A 5-day circuit taking in Aberdare, Lake Nakuru and Maasai Mara, using the comfortable, well-positioned lodges most travellers choose. 4 nights on safari, priced on request.
Aberdare - Lake Nakuru - Maasai Mara
About this safari
The route opens in Aberdare — high montane forest, waterfalls and floodlit waterholes — and works through 2 further destinations over 5 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
The route is drafted from Nairobi. Citrus will set out the actual meeting arrangements and first transfer in writing. The road climbs steeply out of the central highlands into the Aberdare range, and the temperature drops noticeably as you gain height. Cultivated slopes give way to dense montane forest, then to bamboo, and mist moves through the canopy in the afternoon. It is cold, green and utterly unlike anywhere else on a Kenyan circuit. If this optional activity is included in your written quotation, arrival is timed for the afternoon so that you are in place before the waterhole becomes active. As the light goes, the floodlights come on and the clearing begins to fill — buffalo first, usually, then elephant moving in with surprising quietness, and later the smaller nocturnal animals that only appear once it is properly dark. It is a slow, patient kind of wildlife viewing, and a genuine change of pace. The catalogue suggests a comfortable mid-range stay here. The exact lodge, room basis and meals are confirmed in the quotation.
Overnight: Aberdare
Day 2
This travel day carries the route onward, 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. A morning here has a different character from the open savannah parks — tighter, greener, more enclosed. Your guide will work the lakeside tracks first while rhino are still out grazing, then climb through the woodland where colobus move in the canopy and the view opens out over the whole basin from the cliff viewpoints. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Lake Nakuru
Day 3
The next leg links the two destinations, the approach takes you across the floor of the Great Rift Valley and up onto the grasslands that stretch south to the Tanzanian border. It is a long drive, broken for lunch and leg-stretching, and it does the useful work of showing you how the land changes — from dense highland cultivation to the open, lightly wooded country where the great herds can move freely. The Mara rewards early starts. Leaving camp while the grass is still wet puts you out when lion are finishing the night's work and cheetah are looking for the high ground that lets them scan for gazelle. Your guide will work the riverine forest along the Mara and Talek rivers, where leopard rest through the day in the fig branches, then move out onto the open plains where topi stand sentinel on termite mounds and elephant families cross in single file. This outline assumes a comfortable safari stay near the route. The named property remains a suggestion until quoted.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 4
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. Beyond the big cats, the reserve holds an extraordinary supporting cast. Bat-eared fox and black-backed jackal work the short grass, secretary birds stalk through it hunting snakes, and ground hornbill move in slow procession. Your guide will stop for these as readily as for lion, and they are often what people remember once the trip is over. The suggested standard is mid-range. Citrus will confirm the property and contracted services in writing before booking.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 5
The last morning remains flexible until the departure point and timing are agreed. The reserve gives up its last sightings on the way to the gate, and the drive out through the grassland is a slow, unhurried end to the time here. Giraffe browse along the track, zebra drift across ahead of the vehicle, and the plains look much as they did on the first morning — except that you now know what is living out in them. 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
The Ark + Sarova Lion Hill + Masai Mara Sopa
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.
Before 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.
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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.