Safari in Kenya

done properly, Kenya can be magnificent

Kenya is an extremely diverse country which straddles a number of different climate zones, contains a vast range of different landscapes and is home to an unusually broad range of cultures.

In so many ways Kenya represents something of a crossroads. It is a complex place, one about which it seems easy to eulogise one minute and despair the next.

Kenya is the original home of the modern safari and offers a very diverse range of experiences, from wonderfully remote high-end camps to very accessible and relatively low cost lodges.

Of course the country is perhaps best known for the wildebeest migration, which usually crosses from Tanzania into the Maasai Mara during the Jul-Oct dry season.

These safari areas can all be easily combined with the fabulous tropical coastline, where there are some spectacular white-sand beaches and dive sites.

There’s also a great deal of history here, especially from the Colonial Era, as well as popular movie and television connections, notably Born Free and the BBC Big Cat Diary.

However, by comparison with countries such as Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, the general quality of safari in Kenya is really rather poor. This is the home of the packaged safari, with most of the main parks being dominated by large mainstream lodges and suffering under the burden of fleets of minibuses.

Furthermore the huge population growth that the country has experienced in recent decades is very evident in the Central Highlands (around Nairobi) and down in the Rift Valley, where main road routes and certain previously lovely safari areas have become eminently avoidable.

It’s still very much possible to put together great safaris in Kenya, but careful planning is most definitely needed, connecting together a selection of wonderfully remote and little-visited areas, usually by light aircraft.

Trips typically run to 10-18 nights, but can easily be extended to multiple weeks and still continue to deliver varied and interesting experiences.

The most common out of country combinations are the gorilla areas of Uganda (which are easily reached from Maasai Mara) and the tropical beaches of Zanzibar and Seychelles (which are sometimes preferred to the Kenya Coast).

The classic time to go on safari in Kenya is during the main Jul-Oct dry season, when weather conditions should be warm and sunny everywhere and wildlife viewing should be at its strongest.

Getting around

Kenya is usually accessed via Nairobi International Airport. Very occasionally our guests arrive on international flights into Mombasa International Airport, although this is usually less convenient.

If you are combining with neighbouring countries like Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, then it may be possible to fly directly into the national parks rather than detour back through Nairobi. For example there are excellent flights from Entebbe into the airstrips of Maasai Mara.

Once in-country, the majority of locations are best connected by light aircraft services, usually starting and ending at Nairobi Wilson Aerodrome and navigating an anti-clockwise routing.

Overland safaris are generally not very attractive in Kenya these days, since the general traffic on the main roads can be horrific and those safari areas which are accessed by road tend to be flooded with budget safari minibuses.

Additionally the vast majority of high quality lodges do not offer discounts for guests arriving with a private vehicle and guide, so you end up paying twice over.

However there are a few areas which are still best explored by road, notably some of the routes that connect the various safari areas in the north of the country, as well as various routes through Tsavo East and Tsavo West.

Where to stay

The usual way to go about choosing where to stay during your trip is to start by selecting the areas you would like to visit, then looking at the various options in each area.

But if you would like to browse all of the various lodges and camps in Kenya, then you can use this link. If you change the month in the search sentence then the lodge ratings will reorder appropriately to show you the very best options for that period. That should help.

good quality trips are unavoidably expensive