10 Days Kenya Wildlife Photography Trail: Samburu Rarities to Amboseli Elephants

Our safari begins when your professional driver-guide collects you from your Nairobi hotel, private residence, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport or Wilson Airport between approximately 6:30 AM and 7:30 AM. After helping you organise your cameras and personal luggage, our journey will cover approximately 310–340 kilometres and normally take 5½–7 hours depending on traffic, road conditions and your lodge location. You will pass through central Kenya’s fertile highlands, farms, roadside towns and gradually drier northern scenery, with stops arranged for lunch, refreshments, washrooms and authorised landscape photography. After arriving at your luxury lodge or tented camp, you will check in and prepare your equipment. When daylight and reserve-entry conditions permit, you will enjoy a short afternoon photography drive for elephants, reticulated giraffes, Grevy’s zebras and warm evening landscapes.

Destination:

SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE

Overnight:

Samburu Intrepids Tented Camp

  luxury 4 star lodge

Meals & Drinks:

Lunch, Dinner

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After an early breakfast, you will leave with a picnic lunch or follow a divided morning-and-afternoon programme, depending on your lodge location and photography priorities. Our vehicle may cover approximately 40–90 kilometres over seven to nine hours while your guide searches Samburu’s dry plains, rocky terrain and river environment for Grevy’s zebras, reticulated giraffes, gerenuks, Beisa oryx, Somali ostriches, elephants, lions, leopards and raptors. Your guide will consider light direction, clean backgrounds and animal movement instead of rushing from one radio report to another. The greener Ewaso Nyiro River corridor may provide beautiful contrasts between dry country and animals gathering around water.

Destination:

SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE

Overnight:

Samburu Intrepids Tented Camp

  luxury 4 star lodge

Meals & Drinks:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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After breakfast and lodge check-out, you may enjoy a short exit photography drive when timing and reserve arrangements allow. Our road journey will then cover approximately 275–300 kilometres and normally take 5½–6½ hours as you travel south through ranchland, cultivated highlands, towns and changing Rift Valley scenery. Your guide will arrange lunch, refreshment, washroom and scenic photography stops along the way. After arriving at your luxury Lake Nakuru accommodation, you will have time to charge batteries, clean lenses, back up images and rest before the following morning’s rhino photography session.

Destination:

SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE

Overnight:

lake Nakuru Lodge

  luxury 4 star lodge

Meals & Drinks:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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Following an early breakfast, you will spend approximately three to four hours photographing wildlife across around 25–50 kilometres of Lake Nakuru’s woodland, open grassland and lakeshore habitats. Possible subjects include white or black rhinos, Rothschild’s giraffes, buffaloes, baboons, waterbucks, zebras, pelicans and cormorants. After returning for lunch and check-out, our safari will continue approximately 220–260 kilometres toward the Maasai Mara, normally taking five to six hours depending on traffic, road conditions and camp location. You will arrive in the late afternoon or evening, check in and prepare for two complete Mara photography days.

Destination:

LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK

Overnight:

Masai Mara Sopa Lodge

  luxury 4 star lodge

Meals & Drinks:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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After breakfast, you will leave with a picnic lunch for approximately seven to nine hours of wildlife photography. Our vehicle may travel around 60–100 kilometres while searching open plains, woodland, marshes and water points for lions, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, hyenas, jackals, vultures and grazing herds. Your guide will allow you to remain at productive sightings when animal behaviour is developing, whether a lion pride is interacting, elephants are travelling with calves or a cheetah is carefully watching the plains. Lunch will be enjoyed at an authorised picnic location before afternoon photography continues.

Destination:

MASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE

Overnight:

Masai Mara Sopa Lodge

  luxury 4 star lodge

Meals & Drinks:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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Our second complete Mara day allows you to explore habitats not fully covered during the previous safari. You may travel approximately 50–100 kilometres during seven to nine hours of photography, concentrating on river environments for hippos, crocodiles, herons and kingfishers, wooded drainage lines for leopards and resting lions or open plains for elephants and cheetahs. The additional day also gives you time for wide environmental portraits, birds, silhouettes, storm skies and behavioural sequences. Your guide will adjust the route according to the subjects still missing from your portfolio rather than repeating the previous day unnecessarily.

Destination:

MASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE

Overnight:

Masai Mara Sopa Lodge

  luxury 4 star lodge

Meals & Drinks:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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After breakfast and check-out, you will travel approximately 230–260 kilometres from the Maasai Mara to Lake Naivasha, a road journey that normally takes five to six hours. Wildlife may be observed naturally while leaving the reserve, although this is mainly a scenic transfer day. Your guide will arrange photography, meal and comfort stops as our route passes Maasai communities, rolling hills, rural towns and productive Rift Valley farmland. On arrival at your luxury lakeside lodge, you may enjoy quiet photography around the grounds or a sunset lakeshore session.

Destination:

MASAI MARA NATIONAL RESERVE

Overnight:

Maasai Simba Camp

  luxury 4 star lodge

Meals & Drinks:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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When included in the confirmed package and when weather conditions are safe, your morning may begin with a boat photography safari lasting approximately one to one and a half hours. Possible subjects include hippos viewed from a respectful distance, African fish eagles, pelicans, cormorants, kingfishers and calm freshwater reflections. After breakfast and check-out, our journey will continue approximately 300–340 kilometres toward Amboseli, normally taking 5½–7 hours depending on Nairobi-area traffic and road conditions. Lunch and comfort stops will be arranged before your late-afternoon or evening arrival.

Destination:

LAKE NAIVASHA NATIONAL PARK

Overnight:

Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge

  luxury 4 star lodge

Meals & Drinks:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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You will begin early to make use of cooler temperatures and potentially clearer mountain conditions. During approximately seven to nine hours of photography, our vehicle may cover around 50–90 kilometres across open plains, wetlands, seasonal lake beds and acacia habitats. Possible subjects include elephant families, large bulls, giraffes, zebras, buffaloes, hippos, lions and wetland birds. Mount Kilimanjaro may appear when cloud and haze clear, but visibility cannot be guaranteed. Lunch may be enjoyed as a picnic or at your lodge depending on the final photography programme.

Destination:

AMBOSELI NATIONAL PARK

Overnight:

Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge

  luxury 4 star lodge

Meals & Drinks:

Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

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After breakfast and check-out, our safari will travel approximately 215–240 kilometres back to Nairobi, normally taking four to five hours. Wildlife and possible mountain scenery may be observed naturally while leaving the Amboseli area, although an extended morning drive is included only when clearly confirmed. Your guide will arrange a refreshment or meal stop before dropping you at your Nairobi hotel, residence, JKIA or Wilson Airport.