Highlights of Kenya

Fly direct from London Heathrow to Nairobi, and transfer to the Radisson Blu Hotel, centrally positioned in the capital, for an overnight stay.

Travel (4hrs) to Amboseli National Park, for two nights at the tented Tulia Amboseli Safari Camp. Enjoy a first game drive in the park this afternoon, where wetlands, woodlands, savannah, and sulphur springs shape the landscape; and the dry bed of the park’s eponymous lake gave Amboseli its Maasai name, which translates as ‘salty dust’.
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A full-day game drive in the park, awarded UNESCO status as a Man and Biosphere Reserve, and nicknamed Africa’s Elephant Park. Within its 151sq. miles, two natural springs provide a permanent water supply, acacia trees are the favourite food for giraffes, and the 56 animal species include the Big Five, along with wildebeest and wild dog, hartebeest, hippo, hyena, and herds of Grants gazelle.
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Travel north (6hrs) to Lake Elementaita, arriving for lunch and an afternoon at leisure. With euphorbia woodlands around its shores, it is home to several mammal species, but best known for its prolific birdlife, and as a feeding ground for frothy-pink flocks of flamingos. An optional tour this evening visits nearby Lake Nakuru National Park for a game drive, where waterbuck, white rhino, and endearing warthogs are among the many resident mammal species (£85, pre-bookable). Overnight at the Sentrim Elementaita Lodge, on the lakeshore.
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Drive through the Great Rift Valley to the Masai Mara National Reserve (6hrs). It’s all in the name at this revered game reserve, ‘Masai’ for the ancestral inhabitants of the area, ‘Mara’ translating from their language as ‘spotted’, a description of the savannah landscape, dotted with bushes, scrub and clusters of trees. An afternoon game drive is your introduction to the world-famous reserve. Two nights at the Pride Inn Mara Camp, by the bank of the River Talek.
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Enjoy a full day game drive in the Big Five reserve, home to elusive leopards, elephant families, hook-lipped Black Rhinos, herds of buffaloes, and hundreds of the iconic black-mane lions. Separated from the Serengeti by its namesake river, the Masai Mara is at its most awesome during the Great Migration between the two reserves (usually July-September), when a miles-long line of wildebeest and plains game stretches from horizon to horizon on their journey seeking sweeter pastures.
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After a final early morning game drive here in the haunts of the Big Cats, travel (7hrs) to Nairobi, stopping enroute for an optional boat ride at Lake Naivasha (bookable locally). Farewell dinner at the aptly named Carnivore Restaurant, its all-you-can-eat meat buffet, local music, and informal ambiance making it one of East Africa’s most famous and popular venues and the return flight.
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Arrival at London Heathrow.