Day 1: Arrival Nairobi

Arrival at Jomo Kenyatta Airport met and assisted by our representative. Transfer to Ole Sereni Hotel at the edge of Nairobi National Park. Nairobi is a city that reverberates with life and energy. The pulse of the city beats with more than the life in the sprawling savannah, but also within the history, food, and culture of the city itself. The delicious scent of samosas rises through the street; the flaky crunch of the outer shell lingers in the air. The city center bustles and is filled with colorful goods that range from everyday products to gently carved giraffes.

Day 2: Laikipia Plateau

This morning you will board your flight from Nairobi to the Lewa Airstrip in the Laikipia region of the Great Rift Valley. A representative will meet you upon landing, transferring you to the family run Borana Ranch and Safari Lodge. Positioned strategically atop a hill overlooking a large watering hole in the Samangua Valley, this property has wildlife quite literally on the doorstep. Guests have had the pleasure of watching elephants swim in the lake from the privacy of their cottage porch.

The Dyer family has lived on this land for three generations, and has built their lodge around their love for introducing children to the bush. Over the coming days, lodge staff will customize daily activities for you and your family, perfectly blending activity and relaxation for every member. Offering game drives, biking, horseback riding and waterfall swims, each person in your family will find something unique and enjoyable. Furthermore, the chefs are accustomed to designing meals that appeal to the palates and schedules of your children. The lodge has designed two private cottages with families specifically in mind, including a private plunge pool, a fireplace and dining area. Your time at Borana will undoubtedly be an incredible (and effortless) introduction to the African wilderness.

Day 3-4: Explore the Laikipia Plateau

With warm coffee, tea and snacks in hand your family will explore this spectacular and remote wilderness in a private safari vehicle, in pursuit of the Big Five (lions, leopards, elephants, buffalos and rhinos), the birds, the insects and the ungulates. Since Borana is a private game reserve, your adventures will be completely unobstructed and exclusive. As you follow a pride of lions teaching their offspring to hunt, or observe a leopardess as she shows her cubs to climb a tree, you will experience some of the most intimate wildlife encounters in the country.

Borana has an innovative conservation strategy (including the relocation of endangered rhinos from neighboring Lewa Conservancy) that has enabled local wildlife to thrive in the face of heightened poaching and environmental threats. Be sure to ask your educated guide for more firsthand information.

Day 5: Head south to Masai Mara Game Reserve

Today you will wake up for a final breakfast in your cottage at Borana before boarding a plane that will carry you down to the Masai Mara. Here, you will be transferred by road to the Serian Camp, just outside the Masai Mara National Park in the Mara North Conservancy. The drive from the landing strip to the camp is often a safari in and of itself. Keep your eyes open as you drive towards this remote camp along bush roads, since it is common to spy various gazelle, kudu, zebra and perhaps a lion in these parts.

Arriving at this traditional bush camp, you will be transported back to the time of early explorers – with a few comforts and luxuries added, of course. Staying in a family-sized canvas tent with an adjoining bush bathroom, you will experience the magic that drew owner Alex Walker into the bush, decades ago. With impressive views of the plains of the Mara and the Oloololo escarpment, and the occasional grunt of a hippo or buffalo from the river, you will feel fully immersed in this incredible landscape. Spend the afternoon unwinding amongst the camp grounds and getting to know the staff and rangers. As the sun sets, you will all gather around the main fire for sundowners and an impressive bush dinner. Fall asleep tonight in a comfortable bed, warmed by a hot water bottle as you listen to the grunts and roars around you.

Day 6-7: Masai Mara Exploration

This morning you will wake up to the sound of hippos as they crash back into the river after feasting all night in the surrounding grasses. After coffee, tea or hot chocolate, you will set off for the day with a packed lunch to venture deep into the Masai Mara. The camp itself is located roughly 45 minutes from the park gates – but the safari starts the moment you jump in your private open-top vehicle.

Entering through the park gates, the spectacle begins. If timed correctly during the migration, the landscape in this section will be dotted with wildebeest, impala and zebra who have reached the northernmost point of the migration. Driving south throughout the day, numbers of these ungulates will increase dramatically as you make your way into the heart of these two million migrators. Lions, leopards and cheetahs sporadically appear along the sidelines, either hunting or digesting a recent meal. Elephants and giraffe will poke their heads through the acacia trees, while a rich variety of birdlife circles in the skies above. You will spend the day following the roads towards the Kenya/Tanzania border, getting a full tour of this world-renowned landscape.

Spend your afternoons lazing in the shade as you wait for the temperatures to cool. From your tent’s balcony, you will have great views of the nearby river where hippos, crocodiles and buffalo are often seen during this part of the day. In the late afternoon, you may either set out again for a final game drive through the Mara North, or perhaps set sail in a hot air balloon over the endless and expansive plains.

Day 8: Depart for Nairobi

Enjoy the delicious comforts of breakfast before you catch a flight and return to Nairobi. Flying into Wilson Airport in Nairobi, you will be transferred to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to catch your return flight home. We always do arrange for dayrooms depending on the time of your international departure