit skies and sleep to the sounds of the African night – often lions and hyenas roaring in the distance. (Don’t worry! – our camp is guarded by the Maasai all night). |
| Day 2: | Optional 2-3 hour walking safari along small river course and through the savanna for wildlife viewing with the Maasai as guides and interpreters of their lands, where you will often walk amongst giraffe, impala, zebra and wildebeest. Drive to a natural hot spring at Maji Moto (where you can take a dip or just dip your toe in) and then on to our secluded camp in the Masai Mara and late afternoon game drive. Or option to hike all or part-way up nearby Naumare Hills to watch an invariably stunning sunset over the Mara. Overnight in our comfortable permanent tented safari camp. |
| Day 3: | Ecologically the Masai Mara is an extension of the great Serengeti plains and teems with wildlife. We spend all today in the reserve on game drives and this is where you can see elephant, buffalo, lion, cheetah, leopard, zebra, giraffe, hippo, crocodile and a whole ark-full of other animals. Our expert naturalist guides and 4WD vehicles ensure you have the very best chance of seeing them all. From July to September, the Mara is home to the great wildebeest migration. Overnight again in our permanent tented safari camp. |
| Day 4: | Another early game drive in the Mara and then on to a Kikuyu homestead near Lake Elementaita. Exploration of the subsistence farming here and afternoon tea with the farmer and his wife. Option tonight for an overnight stay in a villager’s house for fascinating insights into the life of a local, enhancing your African experience and providing an additional income for the family - no extra cost but advise us in advance please. Otherwise on to a very comfortable local hotel just outside Nakuru National Park. |
| Day 5: | Drive through Nakuru town, then up past the spectacular Menengai volcanic crater, to a co-operatively run coffee and tea estate. This is a delightful, cool, verdant forested setting where there will be a guided bird-watching walk, excellent estate lunch, and visit to the tea and coffee processing operations. You can try your hand at picking tea and coffee if you like (and if you don’t fancy the walk or the tea and coffee processing insights you can relax in the beautiful gardens drinking it). Return to the hotel by Lake Nakuru for overnight. |
| Day 6: | Early start (06.00) for game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park. This is a small but spectacularly picturesque park with abundant wildlife and an excellent chance of seeing the rare rhino, both black and white species, lion, leopard, vast herds of buffalo and the unusual Rothschild's giraffe. It has also had nearly 400 species of birds recorded within its boundaries. After lunch a short drive to Lake Elementaita, a soda lake on the floor of the Great Rift Valley, for walking exploration of the lakeside environment and afternoon tea. There are hot springs with amazing heat tolerant fish (accessible if lake water not excessively high) and thousands of pink flamingos and pelicans. Another short drive to Lake Naivasha for overnight accommodation in chalets right by the lake. |
| Day 7: | Lake Naivasha is a vast freshwater lake, famed for its hippos and bird life particularly fish eagles, love-birds and pelicans. You take an early morning boat trip to see some of them, disembarking at an animal sanctuary half way to walk amongst giraffe, zebra, impala, gazelle and waterbuck. Leave mid morning for return to Nairobi arriving around 13.00. |
How this holiday makes a difference
There are no woolly "wherever possible" or "if available" caveats to our commitments to responsible travel practices benefiting local communities. We believe that all members in local communities must see rewards from tourism if they are to have an interest in safeguarding their environments. In Kenya we have negotiated directly with local community leaders to provide the services we require. These enable our clients to share village life and cultural insights with the Maasai or Kikuyu (including home-stays) and the community benefits directly from the visit.
In addition, we have a number of schemes in primary schools to provide books, uniforms, building materials and pay school fees and our clients have the chance to visit these during the safari if they wish. These schools are Morijo, Ololulunga, Olanganaiyo, Sekanani and Githero Primary schools. All of our hotels and bush campsites, are locally owned and staffed by Kenyans. In the Mara we lease our permanent campsite direct from the Maasai run Siana Wildlife Trust. All of our foodstuffs are bought locally - often involving our clients in the shopping from markets along the way. Our drivers and guides adhere to the behaviour guidelines for conservation as set out by Friends of Conservation.
Our staff are paid well above average wages and have contracts of employment with agreed conditions of service. We do not recruit on tribal or cultural allegiance grounds. We employ many local guides and camp assistants en-route. Treating our staff fairly creates loyalty to our company and commitment to providing our clients with superb service. We provide our clients with advice on responsible travel behaviour and encourage them to share their cultures with the peoples they meet as a way of improving understanding of our two very different life-styles.
