Plan this trip with us. $250 planning fee, credited in full toward your trip. The fee funds your property briefing.
Start the inquiryKenya is the classic safari: the open plains of the Masai Mara, the rugged ochre country of Samburu, and the conservation-focused sanctuaries of Laikipia. The Great Migration crosses the Mara, and lions, elephants and plains game are what most people come for. It’s also where I went on my honeymoon, in the Mara.
One trip can combine big-cat country, remote northern conservancies, Rift Valley lakes with flamingos, and time with Maasai or Samburu communities, who have protected these lands for generations. Camps here are known for strong guiding, and Kenya’s conservancies are some of the most innovative conservation models in Africa.
Best for: first safaris, photography, families, and anyone who wants big-cat country.
Kenya trips turn on a few choices: a private conservancy or the main reserve, which camp suits the month you travel, and how the Mara, Laikipia and Samburu link up by light aircraft. I help you choose camps, rooms, seasons and routing, book the lodges, flights and local operators, and am your point of contact before and during the trip.
I book through Fora, so I can often add perks through Fora Reserve and hotel brands’ own advisor programs, such as a property credit, a welcome amenity or an upgrade when one is free, at many properties where available.
Most of the camps I use in Kenya sit on private conservancies — land leased directly from the Maasai families who own it. Your conservancy fee is, in effect, rent paid to those families, which is why the conservancy model matters more than any single lodge's green policy: it makes the wildlife worth more alive than the cattle that would otherwise replace it.
I favor the conservancies, lodges and communities doing Kenya’s conservation work. Staying with them helps protect lions, cheetahs, elephants and rhinos, and the ecosystems they depend on.
I book with lodges and conservancies that fund anti-poaching patrols, community conservancy programs, education and habitat restoration across the Mara, Laikipia and Samburu, so the communities who look after these landscapes benefit from tourism.
Conservancy-based safaris are also quieter and less crowded, and they help sustain one of Africa’s most successful community-led conservation models.
Kenya is more than game drives. The Swahili coast, Nairobi and the communities of the conservancies add history and people to a safari.
Kenya is outstanding year-round, but each season offers something distinct:
The Mara is at its dramatic best: river crossings, large predator densities, and pleasant dry-season weather. This is the busiest and best-known safari window.
Dry grass, fewer travelers, and superb big-cat sightings. Ideal for photographers and those seeking fewer crowds.
Rains bring emerald landscapes, great birdwatching, lower rates, and atmospheric skies.
Note: Some remote camps close temporarily.
Quick showers, vibrant colors, dramatic sunsets, and excellent value at camps, without sacrificing wildlife viewing.
For a July–October Mara trip, the conservancy camps worth having are usually gone by February.
Kenya’s Rift Valley Lakes form a dramatic chain of soda and freshwater lakes that trace the floor of the Great Rift Valley. Unlike Kenya’s savannah and arid regions, this is a landscape shaped by geology, water chemistry, and migratory birdlife.
The Rift Valley Lakes are not about predator drama. They are about scale, color, and pause.
Southern Kenya offers a safari experience defined less by density and more by landscape, scale, and atmosphere. Amboseli, Tsavo, and the Chyulu Hills form a loosely connected complex where elephants dominate, horizons stretch endlessly, and geology shapes everything you see.
This is Kenya experienced through space and perspective, not constant wildlife pressure.
Kenya’s Northern Frontier—centered on Samburu, Buffalo Springs, and Shaba—reveals a version of safari defined by adaptation rather than abundance. Dry, dramatic, and culturally rich, this region feels fundamentally different from the Mara or Laikipia.
This is safari stripped back to essentials: heat, water, movement, and survival.
The Laikipia Plateau, north of the Aberdares and Mount Kenya, is one of East Africa’s most important conservation success stories. Rather than a single park, Laikipia is a network of private and community conservancies that prioritize coexistence—between wildlife, people, and working landscapes.
This is Kenya at its most intelligent and intentional.
The Masai Mara National Reserve is the heart of Kenya’s most famous ecosystem. It delivers high wildlife density, big-cat sightings, and the raw spectacle that made the Mara globally known.
It also comes with real trade-offs.
Understanding those trade-offs—and designing around them—is what separates a considered safari from a chaotic one.
The Mara Conservancies are privately or community-owned lands that border the Masai Mara National Reserve. They share the same wildlife and migration patterns—but offer a fundamentally different safari experience.
This is where Kenya works best.
The conservancy model prioritizes controlled access, land stewardship, and experience quality, allowing wildlife behavior to unfold without pressure and guests to engage more deeply with the ecosystem.
The Mara Triangle occupies the western portion of the greater Masai Mara ecosystem, bordered by the Mara River and managed independently from the rest of the reserve. While it shares the same wildlife and migration patterns as the central Masai Mara, the experience here is fundamentally different.
This difference comes down to management, access, and restraint.
Every trip begins with a 20-minute planning call. From there, a $250 planning fee, credited in full toward your booked trip and non-refundable if you don’t book. I brief the property before you arrive — that's what the fee funds. I reply within one business day.
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