8-Day Kenya Big Five Safari | Samburu, Ol Pejeta & Maasai Mara

🛏 Overnight: Tamarind Tree Hotel

Your Kenya Big Five safari begins when our driver meets you at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and takes you to Tamarind Tree Hotel for the night.

🛏 Overnight: Samburu Intrepids Camp (All Meals)

Leave Nairobi at 7:30 am and drive north to Samburu (about 5–6 hours). The landscape changes along the way, from green highlands past Mount Kenya to dry northern bushland. Arrive in time for lunch. In the evening, take a game drive along the Ewaso Ng’iro River, which runs through acacia woodland and doum palms and draws wildlife from across the region.

About Samburu National Reserve: Samburu and the neighbouring Buffalo Springs Reserve are home to the “Samburu Special Five”: Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, gerenuk and beisa oryx. These species are adapted to Kenya’s dry north and are rarely seen in the southern parks. Samburu also has large elephant herds, leopards and lions.

🛏 Overnight: Samburu Intrepids Camp (All Meals)

Go out on a morning game drive, then return to camp for breakfast. Relax through the heat of the day, then take a late-afternoon game drive to look for the Special Five, elephants and big cats.

🛏 Overnight: Serena Sweetwaters Camp (All Meals)

After breakfast, drive south across the Laikipia Plateau to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, which sits on the equator below Mount Kenya. Check in at Serena Sweetwaters Camp in time for lunch. This is where your Kenya Big Five safari brings you closest to rhinos: in the afternoon, take a game drive to look for black and white rhinos, lions, elephants, buffalo and, with luck, leopards. Then visit the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, which is supported by the Jane Goodall Institute.

About Ol Pejeta Conservancy: Ol Pejeta is the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa. It’s also home to Najin and Fatu, the last two northern white rhinos in the world. Its chimpanzee sanctuary cares for rescued chimpanzees and is the only place in Kenya where you can see them.

🛏 Overnight: Lakeside resort, Lake Naivasha (All Meals)

After breakfast, drive to Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley (about 3 hours), arriving in time for lunch. In the afternoon, take a boat ride to see hippos and birdlife. Then go on a guided walking safari on Crescent Island, where you can walk among giraffes, zebras, waterbuck and wildebeest. There are no big predators on the island, so you can explore on foot.

About Lake Naivasha: A freshwater lake on the floor of the Great Rift Valley, with more than 400 bird species recorded. Cormorants breed here all year, pelicans and spoonbills perch on dead acacia trees along the shore, and you’ll almost certainly see the African fish eagle.

🛏 Overnight: Maasai Mara lodge or tented camp (All Meals)

After breakfast, drive to the Maasai Mara (about 5 hours). The green farmland of the Rift Valley gives way to the drier savannah of Maasailand. After passing through Narok, the region’s busy main town, you’ll often see Maasai herders with their cattle and goats along the road. Arrive at your lodge or tented camp for lunch. In the afternoon, take a game drive to look for lions, cheetahs and other predators.

🛏 Overnight: Maasai Mara lodge or tented camp (All Meals)

Spend a full day on game drives with a picnic lunch on the plains, completing your Kenya Big Five safari in the Mara. If you’re lucky, you may see a hunt. From July to October, you may also see the wildebeest migration and dramatic river crossings.

🎈 Optional (extra cost): Get up before dawn for a sunrise hot air balloon flight over the Maasai Mara, followed by a champagne bush breakfast. You then return to camp for lunch and take an afternoon game drive.

After breakfast, drive back to Nairobi (about 5–6 hours). On arrival, there’s time for last-minute shopping, then lunch at Karen Blixen Coffee Gardens. Afterwards, we take you to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for your flight home. You can also extend your trip to Diani Beach, Zanzibar, Uganda, Rwanda or Tanzania; your safari planner can arrange this.

End of safari.

Yes. This is one of the best Kenya itineraries for the Big Five. Ol Pejeta has high densities of black and white rhinos, which are rare in the Maasai Mara. Lions, leopards, elephants and buffalo are found throughout the route.

8 days and 7 nights: 1 night in Nairobi, 2 nights in Samburu, 1 night at Ol Pejeta, 1 night at Lake Naivasha and 2 nights in the Maasai Mara.

Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, gerenuk and beisa oryx. These species live in Kenya’s dry north and are rarely seen in the Maasai Mara or Amboseli.

Only at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Ol Pejeta Conservancy, which cares for chimpanzees rescued from across Africa. Chimpanzees are not native to Kenya. To see them in the wild, you can add a Uganda extension.

Yes. Eight days lets you combine northern and southern Kenya, so you see four different ecosystems without rushing. It works well for travellers who want more variety than a standard Amboseli and Maasai Mara trip.

The dry seasons, from June to October and January to March, are best. July to October also brings the wildebeest migration to the Maasai Mara. The safari runs all year.