Kenya Highlights

There is no doubt that Kenya is a magical country. From arid deserts to verdant rainforests, from rolling grasslands to snow-capped equatorial peaks, from lush green hills and cultivated plains to the individual lakes and spectacular escarpments of the Great Rift Valley, this diverse nation has a variety of scenery and habitats unrivalled in Africa. Game in the reserves is abundant; both it and the birdlife — a staggering thousand species, more than any other African area of similar size — are spectacular, approachable, and easily photographed. All this is serviced by a good network of roads, and by standards of accommodation and cuisine as high as any on this great continent.

After an initial overnight stop in Nairobi, we will take a short flight north to Samburu Game Reserve, where we will be based for three nights. Situated in the arid north of Kenya, Samburu is perhaps the most beautiful of all the country's reserves. Grasslands, acacia woodlands and lush riverine forests form an attractive mosaic, and constitute a diversity of habitats that makes the reserve one of the finest for mammal and bird variety. Alongside a good range of common game, we will be looking particularly for Beisa Oryx, Reticulated Giraffe, Gerenuk and Grevy’s Zebra. Amongst the wealth of birdlife, some of the special species are African Pygmy Falcon, Vulturine Guineafowl, Kori Bustard, Orange-bellied Parrot, Abyssinian Scimitarbill, Northern Crombec, Pygmy Batis, Golden Pipit, Golden-breasted Starling and Somali Bee-eater. Next, we drive south and west stopping for an overnight stay on the edge of Aberdare National Park. The higher altitude means that the vegetation is quite different here, and the landscape is a picturesque mix of forested ravines and open moorland. Enjoying a walk this afternoon, we should see a wonderful range of montane and forest birds, perhaps including such species as Red-fronted Parrot, Hartlaub’s Turaco and White-starred Robin.

Moving on, we will visit two of the Rift Valley's soda lakes, each with outstanding birdlife. We begin with a 1-night stay to explore Lake Elementaita, where we hope to enjoy the large flocks of Greater and Lesser Flamingoes that can often be seen here. Around the shoreline we'll look for waders, while a visit to Soysambu Conservancy could yield Eland, Kilpspringer, antelopes and Lion. Next, we move to Lake Nakuru. Until 2014, Nakuru was famed for hosting hundreds of thousands of Greater and Lesser Flamingoes, carpeting its surface in a shimmering pink, but in the years that followed the major flooding from 2012 to 2014 very few flamingoes had been visiting the lake. However, since 2020, the flamingoes have slowly begun to return, and the salty mudflats, hilly woodlands around the soda lake and the park itself area all well worth a visit. We will spend the next full day in Lake Nakuru National Park, hoping to find such large mammals as Leopard, Southern White Rhino (and Black Rhino, though these are much more elusive), Bohor Reedbuck, Cape Buffalo, Warthog, Waterbuck, Eland and the rare Rothchild’s Giraffe.

For the final leg of our adventure, we travel over the Rift Valley, viewing the spectacular Longonot Volcano as we cross the cultivated plains towards the rolling grasslands of the Maasai Mara, where we will spend four nights. This is the finest of Kenya’s reserves, and teems with animals, especially in September when huge herds of Blue Wildebeest, pursued by their predators, have migrated into the Maasai Mara from the adjacent Serengeti in search of fresh pastures. Topi, Hartebeest, gazelles, Plains Zebra, Giraffe, African Elephant and Cape Buffalo feed with them on the plains, and attendant Lions, Cheetahs, Black-backed Jackals and Spotted Hyenas are never far away. The big game may take much of the spotlight, but the birdlife is equally extraordinary, with vultures, Martial Eagles, Secretarybirds, Ostriches, Southern Ground Hornbills, and colourful barbets, weavers and finches littering the grasslands and acacias. There is plenty of wildlife to see outside of the migration season too, with resident mammals and birds joined, during our winter months, by the migratory birds that move in from the northern hemisphere. The Maasai Mara is such a wonderful place, it never disappoints.

Finally, we take the short flight from the Maasai Mara back to Nairobi, where we will have time to freshen up before we depart on our overnight flight back to London.