KENYA WILDLIFE SAFARI
Kenya is in the middle of Rift Valley – once a corridor of the greatest seasonal migrations of wild animals. Nowadays, there are pockets of national parks like Masai Mara, Nakuru, Bogoria, Tsavo, Amboseli, where animals still roam free.
Come and see the Savannah before the dawn of man. Feel the life of our ancestors. Pilgrim and pay tribute to Nature. Animals remind us of life’s essentials – run, kill, eat, sleep, drink, flirt, mate and die…
Kenya has well organized national parks where animals and tourists meet with respect. The safari game drive industry helps these wildlife oases exist and keeps the peace between animals and people.
SkyNomad Kenya offers 6 seated 4×4 Toyota Landcruisers Safary cars with a professional English-speaking driver and guide for $230 per day.
The classic Masai Mara Tour starts from Nairobi and ends in Nairobi. It’s a 5 hour drive to the park with a panoramic crossing of Rift Valley between Longonot and Sussua volcanos.
The park ticket ($100 in low Jan-Jul season and $200 in high season) allows for 12 hours visit, so its optimal usage is entering the park at 6 am and exiting it at 6 pm. If you enter at 5 pm, then you still have to exit it before 6 pm as your 12 hour ticket is not transferable for next day. If you sleep in the more expensive lodges inside the park, then your daily ticket allows you to exit the next day before 10 am.
A common option is arrive in late afternoon and sleep in some of the cheaper camps and lodges outside near the park gates. The next morning you can buy ticket and enter the park at 6 am, game drive the whole day and exit the park before 6 pm. Then you can stay in the same accommodation or drive to Narok before it becomes dark. Driving at night is not recommended in Kenya and Africa.
If you choose to sleep inside the park, then you can leave Nairobi in the morning, arrive at noon, sleep in lodges inside, exit the next morning before 10 am, drive back and arrive in Nairobi in the evening. This would make the whole Masai Mara Tour to take 2 days.
If you choose to sleep outside the park, then you can leave Nairobi at noon, arrive and sleep in camps near park gates in the evening, enter the park at 6 am and exit it before 6 pm the next day, sleep in the same accommodation or near Narok, then drive back and arrive in Nairobi the next day about noon. This would make the Masai Mara Tour to take 3 days.
Inside the park the animals are mostly active around dusk and down and hide from the midday heat, unless it’s cloudy or rainy. The beauty of Masai Mara and neighboring Serengeti is the savanna landscape which gives a sense of freedom and eternity. It allows to spot the animals from afar and approach them gently. Antelopes, elans, wildebeests, warthogs, hyenas, buffaloes, giraffes, ostriches, elephants, crocodiles and hippos are relatively easy to see. The predators like cheetahs, leopards and lions take more patience and sometimes luck. Drivers communicate with each other via radio and share information about what and where to see.
Another Kenya classic is the 2 day Naivasha-Nakuru Tour. Both Rift Valley lakes are accompanied by several parks. Camping or lodging is at the shores of Naivasha lake, where hippos often come at night. The tour starts and ends in Nairobi, but it can be extended with an extra day for hiking around the thin rim of Mt. Longonot volcano crater or Hell’s Gate park.
If you’re already hooked, then lets customize your tour for bird watching of flamingos at lake Bogoria, more game drives in Amboseli and Tsavo, panoramic hiking and camping at Chyulu hills with Kilimanjaro as a background, or proper climbing up to 5000 m of Mt Kenya.
It’s not a sin to be lazy and have some Indian Ocean beach time at Mombasa or Diani. The 500 km road trip from Nairobi to Mombasa can be freshened with stops at Chyulu or Tsavo National parks.
