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Kenya Overland Adventure
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Day 1 Nairobi (1L,1D)
Approximate Distance: 156 km Estimated Travel Time: 4 hrs The journey begins early with a brief welcome meeting in the morning (7am) before we travel north from Nairobi (approximately at 8am) through the Great Rift Valley stopping at Lake Nakuru National Park, home to a vast variety of birdlife, particularly hundreds of thousands of flamingoes. Search for white and black rhino, buffalo, impala, hyena, and even leopard on our afternoon game drive in this renowned game park. Kenya's fourth largest town and the capital of the Rift Valley province, Nakuru, meaning “dusty place” in the Masai language, is a cheerful and vibrant agricultural town with a variety of coulourful local markets. We camp outside of the town itself and within the Lake Nakuru National Park, the area’s principal highlight and best natural attraction. Lake Nakuru itself is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes. The alkaline lake's abundance of algae attracts the large quantity of flamingos, estimated into the millions, which famously line the shore. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continually shifting mass of pink. There are two types of flamingo species: the Lesser flamingo can be distinguished by its deep red carmine bill and pink plumage unlike the greater flamigo, which has a bill with a black tip. But flamingos are not the only avian attraction, also present are two large fish-eating birds, pelicans and cormorants. The park is rich in other birdlife, including grebes, white winged black, stilts, avocets, ducks, and in the European winter, the migrant waders.
Day 2 Lake Naivasha (1B,1L,1D)
Approximate Distance: 86 km Estimated Travel Time: 2.5 hrs At the beautiful Lake Naivasha, spend your time enjoying various optional activities, such as a walking safari to view giraffes and antelope on Crescent Island, or a visit to the flamingo-filled Green Crater Lake, or simply viewing birds and wildlife around your camp - spotting ibis, lovebirds, fish eagles, hippo, and the black and white colobus monkey on the banks of this scenic lake. The name Naivasha comes from the Masai “Nai’posha”, which means “rough water”, though Lake Naivasha is general calm in the morning, the best time for spotting hippos, crocodiles, and birdlife. A freshwater lake, Lake Naivasha is currently about 20km long and 15km wide, but the lake levels have fluctuated enormously over the years. In the early 1880s during the time of Joseph Thompson’s travels, it was reduced to a swamp, while in the 1920s lake levels were about eight meters higher than at present. Surrounded by forests of the yellow barked Acacia Xanthophlea, known as the yellow fever tree, Lake Naivasha has a fairy-tale beauty to it which is rarely matched. Abound prolific birdlife from majestic fish eagles and waterfowl to tiny malachite kingfishers, is known as a world class birding destination, and is an international Ramsar site. Between 1937 and 1950 this beautiful, peaceful lake was used as a landing place for plane passengers destined for Nairobi. The flying boat from London would land on the lake where the Lake Naivasha Country Club now stands, and travellers would board a bus for Nairobi. Today the lovely lake, with its cool climate, has become a retreat for Nairobi residents and tourists looking for peace. Because the lake is fresh water and the surrounding soil fertile, this is a major production area for fruit and vegetables and, more recently, vineyards. Many animals call the area home; giraffes wander among the acacia, buffalo wallow in the swamps and colobus monkeys call from the treetops while the Lakes large hippo population sleep the day out in the shallows.
Day 3 Loita Hills (1B,1L,1D)
Approximate Distance: 163 km Estimated Travel Time: 4 hrs Within the lands of the Masai people, be welcomed into a community by our local Masai guide and his villagers. Spend some time learning the ways of these semi-nomadic people on a guided tour of their land and village. Learn about their diet (the daring may even try it!), clothing, social and cultural traditions, as well as their belief systems. Our camp site allows us not to infringe upon the village, while still allowing for meaningful interaction with these wonderful people and their territory.
Day 4-5 Masai Mara Game Reserve (2B,2L,2D)
Approximate Distance: 80 km Estimated Travel Time: 2 hrs With its vast open plains and distinctive flat-topped acacia trees, no visit to Kenya would be complete without a visit here! Spend time game viewing in our overland truck, with excellent chances of seeing the "Big 5" - lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhino, and marvel at gazelles, impala, and ostrich from wonderful vistas along the Esoit Oloololo Escarpment. In addition, stop at a traditional Masai village for an optional visit to learn about the local Masai culture. The Masai Mara (also spelled Maasai Mara) is a game reserve in south-western Kenya, which is effectively the northern continuation of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. Named for the Masai tribes people, who are the traditional inhabitants of the area, and the Mara River, which divides it, the reserve is famous for its exceptional population of game and the annual migration of the wildebeest every September and October, a migration so immense to be called the Great Migration. Thousands of wildebeest die in the crossing due to crocodile attacks. The Great Migration is one of the most impressive natural events worldwide, involving an immensity of herbivores: some 1,300,000 wildebeest, 360,000 Thomson's gazelle, and 191,000 zebra. With an area of 1510 km sq., the Masai Mara is not the largest game park or reserve in Kenya, but it is probably the most famous. The entire area of the park is nestled within the enormous Great Rift Valley that extends from the Mediterranean Sea to Mozambique. The terrain of the reserve is primarily open grassland, with clusters of the distinctive acacia tree in the south-east region. The western border is the Esoit Oloololo Escarpment of the Rift Valley, and wildlife tends to be most concentrated here, as the swampy ground means that access to water is always good. The easternmost border is 224 km from Nairobi. The Masai Mara is perhaps most famous for its lions, though the other members of the "Big Five" (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, and rhinoceros) are as well found. This said, the population of black rhinoceros is severely threatened, with a population of only 37 recorded in 2000. Hippopotami are found in large groups in the Masai Mara and Talek Rivers, and many cheetah, zebra, impala, gazelles, hartebeest, warthog, ostrich, topi, the Masai giraffe, among other mammals, all consider the “Mara” their home territory. As well, the large Roan antelope and the nocturnal bat-eared fox, rarely present elsewhere in Kenya, can be seen within the reserve borders. Like in the Serengeti in Tanzania, the wildebeest are the dominant inhabitant of the Masai Mara, and their numbers are estimated in the millions. Around July of each year these animals migrate in a vast ensemble north from the Serengeti plains in search of fresh pasture, and return to the south around October. These numerous migrants are followed along their annual, circular route by a block of hungry predators, most notably lions and hyena. The Masai Mara is a also major research centre for the spotted hyena. Additionally, over 450 species of birdlife have been identified in the park, including vulture, marabou, secretary bird, hornbill, crowned crane, ostrich, long-crested eagle, and pygmy falcon.
Day 6 Nairobi (1B,1L)
Approximate Distance: 250 km Estimated Travel Time: 7 hrs The tour ends upon arrival into Nairobi, in the late afternoon, at the Hotel Boulevard in central Nairobi. In order to avoid any necessary issues with timing, please book your outgoing flight from Nairobi from 21:00 hrs or later. There is no included accommodation for this night in Nairobi. You may choose to pre-reserve post-tour accommodation at through G Adventures.
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