2-Day Masai Mara Escape
A weekend-length dash to the Mara for guests short on time: one afternoon and one full morning of game drives either side of a single night in camp.
7-Day Best of Kenya
Overview
This is the longest of our Rift Valley and Mara routes and the one that tries to show the most ground without turning into a week of driving. It opens gently, with a half-day on the water at Lake Naivasha rather than a straight game drive, then moves through Lake Nakuru for rhino and flamingo, into two full days in the Mara, and finally to Amboseli for two days under Kilimanjaro, linked by a short light-aircraft flight since there is no practical road between the Mara and Amboseli.
Seven days gives real breathing room at each stop: nobody in this itinerary is spending a whole day purely in transit without also getting a game drive or another activity out of it.
Day by day
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01
Nairobi to Lake Naivasha
A short morning drive down into the Rift Valley to Lake Naivasha, where the afternoon is a boat ride along the shoreline among hippo and fish eagle, followed by a walk on Crescent Island among giraffe, zebra and waterbuck, none of which share the island with predators.
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02
Naivasha to Lake Nakuru
A short drive on to Lake Nakuru National Park for an afternoon game drive around the lake shore and acacia woodland, looking for black and white rhino, buffalo and, lake levels permitting, flamingo along the shallows.
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03
Nakuru to the Mara
A short morning drive to finish at Nakuru, then southwest through Narok to reach the Masai Mara by mid-afternoon, going straight into a game drive on arrival.
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04
Full day in the Mara
A complete day inside the reserve, with an early drive, a rest at camp through the heat, and an afternoon session running until last light. Where we drive depends on where sightings have concentrated over the preceding days, near the river for cats or out on the open plains if migration herds are moving through.
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05
Mara to Amboseli by air
A final early game drive in the Mara before breakfast, then a transfer to the airstrip for a light-aircraft flight back to Wilson Airport and on to Amboseli, landing in the early afternoon in time for a first game drive under Kilimanjaro.
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06
Full day in Amboseli
A day built around the swamps that pull elephant herds into the open to drink and graze, often for hours at a time. We work the swamp edges early, while Kilimanjaro is still clear of the cloud that builds around the peak as the day warms, and return again in the late afternoon for a second session.
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07
Morning drive and return to Nairobi
A last early game drive, then breakfast and the drive back to Nairobi, roughly four hours via Namanga or Emali, arriving in good time for an onward flight or overnight in the city.
What's included
Included
- Ground transport in a 4x4 safari vehicle with a pop-up roof for the Naivasha, Nakuru, Mara and Amboseli legs
- One light-aircraft flight from the Mara to Amboseli via Wilson Airport
- Boat ride and Crescent Island walk at Lake Naivasha
- Six nights full-board accommodation: one at Naivasha, one at Nakuru, two in or bordering the Mara, two at Amboseli
- Ten game drives, led by an English-speaking driver-guide
- Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara and Amboseli park and reserve entry fees
- All meals throughout: breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Bottled water in the vehicle throughout
- Soft drinks, juices, tea and coffee throughout
- Beer, wine and spirits throughout
Not included
- International flights
- Kenya e-Visa or entry permit fees
- Tips and gratuities for your guide and camp staff
- Items of a personal nature such as laundry and souvenirs
- Travel insurance
Best time to visit
June through October and January through February give the driest conditions across all four stops; the same months also bring the clearest early-morning Kilimanjaro views over Amboseli, before cloud builds around the peak later in the day. Late June through October also carries the best odds on the Mara migration.
Common questions
Is this itinerary suitable for a first trip to Kenya?
Yes, it's the route I recommend most often for a first visit, since it covers the Rift Valley lakes, the Mara and Amboseli without any single day being pure transit. Each travel day still includes a game drive or another activity at the far end.
What vehicle do we travel in, and is it private?
A 4x4 safari Land Cruiser with a pop-up roof for every road leg. It can be private to your group or shared with other guests travelling the same dates; let us know your preference at booking.
Are park fees and the internal flight included?
Yes, both are included, along with all listed accommodation and game drives. What is not included is your international flight into and out of Kenya.
Will we see the wildebeest migration?
Only if it is in the Mara during your travel dates. The migration follows rainfall and grazing rather than a fixed calendar, so we treat any crossing you witness as a bonus on top of two full days of game driving, not something we can schedule.
Is there a single supplement, and can the itinerary be shortened?
A single supplement applies if you want your own room or tent rather than sharing; we quote it against the specific camps once chosen. The itinerary can also be trimmed, most often by dropping the Naivasha day, if seven days is more than you have available.
05Add-on experience
Hot air balloon safari
Over the Masai Mara
The Mara is where balloon safaris in Kenya started and it remains the classic flight: open plains, the river courses picked out by their tree lines, and game visible below in a way no vehicle can show you. Between roughly July and October, when the migration herds are in the reserve, the view from the basket takes in a scale of movement that is genuinely hard to grasp from the ground.
You are collected from camp in the dark and driven to the launch site, arriving while the crew are still inflating the envelope. Take-off is at first light, which is the whole point: the air is calmest then, and the low sun puts long shadows behind everything below you.
The flight runs roughly an hour, drifting with whatever wind there is rather than steering, so no two flights follow the same line. Height varies through the flight, from just above the treetops to a few hundred metres up.
Where the balloon lands, the ground crew are already setting up breakfast, cooked in the open and eaten at the landing site before you are driven back to camp. Most guests are back in time for the rest of the morning.
Worth knowing
- Flights go at dawn and are weather dependent. Wind or low cloud cancels them, and that call belongs to the pilot on the morning, not to us.
- Baskets are small and fill early in high season, so this is worth adding when you book the safari rather than deciding once you have arrived.
- It is a genuinely early start, normally a pre-dawn pickup from camp.
Who flies it
The flight itself is run by a licensed balloon operator with its own pilots and civil aviation approval, not by us. What we do is book your seats, make sure the pickup lines up with where you are staying and what your itinerary is doing the rest of that day, and sort it out with the operator if the weather moves your flight.
Add a balloon flightReady to book this safari?
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