The park on the city edge
Nairobi National Park Half-Day Game Drive
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · from $36
Three days in the Mara
3 Days Maasai Mara Guided Safari from Nairobi
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · from $196
Lions live twenty minutes from downtown. And that is the small park.
What a three-day group safari to the Mara really costs. Whether Amboseli is worth thirteen hours in a minibus. Which dhow reaches Kisite before the dolphins move off. Reviews of every tour you can book in Kenya.
A dawn game drive, the Rift Valley, Amboseli, and one day on the Indian Ocean.
The four days a first Kenyan trip is usually built around. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it said afterwards.
01The Nairobi morningNairobi National Park, Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe CentreA game drive at first light, the orphanage mud bath at eleven, and giraffes taking pellets out of your hand by two.
02The Rift Valley day1 Day trip to Hells Gate and Lake Naivasha From NairobiCycle the park road at Hell’s Gate past zebra and buffalo, then take a boat out to the hippos on Naivasha.
03Elephants and a mountainDay Tour to Amboseli National Park & Maasai VillageThirteen hours door to door from Nairobi, and Kilimanjaro stands behind the herds all afternoon.
04The day on the oceanDhow Adventure to Wasini Island & Kisite Marine ParkSail south from Diani, snorkel the marine park at Kisite, and eat crab on Wasini before the tide turns.
Kenya has more parks than a fortnight can hold. Start with four.
The Mara for cats and the crossing, Amboseli for elephants under Kilimanjaro, Nakuru for rhino and flamingo shallows, and the park on Nairobi’s doorstep when all you have is a morning.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3 Days Masai Mara Group Joining
The MaraBig cats, and the river crossings from July to October.
AmboseliElephant herds with Kilimanjaro standing behind them.
Lake NakuruA fenced rhino sanctuary and the flamingo shallows below it.
Nairobi National ParkRhino and lion against the skyline, back in town by lunch.
All 416 safaris and game drives →
The days out more travellers take than anything else in Kenya.
See every Kenyan tour →The most popular tours in the country, and what earns each one its place.
1
Nairobi National Park Half-Day Tour; Free Wi-Fi connection
Join a small-group game drive from Nairobi with hotel pickup, bottled water, Wi-Fi, and an open-roof van. Guides such as Edwin, Lawrence, Peter, and William may help you find rhinos, lions, giraffes, birds, and other wildlife. Allow extra time for park entry and the Maasai Market stop.
From · $45
Read our review →
2
National Park & Optional Elephants & Giraffe Center
from $80
3
NAI NAMI: Nairobi Storytelling Tour with Street Children
from $45
4
Nairobi National Park Half-Day Game Drive
from $36
5
Historic and Modern Highlights Walking Tour
from $23
6
Safari Tour; Nairobi National Park
from $43
7
3 Days Masai Mara Group Joining
from $540
8
Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Tour with Options
from $35
Nairobi is not a stopover. Give it a whole day.
A game drive with office towers on the horizon, elephant calves running in for the eleven o’clock mud bath, giraffes on the feeding platform at Langata, and the bazaar streets downtown before the traffic sets solid.
What a day out in Kenya actually costs.
A downtown walking tour and a five-day Mara safari both live on this site, and the gap between them is the whole planning problem. Three price bands, cheapest first.
Downtown walks, the giraffes-and-orphanage morning, half-day game drives in Nairobi National Park.
Full days: Hell’s Gate and Naivasha, the Wasini dhow, Amboseli in one very long push.
The multi-day safaris, with park fees, camp beds and a driver-guide inside the price.
- 13 Days Masai Mara Group Joiningfrom $540
- 23 Days, 2 Nights Maasai Mara Group Safarifrom $199
- 3Tour: Giraffe Center and Nairobi National Parkfrom $176
Six Kenyan bases, and the best day out from each.
Three quarters of the country’s tours leave from Nairobi, but the coast keeps its own timetable and the Rift Valley towns are a morning’s drive apart. Pick where you sleep and the itinerary mostly writes itself.
South of Mombasa the tarmac gives out and the dhows take over.
Fort Jesus and the carved doors of the old town, then white sand at Diani, then a sail out to Kisite where the dolphins come up alongside the hull. The coast is warm all year and at its busiest over Christmas.
- 1PILLI PIPA DHOW, the genuine product, snorkeling tour to Kisite Marine Parkfrom $130
- 2Full-Day Special Wasini Island Tour with Snorkeling and Lunchfrom $126
- 3Kisite Park Private Cruise with Breakfast and Lunchfrom $163
Three things that only happen in Kenya.
Game drives and beach days happen all over the continent. Cycling through a park with no lions in it, an orphanage that opens for one hour, and rhino grazing in sight of a capital city do not.
Hell’s Gate
Almost nowhere else lets you out of the vehicle among wild animals. At Hell’s Gate you ride the park road past zebra and buffalo, scramble up Fischer’s Tower and walk down into the gorge with a ranger. There are no lions in the park, which is precisely why any of that is allowed.
- 11 Day trip to Hells Gate and Lake Naivasha From Nairobi★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 332 reviews
- 2Day Trip: Hell’s Gate Bike Ride & Lake Naivasha Boat Ride★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 251 reviews
- 3Hell’s Gate National Park Private Bike Tour from Nairobi★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 192 reviews
The elephant orphanage
The nursery on the edge of Nairobi National Park opens to visitors for one hour a day. The orphaned calves come in at a run for milk and a wallow while the keepers explain where each one was found. Book ahead, get there early, and expect to leave having fostered something.
- 1National Park & Optional Elephants & Giraffe Center★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 874 reviews
- 2Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Tour with Options★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 457 reviews
- 3Nairobi National Park, Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Centre★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 365 reviews
A park with a skyline
Nairobi National Park is fenced on three sides and open to the plains on the fourth, so lion, rhino and buffalo live within sight of the city. Go at first light, before Langata Road solidifies, and a proper game drive still has you back at your desk for lunch.
- 1Nairobi National Park Half-Day Tour; Free Wi-Fi connection★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 878 reviews
- 2Nairobi National Park Half-Day Game Drive★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 738 reviews
- 3Safari Tour; Nairobi National Park★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 594 reviews
Four Kenyan bookings that will not wait for you.
Most of this country can be arranged the night before from a hotel desk in Nairobi. These four run on migration months, a one-hour opening time and a single departure a day.
- 013 Days, 2 Nights Maasai Mara Group SafariFrom July to October the camps near the crossing points fill months ahead, and the shared departures go first of all.
- 02Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Center Tour with OptionsThe nursery opens to visitors for a single hour each day and takes a limited number of bookings for it.
- 03Day Tour to Amboseli National Park & Maasai VillageIt is a five-hour drive each way, so the day trips leave Nairobi before six and there is only the one departure.
- 04Dhow Adventure to Wasini Island & Kisite Marine ParkThe dhow sails on the tide, once a day, and the marine park closes to boats when the sea gets up.
Game drives run at dawn and dusk. The hours between them are yours.
Cats sleep from eleven until four and the light goes flat, so nobody sensible is out looking for them. That is the window Nairobi fills with its markets and museums, when the tea and coffee farms in the hills above the city serve lunch, and when a kitchen will teach you to cook something.
By place — the capital, the Rift Valley and the coast
By kind of day — game drive, gorge, dhow or kitchen
Nairobi, the Rift Valley, the Mara, then the ocean: how a first Kenyan fortnight usually goes.
Lake NaivashaThe newest Kenyan tour reviews.
The other new reviews →
Tsavo East National Park: 2-Day Tour from Mombasa
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Lake Nakuru Day Trip Safari – & Optional Lake Naivasha Boat
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Hell’s Gate Guided Tour with Option Boat Ride at Lake Naivasha
Read our review →
Hells Gate with Hiking Biking Climbing and Camping in Kenya
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4 Days Safari to Lake Nakuru N/P and Maasai Mara N/R
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