Deep sea diving is a popular activity along the coastal region of Kenya. The Kenyan Coast boasts remarkable deep-sea diving sites encompassed by spectacular yet unique underwater landscapes, rare marine life, and outstanding coral reefs. The deep-sea diving sites on the Kenyan Coast offers an exceptional experience. Below are our top 10 picks for the best deep sea diving sites on the Kenyan coast.
Nairobi airport layover safari to Nairobi national park is a half day or 4hr game drive in your stop.
This Nairobi lay-over tour includes airport pick up and drop off, 4hr game drive, bottled drinking water, English speaking driver guide, view of animals, sites and attractions in Nairobi Park against the backdrop of Nairobi skyscrapers. The Nairobi national park layover safari is one of the most exciting tours while on a short airport stopover at NBO-JKIA airport.
To do a Nairobi national park airport layover safari, things to see in the park in a 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 hr stop include:
Nairobi national park is popular for its wide range of wildlife that you can view in a short 4 hours of game drive. This park is home to the best views of white and black rhinos just afew feet away from the roads. There is also a very healthy population of lions that can be seen lazing on the grass or as they crawl towards prey.
Best time to visit Nairobi national park is at 6.00am to get the best wildlife views at dawn. The gate staff will quickly process your payments and let you on your way for the game drive. The driver opens up your game drive vehicle latch roof and you can stand and watch game from here on.
As you drive down from the westerly dry land forest into the savannah, your luck might bring you face to face with a lion or a herd of buffalos. Giraffes are trickier to find and tend to occupy the southernmost fringes of the park which has high acacia trees. By this time the hippos have sauntered back into the man-made dams of Athi dam and hyena dam as well as into river Mbagathi. You will nonetheless see the hippo heads bopping in and out of the still waters.
On the plains of Nairobi national park, your layover game drive tour will present you with many types of plains game including zebras, Topis, hartebeests, wildebeests, elands, Thompson gazelles, Grants gazelles, impalas, buffalos, Dik Diks among others. Most of these antelopes stick together for herd security and increase the number of eyes looking out for predators. You can take amazing pictures of the antelopes against the city backdrop on your short Nairobi airport layover tour. Of course you can include a Nairobi city layover walking tour if you love being in the hustle and bustle.
If you are lucky enough, you might get a glimpse of the leopards on the leopard gorge. At times you will see one lying on top of an acacia tree or just walking besides your car along the game drive tracks. It is however very difficult to see a leopard in this park as they are nocturnal animals and tend to sleep off the day’s heat hidden in caves or high up acacia trees amidst thick brush. There is a family of cheetahs around Athi dam plains to the south which are easier to see during the day. If your charms work for you on your Nairobi national park airport layover tour, you might even see a cheetah on a hunt dash.
Once you drive through the gates of Nairobi national park, you are on a short downhill tarmac road. At its end, and on the left, is a monument built in commemoration of the 3 elephant tusks burning events. On 3 occasions, the Kenya wildlife service has burnt stock piles of ivory at this site with a lot of fun fare to reiterate Kenya’s commitment to total ban on ivory trade globally.
It’s an option to start your game drive here or finish the tour at this point. At the site, you will see a lot of ivory ash from the burnt tusks and information boards telling you about the challenges posed by poaching to Kenyan elephants. There is a small statue of elephants on a solid marble block as the Centre piece of this monument.
Visitors are allowed to step out of their game drive vehicles to see and read about Kenya’s fight with poaching. It makes a sad read when you consider the number of elephants decimated over 8 decades but the recovery in numbers of elephants in Kenya is also remarkable. The elephant ivory burning monument is one of the many highlights and attractions in your Nairobi national park layover excursion.
From a dirt park road into a paved concrete slab road, you will drive up and down some beautiful valleys. The roadside is lined with beautiful acacia trees and some deep brush. This concrete road was constructed due to the previously steep and rocky hillsides that one had to drive through to get to Mokoyiet view point. It’s a nice drive up and down and through winding corners and at its end reveals a very beautiful and scenic picnic site perched on top of a hill overlooking a ravine below.
The Mokoyiet picnic site and view point is located above the Mokoyiet River and includes a huge car park and flowered grounds with benches to sit on. The river facing frontage is barricaded with iron monger and wire mesh to avoid falling into the precipice below. The overlook into the Mokoyiet valley below is outstanding in beauty and serene silence. The river below meanders the valley in a sluggish flow around rocks and thick acacia riverine forest.
The picnic site itself includes some resident baboons that are very naughty. You are advised to make sure all your windows are closed as they are known to steal snacks, sodas as well as wallets. Quite a sneaky, pesky and picky gang of thieves, these baboons of Mokoyiet make.
With a guard on site, you will be able to eat some snacks here but beware that baboons are extremely cunny and will at the blink of an eye hop on your table and make away with your lunch and the soft drink to boot.
The Mokoyiet picnic site is one of the best places to alight from your vehicle while on your Nairobi layover game drive from the NBO airport.
The sea horses abound in Nairobi national park and are some of the easiest animals to see on your Nairobi airport layover safari. Nairobi national park has several huge man-made dams that are homes to hundreds of hippo families. Drive to the hyena dam which is closest to the main park gate and you will see their heads popping in and out of the water. The characteristic bubbles and ripples on the water indicate where these giant creatures are underwater.
The hippos in Nairobi national park will at times move from one dam to the next or from river Mbagathi to the interior dams. In the evenings or early morning, you may encounter them on the savannah grass as they come out to feed. Being largely nocturnal animals, the hippos usually venture out of the water at 6.00pm to start their overnight foray. They are known to cover vast distances out of the water only to return again at dawn into the dams to protect themselves from the day’s heat. Watching these giant sea horses in the water is a big attraction to a Nairobi national park airport layover safari.
It’s a great site when you drive by these big dams and can see the mothers with their babies and the bulls in the water. If you stay here long enough, you will see them yawn countless times and hear them making their bleating noises as they pop their heads in and out of the water. I always consider their emerging and submerging actions in the water as a game of “now you see me, now you don’t”. Never try to get inside the water where hippos are suspected to reside as you never see these behemoths coming at you. Hippos gallop at the bottom of the dams and can abruptly emerge 1 foot away from you even at the shoreline.
As a fact, most fatalities from wildlife in Africa are caused by the hippos due to their uncanny nature of underwater ambushes. Keep off the water.
Afew hills beyond the Mokoyiet view point gets you to the river Mbagathi. This river is the southernmost boundary of Nairobi national park. Driving here is full of scenery and the river itself is ensconced by a thick forest of riverine vegetation of huge acacia trees and shrubs. Be careful as this is ripe buffalo territory.
Crocodiles abound in the river and are easy to see especially in warm days when they come out to busk on the rocks and river banks. The crocodiles in Nairobi national park are also known to migrate from the river to the dams inside the park when the river dries up. They however like the river due to the adequate supply of fish. On your river walk, you may see 2 or more crocodiles here. If not, try your luck on some of the other dams in the park where they are known to be permanent residents. You can’t miss to see a crocodile in Nairobi national park airport layover drive.
The dark green vegetation near the river makes for a welcome relief of the dry and chaffed grasslands especially during the dry season. There is a small walking trail along the river which brings you up close to hippos and crocodiles basking on the river bank. A little closer investigation will reveal tens of terrapins hanging on branches across the river or on the sandy banks.
For the bird lovers, the river Mbagathi forest is a magnet for birds including the African fish eagle, plovers, cormorants, herons and ibises which can be seen on a safari walk here. You can spend hours identifying birds on a walk at the riverine forest with an expert guide. The air is cool and at times windy and fresh around the river and makes for an ideal Nairobi airport layover walking tour. There is always an armed guide to accompany you for the Nairobi Park walking tour along the river.
An occasional giraffe can be seen head and neck above all the vegetation at the river. You need an armed guide to make this short safari walk on the river. The Mbagathi River is one of the best short Nairobi layover walking safari from the airport.
Bird watching layover safari in Nairobi national park is also a treat for bird lovers. Driving from the east gate, the closest Nairobi park gate to the airport, you will start watching the savannah grassland birds including the big kori bustard, secretary bird and the ostriches. The acacia dotted plains are undulating for miles and it’s easy for a birder to view birds on trees, roadside and in the tall grass. It’s a magnet for short birding safaris. The ant eater and seed eater birds are the most frequent sightings on the savannah grasslands.
As you come to the mid-section of the park, there are dams and swampy areas with small streams which are ideal bird watching places in Nairobi Park. Here birds like the African fish eagle, herons, ibises, Egyptian geese, African jacana and cormorants abound. A layover Nairobi Bird watch safari in the park offers you more than 400 species of birds to view. As you approach the water dams and rivers, you will hear the high pitched cry of the African fish eagle as it juts its head back and forth. This bird always sits close to the rivers and dams so that it can easily spot the fish in the water for a speedy dive and catch.
The male ostriches are easier to spot on the plains due to their black coat while the females are harder with their grey feathers. The male is black and adapted to sitting on the eggs at night when it’s harder to spot him. The female sits on the eggs by day which makes it harder for predators to spot her due to the camouflage. You will see lots of the male and female ostriches and in some cases a family with a large clutch of chicks.
The martial eagle is simply the largest bird of prey in the park and can be seen perched on a tree branch or on a rock. They often prey on small rodents and antelope fawns for their meals. The secretary bird on the other hand with its feathered crown is adept at killing and feeding on snakes. It’s got some crazy Kung Fu kicks that renders snakes unconscious in seconds. Next they wake up is in ‘’digestive juice land’’ where the sun never shines.
The African crested crane pair of male and female captivates you for hours. Watch as the male is made to dance its heart out to win a female. A dance more vigorous than the Brazilian capoeira, the male executes the moves with mastery gained from years of courting experiences in the African savannah. However, the female standards are way high and she flies off in jest to a dejected, exhausted and angry male bird. You can’t help but feel for the male crane bird after such a standing ovation-worth performance. But it’s hard to please a crested crane female as it were, and he lives to dance another day. And probably do a more romantic waltz or a foxtrot even. It’s hard being a male crested crane in the African savannah.
One of the biggest highlight of a Nairobi national park half day tour is its proximity to the city Centre and the Nairobi airport. Driving into the park, you will start getting exciting views of the city buildings at the edge of the grass plains. Nairobi Park is so close to the Nairobi CBD that the skyscrapers seem like they are just at the park boundary. This makes for a perfect setting for unique wildlife photos with the city as your background.
A giraffe saunters past your car and you take both a video and a still picture with the city’s skyline as your backdrop. The giraffe seems to be striding between modernity and the stillness of the wilderness and you being at the right time to take the evidence.
Make sure to take great pictures of the bigger game like the rhinos, hippos, buffalos and zebras against the Nairobi city skyline. If you could make it past the morning haze, make sure to capture a sunrise picture with the city’s skyline forming a silhouette to the left of your frame. It’s just a magical moment.
One of the biggest benefits of visiting the Nairobi national park is the breath of fresh air you enjoy just a few minutes from the CBD. This park is so close to the city it only takes under 15 minutes to get there. Infact, Nairobi national park is only 7km from the city center to the main park gate at Langata headquarters. This means you can be in your office in the morning and get out for an afternoon of fresh air and game drive for the afternoon. Probably even go for a dinner at the carnivore restaurant before heading out home or catching your next flight from NBO-JKIA airport.
If you are on a layover at the Nairobi airport for longer than 4 hours, you may consider getting away from the drab walls of the terminals for a relaxing game drive and freshness. You will be amazed at how reinvigorating it can be from jet lag fatigue.
You game drive driver is always on hand to tell you about the nature including the grass, the wildlife and the people that border the park. These charming fellows will make any dull day brighter with their enthusiasm and endless knowledge. There is a park gate only 3km from your airport arrival terminal and you will be with the wildlife in a record 30 minutes upon exit. Nairobi national park layover game drive is your best option to kill time while on transit via Nairobi international airport.
If you have an evening to spare, you can sample the carnivore restaurant which is a popular barbeque place. The restaurant borders the park on the east border and has a rich heritage of game meat roasts until recently when it was banned. The carnivore as it is adoringly called is an outdoor dining experience which welcomes you with an open barbeque fireplace at the entrance.
The place offers crocodile meat, ostrich meat, pork, lamb, chicken and beef roasts. It’s an eat all you can place where the servers only stop serving you when you surrender and drop the small flag on top of your table.
Good music and safari ambience compliments this place for its great barbeque dinners. It is however not a place for the vegetarian. There are many Indian and vegetarian restaurants between the park and the airport including at the galleria mall and the capital city mall. These vegetarian restaurants also offer a rich and fresh selection of foods to wet your palate as you explore Asian, African, and Arabian cuisines.
Your amazing Nairobi airport layover safari tour ends with a drop off at the NBO airport for a timely flight out. All served with lots of smiles and love.
You can book a last minute Nairobi airport layover safari to the Nairobi national park from Robert via whatsapp +254 722 661827 or email him on info@sojournsafaris.co.ke
Explore Nakuru in a full day-trip to Nakuru national park. 1-day Nakuru safari tour from nairobi includes a full-day game drive, transport in a safari minivan, services of a tour guide, and lunch at Sarova lion hill, drinking water and pick up and drop off. You can go on a solo, private or group joining budget Nakuru day trip.
Your Lake Nakuru national park day trip includes many highlights and tips as below.
Your 1 day Nakuru trip is a great way to escape from Nairobi for a full day watching great African wildlife and the Great Rift Valley along the way. The Nakuru day tour is very convenient as the roads are graded all the way and there are lots of wildlife to see en route. The rift valley lakes of Naivasha and Elementaita are along your way and if you are lucky might catch a glimpse of the pink flamingos along their shores. The nakuru national park day trip is the most visited of the great rift valley lakes in Kenya.
Although you don’t have the elephant in lake Nakuru, all the other big five animals are well represented here with lots of great birdlife to boot. There are also great attractions and sites inside the park to complete your dream of a short African safari when on a layover or transiting through Nairobi.
Lake Nakuru is lined with Acacia forest which provides a tranquil feel while driving under its canopy. Look up for the rare but occasional sighting of a sleeping leopard. If you are double lucky, then you could discern the bulky shape of an African rock python wound around the acacia tree branches. A Lake Nakuru national park day trip is one of the most peaceful and relaxing 1 day getaway from Nairobi.
The ease of doing game drives in Nakuru national park makes this park the go to park if you want a guaranteed sighting of black or white rhino or the rare and endangered Rothschild giraffe. If you are lucky in your Nakuru day safari, you might encounter the rare stripped hyena or the klipspringer antelope. Leopards too come out of their perches quite early and you might find one walking beside your game drive vehicle on the park roads.
Lake Nakuru National Park is located some 160km north west of Nairobi city. This is following the main highway in Kenya, the A109 that traverses Mombasa to Malaba border. The driving hours from Nairobi depends heavily on the traffic which can sometimes be very heavy. It takes about 2.5hrs to 3 hrs to get to Lake Nakuru.
You are advised to have an early start at 5.00hrs or 0600hrs at the latest. This allows you to maximize on the time spent on the game drive. Nakuru national park is only 177sqkm in size and that takes you about 4hours to do a full game drive. Since the park is fenced, game driving and wildlife viewing is pretty easy.
The Nakuru park roads are all weather and well maintained by the Kenya Wildlife service. However, the lake experiences occasional flooding and this floods all the road networks around the lake. These become impassable and you have to use the secondary lake circuit park roads. In some cases this park has been cut into two sections that can be only accessed using different gates due to the floods.
If you are on self-drive or a hired vehicle, you may need to account for the mileage to include the local game driving distances within the park. You would as such have to consider the 160km x 2 for the to and flo trip from Nairobi and an extra 70km inside the park. Depending on your estimated fuel consumption of your vehicle, it would be easy to calculate how much fuel you will need to do the entire Nakuru national park 1 day trip.
To make good time, make sure to start early from Nairobi before dawn. Although that may deny you about an hour of countryside views, atleast you will get awesome views of the Great Rift Valley. Less than an hour from Nairobi, you will start your descent into the Great Rift Valley on the eastern escarpment. The views down below are just breathtaking.
Nakuru national park opens its gates at 0630hrs so you may not have a chance to make it there by dawn if you are on a day trip. Since the earliest you can depart from Nairobi is 0500hrs, this means you can only get to the park gate at 0730hrs at the earliest.
You have the full day to watch the animals in a game drive until 0630hrs when the Nakuru park gates close. Since you need day light time to drive back to Nairobi, you will need to depart Nakuru national park at 1530hrs at the latest. That allows a 3hr drive back to Nairobi in day light and allow for an extra 30 minutes for the traffic. Sometimes the traffic can be worse and you spend over 5hrs on your way back.
The Nakuru national park day trip works best if you have an early arrival flight into Nairobi before 0600hrs and a late departure flight from 2100hrs. This takes into consideration of any traffic gridlocks that may occur to ensure you don’t miss your evening flight.
Your drive to Nakuru national park day tour is very dramatic both in terms of the scenery and the wildlife. On leaving Nairobi, you will climb into the lush green kikuyu highlands. Here you will see children going to school predawn while their mothers are taking milk silver cans to milk collection centers. Men on foot and on bicycles and motorbikes are rushing to work or to their businesses. It always amazes guests just how early Kenyans wake up to go to work.
Once you start the descent into the floor of the Great Rift Valley, you driver will give you a pit-stop at a view point. Here you can see the entire valley below with the volcanic mount Suswa and mount Longonot. Driving along the sides of Mt Longonot is such an awe-inspiring adventure en-route to Lake Nakuru. The latter is still active to date and intermittently spews ash and smoke. Further afield you can see the vapor plumes shooting into the sky from the Hells gate geothermal wells.
Why would you chose to go for a Nakuru national park day trip as opposed to other parks? Nakuru national park is one park that has it all. This park is fully fenced with electric fence to keep the wildlife in, keep out the poachers and reduce human encroachment. The park is surrounded by a heavy human settlement and this has for a long time created ugly human /wildlife conflicts. The bottom line is that Nakuru is one of the most secure parks for wildlife.
This park was started as a sanctuary for the pink flamingos. For the longest time, the park has been considered as the greatest bird spectacle in the world with its over 2 million flamingos lining its shores. Not only will the flamingos serenade your view, but the great white pelicans will perform a synchronized fishing dance for you as they swim in unison and dive their beaks together in the water.
The views of the lake and the surrounding shade provided by the acacia forest offers one of the most exciting sceneries of African wilderness. You will also have an opportunity to drive to the baboon cliff to have that magical view of the lake from atop.
Nakuru is also known for great sites like the Makaila water falls that roar ever so loudly during the wet season when the river is flooded. The euphorbia candelabrum forest is the largest in Africa. Wildlife in Nakuru is easy to view since the park is fenced up and a 4hr game drive is enough to see them all.
A Nakuru day trip game drive is very rich in wildlife abundance due to the fact that the park is only 177sqkm wide and all the animals are fenced in. Although there are no elephants in Lake Nakuru, there are plenty of other animals to see here, making a one day trip to Lake Nakuru worth your time.
Here you will see plenty of lions, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, leopards, baboons, cheetahs, buffalos, hyenas, elands, zebras among others. The lions are especially interesting as they have mastered the art of climbing trees. The leopards can in the early evening and mornings be seen walking along the game drive tracks just next to your vehicle. The white rhinos, for some reason like to lie down afew feet from the game drive tracks and are unbothered by the vehicle traffic. Your Nakuru national park day trip is the only 1 say safari from Nairobi that guarantees you a sighting of a rhino.
Some of the very rare animals you will see in Lake Nakuru national park include the striped hyena and the klipspringer antelope. This antelope resides on cliffs and never ventures into the savannah. The Rothschild giraffes aka white socks, can only be found here and they are the most endangered species of giraffes in Kenya.
An occasional hippo, will come out of the water if the weather is cool enough and if you are very lucky, you may see an African rock python wrapped around an acacia tree or making an antelope kill. The opportunistic hyena, will always grab a sickly flamingo from the shores of the lake and can be seen running off into the woods with a bird dangling on its mouth.
A menacingly staring buffalo male will be half way deep in the mud on the lake shores. This is the single most dangerous animal to approach in the African savannah. Make sure to alight on the shores if the coast is clear of lone buffalo males.
This park was originally started as a sanctuary for birds. Lake Nakuru is the most ideal place for bird watching and is one of the top 10 important bird areas in Kenya. A 1 day Nakuru bird watching safari will introduce you to over 450 species of different birds found here.
Of course the main bird of interest here is the flamingos. These birds form a pink ribbon around the lake which can be seen from miles away. There are so many other water birds like the cormorants, herons, ibis, hammerkorps, kingfishers, African fish eagle, and giant white pelican among others.
Birds found in the savannah include the kori bustard, the secretary bird with its knack for snakes and small rodents, go away bird, Madagascar bee eater, plovers among others. We also have lots of birds of prey including the martial eagle and the tawny eagle.
The list of birds is concluded with the scavengers including the vultures and others.
A one day Nakuru birding trip will easily allow you to identify over 100 bird species. You will need to be guided by an experienced bird guide to be able to make a great bird watching trip in Nakuru national park.
Most tour companies will insist you carry along your binoculars but will offer a guide book to east African birds for reference. If you are a birder, a Nakuru 1 day bird watching trip is a must if you have a full day at your disposal in Nairobi.
Lake Nakuru biggest attraction if definitely the lake itself. The lake occupies about one third of the park area. It’s a shallow lake with its deepest point at 7 meters deep. This alkaline lake is fed by 1 river and has no known outlet. This alkaline nature of the lake promotes growth of algae which is the primary food for the flamingos.
There are hundreds of birds including the flamingos on Lake Nakuru and you are allowed to make stops at certain points on the shores. You can actually alight from your safari vehicle and walk to the shore to see the flamingos at a closer view and take photos.
The yellow fever acacia forest is next to the lake and is a beautiful scene where most of the forest wildlife reside. The impalas, black rhinos, leopards, wildebeests, cheetahs will at times be seen taking cover from the sun under the acacia tree canopy.
The savannah grasslands near the airstrip is also a great scenery where you will find the lions, impalas, zebras, buffalos and many other plains game. It’s here that you can witness a lion pride hunting or a cheetah chase.
There are also several camp sites and picnic sites that have great views. You can take your packed lunch at any of these sights and take in the view only 2 hours from Nairobi. Nakuru national park day trip is one of the best one-day safaris from Nairobi if you have more than 12 hours to spare.
Most Nakuru day trips include a lunch break from the game drive in one of the few lodges in Nakuru national park. One of the best lodges for a buffet lunch during your 1 day Nakuru safari is the Sarova lion hill lodge. The location on a hill offers un-paralleled views of the lake below. Their buffet lunch is very expansive and caters more than one types of menus including vegans. The buffet lunch is also a highlight in a nakuru national park day trip.
Sopa lodge is among the new additions of lodges in the park and offers large views from the restaurant. This lodge has a great menu with fresh meats, vegetables and fruits. You can also decide to go for a 1hr swim to wash away the dust from your 1 day Nakuru game drive.
Another great place to go for a one day Nakuru safari lunch is the lake Nakuru lodge. This is the oldest lodge in Nakuru national park. The lodge is built in the old colonial fashion and offers great views and expansive grounds. Their food is great and at great prices too.
If you are on a budget Nakuru day trip, you can carry some packed lunch from Nairobi and take it from one of the picnic sites in the park. The baboon, cliff, Makalia falls and the airstrip are great places to eat your packed lunch as you gaze fixedly at the savannah or the falling water for that matter.
If you are on a planned day tour to Nakuru national park, your tour driver will pick you from your Nairobi hotel for the drive. You will drive along the A109 due north westwards and through the rift valley floor. This gives you up close views of the Great Rift Valley from the eastern escarpment.
Your driver will make a bathroom it stop at the rift valley view point and you will get to know how the valley below was formed. The Mt Longonot and Mt Suswa are easily visible and at one point you will be driving along the Mt Longonot on the floor of the rift valley.
The departure is at 0500hrs to allow you to get to Nakuru in good time for the morning game drive. Arrival at Nakuru for your 1 day trip is at 0800hrs. The view is also littered with lakes and wildlife roaming from private ranches.
You can do a one day Nakuru self-drive trip from Nairobi by hiring a 4×4 or a small saloon car from any one of the many car hire companies in Nairobi. The one day car hire can cost you $30 for the day excluding fuel. For the 4×4 vehicle the charge for a one day hire starts from $150 excluding fuel. The advantage of a 4×4 is of course the fact that it’s higher and you are able to see wildlife in the tall grass as opposed to the smaller low clearance salon vehicle.
Booking your Nakuru national park day trip is easy. I have on several occasions used Robert of sojourn safaris. He is great on planning safaris from Nairobi and makes it easy to plan everything from whatsapp. You are able to plan the day trip in a record 10 minutes of back and forth whatsapp messages with him.
He takes last minute bookings since the tours don’t need any prior accommodation reservations. He will assign one of his great tour guides like Mike and David who are super friendly, very patient and knowledgeable. Book your Nakuru national park day trip with ease via whatsapp.
You can reach Robert on his direct whatsapp on +254722661827 or email him on his personal email at info@sojournsafaris.co.ke
Some fantastic 1 day adventure trip to Kenya’s Nairobi, Masai Mara, Amboseli, Nakuru, Mt Kenya, best national parks. The 1-day trips to parks from Nairobi include hiking, game viewing, birdwatching, climbing, sightseeing and boating
Book Nairobi day trip: Top 6 places to visit in and around Nairobi city tours if you have a 1-day trip or on layover. These Nairobi day-trip attractions include national parks, museums, nature forests, mountain hiking, and bird watching among other places. Nairobi is the only capital city in the world with a national park within its boundaries among other exciting places to see near it. This makes Nairobi city the wildlife capital of the world. Below are the best 6 places to while in a Nairobi day trip or airport stopover.
You can opt to go to Nairobi national park for a morning game drive or an afternoon game drive depending on your availability. To visit the park in the morning, you need to wake up early to avoid the morning traffic and to get there before the sun becomes too hot.
Timings and Opening Hours: The best time to leave your hotel for the park is 0600hrs or earlier. You will be in much luck if you are the first on the queue for gate fees as that can also be a drag and waste of your valuable time. Park fees to Nairobi national park are only paid by either card or Mpesa (local mobile money).
Nairobi Park entrance fees: You can expect to pay Usd 43 for a non-resident and Kshs 430 for a citizen or resident. Children rates are Usd 26 and Kshs 250 respectively.
Game Drive Experience: It takes you about 4hours to do a game drive in the park since it’s small by Kenyan standards at 117 sqkm in size. Nairobi national park will offer you a relief from the city bustle where you can escape for a morning or afternoon peace and quiet. Be sure to take pictures of the wildlife with the Nairobi city skyscrapers forming your background. This is the best Nairobi day trip if you fancy game watching drives.
Game Drive Animals: Animals to see in this park include lions, rhinos, buffalos, hippos, crocodiles, hyenas, leopards, zebras, elands, giraffes, wildebeests, baboons, jackals and many more.
How to get there: You can take the public buses no 125/126 for Rongai or Kiserian from the Railway Matatu terminus. Alight at the KWS Headquarters bus stage and walk to the park gate. From here you can hire the KWS 4×4 Landcruiser for a game drive. Prior booking is advised as spaces are limited on the KWS 4×4 vehicle.
You may also opt to book a full package tour from one of the good Nairobi safari companies. The advantage is that they will pick you up from your hotel and do the game drive. Later you will be dropped back to your hotel after the tour.
How to book your tour: I have always used Sojourn safaris to book my clients for a Nairobi national park safari. Robert is a very experienced and informative tour consultant for Nairobi day trip tours. He has very experienced and great safari guides who are fun to be around. Robert makes the whole booking experience a breeze as you can request and book a tour via his whatsapp no. +254722661827 or email him personally at info@sojournsafaris.co.ke
He takes last minute bookings including short JKIA – NBO airport layover/stopover tours to Nairobi national park day trip.
The Nairobi elephant orphanage is also known as the Sheldrick elephant orphanage. This elephant rescue center is located inside the Nairobi national park on the western corner. You can access the orphanage from the Mbagathi gate.
Nairobi elephant orphanage is a very exciting place to go to for the 1hr public viewing and lecture. The orphanage is now open after a long closure due to Covid pandemic. The Nairobi elephant sanctuary is a simple place where you will meet the orphaned baby elephants in an open area. The elephants are feet away from you and restrained by a single strand of rope. You can actually touch the baby elephants as they pass along the rope.
Timings and Opening Hours: Every day at 1100hrs, the baby elephants are brought in from their grazing fields inside the park. They come in for a drink of milk from plastic bottles. These hand reared baby elephants have been abandoned by their mothers in other places and are brought here to increase their chances at life. At reaching 7 years, they are released back into the wild in a gradual process that involves integration into adoptee elephant families in Tsavo national park.
You will listen to the public lecture as you watch them being fed from milk bottles by hand. Each of these babies have different personalities just like humans. Some are naughty, others are gluttons and yet others are moody as hell. And then there are the bullies that bully everyone else including the people around.
How to get there: Take the public transport to Rongai or Kiserian route 125/1
26 and alight at the Mbagathi gate opposite the Mbagathi University of Mass Communication. From the gate, it’s about a 20 minute walk to the orphanage.
You can also hire a taxi or a tour van to take you there at your own convenience. This way you avoid the hassle of public transport. This is one of the short Nairobi day trip to see baby elephants.
Elephant Orphanage Entrance fee: The Nairobi elephant orphanage entrance fee is Usd 5 per person for both adult and child rate. It’s quite a steal. You can also decide to adopt a baby elephant for Usd 50 per year and they will send you monthly newsletter with stories of your adopted baby elephant progress.
Highlight of tour: You will enjoy hearing the stories of each of these baby elephants. Each of them is specifically named depending on where they were rescued from or the person that picked them up or even his or her temperament. Though their stories make for one sad episode, the fact that they are now bustling with life and vigor makes you forget their bleak pasts. Watching them being fed milk from bottles is also fun as they jostle and rampage for the delicious drink.
How to Book your tour: You can book this short 1hour tour to the orphanage from Robert as indicated above. They will pick you up from your hotel and drop you back. You can also combine this tour with a visit to the giraffe cen
ter as well as a shopping trip to a Masai market for African trinkets and gift items.
You can book this tour from him if you have a free 3 hours on NBO airport layover / stopover from JKIA on whatsapp no. +254722661827 or email him personally at info@sojournsafaris.co.ke
Masai Mara day trip is by far the most popular 1 day tour from Nairobi in the amazing Masai Mara game reserve 1 day excursion. This one day trip to Maasai Mara from Nairobi, despite being long is one of the most rewarding experiences.
The Mara lies some 280km northwest of Nairobi but fortunately the roads are now paved all the way to the main Mara park gate.
Timings and Opening Hours: Your Masai Mara day trip departs from Nairobi at 0500hrs and traverses the floor of the Great Rift Valley. You arrive at this 1500sqkm vast savannah at around 0900hrs and immediately start your game drive.
Animals to see in Mara: Marvel at the more than 3 million animals that call this park home. The vast expanse of Masai Mara plains will leave you breathless with their undulating shape and golden colours.
Wildlife to see at the Masai Mara national park include the big five of lions, elephants, buffalos, rhino and leopards. Others include the hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, elands, wildebeests, zebras, cheetahs, hyenas, jackals, giant pythons, baboons, gazelles and many others.
Masai Mara day trip will guarantee you see the big five animals. No other park in Kenya can give you that guarantee even for 2 or 3 days stay. The over 4hrs ride one way is compensated by the most rich game drive anywhere in Africa.
The Masai People: You can opt to go for a Masai village tour and see how the Masai people live. These warrior tribe will be glad to show you traditional archery, the Ajuma jumping dance and the art of making fire using sticks and dry elephant dung. You can also buy some gift items from their women who make amazing African jewelry using beads.
Mara Gate Entrance Fees: Masai Mara park fees are some of the highest in Kenya. A 24hr ticket costs Usd 80 for a non-resident and Kshs 1,000 for a Kenyan citizen or resident. You will feel the pinch of the cost but on the other hand you will be well rewarded by one of the most abundant wildlife scenes in Africa.
The Masai Mara is especially a delight during the annual wildebeest migration every July to October. Over 1.5million wildebeests cross a distance of over 3,000km in search of fresh pasture. Over a quarter of a million calves are born each year in February and in 1 month, these young calves have to be ready to undertake this arduous journey full of risks.
Where to take Lunch: To make your Masai Mara day trip even more exciting, the safari includes a buffet lunch in one of the best Mara lodges like Sarova Mara, Keekorok or Mara Simba or Mara Sopa Lodges. The food is fresh and the view from the restaurants a must see.
How to get there: Masai Mara is 5 hours from Nairobi due North West. A day trip usually takes 4 hours one way as there are less stops along the way. The road to Mara is very scenic and you will see the Great Rift Valley and Mt Suswa and Mt Longonot. The great eastern escarpment of the rift valley provides a very panoramic vantage point into the valley floor as your meander down its sides.
You will drive through the green central kikuyu highlands dropping into the rift valley and ascend onto the western escarpment. The Ntulele area is the high point of the Western escarpment of the rift valley and this is a very rich and green agricultural area known for wheat farming.
Pass Narok town and start driving through the great Loita plains that are continuous with the Mara ecosystem. You will arrive in Mara by 0900hrs in great time for a 6-7 hour game drive including a packed lunch at one of the lodges.
How to book a Masai Mara day trip: While it is absolutely cheaper to use public transport to go to the Mara, it introduces the problem of logistics and timings. Public transport is absolutely out of the question if you want to do a 1 day trip to Masai Mara from Nairobi. Time is of essence when doing a day trip and it’s usually a dash in and out so public transport would not be feasible.
I have always recommended Robert from Sojourn safaris who has done these Masai Mara day trips many times over. He is very knowledgeable and efficient in making the arrangements. They will pick you up from your hotel in Nairobi very early and return you back in the evening after the tour.
Robert’s safari company has very good and friendly driver guides who take their time to explain everything and are eternally patient.
You can book a Masai Mara day trip with Robert even at last minute on his whatsapp or call +254722661827 or email him personally at info@sojournsafaris.co.ke
A day trip to lake Nakuru is famous for bird watching and watching some of the big five animals. You will love this park for its proximity to Nairobi and its beautiful lake. Located only 160km from Nairobi city, Lake Nakuru is one of the most alluring 1 day trips near Nairobi. A Nakuru day trip is ideal if you want do some game drive outside of Nairobi and still catch your evening flight from JKIA –NBO airport.
Timings and Opening Hours: It will take you about 2.5hrs to get to Nakuru, so if you leave early, you will have lots of time for a game drive in this park. I would recommend a 0500 departure or 0600 at the latest. One thing to note is that you may get stuck in traffic especially on the way back and more so on Sundays when everyone else is returning to the city from their rural homes.
Flamingos, Lake Bogoria, Kenya, East Africa, Africa
Nakuru national park day trip game drive takes about 4hrs to 6hrs in the park. It’s relatively small by Kenyan standards at 177sqkm. Nakuru Park is fully fenced off with electric fence and this makes it easy for wildlife viewing. The park opens at 0630hrs and closes at 1830hrs so you have plenty of time in a day trip to get there and do atleast 6hrs game drive.
Game Drive Animals: There are several of the big five animals in lake Nakuru national park. The main attraction wildlife here include lions, buffalos, rhinos, leopards which are part of the big five.
Others include the hippos, giraffes, gazelles, baboons, wildebeests, elands, hyenas, jackals among others. Don’t expect to see elephants in a Nakuru day trip as this park is too small for them.
Watch out for the tree climbing lions, the huge rock pythons curled up in the acacia trees or the sleeping leopards in the trees above your head. If you are lucky, you might stumble upon a very rare stripped hyena in your Nakuru day trip game drive.
Birds to See in Nakuru: Lake Nakuru is popular for its more than 450 species of birds including water birds, savannah birds and forest birds. Some of the popular species here include flamingos, Kori bustard, secretary bird, blacksmith plover, giant pelican, herons, egrets, African fish eagle, and martial eagle among others.
In the peak season, over 2 million greater and lesser flamingos line the shores of the lake forming a pink ribbon that you can see from miles away. You can alight from your vehicle at some places near the lake to see the flamingo’s up-close.
Nakuru Park Entrance fee: You will need to plan to pay the park entry fee of Usd 60 for a non-resident adult and Usd 30 for child. Residents and citizens pay Kshs 860 adult and Kshs 400 child respectively. Nakuru is managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service and is considered one of the premium parks hence the park fees are the highest among their stable of parks.
How to get to Nakuru National Park: You will drive along the A109 North westwards of Nairobi city. Pass through kikuyu highlands and the eastern escarpment of the rift valley. Arrive at Naivasha and you will see one of the other amazing rift valley lakes called Lake Naivasha. To your right you can see the vapor plumes of Hellsgate geothermal wells.
Further on, you will see another lake on the rift valley floor, the lake Elementaita which is another popular place with flamingos. There are some great lodges here too, that you can escape to from the noise of Nairobi.
The road from Naivasha to Lake Nakuru is littered with hundreds of zebras, baboons, and gazelles in the several private wildlife ranches on each side of the highway. Feel free to make a stop and click away some photos.
Nakuru is nestled on the floor of the Great Rift Valley and the park and lake is the lowest part of the Nakuru city. The soothing acacia shade and the twinkling waters of Lake Nakuru will welcome you to one of the best game drive day trips from Nairobi.
It’s advisable to book a package Nakuru day trip from a known tour company from Nairobi. They will make the whole experience seamless as they pick you from your hotel, complete a very detailed game drive and drop you back. A buffet lunch is in most cases included in their packages.
How to Book a Nakuru day trip from Nairobi: You only need to contact a Nairobi tour operator and have everything arranged even at last minute. You can use Robert from Sojourn safaris as he is an excellent planner and his company has very knowledgeable driver guides.
Get him on his whatsapp or call +254722661827 or email him personally at info@sojournsafaris.co.ke
Explore Amboseli national park in an Amboseli day trip from Nairobi. Amboseli is among the top 4 most visited parks in Kenya. Your biggest attraction here will be the views of Mt Kilimanjaro and the hundreds of elephant herds you will see here. This 1 day Amboseli day trip includes pick up and drop off, park fees, transport in a safari van, 6hrs game drive, a buffet lunch at one of the lodges and drinking water.
For the longest time, Amboseli elephants with the Kilimanjaro backdrop have been the signature picture of an authentic African safari. The mountain also referred to as the roof of Africa, is amazingly beautiful to look at especially early in the morning and late evening.
Your Amboseli day trip is a great way to spend a free day in Nairobi and see some of the big five and other wildlife and the amazing Masai people.
Amboseli park entry fee: Amboseli, just like Nakuru is among the 2 premium parks management by Kenya wildlife service. It will therefore cost you Usd 60 per adult and Usd 30 per child as park entrance fees. Citizens and residents will pay Kshs 860 and Kshs 400 per adult and child respectively as Amboseli gate fees. If you are doing a self-drive, you will pay Kshs 300 for a 6 seater or less and Kshs 1,030 for a car above 6 seats.
How to get to Amboseli day trip: The Amboseli day trip departs from Nairobi at 0500hrs with a pick up from your hotel. Drive down on the A109 Mombasa highway towards south west of Nairobi city. At email, you will branch off right into the Oloitoktok highway.
Drive on for another hour and a half to the junction towards the park on the right. This 18km unpaved stretch will get you to the Erimito gate.
The drive to Amboseli takes you about 3.5hrs from Nairobi. So if you start early at 0500hrs, you will be there at 0830hrs. This is early enough to start your game drive before the sun is too hot for the animals.
The views of the Kapiti plains are breathtaking with scattered Masai homesteads and occasional zebras, giraffes and gazelles. Mt Kilimanjaro ice covered peak Kibo can be seen from miles away. Remember to tell your driver to stop on the highway so you can take some of these amazing photos of the mountain peak.
How do I book my Amboseli Day Trip: Booking an Amboseli national park day tour is easy from Nairobi. Since a day trip does not need you to book accommodation, it can therefore be booked at last minute. Infact, most people book this trip the night before their departure or earlier.
In some cases, the tour agent will process your payment by card or cash. But in most cases, once they have confirmed a pick up, it will happen. No matter what.
I have booked several Amboseli day trips for myself through Sojourn safaris. Robert is the operations head and he is very efficient in organizing these day trips near Nairobi. He has a great team of driver guides who go out of their way to make sure you see as many animals as possible. The drivers are charming and are never out of stories of the busy and humor.
You can reach Robert on his whatsapp +254722661827 or inbox him directly here info@sojournsafaris.co.ke
Mt Kenya day hike from Nairobi is a full day hiking in Mt Kenya National Park North of Nairobi. The Mt Kenya day trip is a 1 day climbing adventure and includes transport, park fees, mountain guide services, packed lunch, water and drop off in Nairobi. This is the best 1 day hiking place near Nairobi and you will be spoilt with nice scenery and magical views of Mt Kenya ice covered peaks. The silence on the mountain forests is golden.
Mt Kenya Operating Hours: Your Mt Kenya day trip departs at 0500hrs from Nairobi and drives 138km due north through some green tea and coffee estates of central Kenya. You will arrive at the gate at 0900hrs and finalize the park fee formalities at the Naro Moru gate. Opening times for the park is between 0630hrs and 0600hrs and so you have plenty of time to do a 6hr trek on the Mt Kenya.
Mt Kenya Day Hike Route: The best and closest route to Nairobi for a 1 day hike on Mt Kenya is the Naro Moru route on the North West side of the mountain. You will connect with your Mt Kenya hiking guide at the gate and drive the tarmacked road up to the meteorological station (Met Station) located at 3,300m above sea level.
From the met station, your mountain guide will guide your 3hr trek through the rain forest with exciting views of the nature and occasional buffalos, elephants and giant forest hogs. You will then approach the bamboo forest which opens up to the moorland grassland and alpine desert and rock.
On reaching the observation point at 3700m, you will have the greatest view of the peak Batian with its snow top. You can have your packed lunch here and take pictures of the peak. Start your descent down for another 1.5hrs towards the met station. You will reconnect with your driver here and drive back to the gate and exit the park at around 1500hrs.
How to get to Mt Kenya National Park: If you are going for a longer than 1 day hike, you can use the public transport called Matatu. There are some Toyota Hiace public service vans that go to Nanyuki town and they can drop you off at Naro Moru town. From here, you can hire a taxi to drop you at the park gate for a little less than Usd 20 some 13km away. You would have to take their number so that they can take you back to Naro Moru or Nanyuki for your trip back.
For day trips and to save time, I would not recommend to use public transport as it takes too much time on the road. Contact a tour operator in Nairobi for your Mt Kenya day hike and they will pick you and drop you off at your Nairobi hotel after the tour. You also don’t have to hop from one vehicle to the next thus saving time.
How can you book a Mt Kenya day trip: Again you can contact Robert from Sojourn safaris as he has operated these tours for more than 10 years now. He has professional mountain guides stationed in Naro Moru town and who are trained in guiding and rescue.
Get in touch with Robert to plan your Mt Kenya day trip hike on his whatsapp +254722661827 or email him directly on his email info@sojournsafaris.co.ke
Fun-filled 3 days budget camping safari to Kenya’s Mara, amboseli, Samburu, tsavo and mt kenya parks. This 3-days safari includes hiking, game viewing, birdwatching, sightseeing, nature walks, camping and walking safaris…
Explore 3-Day Safari in Kenyan Parks. Kenya offers you exciting 3-day safaris in big five wildlife national parks and game reserves around the country. Some three-day joining safari in Kenya packages that you can including Masai Mara 3 day group joining safari, 3 days Amboseli lodge and camping safari, Samburu 3 days camping safari, Tsavo national park 3 day tour and Aberdare and Mt Kenya three day hiking safaris.
Going for a 3-day safari in Kenya, you need to consider these budget safari options:
Here are the most popular 3-day joining budget safaris you can take in Kenya at a budget or in luxury game lodges in some of the most visited national parks for big five wildlife viewing.
If you are looking for the most popular wildlife park in Kenya, then Masai mara is at the very top of game areas. The best time or duration to go to Masai mara is 3 days, you will have at least 1 full day game drive on the second day there. The Masai Mara is the top 3 day safari in Kenya. A short 3-day Masai mara itinerary for you to consider is as below:
Your driver will pick you up from your Nairobi hotel for the 3-day safari to mara. We will drive north westwards through kikuyu highlands, drop into the great rift valley with a 30 minute stop over for the views into the valley.
We arrive in Masai mara in time for check in at our lodge or camp and lunch. After some relaxation in the lodge, we will go on a 2hr game drive in the park at 1600hrs until dusk. This is the best time to see the big five as they step out in the cooler evening weather.
Your driver will drive you back to your lodge or camp for dinner and overnight.
This is our day to explore all of Masai mara game reserve to see all the animals here. Your second day is a full day game drive with packed lunch. We will drive around the park after a buffet breakfast. We have a target of tracking the great wildebeest migration across the plains and at least see a mara river crossing stampede.
After that we will cross the plains looking for the big five animals including lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards and buffalos. After a picnic lunch, we have an option of going to visit a Masai village outside the park or to continue with our game drive inside Masai mara game reserve.
In the evening, our game drive driver will driver us back to our lodge or camp for dinner and overnight. You can always spend some time at the campfire sharing stories with new friends.
This is our last day in the Masai mara and we will start early with some bitings and a hot cup of coffee at 0600hrs. We will drive out into the park for a last minute game drive in this morning. We will be looking out for the rare animals we may not have seen earlier. Look out for the leopards, rhinos and wild dogs.
We will drive back to lodge at 0800hrs for a full breakfast and later check out of the lodge or camp by 1000hrs. Our driver will drive us back to Nairobi with an en route lunch at Mai Mahiu or Narok town.
Our 3-day Masai mara safari ends with a drop off in Nairobi at 1600hrs or earlier if you have early flights out of Nairobi.
End of 3 Day Masai mara game reserve safari. You can combine this 3 day camping safari in Kenya with other destinations if you have more days in the country.
Your second most popular national park for a 3- day safari in Kenya is the Amboseli 2 – night safari. Amboseli is the 3rd most popular national park in Kenya in terms of visitation numbers per year. The biggest attractions that will see you going to Amboseli include the Mt Kilimanjaro and the over 1500 wild African elephants found here. 3 Days amboseli national park safari is a great way to also see the masai tribe.
Your driver will pick you up from your hotel in Nairobi at 0800hrs for the drive south westwards to Amboseli national park. We will drive along the Mombasa highway A109 up to Emali with some nice views of wildlife along the way. We turn right at Emali town into oloitoktok road and drive to Erimito gate arriving at your Amboseli lodge by 1200hrs.
After some buffet lunch in our lodge or camp, we will have a siesta until 1600hrs. This is when we will go for our first game drive to see the Mt Kilimanjaro and the hundreds of elephants. There are hundreds of other animals that we will see in our game drive including buffalos, lions, hippos, giraffes, hyenas, baboons, zebras, cheetahs, leopards, gazelles, wildebeests, impalas among others.
We will drive back to our Amboseli lodge for dinner and overnight.
This is our full day game drive in Amboseli national park. We will start at 0800hrs after a full buffet breakfast at our lodge. Drive into the park for your full day game drive seeing the elephants, lions, and buffalos in the park. Make sure to take a lot of pictures of animals with the Mt Kilimanjaro as your background.
We will go for a picnic lunch at the observation hill and have an elevated view of the whole park from this small hill. You still have an option of going back to your lodge for a buffet lunch which splits your game drive into two instead of the full day option.
You will drive back to your lodge for dinner and overnight with some of the best vies of the Kilimanjaro right in the evening from 5.00pm to dusk.
The third day is our last day in Amboseli national park safari. We will go for an early game drive in the park on this day before breakfast to try and see the rare animals including leopards and wild dogs. You will be sure to take some of the best pictures this morning.
After the morning game drive, we will drive back to the Amboseli lodge for full breakfast and depart at 1000hrs for Nairobi.
Exit the park with an en route game drive and drive to Nairobi arriving at 1330hrs.
Go for a lunch at the carnivore restaurant before you are dropped off at your Nairobi hotel.
The Amboseli three day tour is probably the second most popular 3 day safari in kenya.
End of 3-day Amboseli national park safari.
Discover the drier wilderness of the Samburu in this 3-day Samburu national reserve safari in some of the most picturesque rangelands in Kenya. Samburu is known as the land of contrasts from the blue mountain ranges to the semiarid grassland and from the yellow dry grass to the ever green riverine forest along river Ewaso Ngiro.
See the wildlife in Samburu which is different from their cousins in the south of the equator. Watch the elephants come to drink water besides your vehicle as you park along the beaches of river Ewaso Ngiro. Don’t forget to take in the picture perfect natural rock sculpturing on the banks of this river as you sip in some wine on one of the river beach sundowner dinners.
Our drive starts from Nairobi at 0800hrs driving northwards through central Kenya highlands and past Karatina town. You will see Mt Kenya on the right side as you drive towards to Nanyuki. We will have a short stop over at the equator to experience the collioris force demonstration on either side of the northern and southern hemisphere.
We will drop down into the semi-arid northern Kenya arriving at Samburu, Ashnil, Sopa or Serena lodge. Check into your lodge, shower and enjoy a sumptuous buffet lunch with majestic views from the restaurant. The sun is hot but an afternoon breeze sooths your senses as you watch the vast landscape from your restaurant wide open windows.
A 1600hrs game drive around the now cooler park will reveal hundreds of animals including lions, elephants, giraffes, leopards, hyenas, gerenuks, Oryx, gravy zebra and the blue necked Somali ostrich. Most of the animals here will amaze you with their different morphologies to their cousins in the south of the equator.
Our driver will drive us back to our lodge for a hot dinner and overnight accommodation at any of the Samburu lodges.
We will spend the whole day exploring the Samburu game reserve and have some interesting game viewing at the Ewaso Ngiro River. There are hundreds of interesting places and animals to see in Samburu and the river is one of the greatest attractions here. Buffalo springs game reserve next door is full of natural springs that emanate from the white limestone ground.
You can have the option for a picnic lunch or return to the lodge for lunch and siesta depending on how zealous you are to watch the game. We return back to the lodge for our dinner and overnight accommodation after a rewarding game drive in Samburu game reserve.
We start with an early wake up at 0600hrs followed by some hot coffee and biscuits. Thereafter our driver will drive us to an early game drive to try and catch the elusive animals that we may have missed. Look out for the hyenas, the crocodiles and the wild dogs. A sighting of a leopard in the early morning sun is always a welcome surprise.
You will return to the lodge at 0800hrs for a proper breakfast and thereafter departure at 1000hrs for Nairobi.
We will arrive in Nairobi at 1300hrs for a lunch at the Blue Springs hotel in Thika. Our drop off in Nairobi hotel after the Samburu national reserve 3-day safari is at 1500hrs.
3 day Samburu private safari is the most unique short 2 night safari from Nairobi.
End of 3 days Samburu game reserve safari.
Tsavo east and west national park are the largest wildlife areas in Kenya. The parks are located mid-way between Nairobi and Mombasa and you can therefore start this 3-day safari from either of these towns. Known for their notoriously aggressive and testosterone pumped lions, Tsavo is also a gem in contrasting landscape and mighty rivers. The Tsavo as they are endearingly referred to, are rich in wildlife and different landscapes to view including mountain ranges, natural springs, volcanic lava flows, plateaus, huge rivers and dams. This is the most popular 3 day safari from Mombasa to Tsavo East and West national park.
Your driver will pick you from your Nairobi or Mombasa hotel for the drive to the Tsavo east national park. Arrive in time for a sumptuous buffet lunch and great views of the wildlife at the Voi safari lodge. There are hundreds of elephants to see at the watering hole right outside your lodge. The park has red soil and the elephants have a red tinge as well.
Relax for the afternoon with a siesta until 1600 hours in time for an evening game drive. Drive to Aruba dam to see the hundreds of animals here. There are lots of animals you will see here like the lions, elephants, hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, buffalos, giraffes, zebras and many others to see here. Your driver will drive you back to the lodge for dinner and overnight after the tour.
Wake up to the singing of birds and watch have some bitings and hot coffee. We will drive for our last game drive here to try and look out for the animals we may have missed so far. Look out for the elusive leopards, wild dogs and the rhinos.
You will drive back to your lodge for a proper breakfast and check out at 10:00am. Drive out of the park and into Tsavo west national park. Check into Ngulia lodge or Serena Kilaguni lodge for lunch. You are free to take a swim in the pool or have a siesta in the afternoon.
We will go for an evening game drive in Tsavo west national park to see the rhino sanctuary, shetani lava flows and the mzima springs. This park is full of exciting landscape views including mountains and rivers.
Return to the lodge by disk for dinner and overnight stay.
On this day we will wake up to a sumptuous breakfast followed by a game drive in the park enroute to the gate for exit. You will see the mane less lions of Tsavo and the large herds of red coloured elephants.
Arrive in Mombasa or Nairobi in time for lunch at 1300hrs.
End of 3 days Tsavo east Tsavo west national parks safaris.
If you are a lover of active tours, then a hiking 3 day safari climbing Mt Kenya, the second highest mountain in Africa is up your alley. Mt Kenya peaks are a beautiful scene with the ice capped Batian, Nelion and Lenana tops. Your 3-day Mt Kenya climbing safari can follow the Naro Moru route which has banker beds and camps all along or the scenic route of Chogoria.
Our driver will pick us up at our hotel at 0800hrs and drive north through the central Kenya highlands. Arrive in Nanyuki town for some food shopping and lunch in a local hotel. You will pick your cook and mountain guide and porters in Nanyuki.
Drive out to Sirimon or Naro Moru route to access the park gates. After the gate formalities, you will drive to the first camp of either Old Moses or met station depending on the route you are using to climb. Check into your camp and set up your lodgings with dinner in the evening. This is a climatisation day at 3300m above sea level.
On day 2, depart after breakfast for a 9 hour hike to the Mackinders camp, closer to the peaks. You will be able to summit to point Nelion on the morning of the 3rd day.
At midnight depart for a 5 hour hike to point Lenana summit arriving at dawn to take the awesome pictures with the sunrise.
Later you will descend to the Mackinders camp for lunch and hike further down to old Moses base camp. Your driver will pick you from here for the drive back to Nairobi. Drop off in your Nairobi after end of the Mt Kenya 3-day hiking safari.
End of your 3 days Mt Kenya climbing safari from Nairobi.
There are many other 3 days Kenyan safaris but the above 5 tours are the most popular among three day trips from Nairobi and Mombasa.
Find out more details on 3-day Kenya safaris by sending us a whatsapp message on +254722661827 or email us at info (at) sojournsafaris.co.ke
2-Nights Mombasa Beach Holiday Safaris
Below is the Mombasa 2-nights beach holiday safari from Nairobi itinerary that you can take for a weekend and make a break from Nairobi. This tour is also available for non-residents who what to enjoy the Kenyan coastal beaches in Mombasa south or north coast.
Our tour representative will meet you at the Nairobi SGR station and help you with boarding formalities. Start your ride to Mombasa and arrive in 4 hours using our new train coaches to the coast. On arrival you will be met by our representative for the transfer to your hotel in north coast of Mombasa. You can choose to do some activities on your first day of 2 nights mombasa beach trip or just relax at hotel.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
All day spent relaxing at the Mombasa beach hotel. You can take any of the many optional water sport or excursions in Mombasa from your hotel front desk. This is your only full day in a 2-night Mombasa getaway from Nairobi.
Dinner and overnight at the Mombasa hotel.
You will wake up to a sumptuous breakfast and later transfer to the SGR Mombasa station for your ride back to Nairobi. On arrival in Nairobi, take a taxi at own cost to home.
End of 2 nights mombasa beach safari.
Cost of Tour: Usd 440 per person
8-day Diani beach tsavo west amboseli tsavo east luxury lodge safari
Rest and relax in Diani white Powderly sands and the turquoise coloured waters on your dream vacation before embarking on a bush run to 3 of the most popular parks in Kenya. You will stay in some of the most refreshing lodges with great facilities and rooms while all along going for rewarding game drives.
This itinerary is a cocktail of scenic beauty, wandering wildlife and beautiful people in this 7 day coast to bush safari. Structured to suit families and couples intent on getting the best of Kenya’s beach and bush safaris, this 7 day sojourn is an amazing way to see and marvel at what Kenya holds secret in its folds.
Meet and greet at the MIA airport and transfer to your Diani lodge passing through the likoni ferry. Arrive at the leopard, Neptune, southern palms beach, baobab, sands at the nomad, diani reef, afrochic diani, the Maji beach boutique, Swahili beach resort for dinner and overnight.
Full day relaxing at the diani beach resort. Enjoy the activities around your beach resort including swimming, googling, snorkeling, paragliding, glass bottomed boat rides, deep sea fishing, scuba diving, jet skiing among others.
Depart Diani beach for Tsavo west national park at 0630hrs. This is a distance of 370km and takes almost 7hrs. Check into the ngulia lodge or other lodges in the park. Tsavo west is known for its most beautiful scenery and hills. It’s also much more lush green and has dense forest cover as compared to tsavo east.
Have lunch at the ngulia lodge followed by a rest and relaxation in the afternoon. Afternoon game drives at 1600hrs to see the wildlife here. Dinner and overnight at the ngulia lodge.
Early morning departure after breakfast for Amboseli. Pass by the Mzima springs to see the hippos and crocodiles in this crystal clear pool of water. The water is crystal clear as it emerges from underground rivers filtered through millions of lava tubes. There is an underground glass observatory where you can watch the hippos and crocodiles while underwater.
Visit the Shetani lava flows in the park and see where underground lava flows erupted out from underground to form a landscape that looks like the surface of the moon.
Arrive at amboseli national park and check in at the sopa lodge, Serena, AA, Oltukai or sentrim lodge. Have a lunch in the lodge and game drive after 1600hrs till dusk. Enjoy the best views of mt Kilimanjaro in the evening just before dusk. You will see elephants, lions, leopards, buffalos, hippos, gazelles, wildebeests, jackals, hyenas and many more.
Full day spent at Amboseli national park with 2 game drives; one in the morning at 0630hrs and a second at 1600hrs. Dinner and overnight at your lodge.
You will be picked after breakfast at 0630hrs for the drive to tsavo east national park. This park is some 387km south east of Amboseli beach. The tsavo east national park is the largest park in Kenya with an area of 21,000ha. It is known for its red colored elephants from the red park soil and the big five animals. Check in at the Voi safari lodge and enjoy a lunch as you watch animals in the water hole.
Afternoon game drives in the park to see elephants, lions, giraffes, buffalos, hippos, zebras, among others.
Wake up to an early game drive at 0630hrs and return to lodge for buffet breakfast. Early morning departure for your drive to Diani. Arrive in Diani beach resort at 1400hrs and check into your lodge. Rest and relaxation all afternoon.
After breakfast or late afternoon after lunch, depart from your beach resort in diani for a transfer to the airport for your international flight out of the country. You may be departing from Nairobi which means you will have a connecting flight from MIA to NBO airport.
End of Tour
Contact Robert via email or whatsapp to get a current price quote for this itinerary.
1. 4×4 Self Drive Car Hire in Kenya
Discover Kenya on a 7-days self-drive safari package from Nairobi. The 1 week self drive safari in Kenya includes accommodation in tented camps or lodges with beds, flush toilets, and hot showers. self driving Safari game drives and all 7 days exciting sightseeing in Kenya’s countryside.
Go on a 7 days Masai Mara, Nakuru, Naivasha, Amboseli self-drive budget camping safari in Kenya. Explore Kenya on your own terms in a self-drive 4×4 vehicle to see the big five and stay in budget lodges and tented camps. Enjoy the freedom of self-driving through Kenyan roads.
7-day Self Drive Safari Masai Mara, Nakuru, Naivasha, Amboseli in Kenya. 4×4 Self-drive safaris in Kenya are very popular if you are confident in driving in foreign countries. As you do your own self-driven game drives in parks and has flexibility in your driving hours. You can join up with friends and book a 7 day 6 nights 4×4 self-drive safari tour to Masai Mara, Nakuru, Naivasha and Amboseli.
Doing a 4×4 self-drive in Kenya is not as hard as some may want to make you believe. All you need to do is do your homework and research the dos and don’ts in self-drive travel in Kenya. This 7 day 4×4 self-drive itinerary in Kenya will help you to plan your safari and avoid logistical issues.
Distance: 280km
Driving Hours: 5-6hrs
Game Drive: 2hrs
Fuel needed for 3 days: $100
Park fee: Usd 80pp x2 = $ 160PP
Accommodation: Camp Usd 80pppn; Lodge Usd 240pppn
2. Nairobi to Masai Mara 4×4 Self Drive Safari Packages
The 7 Days 4×4 self-drive Masai Mara safari in Kenya departs Nairobi for the Mara at 0830am. You will drive North West through kikuyu highlands and take a right turn at Rironi to join the great north road towards the eastern escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. Drive down the escarpment with beautiful scenery of the valley below.
After 45minutes, make a scheduled stop at one of the viewpoints which will most likely have a curio shop and some bathroom. This acts as a bathroom stop and you also get to learn how the rift valley was formed from the vendors as they try to sell you some items. You can see the strato-volcanic mountains of suswa and the higher mt Longonot on the rift valley floor.
Cross the rift valley floor and drive up the western escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. You will see great scenery of rural Kenya as you drive through the country side. Watch out for Matatus or public transport buses and minivan as these drive at breakneck speeds and believe they own the roads. Arrive at Narok town and make a pit stop at a petrol station to refuel. You can also buy more supplies here from a local super market. Narok is the last major town before going into the bundus. Make sure to stock up for the next 3 days. Have a lunch at season’s hotel in Narok before getting back on the road. Drive on to Masai Mara and check into Lenchada tented camp or Enkorok tented camp.
After an afternoon siesta, drive to the ololaimutia park gate at 1600 and pay your tickets. You will need 2 tickets each lasting for 24hrs. Make your first game drive until dusk and drive back to your camp. Make sure to have your route mapped out to avoid getting lost. Alternatively you can hire a local guide from the camp. They will be happy to help. Look for lions, rhinos, elephants, buffalo, giraffes, leopards and many more.
Return to camp at dusk for dinner and overnight.
Meals: Dinner
Self-Game Drive: Full Day or 4 hours
Distance: 200km / 80km
3. Masai Mara Game Drive 4×4 Self Drive Safari
Explore Masai Mara game reserve on a full day self-drive game drive driving through the width and breadth of the park looking for elusive wildlife like leopards and rhinos. If you are unsure of the Mara roads, get a local guide from the camp who knows the park.
You have two options. One is to go on a full day game self-drive and go as far north of Mara to the Mara River. The Mara River is full of action at the river crossing during the migration seasons from July to October. But in order to go on a full day game drive to Mara River, you need to arrange for a packed lunch with your tented camp on the previous evening. Watch the wildebeest river crossing all day or opt to go for a Masai village visit on this afternoon.
Your other option is to go for an early morning game drive at 0630 for 2 hours and return to camp for breakfast and relaxation. You can then take the evening game drive at 1600 hrs until dusk. This option is good if you don’t want to spend the day driving all over the park and if you need some relaxation at camp between game drives.
Return to camp for dinner and overnight.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
4. Lake Nakuru National Park 4×4 Self Drive Safari in Kenya
Distance: 290km
Driving Hours: 6hrs
Fuel needed for 2 days: $50
Park fee: Usd 60pp x2 = $ 120PP
Accommodation: Camp Usd 60pppn; Lodge Usd 240pppn
Your Nakuru leg of the 4×4 self-drive starts early in Masai Mara camp. You will have breakfast at 0600 and check out from the camp. Depart masai Mara at 0700 for lake Nakuru with an enroute game drive. You will drive back the same route through Narok town. Stop at Narok town if you need any refreshments enroute.
Drive through the Great Rift Valley floor up to Mai Mahiu and turn left towards Naivasha. You will pass mt Longonot on the left and drive on to Naivasha town. Branch off left on to A2 onto the Nairobi Nakuru high and drive past Lake Elementaita on the left. It’s an hour and a half to Lake Nakuru from Naivasha town.
Arrive at Nakuru town and go to naivas supermarket to purchase some supplies including water, repellant, sunscreen, tissue paper, soft drinks etc. Drive on to Lake Nakuru national park and check in at the WCK dormitories, KWS Naishi Bandas, Sopa Lodge, Lion Hill Sarova lodge or Nakuru lodge.
Look out for the tree climbing lions of Lake Nakuru, rhinos, leopards, buffalos, hippos, flamingos and the synchronized swimming giant white pelicans. You can drive to the makalia water falls and the baboon cliff to view the lake from a vantage point. There are some areas where you can drive as close to the lake as possible off the game drive track. Watch out for the buffalos which like to sit smugly in mud puddles next to the shore.
After lunch, enjoy a siesta and later go for an evening game drive at 1600hrs until dusk. Return to camp or lodge for dinner and overnight.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
5. Lake Naivasha 4×4 Self Drive Safari in Kenya
Distance: 70km
Driving Hours: 1.5hrs
Fuel needed for 1 days: $30
Boat Fee: $ 60 per trip
Park fee: Usd 30pp x1 = $ 30PP (Crescent Island)
Accommodation: Camp Usd 60pppn; Lodge Usd 180pppn
Wake up early in Nakuru for a morning self-game drive at 0630hrs. Drive around the lake looking for rhinos and hippos as well as the abundant bird life. Look out for that leopard sleeping on the tree or the lions hiding behind the bush. Drive back to your lodge or camp for breakfast.
Depart at 0830hrs for Lake Naivasha with an enroute game self-drive in Nakuru national park arriving at 1000hrs. Check into crayfish camp, fisherman’s camp, camp carnelley’s or any other budget accommodation. You also have a choice to stay at Sopa lodge, Simba lodge or the many other lodges around the lake. Depart on a boat ride to the hippo’s pool and later Crescent Island for a walking safari.
Return to lodge by 1300hrs and enjoy your lunch. Afternoon relaxation in the camp or lodge.
6. Amboseli National Park 4×4 Self Drive Car Hires
Distance: 330km
Driving Hours: 6hr
Fuel needed for 3 days: $100
Lunch at Nairobi: $ 30 pp
Park fee: Usd 20 x 1 = $ 20 (Hellsgate)
Bike Hire: Usd 10 x1 = $10 per bike
Park fee: Usd 60pp x2 = $ 120PP (Amboseli)
Accommodation: Camp Usd 80pppn; Lodge Usd 150pppn
Arise from your camp or lodge and breakfast at 0600hrs. Depart at 0700hrs for a hiking and biking tour in Hells gate National Park. You can park at the gate and go on a bike ride into the park and back to gate. You can opt to go on a hike to the gorge below. This is where Angelina Jolie shot the movie tomb raiders – cradle of mankind. Hells gate is also the park that inspired the scenery of the award winning movie Lion King. You have a long drive ahead of you and you may want to be sure of your energy levels not to exhaust yourselves in the gorge or biking in Hells gate. You still have a 6hr self-drive to Amboseli. But if you are sure of yourselves, go for it. Another alternative here is to break your trip for a 1 night extra in Nairobi before proceeding to Amboseli.
Depart from Hells gate at 1000hrs and drive yourselves towards Nairobi using the A2 highway. Pass through Longonot and Mai Mahiu and climb the eastern wall of the Great Rift Valley. Arrive in Nairobi at 1300hrs and go for lunch at a Mololongo Mall enroute to Amboseli.
Drive on Mombasa highway for 2 hours up to Emali town and branch off right into Oloitoktok road. This road leads to Kilimanjaro and the Tanzanian border. Drive for 1 ½ hours from Emali and branch off at the Kimana gate junction on the right. You will see Kenya Wildlife Service Signage at the junction. There is one junction to the park through Irimito gate, ignore this one as you are better off using the Kimana gate further up ahead.
Arrive at the Kibo safari camp at 1700hrs and check in for the evening. You can opt to go for a short 2 hour game drive into Amboseli or just relax for the evening. Other accommodation options in Amboseli include AA Lodge, Sentrim lodge, Amboseli Sopa lodge, Oltukai lodge, Serena lodge and many others. You can google budget accommodation in Amboseli for details or google lodge accommodation in Amboseli for options.
Dinner and Overnight at Amboseli camp or lodge.
7. Kenya 7 Days 4×4 Self Drive Safari
Game Drive Distance: 150km
Game Self Driving Hours: 4.5hrs
You will spend this day with 2 game drives from your camp or lodge in Amboseli. Wake up early at 0600 for some coffee and bitings. Depart for an early morning game drive in Amboseli national park. The view of mt Kilimanjaro is greatest a dawn and the wind is crispy and cool. Look out for the hundreds of elephants in the park as they graze along the water grass. The lions are hard to spot but you will be lucky in 3 days here. Drive up to the observation hill for more dramatic view of the park from the hill. You can buy a map of the park at the gate to help you navigate around or just hire a local guide in Amboseli camp.
Return back to camp or lodge for your morning breakfast and later relax at the lodge until lunch. Enjoy a sumptuous lunch buffet with a wide selection of foods to eat. Relax for a siesta and go for your second game drive at 1600hrs until dusk. Look out for the animals you have not seen including cheetahs and leopards. Drive back to camp or lodge after the game drive and in good time to avoid night driving.
Dinner and overnight at camp or lodge.
Meal Plan: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
8. A 4×4 Self Drive Game Drive in Masai Mara
Arise to a great morning with clear views of mt Kilimanjaro. Go for your last self-game drive at 0630hrs and return for breakfast at 0830hrs. Depart the lodge at 1000hrs for the Nairobi self-drive. Arrive in Nairobi at 1300hrs and go for lunch at the carnivore restaurant.
Later drop off the vehicle at the car hire office or have them pick it up from your hotel.
End of Tour
Book your self-drive safari in Kenya by contacting Robert on +254722661827 (whatsapp, text or call) or send us an email here info@sojournsafaris.co.ke
Dos and Don’ts of Self-drive safaris in Kenya. The best way to save some money and enjoy the freedom of a safari is to go by self-drive safaris. It is important to know the things to do and those things to avoid when on self-drive in Kenya. Firstly, the things that are most important to take great care on are your safety, security and time. You will need to run your itinerary by the tour company for them to tell you what is possible and what is largely impossible to achieve within your time frame.
Kenya Self-drive safari from Nairobi. Below are the things to do before and during your Kenya self-drive safari. You can decide to run through most of these dos with your Nairobi self-drive car hire company for them to advice you on your safety on the road, security at camp and at pit stops and time management between destinations.
Here are 10 things that you should NOT do at all cost during your self-drive safari in Kenya. Most of these don’ts are things that ensure your safety on the road and security during travel. Kenya is mainly a safe country in the towns as long as you keep to the day time hours. You can be in the middle of a market with hundreds of people in rural Kenya and be safer than a street in New York. Kenyans are amazingly peaceful and happy people. But you should watch out for the secluded sections on major highways for highway bandits. Avoid having bathroom breaks in the middle of nowhere.
There are much more to know on the dos and don’ts while on Kenya self-drive safari but most of these also apply to other countries that you have ben to before. Taking a little caution is always the best way to avoid theft or getting stranded or lost. Where in doubt of the route, you can always stop at the petrol station and enquire on directions. Traffic and regular police are also always very happy to help you with directions.
Kenya is a beautiful country to explore on your own time and pace. A self-drive tour in Kenya gives you unlimited flexibility to explore the major national parks without breaking your bank. You also get to stay in either luxury lodges or ground camping. Whichever your choice, a self-drive in Kenya is easy to do and is highly recommended as opposed to the tight scheduled itineraries where your freedom is curtailed.
Book or enquire more about Kenya self-drive safaris in Nairobi from Robert; Send us a whatsapp message on +254722661827 or email us at info@sojournsafaris.co.ke
