5-Day Walking and Game Drive Safari – Laikipia and Ol Pejeta

Your Laikipia walking safari adventure begins with the three-and-a-half-hour drive northwest from Nairobi to Ol Pejeta Conservancy near Nanyuki, crossing the equator as Mount Kenya’s glacial summit comes into full view above the highland forest zone. Arriving at your lodge for lunch, the afternoon begins with an orientation drive through Ol Pejeta’s spectacular game-viewing circuits where lion, elephant, and black rhino are regularly encountered in the conservancy’s open grassland and riverine corridors. The first major highlight occurs late in the afternoon when your guide drives you to the northern white rhino enclosure for an emotionally profound encounter with Najin and Fatu, the last two northern white rhinos on Earth. Standing in the presence of these gentle animals surrounded by their round-the-clock security team is a moving reminder of both the consequences of wildlife crime and the extraordinary dedication of Kenya’s conservation community.

Dedicate a full day to Ol Pejeta’s remarkable conservation landscape with morning and afternoon game drives and a visit to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. The morning drive explores the conservancy’s western sectors where the Ewaso Nyiro River attracts elephant families, hippos, and a remarkable diversity of waterbirds to its banks. Ol Pejeta hosts the highest density of black rhinos in East Africa and your guide’s tracking skills locate these prehistoric-looking animals in the acacia scrubland, often with a relatively close approach that makes for outstanding photography. After lunch, visit the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, the only facility in Kenya housing rescued chimpanzees, where a guided tour explains the rescue, rehabilitation, and care of these remarkable primates in a setting that is both educational and deeply moving. The late afternoon game drive adds lion, cheetah, and Grevy’s zebra sightings to a remarkable day of conservation encounters.

After a final morning game drive and breakfast at Ol Pejeta, you drive the short distance north through the Laikipia plateau to your luxury lodge in the Laikipia Conservancy. The Laikipia plateau is one of Kenya’s most important wildlife corridors outside national parks, a mosaic of private ranches and community conservancies that collectively protect an extraordinary range of species including lion, elephant, Grevy’s zebra, cheetah, African wild dog, and the highest concentration of black rhinos outside a national park. Arriving for lunch, your afternoon introduces the Laikipia landscape on a game drive through the conservancy’s diverse terrain of open grassland, rocky escarpments, and riverine gallery forest. An evening sundowner on a rocky viewpoint with Mount Kenya glowing in the setting sun provides a spectacular welcome to your Laikipia home.

The crown jewel of this safari: a full day of walking safari and night game drive in the Laikipia Conservancy. The morning begins at dawn with a guided bush walk led by your specialist guide and an armed Maasai ranger, moving slowly through the landscape while your guide deciphers tracks, identifies plants used in traditional medicine, reveals insect colonies, and explains the intricate ecological web that connects every element of the Laikipia ecosystem. Walking at eye level with termite mounds, beneath trees where lion have rested, and through grassland where the delicate tracks of serval cats were pressed into the mud just hours before creates a profound connection with the African bush impossible to achieve from a vehicle. After a midday rest and afternoon game drive targeting black rhinos and the conservancy’s resident wildlife, darkness falls for the extraordinary night game drive, revealing a completely different cast of characters including aardvark rooting for termites, porcupines rattling through the scrub, and serval cats hunting in the long grass by spotlight.

Enjoy a final gentle morning at the Laikipia lodge with an optional dawn bird walk around the lodge gardens and nearby waterhole before breakfast. The drive back to Nairobi takes approximately three and a half hours through the highland scenery of Laikipia and Nyahururu, with an optional stop at Thomson’s Falls where the Ewaso Narok River plunges spectacularly into the valley below. Arriving in Nairobi in the early afternoon, you depart with a comprehensive and deeply enriching experience of Kenya’s central highland wilderness, its extraordinary conservation achievements, and the remarkable landscapes that make Laikipia and Ol Pejeta essential destinations for the modern safari traveller.