The Real Kenya … Animals, Agriculture & Authentic Kenya

Assuming you arrive at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in the morning, you will be met by your private driver/guide in his 4x4 Land Cruiser and transferred across Nairobi, perhaps stopping on the way at a local vegetable market.

Karunguru Coffee Tours invites all domestic and international tourists to come and experience a different side of Kenya, a side that Kenya is famous for, a side that boosts the Kenyan economy. Here is an experience of Kenya’s black gold; Kenyan coffee!  This coffee tour that will take you through the journey that coffee has to go through before getting to your cup! The lush green country environment dotted with scenic hills, smooth valley and fresh country air is located just over an hour from the airport.

The coffee tour includes:

•  A short welcome that includes the history of the farm and an introduction into the process of coffee.
•  Tour around the farm to various sites which are synonymous with the coffee process from the young seedling to water processing, drying and hurling of coffee.
•  A buffet style lunch with a drink that you can enjoy at the gardens in a picnic style, or formally in an old English style ballroom.  All the vegetables serve dare grown on the farm.
•  Sit outside in the lush gardens for a coffee tasting experience where you taste different grades, types and varieties of coffee paired with various small pastries, i.e chilli coffee, bambooi nfused coffee, vanilla coffee among others.

After the tour and lunch you will continue to Banana Farmhouse, roughly an hour and a quarter's drive away.  We have have arranged that you can have a simple home cooked 3-course dinner at Banana Farmhouse, otherwise there are several restaurants nearby that you can head back out to.

Wake up this morning and have a leisurely breakfast on the verandah over looking the Ngong Hills.   

Leave just before 11am for Kiambethu Farm.  On arrival have a cup of tea or coffee and hear about the history of the farm and have an informal explanation about the process of making tea, head out into the farm for an opportunity to see tea in the field. 

Then take a walk in the indigenous forest with our resident Kenyan guide who will identify the plants and explain how they are traditionally used. Look out for the Colobus monkeys close up and wander in the gardens which are home to a wide variety of birds and flowers.

Return to the house to enjoy a pre-lunch drink on the verandah with sweeping views across the tea fields to the Ngong Hills. Enjoy your three course buffet lunch from our set menu prepared with vegetables from the garden and desserts are topped with cream from our herd of Channel Island cows.

Return to Banana Farmhouse after lunch and perhaps take a walk on one of the trails through the indigenous forest, which is frequented by Sykes and Colobus monkeys as well as prolific birdlife. You can roam around the grounds at your leisure or sit on the veranda and take in the view of the Ngong Hills.

After a last breakfast at Banana Farmhouse, leave the Tigoni area and head over the escarpment into the Great Rift Valley for Naivasha.  This drive will take a little under two hours, perhaps you can have your picture taken at one of the Rift Valley rest stops along the way.  Head down the side of the escarpment on a road built by Italian prisoners of war in the late 1930s and see their chapel at the bottom.

Turning west you will skirt the southern end of Lake Naivasha and arrive at the Oserengoni Wildlife Sanctuary and Kiganazi House in time for lunch.  Enjoy a delicious lunch outside in the lush gardens. 

The wildlife sanctuary surrounding Kiangazi House was created in the mid 1990’s with the sole purpose of giving the resident wildlife a place of safety and refuge. Over 18,000 acres is surrounded by an electrified fence, as much to keep illegal cattle grazers out as it is to keep the wildlife from straying into the nearby farmlands.

The wildlife are still able to move freely between the neighbouring Hell’s Gate National Park, the sanctuary and the lakeshore by way of wildlife corridors which ensures constant movement throughout the localized eco-system.

Since the creation of the sanctuary and the wildlife corridors the number of wildlife, specifically species such as leopard and giraffe, persecuted by the villages in the past, has stabilized and increased to sustainable levels.

Whilst lions do occasionally visit, with George the lion being a full time resident for more than 5 years, there is a pressing need to “predator proof” the fence surround the Oserengoni Wildlife Sanctuary and to turn our sporadic predator presence into a full time programme. This will allow natural control of the ever increasing numbers of certain herbivore species within the sanctuary.

Spend the afternoon relaxing by the pool or walking through the gardens before heading out for "sundowners" as the  sun falls in the sky, followed by a night game drive.

You will start the day with an early morning walk in the sanctuary, followed by an alfresco breakfast (with a glass of bubbles) along the shore of Lake Oloidien.

After your breakfast head out to visit the Oserian Flower farm; one of the largest growers and producers of ‘cut flowers’ in the world from where roses and carnations, to name but a few, are exported in their millions to international markets.

Return to Kiangazi for lunch and spend the afternoon relaxing, before a game drive in the sanctuary.

Depart after a last breakfast overlooking the gardens of Kiangazi House and drive west over the Mau Escarpment to Narok (where you can stop for a break if needed).  From Narok you proceed through the wheat fields that are the "bread basket of Kenya" before turning off the main road towards the reserve itself.

You will arrive in camp in time to see your tent and clean up before lunch.  

Your days on safari can be spent as you wish and your driver/guide will discuss each day with you as you go along. The norm is an early wake up with coffee/tea around 6am to depart on a pre-breakfast game drive at about 630am. Being so close to the equator Kenya’s sunrise and sunset varies by an hour at most throughout the year, the temperature can also be comparatively cold in the early mornings and evenings, so it is a good idea to dress in layers when you go out on a drive as the middle of the day will be hot and dry.

After a sumptuous breakfast, the middle of the day is yours to do with as you please, many people go back to their tents and have a shower, perhaps read and take a nap before lunch or play board games in the main mess/lounge area of camp. After lunch you have a few hours to relax again before heading out around 330/4pm on an afternoon game drive – perhaps follow up on the pride of lion you saw in the morning, or head out to look for an elusive leopard or cheetah. After the game drive is time for a well-deserved pre-dinner drink around the camp fire and a chance to swap stories with other guests.

After an early breakfast you will leave bid goodbye to the Masai Mara and leave with a picnic lunch for a six hour drive back to Nairobi.   Back through the wheat fields to Narok,  over the escarpment onto the floor of the Great Rift Valley passing the extinct volcanoes of Suswa and Longonot on the way, up the escarpment and down into Nairobi.

You will drop you bags off at the hotel, perhaps have a quick dust off in the pool, before heading out to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to see the orphaned elephants.

No stay in Nairobi is complete without visiting the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on the outside edge of Nairobi National Park.  Founded in 1977 by Dame Daphne Sheldrick, in honour of the memory of her late husband, David the DSWT claims a rich and deeply rooted family history in wildlife and conservation.

At the heart of the DSWT’s conservation activities is the Orphans’ Project, which has achieved world-wide acclaim through its hugely successful elephant and rhino rescue and rehabilitation program. The Orphans’ Project exists to offer hope for the future of Kenya’s threatened elephant and rhino populations as they struggle against the threat of poaching for their ivory and horn, and the loss of habitat due to human population pressures and conflict, deforestation and drought.

To date the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust has successfully hand-raised over 150 infant elephants and has accomplished its long-term conservation priority by effectively reintegrating orphans back into the wild herds of Tsavo.

Return to Macushla House after the visit and have a well earned drink by the fire before dinner and bed.

Enjoy a leisurely morning around Macushla House today, perhaps stretch your legs and walk up to the nearby AFEW Giraffe Centre.

The resplendent Rothschild giraffe, which wanders the grasslands of East Africa, was pushed to the brink of extinction in the 1970s due to severe habitat loss. Thanks to the AFEW Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, there are more than 300 of these gentle giants living in national parks around Kenya and here at the park itself. 

Jock Leslie-Melville was the brains behind the reserve; the Kenyan grandson of a Scottish Earl. He and his wife Betty raised a baby giraffe for breeding purposes at their Langata home, to huge success - since it's conception in 1979, several breeding pairs of Rothschild giraffe have since been released around the country.

Seeing the giraffes up close offers a true appreciation of their magnificence. Visitors are invited to feed, hug and even kiss them from raised wooden platforms. There are also a number of warthogs which scuffle about the grounds. 

A driver will collect you from Macushla House at 12noon to transfer you to nearby Wilson Airport.  There is a great cafe in the Safarilink terminal, Monika's and you can get yourself a bite to eat here before your flight to the coast.

On arrival at Ukunda Airstrip you will be met and transferred to Diani Blue, your home for the next four nights.

The Kenya Coast is a justifiably popular area - the tropical ocean laps the white sand, hidden by swathes of swaying palm trees. It's a gorgeous idyll perfect for relaxation, resting on Kenya's stunning Indian Ocean shoreline.   You can spend your time here enjoying the sun, sand, endless water-sports, deep sea fishing, dolphin watching, five species of sea turtles, whale-back sharks, humpbacked whales and one of the world’s most varied coral reefs, or just relaxing with a good book. 

It also offers a unique selection of ancient cultural sites; mosques and age-old Swahili towns; a vibrantly colourful cuisine; a wide range of marine parks, wilderness reserves and nightly entertainments for all tastes.

Enjoy your last morning at the beach, perhaps walk along the miles of white sand, relax by the pool with your book or build one last sandcastle!

After a last lunch at your favourite restaurant, or at the hotel you will be transferred to Ukunda Airstrip for your scheduled flight back to Nairobi's Wilson Airport where our driver and vehicle will be wwaiting to take you to the international airport and your flight home.