This exciting 13 days Kenya safari tour is an amazing 13 days safari in Kenya that takes you to five of Kenya’s most treasured safari destinations: Masai Mara National Reserve, Amboseli National Park, Samburu National Reserve, Lake Nakuru National Park, & Aberdares National Park.
This Kenya vacation tour is the ideal trip to book if you want to take in much of the country’s natural beauty, culture, and wildlife.
Your 13 days Kenya safari in Amboseli, famous for its views of elephants framed by snow-capped Kilimanjaro. Then visit Aberdares and explore Samburu Reserve, known for its leopard sightings, as well as the unique Samburu Special 5 – Gerenuk, Reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, Somali ostrich, and Beisa oryx.
Next, take in the mesmerizing scenery of the Great Rift Valley as you drive to Lake Nakuru. This park is a birder’s paradise and has good populations of large mammals including Rhinos, Buffalo, hippos, and rare Rothschild giraffes.
The final destination on this 13 days Kenya safari needs no introduction. Home to the Great Wildebeest Migration and some of the most prolific lion prides in Africa, the Masai Mara is where safari dreams are made of.
The unforgettable 13 Days Kenya safari tour starts and ends in Nairobi. You can book or customize it to your interests and enjoy sublime game viewing in some of Kenya’s best wildlife areas with diverse cultural activities and plenty to see and do.
Day 1, 2 & 3: Amboseli National Park
Day 4: Aberdares National Park
Day 5, 6 & 7: Samburu National Reserve
Day 8: Lake Nakuru National Park
Day 9, 10, 11, & 12: Masai Mara National Reserve & Masai Village
Day 13: Nairobi
Day 1: Travel from Nairobi to Amboseli National Park, Afternoon Game Drive.
Day 2: Full-Day Game Drives In Amboseli National Park
Day 3: Unlimited Game Drives In Amboseli National Park
Day 4: Visit Aberdares National Park, Wildlife Viewing & Relaxation.
Day 5: Transfer to Samburu National Reserve, Afternoon Game Drive
Day 6: Full-Day Game Drive in Samburu National Reserve
Day 7: Morning Game Drive & Afternoon Samburu Village Visit.
Day 8: Travel to Lake Nakuru National Park, Afternoon Game Drive
Day 9: Drive To Masai Mara National Reserve, Afternoon Game Drive.
Day 10: Full-Day Game Drive in Masai Mara National Reserve.
Day 11: Watch The Great Wildebeest Migration Along The Mara River.
Day 12: Game Drive in Masai Mara. Maasai Cultural Experience.
Day 13: Sunrise Game Drive & Drive Back To Nairobi.
Your fantastic 13 days Kenya safari begins today.
At around 7:30 am, your tour driver guide shall pick you up from your hotel in Nairobi. After a short tour briefing, you embark on a 3-4 hour drive south through the beautiful landscapes of Kenya to Amboseli National Park – Kenya’s second most popular game park after Masai Mara National Reserve.
Amboseli is well known for its huge herds of big-tusked elephants and magnificent views of Mount Kilimanjaro (5895m), the highest free-standing mountain on Earth.
This 392km2 park was established in 1974 and declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1991. It is a typically dry and sparsely vegetated park but has lush wetlands where majestic elephant herds gather with snow-capped Mt Kilimanjaro in the background – one of the most iconic images of Africa.
In addition to elephants, Amboseli is home to Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, and Hyena, as well as their prey such as Buffalo, Giraffe, Zebra, yellow baboon, and Antelope. You’ll reach in time for lunch at your lodge. After lunch, have some time to relax and then head out on your first drive of the safari. After a game drive, return to the lodge or camp at sunset for relaxation, dinner, and overnight.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Oltukai Lodge/Tortilis Camp/Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge
Midrange: – Satao Elerai Camp/Kibo Safari Camp
Meal Plan: – Lunch & Dinner
Drive Distance & Time: – Approx. 233km/3-4 hours
Activities & Services: –
On day two of your 13 days Kenya safari, you get ready for a full day safari in Amboseli National Park. You’ll enjoy morning and afternoon game drives, returning to the lodge or camp for lunch and a short rest in the heat of the day.
Amboseli is home to a multitude of wild animals, but the park is best known for being the best place in the world to get close to free-ranging elephants. Imagine a herd of elephants quenching their thirst against the backdrop of ice-capped Kili – if you get the angle right, you’ve got the world’s biggest land animal set against the world’s tallest free-standing mountain… and a pretty impressive selfie!
Elephants are everywhere in Amboseli, present in high densities, and sporting some largest body and tusk sizes in Africa. Many of these herds and bulls have been the subjects of the longest-running study of elephant behavior in the wild.
Amboseli is where biologists first observed some of the most endearing behaviors of these enigmatic creatures. It was here that herds were first recognized as close-knit families, and where elephants were observed celebrating births, forming friendships, and grieving over the death of a family member.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge/Oltukai Lodge/Tortilis Camp
Midrange: – Kibo Safari Camp/Satao Elerai Camp
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
After breakfast on day three of 13 days Kenya safari, you have another full day to explore more of what Amboseli offers.
While elephants are the star attraction of Amboseli, the park’s other creatures never fail to provide a stirring, supporting performance.
Hippos wallow in the shallows of the marshes during the day and emerge to graze on the savannah plains as the heat reduces. Herds of Zebras and Blue wildebeest dominate the plains, while long-necked gerenuks can be spotted alongside towering Giraffes.
Lions, Leopards, Hyenas, Cheetahs, Black-backed Jackals, Bat-eared Foxes, Serval cats, and African Painted wolves (Wild dogs) hunt here. If you are a bird lover, you won’t be disappointed in Amboseli; over 420 different bird species have been recorded in the park.
Optional visit to a Local Maasai Village: You have the option of visiting a nearby Masai village in the late afternoon before heading back to the lodge for dinner. The word Amboseli comes from the Maasai word translating to ‘salty dust’ which is why the elephants love this park so much. Learn about the Maasai from this part of Kenya and see how they are using conservation to their advantage.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge/Oltukai Lodge
Midrange: – Kibo Safari Camp/Satao Elerai Camp
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
After breakfast, embark on a long rewarding drive of about 6 hours north. En route, you make a stop at Aberdare Country Club for lunch.
After lunch, proceed to Aberdare National Park, perhaps the most distinct of all Kenya’s national parks, a place to savor nature over wildlife in the cooler climates of the central highlands.
Whereas you will see wildlife, Aberdare is mainly known for its outstanding natural beauty. Created in 1950 to protect the Aberdare Mountains, this park is a landscape of dense forest, steep ravines, open moorland, and thundering waterfalls. It’s home to Black rhinos, Elephants, Baboons, Buffalos, Colobus monkeys, Hyenas, Leopard, Giant Forest hogs, Golden cats, Duikers, Bongos, and over 250 bird species.
Aberdare was also home to Treetops Lodge (now closed), where Princess Elizabeth found out she would be Queen of the United Kingdom in 1952 after the death of her father. Your overnight stay will be at the Ark Tree Lodge, situated in the forest on the slopes of the Aberdare Mountains at 2134 meters.
The lodge offers great wildlife viewing; you can observe animals from different locations – from outside where you can see, hear and smell everything and from inside where you can sit with a cup of tea and stay warm and cozy.
Accommodation:-
Midrange: – The Ark
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Drive Distance & Time: – 370km/6 hours
Activities & Services: –
Your day 5 of your 13 days Kenya safari starts with a relaxed breakfast at the lodge.
After breakfast, you depart Aberdare National Park and take a beautiful drive of about 3-4 hours north. Travel past the snow-capped Mount Kenya (5,199m), Africa’s second highest mountain, in a scene unchanged in centuries until the landscape becomes wilder and the plains of the reserve open out before you.
A belt of green in the far distance is the ribbon of the Ewaso Nyiro River, which is lined by a beautiful riverine forest and doum palms. The river is a source of life-giving water for all the wildlife of this area, without which the animals would not have survived this otherwise semi-arid environment. You’ll arrive in time for lunch at your camp/lodge for the next 3 nights.
This afternoon, enjoy your first game drive in Samburu Reserve. Covering 165km2, Samburu is a peaceful quiet reserve and boasts an incredible wealth of classic African animals. The stars of the show are undoubtedly the Samburu Special 5: Reticulated giraffe, Gerenuk, Somali ostrich, Grevy’s zebra, and Beisa oryx – which don’t occur in most Kenyan parks.
After a game drive, return to camp for relaxation, dinner, and overnight.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Ashnil Samburu Camp/Elephant Bedroom Camp
Midrange: – Samburu Simba Lodge/ Sarova Shaba Lodge/Samburu Sopa Lodge
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Drive Distance & Time: – Approx. 215km/3-4 hours
Activities & Services: –
On day six of your 13 days Kenya safari, you will have your first full day to enjoy Samburu. You will enjoy morning and afternoon game drives and return to camp for lunch and a short rest in the heat of the day.
Samburu is known for its lion population. In fact, this is one of the places where Joy and George Adamson raised Elsa the lioness, made famous in the best-selling book and award-winning movie Born Free. The reserve is also the home of Kamunyak, a lioness that was famous for adopting at least 6 oryx calves in the early 2000s, and whose story was told in the film Heart of a Lioness.
Samburu Reserve is also one of the best places for leopards in Kenya, and it’s also a prime spot for giant tusker elephants. The park is home to the headquarters of Save the Elephants, established by Iain Douglas-Hamilton, meaning that the elephants here are also some of the most extensively studied in the world.
You will also look out for Cheetahs, Wild Dogs, Striped hyenas, Buffalos, Hippos, Crocodiles, Gazelles, Dik-diks, Kudus, Impalas, and Waterbucks. After a wonderful day in Samburu, return to your camp for relaxation, dinner, and overnight.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Elephant Bedroom Camp/Ashnil Samburu Camp
Midrange: – Samburu Simba Lodge/ Sarova Shaba Lodge/Samburu Sopa Lodge
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
Optional Activities:-
Today is your last day in exciting Samburu.
You’ll again do a morning game drive. During the game drive, you can look out for some of the reserve’s 450 bird species. There are several coveted endemic and arid specialists to be found across its varied landscapes.
Some bird species you watch for include the charismatic Vulturine Guineafowl, Singing bush lark, Secretary bird, Somali bee-eater, Golden pipit, White-headed mousebird, D’Arnaud’s barbet, Von der Decken’s hornbill, Fischer’s starling, Palm-nut vulture, and rosy-patched bush-shrike. After a game drive, you return to your lodge for lunch and a siesta in the heat of the day.
In the afternoon, visit a local Samburu Village just outside the reserve. Similar in appearance to the Masai but less known, the Samburu are a proud warrior tribe.
You will observe traditional Samburu dancing and learn about Samburu tribal life and customs. Remember to bring your camera and capture the beauty and color of the layers of bead necklaces and bracelets, the red clay braids of the warriors, and the contrast of their bright cloth wraps against the African savanna.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Elephant Bedroom Camp/Ashnil Samburu Camp
Midrange: – Samburu Simba Lodge/ Sarova Shaba Lodge/Samburu Sopa Lodge
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
After a leisurely breakfast today, embark on a 5-hour drive to Lake Nakuru.
The trip includes a stopover at a viewpoint over the Great Rift Valley for excellent views over a series of contiguous geographic trenches. The valley, dotted with lakes and mountains, measures about 7000km in length, running from Lebanon in Asia to Mozambique in southeastern Africa. You’ll arrive at the lodge in time for lunch.
After lunch, you set out on an afternoon game drive. Protected by Lake Nakuru National Park and flanked by rocky escarpments, pockets of acacia forest, and waterfalls, this remarkable lake offers a gorgeous setting for seeing both white and black rhinos, Buffalos, Hippos, Lions, and the endangered Rothschild giraffe.
While exploring the park, you’ll also discover many different bird species, including spectacular flocks of pelicans and variable flocks of flamingos.
Please Note: Lake Nakuru has been famous for the vast population of flamingos (sometimes over 1.5 million of them at one time) who come to the lake to feed. But since 2014, the rising water levels from heavy flooding have significantly reduced this phenomenon, shrinking their breeding and feeding grounds. But a safari in Lake Nakuru still delivers some of Kenya’s best wildlife viewings.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Sarova Woodlands/the Cliff
Midrange: – Lake Nakuru Lodge/Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge/Flamingo Hill Camp
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Drive Distance & Time: – About. 250km/5 hours
Activities & Services: –
Your day nine of the 13 days Kenya safari begins with a delicious breakfast at 7.30 am. After breakfast, depart to the magical Masai Mara, Africa’s finest game viewing destination.
Locally known simply as The Mara, Masai Mara is one of the most famous and important wildlife conservation and wilderness areas in Africa, world-renowned for its exceptional populations of lion, African leopard, cheetah, and African bush elephant It also hosts the Great Migration, which secured it as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa, and as one of the ten Wonders of the World.
You will reach in the afternoon, enjoy lunch, relax and then depart on an exciting game drive. You’ll stay out until sunset and hopefully, you can find some predators as they start to become more active at this time.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Mara Serena Lodge/Ashnil Mara Camp/Mara Leisure Camp
Midrange: – Mara Sopa Lodge/Jambo Mara Lodge/Basecamp Masai Mara
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Drive Distance & Time: – Approx. 237km/4 hours
Activities & Services: –
On day ten of your 13 days Kenya tour safari, rise early and enjoy a morning game drive in Masai Mara National Reserve.
This is your chance to see why the Mara is rated so highly as a wildlife destination. It is a Big 5 destination as well as one famous for its general wildlife and rarities like cheetah and even wild dogs.
Explore this diverse environment and see a multitude of wildlife.
If you visit from around July to October, you have a chance to witness the Great Migration of around 1.7 million White-bearded wildebeest, 470,000 Gazelles, and 260,000 Plains Zebra that migrate from Tanzania’s Serengeti Park annually across the vast grasslands in search of fresh grass and water.
After a morning game drive, you return to the lodge or camp for lunch and relaxation during the heat of the day. You then set out again in the afternoon, expecting to return to camp around sunset.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Mara Leisure Camp/Mara Serena Lodge/ Ashnil Mara Camp
Midrange: – Mara Sopa Lodge/Basecamp Masai Mara/Jambo Mara Lodge
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
Waking up before the sun you will have breakfast, and enjoy another game drive in the Mara. You will search all the well-known areas for another chance to spot a member of the “Big 5” and other iconic African animals.
Optional Hot Air Balloon flight at sunrise: This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to really appreciate the spectacular magnificence of the Mara. It offers great photographic opportunities and you can spot the heads of gentle giraffe foraging from the top of leafy trees, slumbering elephants swaying in the cool breeze, and pods of hippos splashing in the water. The activity lasts one hour and is followed by champagne bush breakfast, cooked wherever you land.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Mara Serena Lodge/Ashnil Mara Camp/Mara Leisure Camp
Midrange: – Mara Sopa Lodge/Jambo Mara Lodge/Basecamp Masai Mara
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
On day twelve of your 13 days Kenya safari tour, after breakfast, enjoy another morning game drive in Masai Mara National Reserve for another opportunity to more of the wildlife’s natural behavior. This can include a lion hunting and killing a buffalo, a cheetah chasing a gazelle, or the serene activities of elephants grazing and birds building nests. Masai Mara boasts over 470 bird species.
You will return to the lodge later in the afternoon for lunch and some relaxation. In the late afternoon, visit a traditional Maasai village to learn about the interesting culture of the famous Maasai People. Your expert local guide will lead you through the village as you learn about their traditions and beliefs, and daily practices like demonstrations of how to make fire using sticks.
At the end of the cultural tour, you can buy some gift items or curios made by the villagers – a chance to give back to the local community.
Accommodation:-
Luxury: – Mara Serena Lodge/Ashnil Mara Camp/Mara Leisure Camp
Midrange: – Mara Sopa Lodge/Jambo Mara Lodge/Basecamp Masai Mara
Meal Plan: – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Activities & Services: –
After a good breakfast, today, have one last game drive in Masai Mara. Enjoy one last chance to spot the iconic “big five” animals before embarking on a drive of about 6 hours back to Nairobi where this fantastic 13 Days Kenya Safari tour comes to an end.
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