Built around Ol Pejeta, Lake Nakuru and Maasai Mara, this 5-day safari at the top of the market, with space, privacy and considered detail throughout. 4 nights on safari, priced on request.
Ol Pejeta - Lake Nakuru - Maasai Mara
About this safari
The route opens in Ol Pejeta — east Africa's largest black rhino sanctuary, under Mount Kenya — 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 luxury standard: premium camps and lodges where the accommodation is part of the experience. At this level the camps are as much a reason to travel as the wildlife: limited suites, exceptional food, private decks and guiding of a standard that changes what you see. 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 available 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. Leaving the dry north behind, the country climbs and greens as you reach the Laikipia plateau. Ol Pejeta occupies a broad stretch of it, and the first impression is of space and order: open grassland, rhino grazing in the middle distance, and the peaks of Mount Kenya catching the light on the eastern horizon. 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 suggested standard is luxury. Citrus will identify the available property and contracted services before confirmation.
Overnight: Ol Pejeta
Day 2
Leaving the previous stop behind, today's drive brings you down into the Rift Valley proper, with the escarpment falling away to the east and the chain of soda lakes strung out along the valley floor. Lake Nakuru is the one enclosed entirely by a national park, and that fence is precisely why it matters: it has made the lake one of Kenya's most important refuges for both black and white rhino. The park's compact size means a drive here covers several habitats in a couple of hours: open lakeside grassland where rhino and buffalo graze, dense acacia woodland holding lion and waterbuck, and the euphorbia forest on the higher ground. A stop at Baboon Cliff gives the whole basin at once, which is the best way to understand how the lake sits inside its bowl of hills. The catalogue suggests a premium camp or lodge here. The exact property, suite and services remain subject to availability and quotation.
Overnight: Lake Nakuru
Day 3
The next section of the circuit moves on, leaving the highlands behind, the descent into the Rift Valley opens onto a view that runs for fifty kilometres, with the floor spread out below and volcanic cones breaking the far skyline. Beyond Narok the tarmac thins and the country turns to rolling grass and scattered acacia, Maasai herders moving their cattle along the verges, until the reserve gate brings you into the ecosystem itself. 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. A luxury stay is proposed for this night, with the final property and arrangements confirmed in writing.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 4
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. Game drives cover genuinely different country within a short distance. The Musiara marsh draws elephant and buffalo to permanent water, the open grassland of the central plains is where cheetah have the room they need to run, and the broken ground towards the escarpment holds different prides again. Between sightings there is the sheer breadth of the place — grass running to the horizon under an enormous sky. This outline assumes the catalogue's premium standard. The exact camp or lodge is proposed and confirmed during quotation.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 5
The final day's exact pace depends on the confirmed transfer and onward travel arrangements. Leaving the Mara means retracing the route through Narok and back up the escarpment. The landscape runs in reverse — open grassland to grazing land, grazing land to smallholdings and maize — and the market towns along the way are busy with the day’s trade. There is usually a stop for lunch and a chance to stretch before the final stretch of road. 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
Premium safari lodges and tented camps are matched to the route and your dates. The exact properties are proposed and confirmed in your written quotation.
Recommended standard by stop
Ol Pejeta: Premium safari lodge or tented camp · Lake Nakuru: Premium safari lodge or tented camp · Maasai Mara: Premium safari lodge or tented camp
Your written quotation will allocate the 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
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. Accommodation is proposed for your dates and confirmed in the written quotation before a booking is made. Where an approved budget property is named, it remains subject to availability and written confirmation.
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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.