Nairobi has lions inside the city limits. The Mara is still five hours away.
How long a Mara trip really needs, what a group-joining safari costs against a private vehicle, and which parks you can reach and still be back for dinner in Nairobi.
A Mara camp, a morning game drive, the orphanage, a dhow.
Most Kenyan itineraries are built out of these four shapes. What each costs, how long it takes, and what the travellers who went say about it.
01The big one3 Days Maasai Mara Guided Safari from NairobiThree days in the Mara with a guide and a vehicle, out of Nairobi. Long drive in, and then nothing else matters.
02Before breakfastNairobi National Park Half-Day Tour; Free Wi-Fi connectionRhino and lion on the plains with office towers on the horizon. Half a day, and no park in Africa looks like it.
03The animal morningElephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Tour with OptionsOrphaned elephants at the eleven o’clock feed, then Rothschild giraffes taking pellets out of your hand.
04The coast dayDhow Adventure to Wasini Island & Kisite Marine ParkA dhow out of Shimoni to Wasini and the Kisite reef, with dolphins on the way and crab for lunch.
One day, three days, or the whole southern circuit.
A Kenyan park is a drive, not a taxi ride. The Mara is 270 km of it, Amboseli 240, Tsavo East 330 - which is why the length of the trip decides the trip. Three shapes, and what boarding each one costs.
Six reserves, and they do not look remotely alike.
Grass plains that carry the wildebeest in August, a soda lake pink with flamingo, elephants the colour of the Tsavo dust, and rhino under snow on a clear Amboseli morning. Pick the animal you came for and the park follows.
Nairobi is the only capital with a game park at the end of the runway.
Everything in Nairobi →
You can be watching rhino by seven, feeding a giraffe by eleven and walking through Kibera with someone who grew up in it by three. These three carry more travellers than anything else in the city.
The park before the traffic wakes up
Black rhino, buffalo and usually lion, on plains that end in the Mombasa Road skyline. Go at opening; by ten the animals are down in the shade and the minibuses are stacked at the gate.
Elephant orphanage, then the giraffes
The Sheldrick nursery opens to visitors for one hour a day around the milk feed. The giraffe centre down the road has no such window, so most drivers run them in that order.
Kibera, with a guide who lives there
Guides from the settlement walk you through the workshops, the biogas kitchen and the school they are attached to. Book the ones run by residents; the fee goes back down the hill.
Kenya’s most popular days out.
Every Kenyan tour we have reviewed →Game drives, giraffes and one storytelling walk. This is where Kenyan travellers actually put their money, in order.
1
Nairobi National Park Half-Day Tour; Free Wi-Fi connection
Review of Nairobi National Park’s half-day safari, with wildlife, city views, hotel pickup, guide tips, costs, timing, and key drawbacks.
From · $45
Read our review →2
National Park & Optional Elephants & Giraffe Center
from $80
3
NAI NAMI: Nairobi Storytelling Tour with Street Children
from $45
4
Nairobi National Park Half-Day Game Drive
from $36
5
Historic and Modern Highlights Walking Tour
from $23
6
Safari Tour; Nairobi National Park
from $43
7
3 Days Masai Mara Group Joining
from $540
8
Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Tour with Options
from $35
Kenya does not end at the last game fence.
An hour’s flight from the plains: Swahili stone towns, a Portuguese fort on the Mombasa harbour, dhows out of Shimoni and a reef at Kisite where the dolphins turn up unannounced. Diani gets the white sand, Watamu gets the marine park, Malindi gets the Italians and the best ice cream.
- 1Walking Tour Through Old Town Mombasa and Fort Jesusfrom $50
- 2Dhow Adventure to Wasini Island & Kisite Marine Parkfrom $128
- 3PILLI PIPA DHOW, the genuine product, snorkeling tour to Kisite Marine Parkfrom $130
What a day in Kenya actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The gap between a morning game drive and a three-day Mara package is the widest in East Africa, and it is worth seeing laid out.
Nairobi game drives, the orphanage run, city walks, Kibera and the coffee farms out past Karen.
Amboseli and Hell’s Gate day trips, the Wasini dhow, Bomas, and the Mombasa old-town days.
Multi-day Mara and Tsavo packages, private vehicles, balloon flights and the Mount Kenya routes.
- 13 Days Masai Mara Group Joiningfrom $540
- 23 Days, 2 Nights Maasai Mara Group Safarifrom $199
- 3Tour: Giraffe Center and Nairobi National Parkfrom $176
Three things that do not happen anywhere else.
Plenty of countries have plains and elephants. A million wildebeest going into a crocodile river, a national park you can walk through on foot, and lions with a capital city behind them are Kenyan specifics.
The Mara River crossing
The herds come up out of the Serengeti in July and spend three months moving back and forth across the Mara River, because the grass is better on the far bank and they have no way of knowing about the crocodiles. Nobody can tell you the day it will happen. Guides work the known crossing points, and you sit, and sometimes an hour of nothing turns into ten minutes you will describe for the rest of your life.
- 13 Days Masai Mara Group Joining★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 486 reviews
- 23 Days, 2 Nights Maasai Mara Group Safari★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 394 reviews
- 35 Days Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru & Naivasha Budget Joining Safari★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 229 reviews
Hell’s Gate, on a bicycle
There are no big cats resident in Hell’s Gate, which is why it is the one Kenyan park you are allowed to enter without a vehicle. You hire a bike at Elsa Gate and ride the track between the red cliffs with zebra and giraffe grazing a few metres off it, then walk down into the gorge where the hot springs come through the rock. The Rift Valley steam plumes on the skyline are a working geothermal field.
- 11 Day trip to Hells Gate and Lake Naivasha From Nairobi★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 332 reviews
- 2Day Trip: Hell’s Gate Bike Ride & Lake Naivasha Boat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 251 reviews
- 3Hell’s Gate National Park Private Bike Tour from Nairobi★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 192 reviews
Rhino against a skyline
The park was gazetted in 1946 and the city grew up to its northern fence, so the plains genuinely end at the office towers. It holds one of the densest black rhino populations in Kenya, plus lion, buffalo and cheetah, and the only side that is fenced is the one facing town - the southern boundary stays open to the Athi-Kapiti plains so the herds can still move through.
- 1Nairobi National Park Half-Day Tour; Free Wi-Fi connection★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 878 reviews
- 2Nairobi National Park Half-Day Game Drive★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 738 reviews
- 3Safari Tour; Nairobi National Park★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 594 reviews
Four Kenyan bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged from a Nairobi hotel lobby the night before. These four run on permits, gate hours, fixed departures and a migration that keeps its own calendar.
- 01Maasai Mara: Hot Air Balloon Safari & Champagne BreakfastOne basket lifts at first light and it carries a fixed number of people. In migration season those seats are gone weeks out.
- 02Climbing Mount Kenya 5 Days Via Chogoria RouteThe Sirimon and Chogoria routes run on park permits and hut space, both booked ahead, and the trek length is set before you start.
- 033 Days, 2 Nights Maasai Mara Group SafariGroup-joining departures leave on set days and need a minimum number of seats. Between July and October the camps go months in advance.
- 04Ol Pejeta Conservancy Day Tour from NairobiThe chimpanzee sanctuary and the rhino encounters run to conservancy gate hours, and the vehicle count inside is capped.
March to May, when the park tracks turn to soup.
The long rains put black cotton soil under your wheels and there are corners of the Mara that simply stop being drivable. It is also the cheapest, emptiest, greenest time to come. The answer is to spend the wet middle of the day somewhere with a roof: a coffee farm out past Karen, a cooking class, the Bomas dance floor, a museum in town.
By place - city, park and coast
By kind of day - game drive, gorge, dhow or dance floor
Nairobi, the Rift lakes, the Mara, Amboseli, then the sea.
The newest Kenyan tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Giraffe Center, Elephant Orphanage and Bomas Tour
Read our review →
11-Days Best of Kenya & Tanzania Big 5 Safari on a 4×4 Jeep
Read our review →
Hell’s Gate National Park Private Bike Tour from Nairobi
Read our review →
Lake Nakuru National Park: Daytrip in a 4X4 Private Jeep
Read our review →
Group Joining Nairobi National Park and Giraffe Center
Read our review →
