Remote Mara, Amboseli & Island Adventure

On your arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport you are transferred to your overnight stay at Nairobi Tented Camp within the city’s national park. Apart from being Kenya’s oldest official reserve, this park is also the largest protected area in the world within such close proximity of a city centre. Manmade dams attract water-dependent herbivores during the dry season and the park is one of the country’s principal rhino sanctuaries. Birders also have a field day here with over 300 recorded species to be spotted in the park, including northern migrants that pass through between March and April.

Your authentic canvas tent offers luxurious comfort with an en suite bathroom where you can enjoy fire-heated showers at short notice. Sheep-skin rugs cover the floor to create a cosy atmosphere and your furnished verandah is a contemplative refuge overlooking the valley and acacia forest. Choose between low wattage LED lighting in your canvas home or the romance of candles and gas lanterns.

Choose between an expertly guided 4×4 game drive or a visit to the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage – one of the world’s most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation programmes which has been responsible for hand-raising over 150 infant elephants and reintegrating them back into the wild.

After breakfast you are transferred to Wilson Airport where you board a flight to Amboseli National Park. On your arrival you are transported to Porini Amboseli Camp within the exclusive Selenkay Conservancy, which offers striking views of iconic Mount Kilimanjaro. This intimate safari retreat is designed along the lines of a traditional tented camp and offers comforts such as an en suite bathroom and solar-powered lighting. Protected since 1997 under an agreement with the local Maasai community, it is renowned for both resident and migrating animals that share the conservancy with a maximum of just 18 visitors per day.

Enjoy 4×4 game drives and Maasai-guided nature walks through both Amboseli National Park and the Selenkay Conservancy, with the opportunity to encounter nocturnal life such as serval, bat-eared foxes and anteaters on spotlit night drives. Big game and predators are regularly spotted here while the conservancy’s birdlife is prolific, with a bird-of-prey list to impress even the most seasoned twitcher. From the camp, you have the luxury of a furnished viewing platform to keep an eye on the nearby waterhole where elephant and giraffe regularly come to drink. Maasai village visits provide insight into this tribe’s unique culture and their reciprocal relationship with the natural environment. A full day’s game viewing includes a packed picnic lunch to be enjoyed in the park while evening game drives conclude with a sundowner in a scenic location before storytelling around the crackling campfire and dinner under the star-studded African sky.  

Check out for your transfer back to the airstrip and board a flight back to Wilson Airport. From here you connect with another flight to Ol Kiombo Airstrip where you are met and transferred to Porini Lion Camp within the Olare Orok Conservancy bordering Kenya’s flagship Masai Mara National Reserve. Set along the banks of the Ntiakatiak River, this traditionally styled tented camp is designed for minimal environmental impact with no permanent structures and a solar-powered electricity supply.

Just 10 spacious tents offer authentic accommodation in the unspoilt wilderness where you enjoy highly informative 4×4 game drives and walking safaris with Maasai tribesmen. If you have not already spotted animals from your breezy en suite tent’s verandah, game viewing begins on your game drive within seconds of leaving the camp with your expert tracker-and-ranger team. The strictly limited human presence means that the animals feel far more relaxed and tend to be curious and approach the vehicles. Three established lion prides inhabit these areas and leopards are often seen close to the camp.

Between game drives, watch the Ntiakatiak River where hippos can be seen wallowing and a wealth of birdlife is spotted in the treetops. And with a bird species diversity that is unrivalled in the most of East Africa, you might like to put aside some time especially for bird watching. Walking safaris can be tailored to twitching and your knowledgeable Maasai guides are always ready to assist with species identification and can take you to hot-spots around the camp.

After breakfast you are transferred back to Ol Kiombo Airstrip and board your flight to Wilson Airport. On arrival you are transported to Carnivore restaurant – which specialises in exotic game dishes – for an early lunch before being returned to the airport for your flight to Diani Beach. You are met at Ukunda Airport and transferred to The Sands at Chale Island on the coast of southern Kenya.

The pace at this idyllic tropical paradise is unashamedly relaxed and informal. Chill out and watch as the fishing dhows sail across the glistening waters of the Indian Ocean.

If you are keen to do more than lie on the beach and sunbathe between refreshing dips in the bright blue sea, activities such as sailing, canoeing and windsurfing are all possibilities in this tropical haven. Rewarding scuba diving and snorkelling can be enjoyed in the Kisite Marine Park just a short boat ride away and the legendary Pemba Channel also beckons. Boat trips are also arranged and provide the opportunity to spot kingfishers, crocodiles and sometimes dolphins.

This morning you are transferred back to Ukunda Airport where you board your flight to Wilson Airport in Nairobi. Here you are met and transferred to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and connect with your onwards flight back home.