Kenya: Ol Pejeta, Samburu and Laikipia

Arrive in Nairobi

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to your hotel in Nairobi

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Nairobi
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Soir

Then we drive about half an hour into the city centre, past Uhuru Park and the office towers, for a welcome dinner at a local restaurant: nyama choma, Kenya's grilled meat, with kachumbari salad, sukuma wiki greens and ugali.

Compris

• Pick-up at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner in central Nairobi, with transfers

North across the equator to Ol Pejeta

Nairobi to Thika, Karatina and Nyeri, then Nanyuki and Ol Pejeta Conservancy

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Ol Pejeta
• Environ 4 h de route

Matin

After breakfast at about 7.30 we leave Nairobi in our own 4x4s with your driver-guides, heading north on the highway past Thika and its pineapple and coffee farms. The road climbs through the green, crowded hills of the central highlands around Karatina and Nyeri, with tea and banana plots on every slope, and Mount Kenya, at 5,199 m the country's highest peak, shows ahead if the cloud lifts. We stop for coffee on the way and cross the equator near Nanyuki, about four hours and 220 km from Nairobi in all. Ol Pejeta Conservancy lies just beyond the town, between the Aberdares and Mount Kenya, on open plains at about 1,800 m.

Après-midi

Lunch is at our camp, then an hour free. In the late afternoon we go out on the first game drive, looking for elephants, buffalo, Jackson's hartebeest and our first rhinos as the light turns gold over the mountain.

Compris

• Drive from Nairobi to Ol Pejeta with your guide and driver-guides
• Lunch and dinner at the camp
• Late-afternoon game drive in Ol Pejeta Conservancy, conservancy fee included

Ol Pejeta: rhinos by day, the bush by night

A full day in Ol Pejeta Conservancy

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Ol Pejeta

Matin

We drive out at first light, when the plains are cold and the animals are moving, to look for black rhinos in the whistling-thorn scrub and white rhinos grazing in the open. Ol Pejeta is one of the largest black rhino sanctuaries in East Africa, and the conservancy's rangers guard every animal. Mid-morning we visit the Endangered Species Enclosure, where the last two northern white rhinos, both female, live under armed guard; a keeper explains the work to save the subspecies. Then we stop at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, the only place in Kenya to see chimpanzees, all rescued animals, from a raised walkway.

Après-midi

Lunch and the middle of the day are at camp.

Soir

After an early dinner we go out again on a night drive with a spotlight, looking for the animals of the dark: hyenas, bat-eared foxes, genets, white-tailed mongooses and, with luck, a lion or leopard on the move.

Compris

• Morning game drive in Ol Pejeta
• Endangered Species Enclosure and the northern white rhinos, with a keeper
• Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary
• Night game drive after dinner
• All meals at the camp

Down to the dry north and Samburu

Ol Pejeta to Nanyuki, Timau and Isiolo, then Archers Post and Samburu National Reserve

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Samburu
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

A short drive at first light for a last look at the rhinos, then breakfast and we head north. Past Nanyuki and the wheat farms of Timau the road swings around the northern shoulder of Mount Kenya and drops away, mile after mile, to the hot, dry country around Isiolo, more than a thousand metres lower: the green highlands give way to thorn scrub, red earth and the first herders with camels. It is about three hours and 160 km, all tarmac, to Archers Post and the gate of Samburu National Reserve. Our camp is on the bank of the Ewaso Ng'iro, the brown river that is the only permanent water in the reserve, and the doum palms and acacias along it are where most animals come in the dry season.

Après-midi

Lunch is at camp, followed by a free early afternoon in the shade, then a late drive along the river as elephants walk down to drink and the hills turn pink.

Compris

• Short early drive in Ol Pejeta
• Drive north to Samburu with your guide
• Lunch and dinner at the river camp
• Late-afternoon game drive along the Ewaso Ng'iro, reserve fee included

Samburu: looking for the special five

Samburu National Reserve and Buffalo Springs National Reserve

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Samburu

Matin

We leave camp at first light with coffee, because the cool hours after dawn are when Samburu's animals are most active. The aim is the special five, the northern species most safari-goers never see: Grevy's zebra, with its narrow stripes and white belly, now endangered; the reticulated giraffe, marked like a net; the beisa oryx; the gerenuk, which stands on its hind legs to browse; and the Somali ostrich, with its blue-grey legs. Elephants cross the river in family groups, and lions, leopards and cheetahs are possible, never promised. Breakfast is back at camp, then the hot middle of the day is yours: rest in the tent, read by the river or watch from the camp deck.

Après-midi

In the late afternoon we cross the Ewaso Ng'iro into Buffalo Springs National Reserve on the south bank, with its springs and open grassland, and stay out until the light goes.

Compris

• Dawn game drive in Samburu National Reserve
• Late-afternoon game drive in Buffalo Springs National Reserve, reserve fees included
• All meals at the river camp

A Samburu village and a slow afternoon

Samburu National Reserve and a Samburu village near Archers Post

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Samburu

Matin

A dawn drive first, into the corners of the reserve we have not yet seen, perhaps towards the Koitogor hills, where leopards are sometimes seen in the rocks. After breakfast we drive a short way out of the reserve to a Samburu village, arranged with the community, for about an hour and a half. The Samburu are herders, related to the Maasai, and their name was given to the reserve that sits on their grazing land.

Soir

Villagers show us inside a house of sticks, mud and hides, explain how the cattle, goats and camels are kept in thorn enclosures at night, and talk about school, water and the rains; you can ask anything, and the fee goes to the community. Lunch is back at camp, then the afternoon is free: sleep, swim if the camp has a pool, or watch the river. The evening drive is optional, so if you want a quiet evening at camp, take it.

Compris

• Dawn game drive in Samburu National Reserve
• Visit to a Samburu village, community fee included
• Late-afternoon game drive (optional to join)
• All meals at the river camp

Activités en option

• Late-afternoon drive in Shaba National Reserve, east of Samburu (price confirmed at booking)

Back up to Laikipia

Samburu to Archers Post and Isiolo, then a conservancy in northern Laikipia

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Laikipia
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Matin

A short last drive along the river at first light, then breakfast and we leave Samburu, climbing back towards the Laikipia plateau, about three and a half hours and 150 km depending on the conservancy, with a stop to stretch our legs.

Soir

Laikipia is a patchwork of ranches and community conservancies between Mount Kenya and the Rift Valley, much of it unfenced, where elephants, wild dogs and Grevy's zebra move freely and the rules allow walking and night drives. Our camp is in a conservancy in the north, on the edge of Samburu grazing land, and you get a different feel from the parks: few other vehicles, wide views, and kopjes, the granite outcrops that rise from the bush. Lunch is at camp, then the afternoon is free until about 4 pm, when we go out on a drive with the conservancy's guides and stop on a ridge for a sundowner before dinner.

Compris

• Short early drive in Samburu
• Drive to northern Laikipia with your guide
• Lunch and dinner at the camp
• Afternoon game drive and sundowner, conservancy fee included

Activités en option

• Camel walk with a Samburu herder, where the conservancy offers it (price confirmed at booking)
• Night drive, where the conservancy runs one (price confirmed at booking)

On foot in Laikipia, then fly to Nairobi

A walk in the conservancy, then Nanyuki airstrip by light aircraft to Wilson Airport, Nairobi, and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Environ 2 h de route

Après-midi

The scheduled light aircraft takes about 45 minutes to Wilson Airport in Nairobi, and your guide sees you to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) by mid-afternoon and checks your flight before saying goodbye.

Compris

• Guided walk with a Samburu guide and a ranger
• Brunch at the camp
• Scheduled flight, Nanyuki to Wilson Airport, Nairobi
• Drop-off at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO)