Africa Wild vacation

Day 1 Nairobi/Masai Mara
Pick from your Nairobi hotel in the early morning and depart for the Masai Mara Game Reserve with stops at the viewpoint of the Great Rift Valley and Narok town for lunch and refueling. Arrive in time for a late afternoon/early evening game drive en route to the lodge or campsite for dinner and overnight.

Day 2 Masai Mara
Early breakfast then proceed for a full day of game viewing in the reserve. The day will be taken up tracking game with your guide though there will be a break for a picnic lunch at the hippo pool. The abundance and variety of game in this reserve is nothing short of amazing. Practically every mammal can be seen in the Mara with a few exceptions. Various antelopes, scavengers like hyena and vulture are common. The reserve contains all the cats that are; lion, cheetah and leopard; sighting leopard needs luck more than just being there but lions are abundant and there are excellent chances for spotting cheetah. The hippo pool is a popular spot to watch out for hippos; with luck, you may catch crocodile basking on the rocks. Elephants, buffalo, the Masai giraffe, wildebeest and the common zebra abound. Return to the lodge or campsite for dinner and overnight.

Day 3 Masai Mara
After breakfast proceed on another game-viewing session. After lunch you will have the option to go for a game drive or at extra cost, visit a nearby Masai village to see their nomadic lifestyle. Both activities will end at the lodge or campsite in the mid evening where you will retire for the night after dinner.

Day 4 Masai Mara/Nakuru
After breakfast, depart the Mara region for Nakuru. The drive offers panoramic views of Mt. Longonot and Lake Naivasha from afar: this means that you will see them from the main highway. Arrive Nakuru in time for dinner and overnight at the lodge or campsite.

Day 5 Lake Nakuru/Samburu
Wake up to an early morning game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park. Flamingos and other water birds that thrive in a salt-water environment can be seen. With luck you may track the white rhino and the Rothschild's giraffe which both have endangered species status. The park is 188km and is home to cats (both lion and leopard), various antelopes, grazers like warthog and the waterbuck and Cape buffalo that breed near the shoreline. After the game run, depart Nakuru for Samburu via the Thompson falls, which are named after Joseph Thompson, one of the first European explorers who walked from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in the 1880's. Lunch will be at Nanyuki, which is at the foothills of Mt. Kenya. Arrive Samburu in the evening, with a game drive en route to the lodge or campsite where you will retire for the night after dinner.

Day 6 Samburu
Morning and afternoon game drives in Samburu with a lunch and leisure break in the mid afternoon. The reserve is home to rare drought resistant animals that are peculiar to the semi-arid region north of the equator. These include the reticulated giraffe, grevy's zebra, the Beisa Oryx, gerenuk and the blue-shanked Somali ostrich. Samburu is dry most of the year but is watered by the Ewaso Nyiro River, which rises in the Aberdare's and drains in the Lorian swamp north of Shaba National Reserve. All meals and overnight at the lodge or campsite.

Day 7 Samburu/Amboseli
After breakfast depart for Amboseli via Nairobi. In clear weather, you may see Mt. Kenya's peak. You will also by-pass very pleasant countryside with coffee and tea plantations. Lunch will be taken en route. Arrive Amboseli in the evening with a brief game drive en route to the lodge or campsite for dinner.

Day 8 Amboseli
After breakfast, proceed on a game drive in this park, which lies in a dried-up lake bed. There are swamps and springs fed by underground rivers from the melting snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which give permanent water to the wildlife. The animals seen here include lion, elephant, wildlife, cheetah, buffalo, plains game and the rare Taita weaver and the gerenuk. The animals are mainly found around the Ol Kenya swamp. If the weather is clear and there is no low cloud cover, you may see the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which forms a beautiful backdrop to the park. The observation hill offers a view of the entire park and beyond. An afternoon game drive will follow after lunch. Rest of meals and overnight at the lodge or campsite.

Day 9 Amboseli/Tsavo West
After breakfast depart Amboseli for Tsavo West National Park, lunch en route. You will visit the Shaitani Lava flows as the area where the park lies is of volcanic origin. The Mzima Springs which contain 20 million tonnes of crystal - clear water from the underground streams of the nearby Chyullu Hills are an additional attraction; various aspects of marine life including hippos, crocodile and fish can be seen from the specially constructed underground glass tank. The animal species seen at Tsavo are hippo, crocodiles, elephant, gazelle, zebra, giraffe, various birds, buffalo, and kudu in a thick acacia setting. Dinner and overnight at the lodge or campsite.

Day 10 Tsavo West/Tsavo East
A morning game drive will follow after breakfast and probably view the rock hyrax, squirrels and mongooses as the park contains a large population of these. Depart for Tsavo East National Park, lunch en route. Here, only the section south of the Galana River is open to the public for game drives; the rest of the park serves as a wilderness for the animals to retreat into. Here the dried up Aruba dam can be seen plus crocodiles at the crocodile point below the Lugard falls. Dinner and overnight at the lodge or campsite.

Day 11 Tsavo East/Nairobi
After breakfast, your final game drive will follow during which you may see plains game, zebra, antelope, lesser kudu, ostrich, and large herds of elephant and kudu. Lunch will be taken en route. Arrive in Nairobi in the evening