Acacia trees in silhouette against a deep orange sky as the sun drops toward the horizon

Kenya · the southern circuit

The way south,
then west.

Amboseli, Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru, the Maasai Mara. Nine hundred kilometres over seven days — and every park fee printed before you pay a deposit.

Travel the road
Begin

Njia — Swahili, the way

A safari is mostly a drive. The order you drive it in decides what you actually see.

Drive this circuit the wrong way round and you reach the Mara tired, with one morning left to make it count. We run it south first, then west — the way the light moves. Below is the whole road, leg by leg.

The road

Nairobi to the Mara, and back in forty-five minutes.

Seven days. Four parks. Nine hundred kilometres of driving, split so that no single day is a write-off.

Nairobi → Amboseli

Distance
240 km
Driving
4 hrs
Altitude
1,795 → 1,150 m
Two elephants walking through tall golden grass beneath a wide clouded sky

Day one & two

Amboseli

Altitude
1,150 m
Nights
Two
Park fee
$90 / day

Flat, dry and open enough to watch a herd approach from two kilometres out — which is the thing Amboseli does that nowhere else on this route can. Its elephant families are among the most closely studied in Africa and entirely unbothered by vehicles; they cross the track at their own pace, and you wait.

The mountain is in Tanzania. The view of it is in Kenya, and it shows itself between six and ten in the morning before the cloud closes over — which is the whole reason you get two mornings here rather than one.

Amboseli → Lake Naivasha

Distance
380 km
Driving
6–7 hrs
Altitude
1,150 → 1,884 m

The long leg. A full day in the vehicle, climbing 700 metres into the Rift — which is why the day that follows it is the quiet one.

A giraffe standing beside a flat-topped acacia in warm haze at sunrise

Day three

Lake Naivasha

Altitude
1,884 m
Nights
One
On foot
Crescent Island

The highest point of the week, and the only day you leave the vehicle. Crescent Island holds no predators, so you walk among the giraffe and zebra instead of watching them through glass.

It is the short day, placed here deliberately — directly after the longest drive, and directly before the fastest one.

Naivasha → Lake Nakuru

Distance
65 km
Driving
1.5 hrs
Altitude
1,884 → 1,754 m
A white-breasted cormorant perched on a dead branch among water hyacinth, with the Rift escarpment hazy behind

Day four

Lake Nakuru

Altitude
1,754 m
Nights
One
Park fee
$90 / day

The shortest drive of the week and the densest hour of game viewing in it — rhino, both black and white, inside a park small enough to cross in a morning.

Flamingo when the water level allows. Some years it does not allow, and we will tell you which kind of year you are booking into before you pay.

Nakuru → Maasai Mara

Distance
220 km
Driving
5–6 hrs
Altitude
1,754 → ~1,500 m
A dense column of wildebeest crossing a wide brown river and climbing the far bank

Day five, six & seven

Maasai Mara

Altitude
~1,500 m
Nights
Three
Park fee
$200 / day

Three nights, not two. The fee here is set by Narok County rather than the Kenya Wildlife Service, which is why it is double everything else on this route.

At that price, one night of bad luck is an expensive way to end a week. The third night is not an upsell — it is the margin that makes the first two worth buying.

Maasai Mara → Nairobi

By road
5–6 hrs
By air
45 min
Total driven
905 km

Most people fly this one. We price both and let you choose after you have seen how the week felt.

A herd of wildebeest running across dry grassland with a long line of safari vehicles behind them in the dust

What it actually looks like

Crossings cannot be scheduled. Anyone promising you one is guessing.

In August the Mara River draws sixty vehicles to a single bank, for a herd that may not cross for three days. This photograph is the honest version of the one everybody sells you.

So we build the week so a crossing is a bonus rather than the reason you came, and we go where the vehicles are not. The migration is roughly July to October — roughly is the operative word, and anyone giving you a date is selling weather.

Maasai men in bright shukas, one mid-jump in an adumu dance, on open grass

The line item

Two hundred dollars a day, and where it goes.

The Mara reserve and the conservancies around it are Maasai land. The fee that makes it the most expensive park in Kenya is the mechanism that pays the families who own that land not to farm it or fence it.

We publish it as its own line rather than folding it into a round number. It is the single largest cost of your week — $600 of a $2,340 trip in the low season — and you should be able to see exactly what you are paying for and who receives it.

  • Maasai Mara$200 / dayJul–Dec · set by Narok County
  • Maasai Mara$100 / dayJan–Jun · low season rate
  • Amboseli$90 / dayKenya Wildlife Service
  • Lake Nakuru$90 / dayKenya Wildlife Service

When to go

Three seasons, three prices, one of which we would talk you out of.

March – June

$2,340

per person, sharing

Long rains through May, thinning into June. The grass is high, the parks are empty and the Mara fee halves to $100 a day. The best value of the year if you can take a wet afternoon.

January – February

$2,880

per person, sharing

Dry, hot and clear, with calving on the southern plains. The quiet favourite — good light, low fees, and none of the July convoy.

July – October

$3,760

per person, sharing

Migration season. Mara fees double to $200 a day and camps price accordingly. You are paying for a chance at the river, not a guarantee of it.

The one we would talk you out of

November and December. Short rains, shoulder pricing that has not come down yet, and the migration already gone south. It is the weakest value on our calendar and we would rather say so now than take the booking and hear about it afterwards.

Included in every rate

  • All park and conservancy fees, at the published rate
  • Private 4×4 with a pop-top roof, six guests maximum
  • One guide for the whole week — not a new one at each park
  • Mid-range lodges and tented camps, twin or double
  • All breakfasts and dinners, lunches on driving days
  • Airport transfers, and the Mara flight if you choose it
A woman standing at the edge of a lodge pool at sunset as a giraffe drinks from the far side

Enquire

Tell us when, and we will tell you what that week is honestly worth.

No deposit is taken until you have seen the full itinerary with every fee itemised. We reply within two working days, from Nairobi.

The more specific you are, the less generic our reply can be.