YVF7N:  Amboseli + Samburu + Mara

Day 1

You will be met at Nairobi Airport and transferred to your hotel in this bustling city.

Check in after midday and relax by the hotel swimming pool in your warm and friendly African surroundings, before enjoying a welcome dinner with your group.

Day 2

This morning we fly from Nairobi by light aircraft to Amboseli National Park.

Situated in southern Kenya on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, this national park offers magnificent views of the peak in neighbouring Tanzania. In the early morning it is a wonderful experience to see Kilimanjaro hovering above the clouds and wildlife photography against this dramatic backdrop is particularly rewarding.

Check into your lodge before enjoying an afternoon game drive in Amboseli National Park.

Day 3

This morning enjoy a game drive in Amboseli National Park, renowned for its large herds of elephants. The local people are mainly Maasai.

Offering a fantastic array of wildlife and a marvellous contrast between arid dry-lake bed and oasis of several swamps, you should also see buffalo, black and white rhino, zebra, wildebeest and other plains game in this low rainfall area, which makes it one of the best game viewing regions in Kenya.

Return to the lodge for relaxation, before returning to Amboseli National Park in the late afternoon for another game drive.

Day 4

Enjoy an early morning game drive in Amboseli National Park before breakfast this morning, and your return light aircraft flight to Nairobi and connecting light aircraft flight on to Samburu National Reserve.

Check into your lodge and relax amongst the dramatic arid landscapes of the Great Rift Valley, before setting out for a game drive in the late afternoon.

Day 5

Enjoy morning and afternoon game drives today in Samburu National Reserve, one of the two reserves in which conservationists Joy and George Adamson raised Elsa the lioness, made famous in the book and award winning movie "Born Free".

Situated in the hot and arid northern region of Kenya, this reserve is located within the tribal lands of the colourful and semi-nomadic Samburu people, who are close relatives of the Maasai. The reserve is home to a variety of wildlife found only north of the equator - including Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, Beisa oryx and gerenuk.

Large populations of crocodiles and hippo can be seen in the broad Ewaso Ngiro River that runs through the park and you can also hope to see elephant, lion, cheetah, gerenuk, buffalo, grants gazelle, dikdik and waterbuck as well as over 350 bird species.

Day 6

After some final game viewing in Samburu, transfer to the airstrip for your light aircraft flight to the Maasai Mara National Park, named after the Maasai people and the Mara River, which divides the park.

Maasai Mara National Park is famous for its exceptional population of game and the annual migration of zebra and wildebeest from the adjoining Serengeti National Park, which occurs every year from September  to October, when these ungainly animals migrate along a circular route from the plains of the Serengeti to the pastures of the Maasai Mara and back again in search of fresh pasture followed by hungry predators - most notably lions and hyena.

After checking in to your lodge, enjoy a late afternoon game drive into this magnificent wildlife sanctuary.

Day 7

Today is dedicated to game viewing in the world famous Maasai Mara National Park.

Nestled within the enormous Great Rift Valley, Maasai Mara National Park is famous for its lions and abundant wildebeest, which number over one million. All the Big Five can be seen as well as numerous other species including gazelle, impala, topi, hartebeest, roan antelope, hippo and huge herds of zebra and giraffe. The nocturnal bat-eared fox, rarely found elsewhere in Kenya, and the spotted hyena also inhabit this park, as well as the endangered cheetah and black rhino. Bird watching is also outstanding with over 450 different species including the vulture, marabou stork, secretary bird, hornbill, crowned crane, ostrich, long-crested eagle and african pygmy-falcon. The terrain is primarily open grassland and seasonal riverlets, with most game concentrated around the swampy ground on its western border.

Set off early each morning, when game viewing conditions are at their best, to view the abundant wildlife of the Maasai Mara. Return to the lodge to rest in the heat of the day, before setting off again in the late afternoon for another game drive.

Day 8

This morning we commence the return journey to Nairobi.

You will be dropped off at a local hotel in the late afternoon (use of room not included) until it is time to transfer to Nairobi Airport for your flight home.