Nairobi to the Mara by Light Aircraft

Our representative meets you at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and takes you across the city to Wilson Airport, Nairobi's domestic hub. A light aircraft then flies you to an airstrip in the Mara. The route crosses the Great Rift Valley before the golden grassland of the Mara opens out below you.

At the airstrip your guide meets you with an open safari vehicle with raised seats and wide views. The drive to camp is your first game drive. In a private conservancy your guide can leave the track and park wherever the wildlife is, so you get closer and stay longer. After lunch at camp you head out again for a full afternoon drive. Your guide uses it to learn what you most want to see and shapes the next days around it. Dinner is at camp.

• Pick-up at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
• Light aircraft from Wilson Airport to the Mara
• Game drive to camp, lunch, afternoon game drive and dinner

Private Conservancy Safari

Tea and a light snack come before sunrise, then you head out while the grass is still wet with dew. Early morning is the best time for predators. Lions may still be on a kill or moving to a daytime resting place. Leopards are sometimes visible in the fever trees. Cheetahs use the first light to scan for prey from termite mounds. Your guide reads the vultures overhead, the alarm calls of zebra and impala, and the tracks that crossed the road during the night.

After lunch at camp, the afternoon depends on what the morning showed. If the predators are worth returning to, the game drive continues. If conditions are good (mild, light wind, clear views), you go on a guided walking safari with your guide and an armed escort. On foot the scale changes. Sounds are close, and you notice tracks, plants and insects that you would miss from a vehicle. After dinner you can join an optional night drive to look for nocturnal animals such as aardvark, serval and genet, along with several kinds of nightjar.

• Dawn game drive, with predators the main target
• Afternoon walking safari or game drive
• Optional night drive after dinner

Full Day in the Conservancy

Today follows the wildlife. If a lion pride made a kill overnight and is still feeding at dawn, you go to it. If a cheetah family has been found on the plains, you can spend the morning with them without moving on to make room for other vehicles. With so few vehicles in the conservancy, a sighting can last hours instead of minutes.

Photographers get the most from this day. Your guide positions the vehicle with the light in mind and the horizon kept clean, and switches the engine off for long periods to avoid vibration. You can follow a cheetah's whole sequence of scanning, stalking and chasing from one spot. Lunch is a picnic somewhere scenic in the conservancy, such as a kopje, a riverside acacia grove or an open plain with a wide view.

• Full-day game drive led by what the animals are doing
• Photography-friendly positioning for those who want it
• Picnic lunch in the conservancy

Slow Safari Day

Day four slows down. The morning is a guided walk with your guide and a tracker, and it is about detail, not distance. You learn to read the age and direction of tracks, which animal rubbed against an acacia trunk, and the dung beetles working a pile of buffalo dung. Plants, insects and small mammals that you drive past become the main subject. After three days of game drives, you start to see how the grassland fits together.

The afternoon is free. Rest at camp with a view of the plains, or take a short game drive to a spot your guide suggests based on the morning's sightings. Near sunset your guide takes you to a remote place in the conservancy for a sundowner, chosen for its view and its chance of wildlife. Few other vehicles share the conservancy, so the sunset is yours.

• Guided walking safari with a guide and tracker
• Free afternoon at camp, or a short game drive
• Sundowner at a remote spot in the conservancy

Final Full Day

You choose how to spend the morning. If the predators were busy yesterday, you can go back to the same area. If you enjoyed the walk on Day 4, your guide can lead another through a different part of the conservancy. By now your guide knows what you respond to and where to look for it.

Brunch at camp is late and unhurried, and the afternoon is free. Tonight's farewell dinner is under the Mara sky, with candles and lanterns and the sounds of the bush around you. Tomorrow starts early.

• Morning game drive or guided walk, your choice
• Brunch at camp and a free afternoon
• Farewell dinner at camp

Fly Back to Nairobi & Departure

After an early breakfast you drive to the airstrip, with a last game drive on the way. Your guide stops for any final sightings. A light aircraft flies you back to Wilson Airport, where a private vehicle takes you to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, timed to connect with your international flight. A Sankofa guide sees you off at the departure terminal.

• Final game drive to the airstrip
• Light aircraft to Wilson Airport
• Private transfer to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport