On arrival at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, you will be met by an Albatros Travel representative and given a short safari briefing before being transferred to Karen residence, ideally located in the leafy suburbs of Karen, Nairobi. Dinner will be served in the Club restaurant (at an additional cost) and you will have plenty of time to go through the material in your welcome pack and look forward to the journey ahead.
After breakfast, you will check out and meet your driver guide who will transfer you for excursions in the surrounding Karen Suburbs. Your first stop during the tour is Giraffe Centre where you will spend about an hour.
The centre offers guests the unique experience of hand-feeding these gentle giants at eye level from a raised platform, while watching the warthogs below snuffle around looking for titbits. Thereafter drive a short distance to Daphne Sheldricks’ Elephant Orphanage – where you have an opportunity to visit the many baby elephants that have been rescued from threatening situations in Kenya’s various national parks and even get a chance to see the calves being fed and playing with the staff.
You will then visit the Karen Blixen Museum: a chance to go back in time and discover the famous Karen Blixen’s house exactly as it was when she lived in Kenya. Located in an area which was once part of Karen Blixen’s vast coffee estate, ‘bogani’, the museum was Karen’s home from 1917 until 1931.The house and grounds were made famous by the film ‘Out of Africa ’and have been restored by the Danish community of Kenya. Visitors have a glimpse of typical colonial life in Kenya at the turn of the twentieth century.
After lunch at the lovely Karen Blixen Coffee Gardens, you will depart on the next part of your adventure that takes you from the hustle and bustle of Nairobi city to the small but beautiful soda ash lake located in the famous Great Rift Valley, named Lake Elementaita.
After a hearty breakfast you will set out on a full day’s game drive to Lake Nakuru National park which is about thirty minutes’ drive from Elementaita. The lake is situated in the middle of the national park to which it gives its name. Teeming with wildlife the park has so much to offer. Lions, buffalos as well as the many rhinos that call this corner of Kenya home, If you are lucky you may even spot a leopard relaxing in a tree beside the lake.
After a game-packed day you will drive back to Sunbird Lodge in time to enjoy the sun set over the lake, before sitting down for dinner and toasting to the day’s adventures.
Today you are off to the Masai Mara National Reserve. You will check out of your hotel after breakfast and arrive for lunch at your camp in the Mara. On arrival and check in, you will have lunch and spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing in your tent waiting for the late evening when the temperature cools to head out on your first Mara game drive. Masai Mara is one of Africa’s greatest wildlife reserves. Acacia dotted plains, tree-lined rivers and woodlands are abundant with wildlife and an array of birdlife. Game viewing is spectacular year round; you may see a pride of lions stalking their prey, observe a herd of elephant and their fascinating social structure, or see pods of hippo wallowing in the rivers. The great wildebeest migration is one of nature’s wonders; an estimated two million animals migrate in a year-round pattern through Tanzania and Kenya, following the rain. Back at the camp, dinner is served and this gives you the perfect opportunity to look back at your day and relive all those highlights.
After breakfast drive across the Mara plains in search of the big five and other plains game or engage in the optional activities on offer at the Maasai Mara. The early mornings are one of the best times to view the animals as this is when they are their most active before the heat of the day sets in. After a mid-morning of relaxation and lunch, head out into the reserve for a chance to tick off some more animals on your “must see” list. Keep your eyes peeled as you hunt for the last members on your list. Visit the Mara River and ask your guide to show you the regular river crossing routes.
Morning and afternoon game drives.
After breakfast check out with picnic lunch boxes and you will be driven back to Nairobi where you will be dropped at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for your outbound travel.
Lunch
