8-Day Aberdare Samburu Ol Pejeta & Mara Highland Trail

Your Aberdare Samburu Ol Pejeta Mara safari begins with a morning departure from Nairobi heading north through the fertile highlands. The scenic drive passes coffee and tea plantations on the lower slopes of the Aberdare Mountains before entering the cool montane forest of Aberdare National Park. You arrive at your tree hotel in time for lunch and spend the afternoon on a guided afternoon forest game drive, spotting elephant, buffalo, giant forest hog, and the elusive bongo antelope among the ancient Podocarpus trees. As evening falls, you take up position at the floodlit salt lick where animals come to drink and mineral-lick through the night, with lion, leopard, elephant, and rhino all regular visitors to the waterhole.

After a bush breakfast watching the salt lick in the early morning light, you depart the Aberdare highlands and drive north through the central highlands, passing the town of Nanyuki and skirting the lower slopes of Mount Kenya. The landscape gradually transitions from fertile highland farmland to the semi-arid acacia scrubland of Kenya’s northern frontier as you approach Samburu National Reserve. You arrive at your riverside camp in time for lunch on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River. The afternoon game drive explores Samburu’s unique landscape where Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, and gerenuk are spotted against the rust-red earth and doum palms.

A full day in Samburu National Reserve on morning and afternoon game drives reveals the extraordinary wildlife of Kenya’s northern frontier. The early morning drive follows the Ewaso Nyiro River where elephant families drink and bathe in the dawn light, crocodiles patrol the sandy banks, and kingfishers dart across the shallows. Your guide tracks all five members of the Samburu Special Five, including the long-necked gerenuk browsing upright on acacia branches and the beautifully patterned reticulated giraffe crossing the dry riverbeds. The afternoon drive targets lions adapted to the arid terrain, leopards in the gallery forest, and the open plains where Beisa oryx and Somali ostrich move through the heat shimmer.

After breakfast at the Samburu camp, you drive south through the foothills of Mount Kenya to the renowned Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia County. The journey takes you through highland scenery with Mount Kenya’s glacial peaks visible on clear mornings. You arrive at the conservancy in time for lunch at your lodge before an afternoon packed with unique conservation experiences. Visit the northern white rhino enclosure for a moving encounter with Najin and Fatu, the world’s last two northern white rhinos, then continue to Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary where rescued chimpanzees live in a natural woodland setting. An evening game drive through the conservancy rounds off the day.

Spend a full day exploring Ol Pejeta Conservancy on morning and afternoon game drives through its 90,000 acres of highland wildlife habitat. Ol Pejeta supports the largest population of black rhinos in East Africa, and patient tracking with your guide can lead to exceptional close encounters. Lion prides patrol the conservancy’s open grasslands, leopards hunt along the Ewaso Nyiro River that flows through the property, and enormous herds of buffalo create their own spectacle on the plains. An optional night game drive in the evening offers the chance to spotlight nocturnal species including porcupine, aardvark, and serval cat.

After an early breakfast at Ol Pejeta, you begin the long but scenic drive southwest to the Maasai Mara. The route descends from the highland plateau through the Rift Valley and across the open plains of Narok County before reaching the Mara ecosystem. You arrive at your lodge in the late afternoon, and there is just enough time for a brief evening game drive to take in your first views of the Mara’s golden grasslands and perhaps a lion sighting as the sun descends.

Dedicate a full day to the Maasai Mara with morning and afternoon game drives exploring Kenya’s most celebrated wildlife reserve. The morning begins at first light on the open plains where cheetah use termite mounds as scanning posts and lion prides rest after overnight hunts. Your guide navigates toward the Mara River where hippos jostle for space and enormous Nile crocodiles lurk in the shallows. The afternoon drive takes you to different sectors of the reserve as the light softens for photography, with elephant, giraffe, leopard, and the ever-present plains game creating unforgettable scenes across the savannah.

Rise for a final sunrise breakfast at the lodge before checking out and beginning the drive back to Nairobi. The journey climbs out of the Mara basin through the Mau Escarpment with sweeping views back across the reserve, then continues through highland farmland and the Rift Valley before reaching Nairobi in the early afternoon. You arrive carrying extraordinary memories spanning four of Kenya’s greatest wildlife destinations across seven unforgettable nights.