Kenya Safaris: 9 DAY GREAT CAMPS OF KENYA

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ITINERARY AT A GLANCE

ITINERARY DETAILS

Day 1 Nairobi
Arrival at Jomo Kenyatta Airport. Assisted by a tour representative. Transfer from Jomo Kenyatta Airport to your hotel. Day is spent at leisure in Nairobi. The Norfolk BB

Day 2 Amboseli National Park
Early morning fly to Amboseli National Park's Tortilis Camp, a fine luxury camp overlooking Mt. Kilimanjaro. Game drives conducted by Tortilis Camp. Optional walks with the Masai. Tortilis Camp (LDBB)

Day 3 Amboseli National Park
Full day in Amboseli with morning and afternoon game drives. Meals and overnight at Tortilis Camp (LDBB)

Day 4 Samburu & Buffalo Springs National Reserves
Early morning fly to Samburu Game Reserve via Wilson airport, Nairobi. Samburu Intrepids Camp has a fabulous location on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River. Game drives conducted by the camp for the 2-day stay. Meals and overnight at Samburu Intrepids ( LDBB )

Day 5 Samburu & Buffalo Springs National Reserves
Whole day in Samburu with morning and afternoon game drives. Meals and overnight at Samburu Intrepids Camp (LDBB)

Day 6 Masai Mara Game Reserve
After breakfast, fly to the great Masai Mara Reserve, a wonderful wildlife haven renowned for high predator population and the incredible wildebeest migration. Governor's camp, sited on land originally used by British Governor's in colonial time for their safaris, lies on the edge of the Mara River with easy access to prime game viewing areas often used by the 'Big Cat Diary' filming crew. Game drives conducted by the camp for the 3-day stay. Optional balloon safari or bush walk are available at extra cost. Meals and overnight at Governors' Camp (LDBB)

Day 7 Masai Mara National Reserve
{Optional early morning balloon ride with champagne-style breakfast}.**Extra cost**
Morning and afternoon shared game drives. Meals and overnight at Governors Camp (LDBB)

Day 8 Masai Mara National Reserve
Morning and afternoon shared game drives. Meals and overnight at Governors Camp (LDBB)

Day 9 Departure
After breakfast, transfer to the airstrip for morning scheduled flight to Nairobi. Met on arrival and transfer to lunch at an exclusive private house. Afternoon excursion to The Giraffe Centre. Optional day room and dinner can be booked in advance. Transfer to the airport for your homeward bound flight.

Included flights:
Scheduled return flight Nairobi-Amboseli-Nairobi
Scheduled flight Nairobi-Samburu-Masai Mara-Nairobi

ACCOMMODATION INFORMATION

The Fairmont 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.

Tortilis Camp
Seductively embraced by a romantic hillside setting, Tortilis Camp lies on the edge of Amboseli National Park. The main lodge building is open-sided and gazes out onto the soaring snow-capped peak of Mount Kilimanjaro. You may see the mountain from both bar and dining room. What nicer way to enjoy the delicious Italian food, in which Tortilis specializes, and simultaneously to watch Mount "Kili" slowly reveal itself from behind the clouds - food for body and soul.

Seventeen dark-green, thatched-roofed tents are set among trees and shrubs providing luxurious accommodation. Each tent boasts a generous stone verandah with comfy wicker chairs and a traditional style day bed on which to lounge in peace. Inside, carved gourds are made into lamps and African rugs highlight the wooden floors. The private bathrooms have hot showers and flush loos. The lodge works closely with the local Masai community from whom it leases the land, and they receive a fee per guest. Tortilis offers nature walks guided by the local Masai, which are absolutely fascinating. They are happy to pass on their traditions and medicinal lore and to point out which plants they use and which they avoid.

Within Amboseli the elephant are very habituated to people (it is the site of the longest running elephant study in the world) and visitors may observe them for long periods in order to see the interaction of the herd. The Amboseli herds are famous for the size of both elephants and their tusks. There are also lion, a high concentration of hyena, cape buffalo, waterbuck and serval, among many others. The camp, however, is electric-fenced and so you may walk alone at night without feeling anxious! Excellent birding is on offer. There are around four hundred species, including flamingo, a variety of waders and one weaver bird particular to Amboseli. Despite the huge range of birdlife, perhaps the favorite bird at Tortilis is the barn own that lives in the rafters of the high, pitched roof of the bar, and swoops out on his nightly forays just as the guests are sipping their sundowners. At Tortilis you really are close to nature.

Samburu Intrepids Camp ~ 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 favorite 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 marshland and the large pools from the Springs themselves. You may cross from one reserve to the other via a bridge over the river.

Governors' Camp
Governors' Camp lies on the banks of the Mara River in the west of the famous Masai Mara Game Reserve. The camp is in a spot once reserved for the colonial governors of Kenya and their royal visitors. Created in 1972, it set new standards in luxury as a tented camp, placing particular emphasis on comfort and service. Maintaining these qualities, the camp has been refined and improved over the years. However, special care has been taken to preserve an atmosphere in which today's traveler may share some of the experiences of classic safari and enjoy the landscape and wildlife that so inspired adventurers such as Hemingway.

To this end all guest facilities are under canvas and all accommodation tents are carefully positioned for uninterrupted views from their verandahs of either the Mara River or the rolling plains of the Masai lands. However, living under canvas does not mean lack of comfort. Each tent is stylishly decorated and has a shower room with 24 hour hot water. Early morning tea and ginger biscuits are brought to your tent, meals are absolutely delicious - many people dress up for dinner - and fresh milk is flown in daily!

It is the wildlife that brings most visitors to the Mara. Governors' can send real zealots off on full day safaris with a picnic lunch - these are particularly popular during the great Wildebeest Migration. Others prefer to take an early morning game drive followed by mid-morning and afternoon drives. Mealtimes are flexible so you will not miss lunch because you spent too long watching lions. It will be served on your return. The camp is run for your convenience and pleasure.