Watching flocks of Greater and Lesser flamingos on a Rift Valley lake, seeing families of elephants taking a midday drink from your private tented veranda, or hearing Lion and Spotted Hyaena calling by night are all great memories to experience while on our Wild Kenya: A Tented Camp Safari.
Although not entirely based in tented camps (who would really want to be in a tent in Nairobi?!) this Wild Kenya: A Tented Camp Safari itinerary takes us to some of the wildest and most unspoiled areas of Kenya while staying in three of the best-known tented camps. These facilities are all permanent camps, with walk-in tents on raised platforms. They have proper beds, chairs, a writing desk, and wardrobe, and all have private attached bathrooms with shower, washbasin, and toilet. The advantage of these camps is that they are smaller than many of the lodges, with less crowded dining rooms and a more intimate wildlife experience. They offer a real opportunity to hear (and then see) both birds and mammals that inhabit the surrounding habitats both by day and at night. On recent tours we have seen African Scops-Owl, African Wood-Owl, Common Genet, Tree Hyrax, Leopard, hippo, and elephant, all right in our camps.
When not at the tented camps, we will stay at the following lodgings: The Residences at Karen Country Club, Nairobi--a little bit of classic Kenyan history with Hartlaub's Turaco and other forest species right around our rooms; The Ark, a forest retreat in the Aberdare Mountains where the attractions are a floodlit waterhole and saltlick; Naro Moru River Lodge, with a glorious array of sunbirds in the garden; and The Tamarind Tree, Nairobi, to facilitate easy access for our flights to both Masai Mara and for your international departure.
However, it is the tented camps on this tour that should prove to be the group favorites, with two nights in the Great Rift Valley, and three nights each at camps at Samburu and the legendary Masai Mara. Our camp in the Rift Valley is set on a cliff over-looking the famous Lake Nakuru. Below us yellow-barked acacia woodlands, grasslands, and the sparkling lake attract flocks of both Greater and Lesser flamingos (sometimes in huge numbers), a variety of both resident and migrant shorebirds, White-fronted Bee-eater, Abyssinian Nightjar, and many species of woodpeckers, bushshrikes, warblers, sunbirds, weavers, and waxbills. Mammals are also plentiful and should vary from Olive Baboon to Black-backed Jackal and Burchell's Zebra to Warthog, while special treats include the rare Rothschild's Giraffe and White Rhino. Our camp at Samburu in northern Kenya is set amongst huge acacia and doum palm trees on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River, it is in sharp contrast to the arid bushland just 200 meters away. Grevy's Zebra, Beisa Oryx, and Gerenuk are just a few of the special mammals here, while birds vary from giant Somali Ostrich to tiny crombecs and penduline-tits. Guineafowl, raptors, bustards, sandgrouse, mousebirds, hornbills, starlings, and weavers are all common throughout the reserve. Finally, we'll fly to and from our deluxe camp in the famed Masai Mara Game Reserve, saving us valuable travel time--an added cost we know, but well worth every cent in this classic African game viewing area. Here, on the plains that have become so famous from numerous wildlife documentaries, we'll travel by specially adapted 4x4 Land Cruisers as we discover Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, hundreds of hippos in the Mara River, perhaps a Black Rhino, and a wealth of buffalo, zebra, antelopes, and gazelles. Birding highlights should include Saddle-billed Stork amongst a wide variety of waterbirds in the oxbow lakes, with Secretary-bird and Southern Ground-Hornbill on the plains, perhaps up to five species of vultures at a Lion kill, Schalow's and Ross's turacos in the forest, Silverbird in the acacia scrub, and colorful Red-cheeked Cordonbleus and Purple Grenadiers around our camp.
Our Wild Kenya; A Tented Camp Safari is limited to just six participants plus guide Terry Stevenson and his driver-guide John Ngige. It should be a fabulous adventure.
Select the KEY INFO tab or click here for our itinerary plus space requests, status, fees, limits, and guides for any departure.
Client comment
"I selected this trip because of the guide, Terry Stevenson. Traveling with him is always the best. I have now traveled with Terry four times. And I hope I can do it again. Your office service was outstanding. As usual." K.B., WILD KENYA: A TENTED CAMP SAFARI 2019