Kenya Safaris: VINTAGE KENYA HIGHLIGHTS

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ITINERARY AT A GLANCE

ITINERARY DETAILS

Day 1 Nairobi
Arrival at Jomo Kenyatta Airport, met and assisted by a tour representative. Transfer to your hotel. Rest of the day is spent at leisure in Nairobi. Overnight at The Norfolk Hotel or similar (BB)

Day 2 Samburu & Buffalo Springs N.R
Drive north via Nanyuki and Mt Kenya to the Samburu National Reserve. Rugged and remote, this wildlife reserve provides some the best and most colourful game viewing in the country. Lunch en route at The Trout - Tree Restaurant. Afternoon game drive en route to the lodge. Meals and overnight at Samburu Intrepids Camp (L-DBB)

Day 3 Samburu & Buffalo Springs N.R
Full day in Samburu with morning and afternoon game drives. Meals and overnight at Samburu Intrepids Camp (LDBB)

Day 4 Aberdare National Park
After breakfast drive to the lush foothills of the Aberdare Mountain Range to the Aberdares Country Club for lunch. After lunch transfer to The Ark (children under 7yrs not permitted, light bags only) overlooking a waterhole and salt lick where the 'Big Five' occasionally gather for an exhilarating night of wild encounters. The Ark comprises three decks from which numerous balconies and lounges provide superb vantage points for game viewing. Dinner and overnight at The Ark (LDBB)

Day 5 Lake Nakuru National Park
Drive via Nyahururu to Lake Nakuru National Park, famous as the home to thousands of lesser and greater flamingo. This park also provides sanctuary for Rothschild giraffe, rhino and leopard. Arrive for lunch at your lodge. Afternoon game drive until sunset. Meals and overnight at Sarova Lion Hill Lodge (LDBB)

Day 6 Masai Mara National G.R
Drive to the Masai Mara National Reserve offering wonderful scenery and plenty of game. It is perhaps the only region left in Kenya where the visitor may see animals in the same super-abundance as existed a century ago. Arrive for lunch at your lodge. Afternoon game drive until sunset. Meals and overnight at Mara Safari Club (LDBB )

Day 7 Masai Mara National G.R
Early morning optional balloon ride with champagne-style breakfast. Whole day in Masai Mara with morning and afternoon game drives. Meals and overnight at Mara Safari Club (LDBB)

Day 8 Departure
After breakfast, drive to Nairobi and drop off at your hotel or Jomo Kenyatta Airport for your departure flight back home. A tour representative will re-confirm your onward flight, and assist you at check-in.

ACCOMMODATION INFORMATION

The Norfolk Hotel
The exterior of the Norfolk Hotel has changed little since the colonial era. Timbered walls covered in vines and creepers, the taxi rank with old London cabs queuing to take guests where they will, look much the same as they did in the old photographs that chart the history of Kenya. Opened on Christmas Day 1904, (and still justifiably famous for its Christmas Morning cocktail party) the Norfolk has hosted such luminaries as Lord Delamere, Theodore Roosevelt and Karen Blixen. Now expensively refurbished the hotel still retains a sense of history. The new reception areas of the Norfolk Hotel are light, bright and immediately welcoming. Ceiling fans, cane chairs, plump animal-print cushions and deep sofas combine with locally sourced woods to create a tranquil ambience with echoes of the colonial period in which the Norfolk featured so strongly. However, not all is new - the long case clock in the hall, for example, was presented to the hotel by the drivers in the Nairobi to Johannesburg Race on 26th October, 1936.

The Ibis Restaurant, at the Norfolk, is renowned locally for its innovative use of the best and freshest of ingredients Kenya has to offer. The executive chef ensures that the chefs gain experience in the finest hotels and restaurants in Europe. The cosmopolitan cuisine features classic and new dishes exquisitely prepared, and finely tuned as to seasoning and accompaniments.

Accommodation at the Norfolk varies from large opulent suites to smaller, more intimate rooms. All are beautifully furnished and many look out onto the hotel's lovely gardens. The grounds are immaculate and profusely planted with indigenous plants. Artifacts from the hotel's history are dotted around including a sedan chair from the colonial era. The Norfolk Hotel offers all the comforts of a modern first class hotel yet combines it with an intriguing sense of history.

Samburu, Buffalo Springs & Shaba National Reserves
Samburu is different from many of the other frequently visited areas. This forty square miles of reserve is not the oft-seen Kenyan landscape of savannah and flat-topped acacias, but harsh, dramatic terrain. The people from this area, the Samburu, are similarly dramatic to the outsider. Dressed in bright red, with their braided hair and skin daubed with red ochre, the "moran", the youthful warriors of the Samburu almost always spear-in-hand, are a wonderful sight.

The permanent water supply of the Uaso Nyiro River is what attracts the game to Samburu. Much of the reserve is arid, hilly landscape but riverine forest fringes the riverbanks and there are doum palms, the fruit of which is a great favourite with elephants. Crocodiles lie quietly in the mud and it is here that you will find abundant birdlife, including palm-eagles, storks, hornbills, bee-eaters and plenty of weaver birds.

Some species in the area are specially adapted to the arid environment, and are particularly northern - the magnificent oryx, for example and the gerenuk, a rather odd looking long-necked gazelle which can stretch up to reach the lower branches of the thorn trees. You will also find Grevy's Zebra, larger than the more commonly seen Burchell's zebra, and reticulated giraffe, with their irregular netted pattern of white. Desert lion are found here, leopards can be seen, and the ostrich (Ethiopian) have blue legs! Elephant wander, browsing in family groups.

Buffalo Springs has the Uaso Nyiro river as its northern boundary, and thus may almost be seen as an extension of Samburu Reserve, which is bounded in the south by the river. The game here is the same as Samburu, but here there is more marsh land and the large pools from the Springs themselves. You may cross from one reserve to the other via a bridge over the river.

The Ark
Set in the heart of the Aberdare National Park, this unique game lodge overlooks a floodlit waterhole and salt lick which attracts a host of wildlife: elephant; rhino; leopard; bushbuck and occasionally an elusive bongo or giant forest hog. Resembling, and named after, Noah's Ark, the Ark comprises three decks from which numerous balconies and lounges provide superb vantage points for game viewing. A ground level bunker provides excellent photographic opportunities and takes you closer than you would believe possible to the animals.
Comfortable en- suite cabins are fitted with buzzers to announce the arrival of one of the "Big Five"; at the water hole. Before embarking on the half-hour drive to The Ark, lunch is served at the charming Aberdares Country Club. Dinner and breakfast are served on board!

Sarova Lion Hill Lodge
Situated in the heart of the Rift Valley, Lake Nakuru is one of Kenya's most famous soda lakes. A major feature of this park is the wonderful birdlife, particularly the thousands of flamingos, which create a shimmering pink hue over the lake. A rhino sanctuary also provides the opportunity to see the endangered black rhino. Sarova Lion Hill offers a unique vantage point. Each of the 64 superbly appointed chalets with private secluded verandah enjoys views over the lake and the distant hills. Even the glorious pool has a view!

Mara Safari Club
The well-appointed Mara Safari Club is set by the Mara River at the foot of the Aitong Hills in the Ol-Choro Oiroua Conservation Area that borders the Masai Mara Game Reserve. The Club is a five-hour drive from Nairobi, or a forty-five minute flight from Wilson Airport (Nairobi) and a ten-minute drive from Ngerende Airstrip. All tents have their own private river frontage with a viewing deck from where hippo and crocodile are regularly seen.

Occasionally elephant wander past to drink the water and during the migration period large herds of wildebeest can sometimes be observed attempting to cross the river nearby. The rooms have twin and double four-poster beds, electricity and modern en-suite facilities with hot and cold running water. The main building, with lounge, bar and dining room is cantilevered over the river, providing a superb vantage point to view the resident hippos and the amazing riverine birdlife. The superb pool set on the banks of the river, al fresco lunches and evening Masai dances, cultural and wildlife talks and wildlife shows all add greatly to the Club experience. The restaurant serves a high standard of international cuisine combined with traditional Kenyan dishes. Game drives here are conducted by experienced "driver-naturalists", in 4x4 Land cruisers and despite being close to the farmlands, the game viewing around the Mara Safari Club is excellent.

The camp has 8 double and 42 twin bedded tents accommodating a maximum of 100 guests. Each has netted four poster beds and veranda overlooking the Mara river. Each tent is comfortably furnished with its own private bathroom (with shower, washbasin and flush loo) and hot and cold running water. Each tent also has complimentary mineral water, insecticide, air-freshener, electric lamps, dressing table, hand-woven rugs, flashlight and umbrella. Shampoo, hand and body lotion, shower and bath gel, and freshly laundered towels are also provided.

The Mara Safari Club boasts 7 premium tents, which are larger than the standard tent, have mini bars. Two of the tents have sunken baths, and three have double beds. There is a viewing platform between tent No. 45 and the five new tents.

For a premium of $50 per person per night, you have the added pleasure of one Bush Dinner (with half bottle house wine per person), one nature walk and bush breakfast, free laundry, free beverages from the mini-bar, which is restocked once a day. At the request of guests staying in Premium Tents, dinner can be served on the game-viewing platform instead of the dining room.