Lions, Rhinos, Elephants and Mountains on a Wildlife Safari
Journey Woman “30th Anniversary World Tour”
October 29 – November 5, 2024
7 nights, 8 days
Overview:
Rejuvenate with a safari to discover Kenya’s rich wildlife and its diverse cultures in this tropical paradise on the Equator, the denizen of big game – elephants and rhino; lions, leopards and cheetahs; rhinos and mighty raptors that soar the skies.
The Kenya classic safari takes you through the tapestry of sweeping grasslands, and lush swamps with snow-topped mountains that is home to this spectacular wildlife.
Highlights
- Luxury Safari in three diverse game parks
- Seeing Africa’s big game in the wild, it’s a lot different than the zoo!
- Stay in two unique tented camps
- See the Samburu 5, rare endemic animals only found in this particular arid ecosystem.
- Stay in a beautiful Nairobi hotel
- See Africa’s two highest mountains – Kilimanjaro and Kenya
- Visit the elephant research camp in Amboseli to learn about the world’s longest studied elephants in the wild
- Indulge in mouth-watering international and local cuisine
Contemplate watching elephants under the gaze of the snow-capped Kilimanjaro and ending the day with a game drive to catch the ‘golden light’.
This specially curated safari is for you to be awed by Africa’s big game to give you a front seat view of African life in the 21st century with the hope of survival thanks to scientists and people who have dedicated their lives to it.
All camps are luxurious with en suite baths and toilets, spas, swimming pools and gourmet meals. This safari is for people who love nature, want to see big and small game, birds and plants while also enjoying the finer things in life. Nature walks are optional and can be arranged at the camps.
More on your safari planner, Rupi Mangat
Rupi is a travel writer with a particular concentration on wildlife conservation and sustainability. She is 3rd generation Kenyan who has been on safari countless times since she started writing professionally in 1998. She works with the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya as the editor of Komba, the magazine to promote wildlife conservation amongst schoolchildren. With her strong connections with conservation organizations like Action for Cheetahs in Kenya, Grevy’s Zebra Trust and the Mara Meru Cheetah Project she gives you an insiders view of their amazing and often challenging world.
Day 1 Tuesday October 29
Fly into Nairobi the capital city of Kenya. You will be met at the airport by our representative who will guide you through arrival. You will then be driven by your driver-guide to your hotel, the Villa Rosa Kempinski.
The Villa Rosa Kempinski is one of Nairobi’s finest hotels that has played host to world leaders like former U.S. president Barack Obama and famous artists like Lupita An’yong. It boasts a beautiful spa to pamper yourself.
The day is at leisure. Villa Rosa is a few minutes’ drive to the central business district. Nairobi is a fast-paced city. The core of the city centre boasts early colonial architecture and modern high-rise towers. Day excursions can be booked at the reception.
Day at leisure
Dinner – the hotel boasts a variety of restaurants to choose from or we can suggest restaurants in the city.
HOTEL: The Villa Rosa B&B
Day 2 Wednesday October 30
Today the adventure begins.
It’s an early start to the day. After a hearty breakfast we will fly to Amboseli National Park 250 kms southeast of Nairobi, under the Snows of Kilimanjaro. It’s a 45-minute flight over Karen Blixen’s (Out of Africa) famed Ngong Hills and Nairobi National Park, the only wildlife park in a capital city that today it is still home to black rhinos, the big cats and more.
You will be collected from the airstrip and driven to Ol Tukai Lodge at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Amboseli with a game drive en route in our custom-made safari cruisers driven by expert driver/guides.
The 392-square-kilometer Amboseli sits on the border with Tanzania where Kilimanjaro looms. The park is spectacular for its wildlife and tapestry of grassland, forest and swamps fed by the snows of Kilimanjaro which at 19,340 feet is the roof of Africa. Amboseli comes from the Maasai word ‘empusal’ meaning salty dust because of the dry lake bed from where plumes of dust rise.
By now it’s lunch time.
Enjoy your gourmet lunch buffet under the gaze of Kilimanjaro and in the company of elephants that linger in the wetland.
Amboseli is home to the longest studied elephant population in the wild, a research pioneered in 1972 by Dr Cynthia Moss of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants. All the elephants in the park are known to the research team with files on individuals dating from the first elephants in the study dating back 50 years.
3 p.m. – Leave for an exciting talk on elephant research at the Amboseli Trust for Elephants research centre in the park.
After the talk proceed for an afternoon game drive in search of big game like lions and elephants plus we’ll enjoy the rich birdlife with a short climb up the ancient hill by to have a sweeping view the vast Amboseli lands before returning to camp at sunset.
7.30 p.m. Meet for a cocktail at the bar and then dine on delicious foods with Kilimanjaro in a blanket of darkness. We’ll exchange the day’s highlights and later be entertained by the local Maasai performing traditional dances with their signature high leaps and throaty chants celebrating love, lion hunts, war and happiness. You may want to join in.
The Maasai have co-existed for many years with African wildlife because both the wildlife and the large herds of cattle owned by the Masai need wide spaces to survive.
Hotel: Ol Tukai Lodge Amboseli National Park
Day 3 Thursday October 31
6 a.m. – It’s an early start to the day at Wake up calls can be arranged. Enjoy a cuppa coffee or tea and biscuits.
6.30 a.m. Leave for an early morning game drive. This is the best time to enjoy wildlife as well as late afternoons before the sun goes down. It’s the time when the animals are most active before the sun becomes too hot for them and lethargy sets in. The lionesses would rather hunt when it’s cooler but being opportunistic the hunt is on if the quarry is easy. Lions do not have sweat glands and you’ll hear them panting a lot.
9 a.m. Return to the lodge for breakfast.
Take time to relax, swim, read a book and enjoy the grounds.
1 p.m. – Lunch
4 p.m. – Depart for an exciting afternoon game drive
6.30 p.m. – Return to the lodge.
Take some time to refresh with a cold beer at the bar or a cool shower.
7.30 p.m. Enjoy another gourmet feast while entertained by the local Maasai or with a talk on amazing Amboseli by the resident naturalist before retiring to bed. Having a nightcap by the fire pit is a nice way to end the day.
Hotel: Ol Tukai Lodge Amboseli National Park
Day 4 – Friday November 1
8 a.m. After breakfast depart to the airstrip for a 90-minute flight to Samburu National Reserve in the arid lands, north of the equator with a short stopover in Nairobi and a light lunch at the in-house restaurant. Be assured the menu serves sumptuous meals and great Kenyan coffee.
Have your cameras ready. If it’s clear you will see Mount Kenya on the equator. This volcanic mountain at 17,057 feet (5,199 meters) is Kenya’s tallest. When the first explorers reported of the snow-capped mountains on and near the equator, they were ridiculed – for who had ever heard of snow on the equator?
Samburu is the land of the Samburu Special, wildlife only found north of the equator and adapted to life in the arid lands such as: the Reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, Beisa oryx, gerenuk and Somali ostrich. These species have adapted to life without water, surviving just on morning dew. The life-lung of the land is the Ewaso Nyiro River that is to this region what the Nile is to Egypt.
On arrival early afternoon at Samburu National Reserve we will be transferred from the airstrip to the camp with a game drive en route before checking in and enjoying time at the camp by the River.
3.30 p.m. Embark on another exciting game drive through the arid bush and the lush oasis by the river. Look out for leopard, lions and elephants and raptors before returning to camp at sunset.
6.30 p.m. Return in time for a sumptuous dinner freshly prepared under the stars of the northern hemisphere. If you’re a star gazer, this is the perfect spot close to the equator to see the constellations straddling the two hemispheres.
You might be entertained by local Samburu dancers with the songs and dances of their ancestors.
The Samburu like the Maasai belong to the Nilotic ethnic group that came into present day Kenya from the north along the Nile some five centuries ago. Interestingly, in addition, the Samburu believe that they hail from Venus the planet.
Enjoy your evening and a good night’s sleep in your luxurious tent.
Hotel: Elephant Bedroom Tented Camp
Day 5 – Saturday November 2
6.15 a.m. Another glorious morning in Africa. Rise and shine for an early morning game drive after a cuppa. The landscape is surreal with mountains and rocky insets.
9 a.m. Return for breakfast and then enjoy your morning watching the local wildlife or treat yourself to a spa treatment in the wild.
1 p.m. – Lunch.
4 p.m. – Samburu is also part of the lion project pioneered by Ewaso Lions. The driver-guides will point out to some on the game drives.
Return for a starlit dinner followed by a night cap by the campfire and finally to a peaceful slumber in your ‘tent’.
Hotel: Elephant Bedroom Tented Camp
Day 6 Sunday November 3
A 90-minute flight from Samburu via Nairobi, and you will land in the Maasai Mara, after flying over the Great Rift Valley. It is the planet’s longest valley on land stretching 6,000km from Lebanon in the Middle East to Mozambique in South-eastern Africa and best seen in Kenya. The flight then enters the savanna grassland in the mighty Mara that is home to the Big 5 – elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard (and cheetah). This is lion country famous for its black manned lions and it is possible to see all the three big cats – lion, leopard and cheetah – in a day.
You will be collected from the airstrip and driven to the glam canvas camp with a short game drive en route. After check-in, relax and enjoy an exquisite lunch.
3.30 p.m. Leave for the afternoon game drive at to return at sunset to the camp.
Take a few minutes to refresh before dinner will be under the stars with lots of lively exchanges on your first night in the Mara, dubbed one of the seven natural wonders of the modern world.
Finally it’s lala salama, ‘a peaceful sleep’ in Kiswahili.
Hotel: Masai Mara Ngenche Safari Camp
Day 7 Monday November 4
5 a.m. – After a cuppa tea/coffee, OPTIONAL AT EXTRA COST depart for a thrilling balloon safari (Please wear long pants and warm jacket, a hat and shoes) at sunrise with a champagne breakfast on landing. It’s a novel way of game watching catching an eagle’s eye view of the land and life below.
6.30 a.m. OR enjoy a morning game drive followed by breakfast.
The morning is at leisure.
1 p.m. – lunch by the river.
4 p.m. – Depart for a game drive in search of the spotted cat whose global population in the wild is less than 10,000 today compared to 100,000 a century ago. Kenya is a stronghold for these cheetahs.
7.30 p.m. – It’s your last night in the African bush with dinner under the stars before we wish you ‘lala salaama’.
OVERNIGHT: Masai Mara Ngenche Safari Camp
Day 8 Sunday Tuesday November 5
Nairobi
After a sumtuous breakfast in the Mara, fly back to Nairobi to arrive by midday and head to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for your flights the next day or that night to Cape Town, South Africa and onwards to Maputo to board your cruise.
As Karen Blixen, the author of ‘Out of Africa’ said: “If there were one more thing I could do, it would be to go on safari once again.”
NOTE: Ms. Mangat reserves the right to alter the itinerary based on weather, availability as well as exciting opportunities that might crop up!
*You have an option at the Four Points at Sheraton at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport hotel. Because you might be flying back that evening you can book your room as a day room or for the whole night depending on when your flights are. For this reason we didn’t include this night in our overall price. The hotel will transfer you to the airport terminal.
Prices range from $128 – $171 and include a transfer to the airport. Lunch or dinner at the buffet at the hotel is around $30.
Not to worry – Vegetarians will be well fed in all camps as well as those on wheat intolerant diet or others. Just let us know in advance.
What’s Included?
Everything stated in itinerary above including all meals. Meals on the first day in Nairobi are not included as people will be arriving at different times.
All entry fees and all transport including transfers to and from the airport on safari.
What’s Not Included?
Roundtrip airfare to Kenya. Any additional spa treatments desired beyond what is described. Last day accommodation at Nairobi Airport hotel. Any personal souvenirs or purchases. Wine, beer or spirits. Travel insurance (very highly recommended) and trip medical coverage (required for travelers over 50 years of age).
Tips for the driver-guides and lodging staff.
Next steps?
I’m interested so what do I do next?
Whatsapp on an agreed time with Rupi on +254 791 401 490 to ask any questions or voice any concerns you may have. This will give you a better understanding of your African safari.
Or email: rupi.mangat@yahoo.com
Quick reads:
Cheetahs in Meru and Maasai Mara – Action for Cheetahs in Kenya and The Mara-Meru Cheetah project with fascinating insights into the spotted cat whose global population in the wild is less than 10,000 today compared to 100,000 a century ago. Kenya is a stronghold for these cats.
SAFARI COST
- USD 7,500 per person in single room
- USD 7,100 per person sharing
SPECIAL FOR ‘JOURNEY WOMAN 30th ANNIVERSARY’ MEMBERS – USD USD 250 OFF FOR PER PERSON
The rate includes:
- Everything stated in the safari itinerary
- Game drives with professional driver-guides in safari cruisers with window seats
- Flights: Nairobi –Samburu – Mara – Nairobi.
- All park and conservancy fees are included.
Not to worry if you can’t do the pre-cruise safari, you can do it after the cruise or any other time
Rupi the African Trotter 