East Africa Itinerary
Maasai Mara & Beyond
About This Journey
Most Kenya itineraries stop at the Mara. This one uses it as the finish rather than the whole story, opening instead in Samburu — the arid northern frontier where the wildlife is different, the light is harder, and the crowds simply do not go. You meet the special five along the Ewaso Ng'iro, then fly south into the Mara for the river crossings and the big cats. Eight days, two Kenyas, and a much fuller picture than either would give alone.
What This Journey Holds
- Maasai Mara game drives
- Wildebeest river crossings (July–Oct)
- Samburu NR wildlife
- Maasai cultural village
Day by Day
Day 1:Arrival — Nairobi
Arrive in Nairobi, a capital that sits at 1,795 metres and feels it — cool evenings, sharp light, and a national park with rhino in it inside the city boundary. Transfer to your hotel, meet your guide, and settle in. The country starts properly tomorrow.
Day 2:North to Samburu
Fly north over the Aberdares and the flank of Mount Kenya into Samburu National Reserve — semi-desert country of doum palm and red earth, cut through by the Ewaso Ng'iro River. An afternoon game drive introduces a cast you will not have seen in the south: reticulated giraffe with their sharp-edged geometry, and gerenuk standing upright on hind legs to browse.
Day 3:Samburu — The Special Five
A full day tracking the arid-country specialists that give Samburu its reputation: Grevy's zebra, beisa oryx, Somali ostrich, reticulated giraffe, and gerenuk — the special five, none of which occur in the Mara. Elephant herds move down to the river through the heat of the day, and leopard hunt the riverine forest at dusk.
Day 4:Samburu — River & Community
Morning along the Ewaso Ng'iro, where the whole reserve comes to drink and the game viewing needs no searching at all. In the afternoon, time with a Samburu community — pastoralists closely related to the Maasai, whose relationship with this landscape has been continuous for centuries and is currently being renegotiated in real time by conservancy work you will hear about first-hand.
Day 5:Fly South — Into the Maasai Mara
A light aircraft south, via Nairobi, to an airstrip in the Mara. The landscape underneath changes completely as you go: from scrub and dust to rolling grassland, acacia stands, and the silver curve of the Mara River. Your camp sits close to the river. An afternoon drive puts you into the ecosystem before the sun goes.
Day 6:The Mara River Crossings
Out before dawn to a bank above the river, and then you wait. From July to October the herds stack up on the far side, hesitating, building, until something tips them and two thousand animals go into the water at once. Crocodiles are waiting. It is chaotic and hard to watch and impossible to look away from, and it is different every single time.
Day 7:The Mara Triangle — Full Day
A full day in the western Mara Triangle, the best-managed and least crowded sector of the reserve. Lion prides with cubs on the kopjes, cheetah working the open ground, and hyena clans running down whatever the cats leave. Your guide stops at last light, unfolds a table, and pours something cold while the sky does what it does here.
Day 8:Maasai Country & Departure
A final morning drive, then time in a Maasai community — not the staged version, but a genuine conversation about cattle, lions, land, and the compensation schemes that now keep both alive. Fly back to Nairobi in the afternoon for your onward connection.
Make It Yours
This is where the conversation begins.
This itinerary is a starting point — a glimpse of what is possible. Tell us what draws you in, what you'd change, and when you'd like to go. We'll build something that belongs entirely to you.
Begin Planning