7-Day Samburu, Lake Nakuru and Maasai Mara

You'll leave Nairobi after an early breakfast, driving north past Mount Kenya's lower slopes and through Nanyuki before the road descends into the dry, red-earth country of Samburu. The drive takes around five to six hours with a stop en route, and the landscape changes noticeably as you go, from farmland to acacia scrub and doum palms along the Ewaso Nyiro River.

You'll arrive at Samburu Simba Lodge in time for lunch, set on the riverbank where vervet monkeys and crocodiles are often visible from the terrace. In the late afternoon you'll head out on your first game drive, looking for the reserve's specialist species, gerenuk, Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe and Beisa oryx, none of which range into the Mara or Nakuru ecosystems further south.

You'll set out at first light for a morning game drive while the air is still cool, following the river channels where elephant herds come down to drink and where leopard sightings are more likely before the heat builds. Samburu's dry, sculpted terrain of doum palms and volcanic outcrops gives it a different character to Kenya's grassland reserves, and your guide will track fresh signs along the riverine forest edge.

After a late breakfast back at the lodge you'll have time to rest through the warmer hours, with the option of a swim or simply watching the river from your veranda. The afternoon drive pushes further into the reserve's open plains, where lion and cheetah are regularly spotted, and where Somali ostrich and gerenuk standing on their hind legs to browse are among the sightings unique to this northern region.

After breakfast you'll begin the long drive south, retracing the route towards Nanyuki before turning west into the Rift Valley proper. The road climbs and drops through farmland and forest, with views opening up over the valley floor as you descend towards Nakuru town, a journey of roughly six to seven hours including a lunch stop.

You'll enter Lake Nakuru National Park through the main gate in the afternoon, and the change in habitat is immediate, from Samburu's dry bush to a soda lake fringed with acacia woodland. A short game drive on the way to your lodge often turns up white rhino grazing near the water and buffalo herds in the yellow-fever tree forest. You'll settle in at Sarova Lionhill Lodge, positioned on a rise with views over the lake below.

You'll have an early morning game drive through Lake Nakuru's woodland and grassland, where both black and white rhino are regularly seen grazing in the open, alongside Rothschild's giraffe and often large troops of olive baboon along the lakeshore. Flamingo numbers on the lake vary with water levels, but the shallows and shoreline birdlife remain a highlight of any Nakuru morning.

After breakfast you'll leave the park and begin the drive to the Maasai Mara, heading southwest through the Rift Valley escarpment and across rolling farmland before the terrain opens into the wide grass plains the Mara is known for. The transfer takes around five hours. You'll arrive at Mara Serena Lodge, set on a hilltop above the Mara River, in time for a late lunch and an afternoon game drive into the reserve.

You'll leave camp early for a full morning game drive across the Mara's open plains, when lion prides are often still active from the night before and the light is best for photography. Your guide will work the areas around the Mara and Talek rivers, where large herds of wildebeest, zebra and topi graze year round, returning to the lodge for a late breakfast.

The afternoon drive heads towards the river itself, where hippo pods gather in the deeper pools and Nile crocodile bask on the sandbanks. Depending on the season and where herds are concentrated, your guide will also check the riverine woodland for leopard resting up in the shade, and the more open grassland further out for cheetah scanning from a termite mound.

With a second full day in the reserve, today's game drives can be shaped around what you most want to see, whether that means an early departure to follow a pride of lion on the move or a longer drive out towards the Mara Triangle on the far side of the river. Your guide will use the extra time to range further, covering ground that a single day's drive would not reach.

Midday brings a return to the lodge for lunch and a break through the hottest hours, with time to relax on the terrace overlooking the plains below. The afternoon drive can focus on any sightings that were reported earlier in the day, from a fresh kill drawing in scavengers to elephant herds moving through the long grass towards the river as the light softens.

You'll have time for a final short game drive after an early breakfast, making the most of the morning light before the long drive back to Nairobi. The route retraces the escarpment road, climbing out of the Mara basin and across the Rift Valley floor before the final descent into the city, a journey of around five to six hours depending on road conditions.

Your guide will stop en route for lunch and, if time allows, a viewpoint over the Rift Valley itself before continuing on to Nairobi. You'll be dropped at your hotel or at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the late afternoon, bringing the week's drive from Samburu's dry north to the Mara's grass plains to a close.