10 days across Samburu, Ol Pejeta and Lake Nakuru, staying in comfortable tented camps and established safari lodges throughout. 9 nights on safari, priced on request.
Samburu - Ol Pejeta - Nakuru - Mara - Naivasha - Amboseli
About this safari
The route opens in Samburu — northern dry country and the Samburu Special Five — and works through 5 further destinations over 10 days. It stays within Kenya; the final proposal will confirm transfer times and the balance between travel and game viewing. Accommodation is at the mid-range standard: comfortable tented camps and established safari lodges. The balance most travellers settle on — proper beds, en-suite bathrooms and well-run lodges in good positions, without the premium that the top end of the market commands. Like every safari in this catalogue, it is priced on request rather than sold at a published rate, because park fees, permits, group size and contracted accommodation all change the figure.
Day by day
Written out in full before you book, so you can see exactly how the days are paced and where each night is spent.
Day 1
This planning outline starts in Nairobi and continues towards the first destination; the collection point, time and transport are confirmed in the final proposal. Today's drive takes you north of the equator into semi-arid country where Samburu pastoralists move livestock between grazing and water. The heat builds through the morning, the hills turn blue in the distance, and everything narrows towards the Ewaso Ng'iro — the river that makes life in this landscape possible at all. The reserve has a strong reputation for leopard, and the riverine forest is where to look — early morning and late afternoon, working slowly along the bank and watching the branches. Lion and cheetah are present on the open ground beyond, and crocodile lie out on the sandbars. Between sightings the landscape itself holds attention: red rock, palms, and blue hills stacked on the horizon. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Samburu
Day 2
Samburu's draw is the set of dry-country species known locally as the Special Five, none of which occur in the southern parks: Grevy's zebra with its narrow stripes and rounded ears, reticulated giraffe with sharply defined chestnut markings, the long-necked gerenuk that browses standing upright on its hind legs, the beisa oryx, and the blue-legged Somali ostrich. Finding all five in a stay is a genuine and achievable ambition. Everything here organises itself around the Ewaso Ng'iro. Drives follow the river through doum palm forest where leopard rest through the heat and elephant families come down to drink and dig for water in the sand. Away from the banks the country is thorn scrub and rock, where oryx and gerenuk browse and vulturine guineafowl move through in noisy flocks of startling blue. This outline assumes a comfortable safari stay near the route. The named property remains a suggestion until quoted.
Overnight: Samburu
Day 3
The itinerary continues by road, today's route brings you to the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa, on high open country near Nanyuki. The altitude keeps the grass green for much of the year, Mount Kenya rises behind the conservancy, and the atmosphere is noticeably different from a national park — fewer vehicles, more flexibility, and a conservation programme you can see working. Because this is private land rather than a national park, the conservancy can offer what reserves cannot: guided walks with an armed ranger, night drives with a spotlight for aardvark, porcupine and hunting predators, and lion tracking alongside the research team. These activities change the character of a stay entirely and are usually arranged as separate paid extras. The suggested standard is mid-range. Citrus will confirm the property and contracted services in writing before booking.
Overnight: Ol Pejeta
Day 4
If this optional activity is included in your written quotation, being on foot changes the pace completely. Walking with an armed ranger, the attention shifts from finding large animals at distance to reading what is immediately around you — tracks in the dust, dung, chewed stems, the alarm calls that tell you something has moved. Sightings are fewer but the detail is far richer, and approaching rhino on foot with someone who knows the individuals is not easily forgotten. The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary within the conservancy cares for chimpanzees rescued from the illegal trade in West and Central Africa. They are not native Kenyan wildlife and the sanctuary is clear about that — it is a refuge rather than a wild population, and a visit is as much about the story of their rescue as about the animals themselves. The catalogue suggests a comfortable mid-range stay here. The exact lodge, room basis and meals are confirmed in the quotation.
Overnight: Ol Pejeta
Day 5
The next section of the circuit moves on, the route crosses some of Kenya's most productive farmland before dropping towards the lake basin, and the contrast at the park gate is abrupt. One moment there is maize and small-holding, the next there is acacia woodland with waterbuck standing in it and pelican working the shallows a short distance away. Nakuru is small enough to cover thoroughly, and that is its advantage. The lakeside circuit is where white rhino graze the open flats, usually in loose groups and often close to the track. Black rhino are browsers and stay in thicker cover, so seeing them takes more luck. Rothschild's giraffe — distinguishable by their clean white lower legs — were introduced here and are now easy to find among the acacias. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Lake Nakuru
Day 6
The route then continues onward, the road west out of Nairobi climbs the shoulder of the Rift Valley before dropping through Narok and onto the open country beyond, where cultivation gives way to grassland and the horizon widens. The last stretch is rougher going, but it is also where the safari properly begins — giraffe browsing beside the track, zebra scattering ahead of the vehicle, and the first raptors riding the thermals above the escarpment. The Mara's density is what makes it remarkable — sightings come quickly, and the day tends to build rather than drag. Expect long stretches of plains game: zebra, topi, Thomson's gazelle, eland and Maasai giraffe, with buffalo herds grazing in the bottomlands. Overhead, vultures circling low is always worth following, and the sudden stillness of a grazing herd usually means a predator is somewhere in the grass. This outline assumes a comfortable safari stay near the route. The named property remains a suggestion until quoted.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 7
A full day here usually divides itself naturally. The first hours go to the predators, tracking the prides your guide knows by territory and following whatever the night has left behind. Through the middle of the day the vehicle heads for shade near the river, where hippo crowd the deeper pools and crocodile lie out on the banks. The last light brings the plains alive again, with hunting cats moving and dust rising gold behind the herds. With a whole day in the reserve there is time to go further than the popular circuits. Your guide can push towards quieter sectors where vehicle numbers thin out and sightings are shared with nobody, returning through the afternoon as the light softens. The middle of the day is often spent with a packed lunch under a tree near the river, watching hippo shift and resettle in the shallows. The suggested standard is mid-range. Citrus will confirm the property and contracted services in writing before booking.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 8
If this optional activity is included in your written quotation, a boat trip on the lake is the reason most itineraries stop here. Cutting the engine near a hippo pod brings you closer to these animals than any vehicle can, and the birdlife along the shoreline is extraordinary — fish eagle calling from the dead trees, pelican working the shallows in line, cormorant colonies packed onto drowned branches, and herons stalking the papyrus edge. Boat trips are normally an optional extra rather than an automatic inclusion. The next leg links the two destinations, today's transfer is short, which is part of the point. Naivasha sits high in the Rift at nearly 1,900 metres, and the lake's fresh water supports a completely different community from the alkaline lakes nearby — papyrus, fever trees, hippo pods and an extraordinary concentration of waterbirds rather than the flamingo flocks found further north. The catalogue suggests a comfortable mid-range stay here. The exact lodge, room basis and meals are confirmed in the quotation.
Overnight: Lake Naivasha
Day 9
The itinerary continues by road, the route runs south towards the border, and the country grows steadily drier as you go. Amboseli sits in the rain shadow of Kilimanjaro, which is why the plains outside the park look so bare — and why the swamps at its heart, fed from the mountain itself, concentrate wildlife so reliably. The first elephants usually appear before you reach the gate. The open, almost treeless terrain gives Amboseli long sightlines and makes it one of the best photographic parks in Kenya. Morning drives work the swamp edges where elephant, buffalo and hippo gather, while the dry lake bed shimmers and distorts in the heat further out. If the cloud lifts off Kilimanjaro — most likely in the first and last hour of daylight — the mountain dominates everything. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Amboseli
Day 10
Citrus will time the last day around the agreed end point and onward arrangements. Leaving Amboseli means crossing the dry flats again with the mountain behind you, and it is worth a look back before the gate: the summit is most often clear in the first hour of the day, and this is the last chance the itinerary offers. Beyond the boundary the Maasai rangelands open out and the long drive north begins. The planning route returns to Nairobi; the final drop-off and timing will be agreed around the confirmed onward arrangements.
Safari ends
Where you stay
Accommodation below is the suggested standard for this package, taken from the Citrus catalogue. Where an entry describes a standard rather than a named property, we confirm the exact camp or lodge with your quotation. Named properties are suggestions and are substituted with comparable alternatives if they are unavailable for your dates.
Source catalogue listing
Samburu Sopa + Sweetwaters Serena + Sarova Lion Hill + Masai Mara Sopa + Lake Naivasha Sopa + Kibo
This is reproduced exactly from the catalogue. The written quotation will allocate nights and confirm each available property before booking.
These are planning examples, not confirmed inclusions for this package. Your written quotation will confirm exactly what is included.
The quotation will identify every separate cost before you confirm.
Where this safari goes
Kenya
Northern dry country and the Samburu Special Five
ExploreKenya
East Africa's largest black rhino sanctuary, under Mount Kenya
ExploreKenya
A fenced rhino sanctuary around a Rift Valley soda lake
ExploreKenya
Big cats, open plains and the northern stage of the Great Migration
ExploreKenya
Freshwater, hippo pods and the Rift Valley's gentlest day
ExploreKenya
Great elephant families beneath Mount Kilimanjaro
ExploreBefore you ask
The catalogue sets the route and travel standard, but it does not publish a fixed price or a contracted inclusion list. Citrus will prepare a written quotation for your dates, party and rooming, showing the exact transfers, activities, accommodation, meals, fees and permits before you confirm.
No. It is suggested accommodation from the source catalogue. Availability and any proposed alternative are confirmed in the written quotation before a booking is made.
No. Cloud and weather can obscure the mountain even when a route is timed well.
Ask Citrus to revise it. Any change to route, nights or transport must be reflected in the final itinerary and quotation.
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Tell us your dates and who is travelling, and we will come back with availability, honest advice on timing and a written quotation for this route.