Kitirua Plains Lodge

Fly from Nairobi's Wilson airport to the Amboseli airstrip, a scheduled light-aircraft leg of around forty minutes that both AirKenya and Safarilink fly, usually as a direct sector rather than calling at other strips on the way. The lodge's vehicle meets the aircraft, and the drive from the airstrip to the lodge takes about forty minutes, so the whole journey from Wilson is a morning rather than a day. We can also arrange a private charter into the same strip, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, which lets you leave Nairobi at a time of your choosing and fly straight on to the next camp afterwards.

Luggage on the scheduled aircraft is limited to fifteen kilograms a person, hand luggage included, and it has to travel in soft bags because the holds are small and awkwardly shaped; the allowance on a private charter depends on the aircraft and how many are flying, and we confirm it when we book. By road it is four to five hours from Nairobi, on tarmac as far as Namanga and rough murram beyond it, and we can set that up as a private transfer if you would rather see the country on the way.

Yes, treat it as one. The lodge sits at roughly 1,150 metres, and the line that matters is 2,500 metres: TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, classes Kenya below that height as high risk for malaria and lists antimalarial tablets among its recommendations, keeping its very low risk label for Nairobi and the highlands above 2,500 metres, and the CDC names every area under 2,500 metres, game parks included, as somewhere it recommends them too. Amboseli is a long way below that line.

We are travel planners rather than medical people, so the decision belongs with you and your doctor or a travel clinic, and the guidance is reviewed often enough to be worth checking close to departure. Whatever you decide, the ordinary care against bites still applies once the sun goes down: the suites have mosquito nets, and long sleeves at the boma dinner and repellent on any bare skin do the rest.

Yes, and there is no minimum age: the lodge welcomes children of all ages, and the two-bedroom suites give a family its own doors without being in separate buildings.

We would build a private vehicle in from the start, because a vehicle of your own lets the drives run to the youngest person's patience rather than to a shared timetable. Tell us the ages when you enquire and we will confirm cots, the rooming and the current child rates with the lodge before we quote; it is so new that its family terms may still settle over the first season.

Yes to wifi. It is complimentary, in the suites as well as the main areas, so a call home or a quick check of work from the veranda is straightforward rather than a walk to the office. Mobile signal we cannot vouch for: the lodge is new and has published nothing on coverage, and the concession sits at the park's south-western edge close to the Tanzanian border, well away from the towns, so plan on the wifi rather than your phone network.

If you need to be reachable at a fixed time, for work or for family, tell us before you travel and we will check the current position with the lodge rather than leave you relying on a guess.

Warm days, cool nights and a great deal of dust. Amboseli sits at around 1,150 metres, so afternoons run to about 28 degrees for much of the year, nearer 26 in June and July and 30 in February, the hottest month, while nights drop to around 15 and a dawn drive in an open vehicle feels colder than that. The short rains fall in November and December and the long rains from late March to May, with April the wettest month; June to October is dry, bright and hazy with dust, and January and February are dry again.

Kilimanjaro sets the packing list as much as the weather does. The mountain builds its own cloud cap as the day warms, so the reliable window is the first two or three hours after sunrise, with a second, hazier chance in the late afternoon; June to October and January and February give the most dependable dawns, and a clean morning after a night of rain can be the clearest of all. Pack a fleece and a warm hat for those early starts, light neutral clothing and a wide brim for the middle of the day, high-factor sun cream, closed shoes for the walks on the concession, swimwear, binoculars, and everything in a soft bag for the light aircraft.

Beyond the meals and drinks, the rate covers twice-daily game drives, a visit to the Maasai community, laundry, transfers between the Amboseli airstrip and the lodge and the bed night levy, so very little goes on the bill at the lodge itself. We include medical evacuation cover as standard. The balloon flight is the exception, sold by the lodge at an additional cost.

On top come the flights and the park and conservancy fees. Amboseli National Park charges a daily fee per adult, half for a child, under Kenya Wildlife Service's published rates, for each day you go into the park itself, and the Kitirua Conservancy has its own daily fee for staying on the private land. We put every one of those into the quote from the start so nothing turns up later as an extra.