12-Day Kenya Safari with Maasai Mara and Zanzibar 2027

Highlights

• Nairobi: Meet your Driver Guide and fellow Small Group travelers for dinner in Nairobi on your first evening in Kenya.
• Nairobi: Enjoy lunch at Karen Blixen Garden and Cottages, set close to the former home of Karen Blixen, whose life in Kenya inspired Out of Africa. You’ll dine in the gardens and hear more about Blixen’s story, her coffee farm and the colonial history that shaped this part of Nairobi.
• Nairobi: Enjoy a three-course Farm-to-Table dinner at Shamba Cafe in Nairobi’s Loresho district. You’ll dine in the gardens of this working farm, where herbs, vegetables and flowers are grown on site on the edge of the capital.
• Lake Naivasha: Sit down to a Farm-To-Table lunch at Ranch House Bistro on the shores of Lake Naivasha, known for its papyrus-fringed edges and birdlife. You’ll enjoy dishes made with locally sourced ingredients, including produce from the property’s own farm, served beside the water in this quieter corner of the Rift Valley.
• Maasai Mara National Reserve: Enjoy a private bush barbecue dinner in the Maasai Mara, reserved for your Small Group. Seated in the open air after dark, you’ll dine out in the reserve itself, with the sounds of the Mara carrying through the evening and firelight adding to the atmosphere.
• Zanzibar: Join local women at Mama’s of Zanzibar for a hands-on cooking lesson centered on Swahili flavors and traditional cuisine. Using local ingredients and time-honored methods, you’ll help prepare the meal before sitting down together with your hosts to share lunch and a more personal side of Zanzibari hospitality.
• Nairobi National Park: Visit the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi National Park and watch orphaned elephants arrive for their midday milk feed and mud bath. As each elephant is introduced, you’ll hear its story and see one of Nairobi’s best-known wildlife conservation visits at close range.
• Ol Pejeta: Head into Ol Pejeta Conservancy in the late afternoon, when the softer light shifts across the plains and wildlife begins to stir. Your game drive follows the rhythms of the landscape, from acacia woodland to open grassland, before pausing for a sundowner in the bush, with time to take in the wide views and stillness of the conservancy.
• Ol Pejeta: Visit Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, the only place in Kenya where chimpanzees can be seen. Opened in 1993, it provides refuge for chimpanzees rescued from the illegal wildlife trade and reveals another side of Ol Pejeta’s conservation work, where long-term care, rehabilitation and protection remain at the center of the sanctuary’s mission.
• Lake Naivasha: Head out onto Lake Naivasha by boat, where calm freshwater, rich birdlife and resident hippos shape one of the Rift Valley’s most distinctive wildlife experiences. Watch the lake at close range as fish eagles circle overhead and hippos surface through the water, revealing a side of Kenya that feels very different from the open plains of safari.
• Maasai Mara National Reserve: Head into the Maasai Mara for an afternoon game drive across wide grasslands and riverine forest shaped by the Mara River. As the light begins to soften, this celebrated reserve reveals the scale and richness of one of Africa’s great wildlife landscapes, with the chance to look out for big cats, plains game and the Big Five.
• Maasai Mara National Reserve: Head out across the Maasai Mara on game drive, where wide grasslands, riverine forest and the Mara River shape one of Kenya’s best-known wildlife reserves. As you explore, look out for the Big Five and the rich concentration of species that makes the Mara such an important part of the country’s safari story.
• Stone Town: Explore Stone Town with your Local Expert, from the bustle of the market to the landmarks that trace Zanzibar’s history. See the House of Wonders, built in 1883 as a ceremonial palace for Sultan Barghash and once the first building in East Africa with electricity and a lift, then visit the Sultan’s Palace Museum and the Old Arab Fort, built in 1699 and still known as the oldest building in Stone Town.
• Ol Pejeta: Visit Najin and Fatu at Ol Pejeta Conservancy and come face to face with the last two northern white rhinos in the world. As a ranger shares their story, you’ll hear how they arrived in Kenya in 2009 and how science, protection and round-the-clock care now shape one of conservation’s most urgent efforts. Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15: Life on Land.
• Lake Naivasha: Step onto Crescent Island for a guided walk among the wildlife that roams freely across its open grassland. With zebra, giraffe and antelope moving through the landscape, experience Kenya’s wildlife on foot and at eye level, with Lake Naivasha and the surrounding Rift Valley scenery never far from view.
• Naivasha: Join a guided birdwatching walk in the grounds of Naivasha Sopa Lodge, where acacia-dotted lawns and the lake environment attract a wide variety of birdlife. Look out for African fish eagles, pelicans, kingfishers, herons and cormorants as you explore on foot in one of Kenya’s best-known birding areas.
• Maasai Mara National Reserve: Visit a Maasai village for a closer look at one of East Africa’s best-known pastoral communities, whose traditions have long been tied to cattle, seasonal movement and life across the Rift Valley. As you meet members of the community, you’ll learn more about customs, daily life and the jumping dance associated with Maasai ceremonial tradition.
• Choose between two carefully selected activities
• Lake Naivasha: Step onto Crescent Island for a guided walk among the wildlife that roams freely across its open grassland. With zebra, giraffe and antelope moving through the landscape, experience Kenya’s wildlife on foot and at eye level, with Lake Naivasha and the surrounding Rift Valley scenery never far from view.
• Naivasha: Join a guided birdwatching walk in the grounds of Naivasha Sopa Lodge, where acacia-dotted lawns and the lake environment attract a wide variety of birdlife. Look out for African fish eagles, pelicans, kingfishers, herons and cormorants as you explore on foot in one of Kenya’s best-known birding areas.