Six nights up. Five nights down.
The safari while you still want six o’clock starts, and the ocean once you have stopped. Ninety minutes of flying between the two.
Eleven nights: six inland while you want early mornings, five on the ocean once you have stopped. The best-shaped holiday we sell, and the least ambitious.
- From
- $18,900 pp
- Duration
- 11 nights
- Best months
- Dec–Mar, Jul–Sep
- Party size
- 2 – 8 guests
The best-shaped holiday we sell, and the least ambitious
Eleven nights, three moves, and no attempt to see everything. Two inland regions rather than four, then five days on the Indian Ocean with nothing scheduled at all. It is the itinerary we build most often for people on their second or third visit, and the one we recommend to first-timers with a fortnight who have the sense not to fill it.
The inland half is Laikipia and the Mara conservancies — ranchland and rhino, then cats and open plains, with walking, riding and night drives across both. The coastal half is your choice of Lamu for architecture and total quiet, Watamu for the reef, or Zanzibar if you want an extra flight and a different history.
What makes it work is the ratio. Six nights of early mornings is exactly as many as most people want, and five days of nothing is precisely long enough to stop feeling guilty about it.
- Two contrasting inland regions rather than a tour of four
- Walking, riding and night drives on private conservancy land
- Rhino tracked on foot with the ranger team in Laikipia
- A ninety-minute flight from the bush directly to the coast, no Nairobi night
- Five days on the ocean with a house, a cook and a boat
- A dhow or a reef morning, and otherwise nothing arranged
Ideal traveller
Couples and families with a full fortnight; second-time visitors; anyone who has learned that a safari and a holiday are not the same thing and would like both.
The itinerary
Nairobi — arrival
Met airport-side, taken to a garden house in the Karen hills. Lunch, a swim, an early night. Nothing else asked of you.
Into Laikipia
A short flight north to a private conservancy. Afternoon drive across ranchland with Mount Kenya on the southern horizon.
Riding, walking, rhino
Riding or mountain biking in the morning, then black rhino on foot with the ranger team at a neighbouring conservancy. Sundowners on a ridge.
Laikipia
A day at your own pace: a long drive, camel-supported walking, or a morning with the lion researchers if they are in the field.
To the Mara conservancies
A 100-minute charter south-west. Your guide travels with you. Afternoon on capped-density conservancy land — the resident pride is usually the first find.
The conservancy
First light out, long breakfast, hot hours free. A night drive after dinner, permitted here and not in the national reserve.
Into the reserve, then walking
A long day south into the reserve — the river, the plains, the crossings in season — and a dawn walk on the final morning with an armed Maasai guide.
To the coast
A ninety-minute flight east, and a boat rather than a car from the airstrip. The house is yours; the cook introduces herself; that is the last scheduled thing for four days.
The ocean
Swimming, the roof terrace, the old town if you feel like it. A dhow at sunset — the one evening arranged here.
The ocean
Reef, or nothing. Both are correct.
The ocean
Still nothing. Guests who ask us to fill this day are politely refused.
Homeward
A late-morning flight to Nairobi, day rooms at a private club, and our concierge with you until you fly.
Two camps inland, one house on the water
Nights 2–4, Laikipia. A stone-and-canvas lodge on a private conservancy, or a four-bedroom house with its own vehicles for parties of six and over.
Nights 5–7, the Mara. A six-tent conservancy camp on a lugga, on Maasai-owned land under a lease that pays 340 households whether or not you come.
Nights 8–12, the coast. A private house on Shela beach at Lamu — cook, housekeeper, roof terrace, dhow captain, and no cars anywhere on the island. Watamu and Zanzibar alternatives, both with houses rather than hotels.
Your specialist will steer the coastal choice by month. Lamu and Watamu are at their best from December to March; in July and August the kaskazi has gone and the water is calmer at Watamu than at Lamu.
What the price covers
- Eleven nights as described, all meals and house drinks inland
- A private guide and vehicle for the whole inland leg
- All internal flights, including the direct bush-to-coast leg
- Conservancy, reserve and marine park fees, and the conservancy levy
- Walking, riding, night drives and rhino tracking
- Coastal house staff — cook, housekeeper and boat captain — and the dhow evening
- Airport meet-and-greet, fast-track and day rooms
- 24-hour Nairobi concierge, answered by a person
What it does not
- International flights and visas
- Travel insurance — required; we will help you compare
- Diving, deep-sea fishing and kitesurfing on the coast
- Balloon flights inland, spa treatments, premium wines
- Gratuities, at your discretion
December to March is the whole coast at its best and the inland half green and quiet — the version we recommend. July to September gives you the Mara crossings but a rougher sea, so we move the coastal leg to Watamu. Do not go to the Indian Ocean in April, May or early June.
Shall we hold the dates while you think?
Tell us the month and we will send a costed draft of this journey, with the camps held provisionally at no charge. A written reply within one working day, from the specialist who will run it.
On bush and beach
Which coast should we choose?
Lamu for architecture, quiet and total privacy — a Swahili town with no cars, reached by boat. Watamu for the reef, the turtles and calmer water in the southern-monsoon months. Zanzibar if you want a different history and will accept an extra flight and a busier beach.
Do we have to go back through Nairobi?
No, and it is the detail that makes this itinerary. A direct charter runs from the Mara strips to Lamu and Malindi in about ninety minutes. Guests who route through Nairobi lose most of a day and a good deal of goodwill.
Is five days on the beach too long?
It is the most common worry and nobody has ever raised it afterwards. Six nights of five-thirty starts leaves people more tired than they expect, and the last three days is when the safari actually becomes a memory rather than a schedule.
Can we do it in nine nights?
Yes — one inland region and four coastal nights, and it is roughly a fifth cheaper. We would keep the Mara and drop Laikipia rather than shortening both, because two nights anywhere is not enough.