7-Day Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Naivasha and Amboseli

You'll leave Nairobi after an early breakfast, heading west through the fertile farmland of the Kenyan highlands before descending the escarpment into the Great Rift Valley. The drive takes around five hours, with a stop at a viewpoint over the valley floor and a chance to stretch your legs before the tarmac gives way to the dusty tracks of the Mara.

You'll arrive at Mara Sopa Lodge in time for lunch, and the afternoon is given over to your first game drive on the reserve's open plains. Your guide will look for the resident lion prides around the lodge's stretch of the Mara, along with elephant, giraffe and the large herds of topi and zebra that graze here year round. You'll return to the lodge as the light softens, ahead of dinner.

You'll set out early, while the air is still cool and the big cats are most active after a night's hunting. Your guide will work the network of tracks across the reserve, following recent sightings towards Rhino Ridge or the Mara Triangle, where cheetah are often seen scanning the grass from a termite mound. You'll return to the lodge for a late breakfast, with the rest of the morning free to rest by the pool.

After lunch you'll head out again, this time towards the Mara River, where hippo pods hold in the deeper pools and Nile crocodile bask on the sandbanks. Between July and October this stretch of river is the scene of the wildebeest crossings, though outside those months it remains good ground for elephant, buffalo and waterbuck. You'll drive back to the lodge as the sun drops toward the escarpment.

After breakfast you'll leave the Mara and drive north east, climbing back onto the highlands before dropping into the Rift Valley towards Nakuru, a journey of roughly five to six hours with a lunch stop en route. The scenery shifts from open savannah to greener, more cultivated country as you near the lake, which sits at around 1,760 metres and is fringed with fever trees and acacia woodland.

You'll check in at Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge with time for an afternoon game drive around the lake shore. This is one of the best places in Kenya to see both black and white rhino at close range, and the park's fenced boundaries mean sightings are reliable. Depending on water levels you may also find flamingo working the shallows, along with waterbuck, buffalo and troops of baboon along the lakeside road.

You'll depart Nakuru mid morning for the short drive south to Lake Naivasha, a freshwater lake ringed by papyrus swamp and acacia woodland at the base of the Rift Valley wall. After lunch at Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge, the afternoon is set aside for an excursion into Hell's Gate National Park, known for its red cliffs, volcanic gorges and the towers of Fischer's and Elsa's columns.

Unlike most Kenyan parks, Hell's Gate allows walking and cycling among the wildlife, and your guide will lead you on foot past zebra, eland, buffalo and Thomson's gazelle grazing beneath the escarpment, with klipspringer often visible on the rocky outcrops above. You'll return to the lodge in the late afternoon, with time to walk the grounds along the lake shore, where hippo frequently graze after dark.

You'll leave Naivasha after breakfast for the long drive south to Amboseli, passing back through Nairobi and then out along the road towards the Tanzanian border, a journey of around six to seven hours depending on stops. The landscape opens out into dry acacia scrub and volcanic soil as you approach the park, with Mount Kilimanjaro visible on the horizon on a clear afternoon.

You'll arrive at Amboseli Sopa Lodge in time for a late lunch, followed by your first game drive across the park's swamp edged plains. Amboseli is known for its large, settled elephant herds, and your guide will look for family groups moving between the papyrus swamps and the open dust bowls that give the park its distinctive terrain, with Kilimanjaro's snow capped peak often forming a backdrop when cloud cover allows.

You'll take an early morning game drive while the light is clearest and Kilimanjaro is most likely to be free of cloud, heading out towards the swamps at Enkongo Narok or Longinye where elephant herds gather to drink and feed. Buffalo, hippo and a wide range of water birds are found around these permanent wetlands, and lion are regularly seen resting in the shade of fever trees nearby. You'll return to the lodge for a late breakfast and a break through the heat of the day.

In the afternoon you'll head out again towards the drier plains and Observation Hill, a rocky outcrop that gives a wide view over the park and its scattered elephant herds. Giraffe, zebra and Grant's gazelle are common across this open ground, and cheetah are occasionally spotted working the fringes of the plains before you return to the lodge for dinner.

You'll have one final early drive around Amboseli before breakfast, using the last cool hours to look for elephant and any predators still active from the night before, with Kilimanjaro often at its clearest in the soft early light. After breakfast at the lodge you'll check out and begin the drive back to Nairobi, a journey of around four to five hours across the plains and back over the rim of the Rift Valley.

The drive retraces the route through Namanga, with a stop for lunch or a break along the way before the road brings you back into Nairobi's traffic in the afternoon. Your guide will drop you at your hotel or transfer you directly to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, bringing the week's circuit through the Mara, Nakuru, Naivasha and Amboseli to a close.