This 20-night route runs north through Kenya before crossing to Rwanda. It opens in Karen on Nairobi’s edge, then reaches the private Naboisho Conservancy on the Mara, the community land of Namunyak in Samburu, the desert of the South Horr Valley near Lake Turkana, and the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. It closes in Rwanda, in Kigali and at Volcanoes National Park.
You travel by a mix of flights and road transfers, with days shaped around game drives, walking, riding and, in Rwanda, gorilla trekking. The stays run from hosted family homes and a Karen farmhouse to canvas suites and canopy treehouses, each small in scale and chosen for its ground rather than its name.
You begin in Karen, on the leafy south-western edge of Nairobi at around 1,795 metres, where the days stay mild. Fill the time with Karen's own stops, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust nursery and its orphaned elephants on a single timed morning visit, the AFEW Giraffe Centre and its Rothschild's giraffes, or the Karen Blixen Museum, all arranged with a vehicle on hand. Sheba's Secret Garden is a Cape Dutch farmhouse taken on exclusive use, with a gin distillery on the grounds where a tour and tasting form part of every stay.
A short flight brings you to the private Naboisho Conservancy on the Maasai Mara's northern edge. Naboisho carries one of the highest densities of predators in the Mara, its lions, leopards and cheetahs shadowing the elephants, giraffes and plains game, and being private land lets guides leave the road and run drives after dark. Between August and November the wildebeest herds spread across these plains on the migration route. Mara Nyika holds just six canvas suites on tall decks beneath umbrella-thorn acacias, with open Land Cruisers modified for photography seating no more than four.
You move north to the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy, around 850,000 acres of plains, riverine corridors and rocky slopes at the foot of Mount Uarges. Because this is a community conservancy rather than a national park, days can hold unrestricted game drives, night drives, walking safaris, horseback rides on bush ponies and camel treks into the Mathews Range, with elephants, buffalo and giraffe moving across the forest floor. Sarara Treehouses raises eight canvas suites on stilts within the canopy, each in its own clearing, with a permanent waterhole below the main lounge and infinity pool.
Further north lies the South Horr Valley, on the red earth of Northern Kenya, roughly 60 kilometres from the southern shores of Lake Turkana. This is not classic game-drive country; the pull is space, silence and scale, explored on foot, by quad bike, or by boat onto Lake Turkana for the crocodiles and birdlife along the shore, with cultural visits reaching remote Samburu and Rendille homesteads. Koros Camp is an off-grid, owner-run camp of six thatched rooms with a pool and open-air mess, and the low light of the far north opens a dense field of stars above the campfire.
The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy sits at around 1,750 metres, with Mount Kenya to the south and the Mathews Range and Ol Lolokwe on the northern horizon. Lewa is home to black rhino, and from the hilltop sightings are consistent, while Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe and Beisa oryx cross the open ground. As private land, the guiding runs beyond daylight hours; Calum leads bush walks, horses and camels go out in the afternoons, and night drives use spotlights. Lewa House is the Macfarlanes' family home, a stone-and-thatch homestead with earth pods below and a free-form pool above the valley.
You fly to Kigali, Rwanda's capital, spread across ridges and valleys and widely regarded as the cleanest city in Africa. Give it the days it rewards: the textile stalls of Kimironko Market, the makers at Caplaki Craft Village, the Inema Arts Center, and the Kigali Genocide Memorial at Gisozi, the resting place of more than 250,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Villa Kigali is a four-bedroom home on Rebero hill taken on sole use, with a private chef and butler, twenty minutes from the centre.
A drive north brings you to Volcanoes National Park in Musanze District, 160 square kilometres of rainforest across five Virunga volcanoes and home to more than a third of the world's remaining mountain gorillas. Treks begin at Kinigi Park Headquarters by 7am, climbing through bamboo and forest to a habituated family, a permit granting exactly one hour with them, with golden monkey trekking a worthwhile second outing. Singita Kwitonda Lodge shares a 1.2km border with the park, the closest of any lodge, its eleven suites built from volcanic rock and river stone, each with a private heated plunge pool.
You return to Kigali for a last night among the hills, twenty minutes from the centre and thirty from the airport. There is time for anything left undone, a return to the markets or the arts centres, or a quiet evening on the veranda. Villa Kigali again gives you the four-bedroom house on Rebero hill on sole use, with its private chef cooking to individual taste and much of the produce drawn from Rupari Farm near Lake Mugesera.
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.
