kenya: helicopter safari

Typically an Airbus H125, flown by Tropic Air from its base at Nanyuki, in the same highlands as Borana.

We say typically because nobody can promise the aircraft on the day, and the company also flies one larger Airbus H130. The H125 carries five passengers and a pilot, everyone facing forward with a headset, and flies low with the doors often open, which suits a leg flown as much for the view as for the transfer.

It is built for thin, hot air. This is the type that landed on the summit of Everest in 2005, and here it lifts off from highlands around 1,800 metres up and sets down in desert heat the same day.

It also needs no runway: no road reaches the Suguta Valley, and the flight ends at the camp itself. Flights there are free to touch down along the way, on the dunes or beside Lake Logipi, known for its flamingos, so ask us about a stop.

Very likely, though no wild animal can be promised.

Borana and its neighbour Lewa are run as one rhino landscape, and its count in March 2025 was 273 animals: 130 black and 143 white.

The reason sightings are dependable is the monitoring. Borana's scouts go out on foot every morning to find and account for every rhino, so the rangers start each day knowing roughly where the animals are.

Tracking on foot means joining that patrol at first light, walking with the scouts, learning how each rhino is told apart, and often meeting elephant and giraffe on the way.

White rhino are grazers and tend to be out on open grass, so they are the easier of the two. Black rhino are browsers that keep to thicker bush, and take more finding. Four nights at Borana gives you several mornings to try.

No. Borana keeps more than thirty horses, and non-riders and beginners are welcome at any level, with patient horses schooled to look after novices and children.

Rides cross the open plains among giraffe, zebra, eland and impala, which accept a horse at close quarters. If you ride well, say so when you book.

The stable has thoroughbreds and thoroughbred crosses for experienced riders, who are expected to be comfortable at a walk, trot and canter in an English saddle, and rides can last half a day or a full day.

Two limits are firm: a strict weight limit of 95 kilograms, or 15 stone, and no riding for children under five. Tell us everyone's height, weight and experience in advance so that the right horses are ready.

Anyone who would rather not ride can cover the same country on a mountain bike or an electric bike.

Plan on 15 kilograms each, hand luggage included, packed in a soft bag.

That is the published limit on Kenya's scheduled light aircraft, and we plan the helicopter to the same figure: Tropic Air's H125 lifts four or five passengers out of the highlands with 15 kilograms of baggage each. We confirm the allowance for your party before you travel.

Hard cases are the real problem, because they do not fit a helicopter's baggage hold. Helicopters are loaded by weight, so we will ask for every passenger's weight when you book, and the allowance can be lower for a heavy party.

On this route that matters for the two helicopter legs, north to the South Horr Valley and back to Segera. The flight to the coast is a private fixed-wing charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, and lands at Kilifi airstrip, five minutes from the house.

January and February, and July to September, are the months we rate highest at every stop on this route.

They are dry in the Laikipia highlands, clear and firm in the north, and sunny with calmer seas at Kilifi.

June, October and December are in-between months, good in most places with a chance of showers in the highlands or a mixed spell at the coast.

April and May are the long rains and the one period we steer this trip away from, with muddy tracks inland and seaweed and run-off clouding the water at Kilifi.

March, before the long rains build, and November, in the short rains, are less settled, and we rate November as a challenging month in Laikipia itself.

The wetter months still have real upsides: fewer visitors and lower prices, newborn animals, migrant birds and, between showers, the clean light photographers want. A helicopter day depends on visibility, which is one more reason to favour the dry months.

Yes, it can be changed, and the north is the first place we would look.

One night at Koros is enough for the flight up the Suguta Valley, a walk along the dry riverbeds and an evening at a Samburu or Rendille homestead, but Lake Turkana lies about 60 kilometres further on. If a day on the lake matters to you, by boat or by helicopter along its shore, add a second night.

Koros takes one party at a time, as does Sirai Beach, so those are the dates to secure first, and the other stays are fitted around them.

The helicopter sets one firm limit. The H125 seats five passengers, so a larger family needs the six-seat H130 or a second aircraft.

The coast is the simplest part to alter: Kilifi can be swapped for another stretch of the Kenyan coast, or dropped in favour of more time in Laikipia.