The route links three of Kenya’s conservancies over 13 nights, beginning in Nairobi below the Ngong Hills. From there it moves to Amboseli, where community-held Maasai land carries elephants between the park and the Chyulu Hills under Kilimanjaro. Next comes Mara North, a low-density conservancy on the northern Maasai Mara plains, and it closes in the Laikipia Highlands at Borana, a private rhino sanctuary beside Lewa.
You travel by game drive across private conservancies, which allows night drives, off-road approaches and guided walks the national parks do not. Days hold morning and afternoon drives, walks on foot and, at Borana, horse riding and biking. Each lodge is a small property rooted in its landscape, from a Lamu-inspired home in Karen to tented and stone cottages built into their ground.
Your first night sits in Karen, a leafy Nairobi suburb at the foot of the Ngong Hills, with Nairobi National Park, the Giraffe Centre and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust all close by. At around 1,795 metres the air is cool and dry, a comfortable place to rest before hotter country. Built by the Roumeguere family on their own land, Manzili House was raised by artisans brought up from Lamu, its white living spaces opening onto a central courtyard and pool. An in-house chef cooks to order, and every bedroom has a private veranda.
From Nairobi you come south to Amboseli, onto community-held Maasai land where elephant herds cross between the park and the Chyulu Hills. Because this is private conservancy rather than national park, the days can run night drives and walks on foot to read the tracks, while the Kimana Gate lets a morning move into the park itself. A waterhole sets the rhythm, drawing elephant, buffalo and giraffe, with more than 400 bird species recorded across the wider land. Tawi Lodge stands within the conservancy, its thatched cottages turned toward Kilimanjaro, with two bars, a mezzanine library and a small spa.
North on the Maasai Mara plains, Mara North Conservancy works to a low-density model, with no more than five vehicles at any sighting and bed numbers kept deliberately low. The result is quiet, uncrowded predator viewing on the border of the reserve, and Mara North carries strong predator numbers the year round; from roughly July to October wildebeest and zebra pour across the plains. Game drives run in 4x4s morning and afternoon, off-road driving is permitted, and balloon flights and armed bush walks fill out the days. Kicheche Mara North sits in Acacia Valley in a grove of wild olive, its guides all holding a Silver-level rating.
The trip ends in the Laikipia Highlands at Borana, a private rhino sanctuary above the Samangua Valley with Mount Kenya to the south. Twenty-one black rhino were reintroduced in 2013, and since the boundary with Lewa came down the two form a single landscape of more than 92,000 acres, now home to over 200 black and white rhino. You can track rhino on foot with the rangers who monitor them daily, ride among zebra and giraffe, and take night drives and guided walks. Borana Lodge sits terraced into a hillside in eight cottages of local stone and cedar, above a dam that draws elephant, giraffe and baboon through the day.
Ed Charles, BBC Producer
Fitzroy are true specialists in accessing the wilderness. They know where to go and importantly, when to go there. Highly recommended.
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our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
Every journey starts with a conversation. We favour a direct, personal approach: understanding your vision before anything else.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape a journey that is both thoughtfully considered and expertly delivered.
Get in touch to start planning yours.
