Overview
Spend 5 days and 4 nights on a private Kenya safari through Samburu, Ol Pejeta.
Overnight plan: 2 nights in Samburu, 2 nights in Ol Pejeta. The daily itinerary below sets out the travel stages and scheduled activities.
Your safari arrangements are private to your party. The selected accommodation, vehicle, travel dates and party determine the applicable offer. Wildlife sightings and any migration crossings depend on natural conditions; they cannot be guaranteed.
At Ol Pejeta, the northern white rhino visit and chimpanzee sanctuary visit are included.
Plan the destinations: Ol Pejeta guide, Samburu guide.
Trip Highlights
- Track the exclusive Samburu Special Five found only in northern Kenya
- Visit the world's last two northern white rhinos at Ol Pejeta
- Africa's largest black rhino population at Ol Pejeta Conservancy
- Large elephant herds and leopards along the Ewaso Nyiro River
- Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary at Ol Pejeta
- Night game drive opportunity at Ol Pejeta Conservancy
- Dramatic semi-arid Samburu landscape of red earth and doum palms
- Scenic highland drive through Mount Kenya's foothills
Itinerary
The safari travels north from Nairobi through the Mount Kenya highlands to Samburu National Reserve. The afternoon game drive introduces the reserve’s acacia country, red-earth plains and riverine habitat. Your guide searches for the wildlife associated with this northern landscape, including the distinctive species grouped as Samburu’s Special Five. Viewing stops follow the animals encountered along the reserve tracks, with time to observe the contrast between the open ground and the vegetation around the Ewaso Nyiro River. The first Samburu overnight follows this introduction to the reserve.
A full day of morning and afternoon game drives expands the Samburu exploration. The Ewaso Nyiro River corridor provides opportunities to observe riverbank wildlife and the birds using the gallery woodland, while the open plains and scrubland offer a different setting for the day’s searches. Your guide looks for the Special Five and other wildlife while following actual activity within the reserve. The two outings give your party time in several habitats, with stops for observation and photographs before the second Samburu overnight.
The journey leaves Samburu for Ol Pejeta Conservancy on the Laikipia plateau. The afternoon includes the northern white rhino visit, where the conservation team introduces the animals’ protection and care. This visit provides the first conservation-focused experience of the Ol Pejeta stay. A game drive continues across the conservancy’s highland grassland, with your guide looking for rhinos and other wildlife along the viewing routes. The day establishes the contrast with Samburu’s drier landscape and begins the two-night Ol Pejeta stay.
The full Ol Pejeta day combines Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary with morning and afternoon game viewing. The sanctuary visit introduces the rescued chimpanzees and the work involved in their care. Conservancy drives then explore the highland plains and bush, with time to observe rhinos and the other animals encountered by your guide. The programme provides a broader view of Ol Pejeta beyond the previous day’s northern white rhino visit. A night game drive is an optional addition, separate from the included daytime programme.
The safari leaves Ol Pejeta for the road journey back to Nairobi. The route returns through the Laikipia and central highland landscape, passing Nanyuki and continuing south towards the capital. This is the departure stage after the two conservancy nights, following the northern white rhino visit, chimpanzee sanctuary and game drives. The programme ends at the agreed Nairobi drop-off point on day five. No separate final-morning game drive is scheduled in the native departure-day programme.
Cost Details
What's Included
- All road transfers in a 4x4 safari vehicle
- All game drives at Samburu and Ol Pejeta
- Professional English-speaking safari guide
- Two nights full board accommodation at a Samburu riverside camp
- Two nights full board accommodation at an Ol Pejeta safari lodge
- Ol Pejeta Conservancy entry and conservation fees
- Northern white rhino enclosure visit
- Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary visit
- Samburu National Reserve entry fees
- Drinking water during game drives
What's Not Included
- International flights
- Kenya electronic travel authorisation (eTA) fees, where applicable
- Travel and medical insurance
- Ol Pejeta night game drive and lion tracking
- Samburu village cultural visit
- Tips and gratuities for guides and lodge staff
- Alcoholic and premium beverages
- Personal expenses such as laundry and souvenirs
FAQs
The Samburu Special Five are Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk, Beisa oryx and Somali ostrich. The name describes a northern Kenya wildlife grouping, not five species exclusive to one reserve. Their presence in the ecosystem does not establish that all five will be encountered on one trip.
Ol Pejeta identifies Najin and Fatu as the last two known northern white rhinos. They live in a protected enclosure, and visits follow the conservancy's booked experience and keeper instructions. General conservancy entry is not itself confirmation of that specialist encounter.
Ol Pejeta combines rhino conservation, Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary and managed conservation experiences in one conservancy. General game viewing and specialist encounters have separate access and booking arrangements. Claims about current population size or programme results require the conservancy's dated evidence.
Samburu is in northern Kenya, while the Maasai Mara lies southwest of Nairobi. Each has different approach routes and lodge access. Remoteness in a booking depends on the particular camp, road or air connection and the onward itinerary.
Ol Pejeta combines black and white rhino conservation with the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary and managed conservation experiences. Rhino populations change and require a dated conservancy count. General game drives and separately booked specialist encounters have different access arrangements; the booked programme identifies the included experience.
Safari Route Map
A sense of the journey
Your route, at a glance.
Nairobi → Samburu → Ol Pejeta Conservancy → Nairobi
Find your journey on the map.
Tap a stage below to explore the journey.
Location markers are approximate. Connections show the journey sequence, not roads, exact driving distances or live vehicle tracking. The itinerary sets out each stage.
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