7 Days Masai Mara and Laikipia Safari

Day 1: Begin Your Safari from Nairobi to Ol Pejeta Conservancy

Your adventure begins when your professional driver-guide welcomes you at your Nairobi hotel at 8:00 AM. Leaving the capital behind, you’ll travel northward through Kenya’s agricultural heartland and into the highlands surrounding Mount Kenya. This journey offers a fascinating introduction to rural Kenyan life as you pass through small towns and farming communities.

By late morning, you’ll arrive at the world-renowned Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a 90,000-acre private wildlife conservancy pioneering cutting-edge conservation initiatives. After checking into the luxurious Serena Sweetwaters Tented Camp and enjoying a delicious lunch, you’ll embark on your first game drive at 3:00 PM.

This afternoon exploration introduces you to Ol Pejeta’s remarkable wildlife diversity, including the possibility of spotting the “Big Five” (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino) on your very first drive. The conservancy is particularly famous for its rhino protection efforts, housing both black and white rhino species including the last two northern white rhinos on the planet.

Return to camp by dusk for dinner and a comfortable overnight stay, with the sounds of the African wilderness providing a natural soundtrack to your first night on safari.

Dinner and overnight at Serena Sweetwaters Tented Camp

Day 2: Full Day in Ol Pejeta Conservancy

The day begins with an early morning game drive starting at 6:15 AM, when wildlife is most active. The cool morning light creates perfect photography conditions as you search for predators returning from their night hunts and herbivores grazing in the golden dawn light.

After returning to camp for a hearty breakfast, you’ll have time to relax and enjoy the camp’s amenities before your afternoon activity. At 3:30 PM, you’ll head out for another game drive, including a special visit to the Chimpanzee Sanctuary. This unique facility provides refuge for chimps rescued from the illegal pet and bush meat trades, offering them a safe environment that mimics their natural forest habitat.

The private nature of your safari allows flexibility with timing, which is especially valuable for families with children or honeymooners who might prefer a more relaxed schedule on some days.

Dinner and overnight at Serena Sweetwaters Tented Camp

Day 3: Ol Pejeta to Lake Nakuru National Park

After breakfast, your journey continues westward to Lake Nakuru National Park, a bird and rhino sanctuary encircling a shallow alkaline lake. The approximately three-hour drive takes you through the Great Rift Valley, a geological wonder that runs from Lebanon to Mozambique, with some of its most dramatic landscapes found in Kenya.

You’ll arrive in time for lunch at your accommodation, followed by an afternoon game drive in this compact yet wildlife-rich national park. Lake Nakuru is internationally renowned for its flamingo populations that sometimes number in the millions, creating a stunning pink fringe around the lake shores. However, the park offers much more than birds, it’s home to both black and white rhinos, the rare Rothschild’s giraffe, lions, leopards, and numerous other species.

A highlight of your visit will be stopping at a scenic viewpoint overlooking the entire lake, offering spectacular photographic opportunities of the landscapes that make Kenya safari packages so iconic.

Dinner and overnight at Flamingo Hill Tented Camp or Sarova Lion Hill Lodge if unavailable

Day 4: Lake Nakuru to Lake Naivasha

Your day begins with a final early morning game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park, offering another opportunity to spot wildlife you might have missed the previous day. After a relaxed breakfast, you’ll drive to nearby Lake Naivasha, a freshwater lake that forms another jewel in the Great Rift Valley’s crown.

After lunch at your lakeside accommodation, the afternoon is yours to enjoy at leisure. The beautifully landscaped grounds of Lake Naivasha Country Club offer excellent opportunities for casual wildlife viewing and birdwatching without leaving the property. You might spot waterbuck grazing on the lawns, colobus monkeys in the acacia trees, and dozens of bird species in this natural paradise.

For those seeking more adventure, an optional one-hour boat safari on the lake is available at an additional cost. These boat trips provide close-up views of hippos, water birds, and sometimes even fish eagles diving for their prey, all against the backdrop of the dramatic volcanic landscapes surrounding the lake.

Dinner and overnight at Lake Naivasha Country Club

Day 5: Lake Naivasha to Masai Mara National Reserve

After an early breakfast, your Kenya Masai Mara safari package experience truly begins as you journey southwest toward Kenya’s most famous wildlife destination, the Masai Mara National Reserve. This approximately five-hour drive takes you through traditional Maasai land, where you might spot red-cloaked Maasai herders tending their cattle against the vast savanna landscapes.

You’ll arrive at Basecamp Masai Mara in time for lunch and a short rest before embarking on your first Mara game drive at 3:30 PM. The Masai Mara offers wildlife viewing that surpasses most other destinations in Africa, with its open grasslands allowing for excellent visibility and remarkable predator populations.

Your experienced driver-guide will use their intimate knowledge of the reserve to track the “Big Five” animals, along with cheetahs, hyenas, giraffes, zebras, and dozens of other species that call this ecosystem home. Between July and October, the Mara also hosts the northern reaches of the Great Migration, when millions of wildebeest and zebras cross from Tanzania’s Serengeti in search of fresh grazing.

Return to camp by 6:30 PM for dinner and your first night under canvas in one of Africa’s most celebrated wildlife sanctuaries.

Dinner and overnight at Basecamp Masai Mara

Day 6: Full Day in the Masai Mara

Today is dedicated to exploring the magnificent Masai Mara, with both morning and afternoon game drives. Setting out at dawn (6:15 AM), your morning drive often delivers the most thrilling predator sightings as lions, cheetahs, and leopards are still active from their night-time hunting.

After returning to camp for breakfast and a midday rest during the hottest hours, you’ll venture out again at 3:30 PM to witness how the savanna transforms in the changing light. Alternatively, you may choose a full-day game drive with a packed picnic lunch, allowing you to venture deeper into remote corners of the reserve at no additional cost.

The private nature of your safari ensures flexibility in timing and focus, allowing your guide to tailor the experience to your specific interests, whether that’s big cats, elephants, or simply soaking in the vastness of the Mara’s iconic landscapes.

Dinner and overnight at Basecamp Masai Mara

Day 7: Masai Mara to Nairobi

Savor a final relaxed breakfast in the bush before checking out and beginning your return journey to Nairobi. A brief morning game drive on your way out of the reserve offers one last opportunity for wildlife spotting and farewell photos of the landscapes that make the best Masai Mara safari packages so unforgettable.

The drive back to Nairobi takes approximately five to six hours, with interesting views of rural Kenya along the way. You’ll arrive in the capital by early afternoon (typically around 3:00 PM), where you’ll be dropped either at your hotel for those extending their stay or transferred to the airport for onward international flights.

This marks the end of your comprehensive safari from Nairobi, having completed a remarkable journey through Kenya’s diverse wilderness areas and witnessed the extraordinary wildlife that makes this country a premier safari destination.