Kenya, one game drive at a time.
Which Mara departure actually leaves you three nights inside the reserve. What the park fees add on top of the sticker price. Whether the elephant nursery is worth the eleven o’clock scramble. Every tour in Kenya, reviewed.
The Mara, the mountain, the reef: where Kenya starts.
Big-cat plains, a rhino park inside the capital, a nursery of orphaned elephants, herds under Kilimanjaro and a coral reef an hour south of Mombasa. The handful of days most Kenyan itineraries get built around.
From a Nairobi day trip to four nights in the Mara.
Three brackets, and what each one buys. A morning in Nairobi National Park runs less than the airport transfer; a Mara group departure with three nights inside the reserve is a different number entirely.
Nairobi mornings, the giraffe-and-elephant run, city walks, a Hell’s Gate bike ride.
Long days out and overnights: Amboseli and Tsavo returns, Naivasha, Nakuru, the Wasini dhow.
Multi-day safaris — group departures to the Mara, private 4WDs, camps inside the reserves.
What everyone books out of Nairobi.
Every review →More travellers take these than anything else in Kenya, and every one of them starts within an hour of the city.
1
Nairobi National Park Half-Day Tour; Free Wi-Fi connection
Nairobi National Park in half a day, with hotel pickup, open-rooftop game drive, skyline views, Wi-Fi, and a quick Karen market stop.
From · $45
Read our review →2
National Park & Optional Elephants & Giraffe Center
from $80
3
NAI NAMI: Nairobi Storytelling Tour with Street Children
from $45
4
Nairobi National Park Half-Day Game Drive
from $36
5
Historic and Modern Highlights Walking Tour
from $23
6
Safari Tour; Nairobi National Park
from $43
7
3 Days Masai Mara Group Joining
from $540
8
Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Tour with Options
from $35
The only capital with lions inside the fence.
Rhino, lion and buffalo graze within the city boundary, the elephant nursery opens for exactly one hour a day, and the giraffes lean over a feeding platform in Langata. Most of it fits between breakfast and a late lunch.
Nairobi keeps lions. The Mara keeps a million wildebeest.
Plains game and beach days exist all over East Africa. A national park inside the city limits, a milk-fed elephant nursery and the Mara River crossings belong to Kenya alone.
The Park With a Skyline
Nairobi National Park begins seven kilometres from the central business district. Black rhino, lion, buffalo and giraffe graze against office towers; the park is fenced on three sides and left open on the fourth so the Athi plains corridor still works. A dawn game drive has you back in town for a late breakfast.
- 1Nairobi National Park Half-Day Tour; Free Wi-Fi connection★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 878 reviews
- 2Nairobi National Park Half-Day Game Drive★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 738 reviews
- 3Safari Tour; Nairobi National Park★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 594 reviews
The Elephant Nursery
Orphaned calves raised on the edge of Nairobi National Park are bottle-fed in a mud wallow in front of visitors for exactly one hour, late morning, then walk back into the forest with their keepers. The keepers sleep beside them. Calves that make it are rewilded into Tsavo years later, at their own pace.
- 1Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Tour with Options★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 457 reviews
- 2Nairobi National Park, Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Centre★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 365 reviews
- 3Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 235 reviews
The Mara Crossings
The wildebeest come up from the Serengeti in July and pile on the bank of the Mara River until one of them jumps. Crocodiles wait below; the rest is dust and noise, and it can happen at nine in the morning or not at all that day. The reserve is compact enough that three nights inside it usually buys the sighting.
- 13 Days Masai Mara Group Joining★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 486 reviews
- 23 Days, 2 Nights Maasai Mara Group Safari★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 394 reviews
- 35 Days Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru & Naivasha Budget Joining Safari★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 229 reviews
Three nights in the Mara beats a day trip every time.
All Maasai Mara safaris →
Day Tour to Amboseli National Park & Maasai Village
Read our review →Flamingo lakes and a gorge you ride through on a bike.
Two hours north of Nairobi the floor of the Rift opens out: Nakuru gone pink at the shoreline, Naivasha’s hippo shallows, and Hell’s Gate — the one Kenyan park where you are allowed to cycle, with zebra grazing the verge.
Fort Jesus, a coral reef, and the dhow out to Wasini.
Mombasa’s old town stacks Swahili, Omani and Portuguese on one headland, Diani runs white sand for ten kilometres, and the dhows to Kisite Marine Park find turtles and dolphins on the same morning tide.
- 1Walking Tour Through Old Town Mombasa and Fort Jesusfrom $50
- 2PILLI PIPA DHOW, the genuine product, snorkeling tour to Kisite Marine Parkfrom $130
- 3Full-Day Special Wasini Island Tour with Snorkeling and Lunchfrom $126
Nairobi to the Mara to the ocean, in order.
Lake Nakuru
Lake NaivashaNairobi can wait. These four cannot.
Most of Kenya can be arranged from a Nairobi hotel the night before. These run on capped hours, fixed group departures and a season that does not move for anybody.
- 013 Days Masai Mara Group JoiningGroup departures leave Nairobi on set days, and the camps inside the reserve fill months ahead for the July–October crossings.
- 02Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Tour with OptionsThe nursery opens to visitors for one hour, once a day. Numbers are capped and the slot is taken in advance.
- 03Maasai Mara: Hot Air Balloon Safari & Champagne BreakfastBalloon flights over the Mara lift before sunrise and carry a handful of seats a morning. They go first in high season.
- 04Dhow Adventure to Wasini Island & Kisite Marine ParkThe Kisite dhows sail on the tide, one run a day, and the marine-park boats are small ones.
March to May, Kenya is green, empty and cheaper.
The long rains run March to May and the short rains land around November. Tracks get greasy and the grass gets tall, but the parks are close to empty, the lodges cut their rates, and a Kiambu tea farm, the Karen Blixen house and the Nairobi museums do not care what the sky is doing.
By region — where you will actually be
Nairobi930 tours
Maasai Mara300 tours
Mombasa96 tours
Diani Beach67 tours
Amboseli164 tours
Tsavo80 tours
The Rift Valley lakes28 tours
Malindi18 tours- Every region →
By experience — what kind of day is it?
Latest from Nairobi, the Mara and the coast.
All recent →
Tsavo East National Park: 2-Day Tour from Mombasa
Read our review →
Lake Nakuru Day Trip Safari – & Optional Lake Naivasha Boat
Read our review →
Hells Gate with Hiking Biking Climbing and Camping in Kenya
Read our review →
