8-Day Through Kenya's Wild Heart: Maasai Lands & Big Five

Karibu Kenya! On arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, your Gip Adventure representative will be waiting in the arrivals hall to welcome you and help with your luggage. After a short briefing you are driven to your hotel in Nairobi to check in, freshen up and rest after your flight.

Depending on your arrival time, the rest of the day is yours to relax. In the evening your guide will run through the safari ahead, answer your questions and make sure you have everything you need for an early start tomorrow. Dinner and overnight in Nairobi.

After breakfast, drive north from Nairobi through the green central highlands to Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a journey of around 3–4 hours. Spread across the Laikipia plateau between the Aberdare Range and Mount Kenya, Ol Pejeta is one of Africa's great conservation success stories.

After lunch at your camp, set out on an afternoon game drive. Ol Pejeta protects more than 100 black rhinos, the largest population in East Africa, along with around 40 southern white rhinos, so the chances of meeting both species on your first afternoon are excellent. Lions, elephants, buffalo and leopards complete the Big Five. Dinner and overnight at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Today is all about Ol Pejeta's rhinos. Head out at first light with your guide to track black rhinos in the whistling-thorn woodland, then visit the northern white rhino enclosure to meet the last two of their kind and learn about the conservancy's anti-poaching work. Ask us about joining the rangers and their dog unit to see how they protect these animals day and night.

After lunch, continue game viewing across the open plains, where white rhinos graze alongside buffalo, zebras and Jackson's hartebeest, and lions often rest in the shade. Later visit the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary before returning to your camp for dinner and overnight at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

After breakfast, leave Laikipia and drive west via Nyahururu, where you stop to see Thomson's Falls plunging into a forested gorge, before descending into the Great Rift Valley to Lake Nakuru National Park, a journey of around 4 hours.

After lunch, set out on an afternoon game drive in this compact, fenced park on the shore of a Rift Valley soda lake. Lake Nakuru is home to more than 100 black and white rhinos and the endangered Rothschild's giraffe, while flamingos and pelicans gather along the shoreline and leopards hide in the yellow fever-tree forest. Dinner and overnight at Lake Nakuru.

Leave Lake Nakuru after breakfast and travel through the farmland of the Mau region and the market town of Narok, where you can visit the Narok Museum to learn more about the Maasai, before entering the Masai Mara National Reserve. The drive takes around 5–6 hours, with game viewing on the way to your camp.

After lunch and a short rest, enjoy your first afternoon game drive in the Mara. Big cats are the stars here, and your guide will head for areas where lions and cheetahs have been seen in recent days. Dinner and overnight in the Masai Mara.

Head out at dawn, when the predators are most active and the light is soft and golden. Morning is the best time to find lions returning from the night's hunt, cheetahs scanning the plains from termite mounds and hyenas at a kill. Return to camp for breakfast or enjoy it out in the bush, then continue exploring until lunch.

In the afternoon, visit a Maasai village near the reserve. The Mara is named after the Maasai, who described the land as spotted for its scattered trees and cloud shadows. Meet the families, watch the warriors' famous jumping dance and learn how their way of life is intertwined with the land and its wildlife. Finish with a sunset game drive before dinner and overnight in the Masai Mara.

Enjoy another full day in the reserve, this time exploring towards the Mara River with a picnic lunch. Hippos crowd the river pools, giant Nile crocodiles bask on the banks, and the riverine forest is a favourite haunt of leopards. During the migration months, this is where the famous crossings take place.

On the open plains, look for cheetahs, which favour the Mara's short grass for hunting, and for the elephants, buffalo, giraffes, topis and elands that make every drive different. With over 400 bird species recorded, the birdlife is superb too, from secretary birds to martial eagles. Return to camp at sunset for dinner and overnight in the Masai Mara.

Rise early for a last game drive in the Masai Mara as the sun comes up over the plains, then return to camp for breakfast. Afterwards, drive back to Nairobi, around 5–6 hours via Narok, with a lunch stop on the way.

On arrival in Nairobi you are transferred to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in time for your onward flight, or to a city hotel if you are staying longer. We hope you leave with wonderful memories and a heart full of Kenya. Safe travels.