6-Day Ol Pejeta, Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha & Masai Mara Safari

Day-by-day itinerary

Route: Nairobi → Ol Pejeta → Lake Nakuru → Lake Naivasha → Masai Mara → Nairobi

1. Day 1

   Nairobi to Ol Pejeta Conservancy

   You leave Nairobi after breakfast and head for Ol Pejeta Conservancy, climbing through the central highlands past Nyeri and Nanyuki on the shoulder of Mount Kenya. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into open Laikipia plains and whistling-thorn country with Mount Kenya on the eastern skyline. Your guide works the area for black and white rhino, elephant, lion, buffalo and Jackson's hartebeest, with sightings varying by season and conditions. Ol Pejeta is a working conservancy with a significant rhino conservation programme, and it also runs a chimpanzee sanctuary that takes in rescued animals. Your safari vehicle and guide are used by your party alone. Dinner is served at your Ol Pejeta Conservancy camp or lodge, where you spend the night.

2. Day 2

   Ol Pejeta to Lake Nakuru

   Following an early breakfast, the day begins with the road transfer from Ol Pejeta to Lake Nakuru, travelling through the Rift Valley floor and the farming towns of the Nakuru region. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into a Rift Valley soda lake ringed by yellow-barked acacia woodland and steep escarpment viewpoints. Your guide works the area for black and white rhino, Rothschild's giraffe, buffalo, waterbuck and dense birdlife, with sightings varying by season and conditions. The park operates as a sanctuary and is one of Kenya's more reliable places to look for rhino; flamingo numbers on the lake rise and fall with water levels. The evening is spent at your Lake Nakuru accommodation, with dinner and overnight there.

3. Day 3

   Lake Nakuru to Lake Naivasha

   Breakfast is taken before you set out from Lake Nakuru for the drive to Lake Naivasha, following the Rift Valley escarpment road with its long views over the valley floor. Lunch and check-in come first, then an afternoon drive through a freshwater Rift Valley lake fringed by papyrus, fever trees and flower-farming country. Wildlife commonly associated with this area includes hippo, waterbuck, colobus and an exceptional range of resident and migratory waterbirds. Naivasha is one of the few freshwater lakes in the Rift Valley, which is why boat trips and walking safaris are possible here rather than vehicle drives alone. The evening is spent at your Lake Naivasha accommodation, with dinner and overnight there.

4. Day 4

   Lake Naivasha to Masai Mara

   Following an early breakfast, the day begins with the road transfer from Lake Naivasha to Masai Mara, descending the wall of the Great Rift Valley and passing through Narok and Maasai farming country. After check-in and a chance to freshen up, you head out into open savanna grassland, acacia stands and the rolling country of the greater Mara ecosystem. This is good country in which to look for lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, buffalo and large herds of plains game. The reserve is best known for its big cat densities, and between roughly July and October the wildebeest migration commonly moves through the ecosystem. The evening is spent at your Masai Mara accommodation, with dinner and overnight there.

5. Day 5

   Full-Day Masai Mara Safari

   An unhurried full day in Masai Mara gives your guide room to follow whatever the morning turns up. Your route takes in open savanna grassland, acacia stands and the rolling country of the greater Mara ecosystem, with your guide reading recent movement to decide where to spend time. Keep watch for lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, buffalo and large herds of plains game as you move between the different habitats. A full day allows morning and late-afternoon drives when animals are most active, with the option of a picnic lunch out in the reserve. The reserve is best known for its big cat densities, and between roughly July and October the wildebeest migration commonly moves through the ecosystem. The evening returns you to your Masai Mara accommodation for dinner and overnight.

6. Day 6

   Masai Mara to Nairobi

   After breakfast you leave Masai Mara and travel on toward Nairobi, returning through the highland approaches to the city. Lunch and check-in come first, then an afternoon drive through Kenya's highland capital and the usual start and end point for road safaris. Nairobi is the arrival and departure hub for most Kenyan safari itineraries. You are dropped at your Nairobi hotel or the airport in the late afternoon.