4-Day Kenya Luxury Big Five Safari

You'll leave Nairobi after breakfast, driving north west through the agricultural highlands of Kijabe and the floor of the Great Rift Valley before climbing again toward Lake Nakuru, a journey of around three hours. Your guide will point out the escarpment views along the way, with the valley floor dropping away below the road.

Once inside Lake Nakuru National Park you'll go straight into an afternoon game drive. This park is fenced and closely protected, giving it one of the highest concentrations of both black and white rhino in Kenya, and sightings here are far more reliable than almost anywhere else in the country. You'll also look for buffalo along the acacia woodland and flamingos on the lake shore before checking in to Sarova Lionhill Lodge for the night.

After an early breakfast you'll set off on the long drive south west to the Maasai Mara, roughly five to six hours depending on road conditions through Narok. The route drops off the Rift Valley escarpment and crosses open wheat country before the grassland of the Mara begins to open out, and your guide will use a stop at Narok town for a last chance to buy supplies.

You'll arrive in time for a late lunch at Mara Sarova Tented Camp, set among riverine woodland on the eastern side of the reserve. In the late afternoon you'll head out on your first Mara game drive, when the light softens and grazing herds of wildebeest, zebra and topi move down toward the river valleys, with a good chance of lion or elephant in the open plains near camp.

You'll be up before dawn for an early game drive, when temperatures are coolest and predators are often still active from the night before. Your guide will head toward the open plains and drainage lines where lion prides rest up after a hunt, and toward the acacia thickets favoured by leopard, before returning to camp for a late breakfast.

After time to rest through the heat of midday, the afternoon drive pushes toward the Mara River, where hippo pods gather in the deeper pools and crocodiles bask on the sandbanks. Elephant and buffalo herds are frequent along this stretch, and depending on the season you may come across the tail end of the wildebeest migration moving between Kenya and Tanzania. You'll return to camp as the light drops for dinner under the stars.

You'll have one last opportunity for a morning game drive before breakfast, using the cooler hours to look for anything missed over the past two days, whether a resting leopard in a riverine tree or a distant rhino sighting near the reserve boundary. Your guide will keep pace with the schedule so you're back at camp in good time to pack.

After breakfast you'll begin the drive back to Nairobi, retracing the route through Narok and up the Rift Valley escarpment, roughly five to six hours with a stop along the way. You'll be dropped at your Nairobi hotel or at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in time for onward flights, bringing the safari to a close.