Daniel, one of our most experienced travel experts at African Budget Safaris, recently went on a group safari in Kenya. In Part I of On Safari in Kenya, we talk to Dan about his overall impressions of Kenya, packing for African safaris, and the time of year he traveled to Kenya. Dan also talks about his Kenya safari highlights, like Nairobi, the Giraffe Center, and Samburu National Park.
I've transited through Nairobi but never had time to travel around and explore Kenya. So this was my first time on safari in Kenya.
In a nutshell, Kenya was a lot more modern than I thought it would be. They are tapping into geothermal and hydroelectric power, they have access to Starlink, the internet is good, and in Nairobi, the Uber that I got was a hybrid car, I was pleasantly surprised.
I was impressed everywhere we went; everything worked. Like, they've got this. They’ve got that.
It's definitely as beautiful as I expected, with its African safari landscapes, but I was surprised at how westernized contemporary Kenya is. There’s a big British colonial influence; to start with, everyone speaks English, and it's easy to get around. It’s similar to South Africa in that way.
I think for a person coming to Africa for the first time, a safari in Kenya is actually a soft landing compared to Tanzania.
I saw lots of families with kids, it’s a very safe country, easy to get around... Kenya’s a great place to go on African safaris.
Lonely Planet tips Nairobi as one of The Best Travel Destinations for 2024, and I wish I had more time there. It seems like Nairobi has quite a restaurant and nightlife scene. There's quite a big music scene, lots of festivals, and a good art scene too, so it's all happening.
I think it's clearly on the cards for Western visitors to head to Kenya, not just for African safaris, but for the cultural exchange.
Too much too much too much!
I made the rookie error of packing too much again. But even saying that when I weighed my bag, it was only about 11 or 12 kgs. Normally, it's best to try to keep it to about 15kg. When I was packing, I thought, “Oh, this is overkill”, but I actually ended up using everything.
The reason I packed the extra stuff is that I went on safari in Kenya at the end of the rainy season. I had to use my raincoat a couple of times. I used my hiking boots in quite muddy areas, and my trainers for comfort.
| Dan’s Complete Kenya Safari Packing List |
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In the central highlands of Kenya, the altitude gets up to about 3,000 meters and in the evening it is very cold. Out came the woolly top and I even packed a scarf! Often, people say when you go on African safaris, take a warm jacket for early morning game drives, and I was glad I had the extra layers. I didn’t really need that second pair of long pants or the additional t-shirts.
Also, pretty much everywhere we went offered a laundry service. I think you can pack light and get away with it. But you want those extra bits for when the weather does change or if you're travelling during March, April, or May when it's rainy.
The lodges in Kenya are totally geared up for tourism and they’re used to it. They know people need to travel light, especially the fly-in clients. In general, most itineraries will spend at least 2 nights in most places, so there will be time to have your laundry done.
I normally try to keep stuff that I’ll need at short notice.
For me, antihistamines for my allergies, pain-killers, sunscreen, water, sarong, a hat for when you step out of the vehicle and it's sunny, camera gear, and reading materials, especially if there's a long drive I'll have a book in there.
I always like to have a bit of cash with me in my bag on safaris. Often, there'll be a short stop at one of the highlights, and you will get shown around by local guides, and you want to be able to tip them, and that's pretty much it.
There were only 4 of us on this group safari in Kenya because of a last-minute emergency. The tour is actually one thing I wanted to mention.
A lot of our group safaris in Kenya cater to a maximum of 7 people. Some of them are 6, but the majority are 7. The reason for that is the vehicles they use on Kenya safaris are modified Toyota Land Cruisers that have 6 seats in a row, 3 on either side. They can add an extra seat at the back or the front. Even with 4 people in that vehicle, it didn't feel cramped, but you would definitely need to think about what you will take with you in the vehicle and how much space there is.
If you are a group of 4, the trick is to check to see if you can do a private tour with us, and just book the vehicle out for yourself. It pretty much works out to the same price as one of the scheduled group tours.
Having done this Kenya safari now with only 4 people, there's definitely more space to move around in the vehicle and a little more comfort.
No. Not really.
At this time of year, the rains are just ending, and with the seasonal safari pricing in Kenya, the rates are a lot more affordable. This makes it a popular time with families and bigger groups.
Using the Masai Mara as an example, during August and September, when the great migration is there and crossing the Mara River, you can have 50 to 100 vehicles lined up along the river.
I can't imagine what it is like during that peak time of year, but with shoulder season, and also if you're going to a variety of different parks, the advantage is it's not as busy. 1 or 2 hotels we visited on our safari in Kenya were more like resorts; the bigger Serena hotels felt busy when people were checking in and checking out. We arrived at one hotel at check-in time, and between the guides and the guests, it felt a bit busy. But as soon as you stepped away, it didn't feel too busy.
Certainly, on the roads, and during the game drives, it wasn't busy. If you want to avoid crowds, I would say travel in June, because it's the end of the rainy season. The wildlife is picking up. You're not going to get the huge numbers of wildlife, but the Kenya safari rates are better. It's a lot more photogenic because there are more clouds and it is quite atmospheric at that time of year. And there's still a lot of bird activity.
I think if you're going on a Kenya safari in August or September, be prepared for crowds. But there's no way around it. You can't avoid it.
For most of our Kenya safari trip, it was just us and our main guide. At smaller stops and activities, there were, however, local guides to show us around, as is often the case on African safaris.
When we were on Lake Naivasha, we took a little boat trip to Crescent Island and you go for a walk. The skipper of the boat was kind of like our guide. He was a charming, funny Kenyan guy. He did this thing with the fish eagles, where he'd catch fish and hold them up and whistle, and then throw the fish out, and the fish eagle would swoop down and pick up the bait, so that you could get really good photographs.
Our main guide is a well-known Kenyan safari guide who's worked in the industry for decades. He seemed to know everything and everyone. He was giving directions to other tour guides who were lost inside the Samburu and the Masai Mara.
Our guide's English was really good and when he got to know us all better, he became more relaxed and would joke along with us. By the end of our Kenya safari, it wasn't very formal. It was like getting shown around by a friend.
Our guide was really amazing. If I could, I would give him 11 out of 10.
The general feeling with my Kenya safari group was that the visit to the Giraffe Center was really cool.
The Giraffe Center is right next to Giraffe Manor, which is the famous place where everyone wants to stay, but it's always fully booked and costs way too much per night. But at the Giraffe Center, you walk on an elevated platform at eye level with the giraffes. It's amazing. Generally, you only view them from ground level, and they walk up to you and you get to hand-feed them.
They give you food that looks like cat kibble, and this huge, massive head just comes towards you, and you're not sure what to do, but they're actually extremely gentle. Giraffes have got the softest tongues. You think it's going to be all rough like a cat’s tongue, which has got all those barbs, but it’s completely the opposite.
Giraffes are just really gentle, very calm creatures, and they just lick the pellets off your fingers, which is great and you get to spend more time with them and watch them. It was really very special. I definitely give top marks to the Giraffe Center experience.
The Sheldrick Wildlife Sanctuary was also good.
It's not as interactive as the Giraffe Center because you've got to stay further away from the animals. There are a lot of people there with kids and it's not only elephants that they rescue. There was a tiny little, I say small, but it's because it hasn't developed well, this tiny baby rhino that they rescued.
The work they do is really good, and it's not something that you see anywhere else.
We visited the elephant sanctuary during low season and I don't know if they limit the numbers but if it gets any busier than that, it could be quite tricky to get a good view.
The thing to remember with the Sheldrick Elephant Sanctuary is that you have to pay the park fees for Nairobi National Park to get in.
This makes it a bit more expensive but you also get access to the Nairobi National Park.
If you have the time, it’s definitely worth doing a game drive in Nairobi National Park to get the most out of your money.
Samburu National Park was definitely a highlight of my safari in Kenya.
Buffalo Springs and Samburu are basically neighbors, separated by a river. The two different areas are similar. You wouldn't know which park you were in unless someone told you. They are beautiful national parks, with huge mountains in the distance, and lots of wildlife. It's meant to be famous for leopard, but we didn't see any, as the grass was really, really tall and green and lush.
I'd love to go back to Samburu when it's dry.
Despite the long grass, we saw a herd of elephants having a bath as we drove into Samburu National Park. We had a great sighting of a Bateleur eagle, lots of giraffes and other wildlife including the Samburu 5, which are unique animals that are found in this area but absent from the Masai Mara and other parks further south. This was another highlight for me, getting to see all 5 of these animals, the Somali or blue-necked ostrich, the reticulated giraffe the Bisa oryx, the Grevy’s zebra and the Gerinuk.
Because the grass was so tall when we visited, it limited our sightings, but I'm sure we'd have seen a lot more in the dry season.
I can just imagine what it would be like going on safari in September
I can’t wait to head back to Samburu. It's so different to any other national park I've been to in Africa. It's definitely a place I'm going to recommend to clients who are interested in going on safari in Kenya. The Masai Mara has got so much hype behind it and expectations, whereas with Samburu I didn't know what to expect. And it just knocked my socks off while I was there.
I always recommend clients go on safari in the dry season here because you see so much more wildlife.
The landscape at Samburu, with all the mountains nearby, is just different to anywhere else that I’ve been. The Samburu tribe are just as charismatic as the Maasai, and very similar in terms of their physical appearance, and the beadwork they do.
The Solio Ranch has 200-plus rhinos, with the biggest rhino horns I've ever seen.
If you want to see a lot of rhinos on safari in Kenya, go to Solio Ranch. It did get a little bit laborious at one point because all you saw was a lot of rhinos. It was like counting cattle at the end of it.
But, it's also quite unbelievable. This highly threatened, endangered species that people are hunting and often when you see rhinos in the wild, especially black rhinos, they're always so skittish. Even the white rhino they’ll be in a bush, hiding. Whereas at Solio, you just saw one after the other in the open spaces.
Looking back now, it was quite special, quite spectacular actually.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy on the other hand had way more variety of wildlife. It was a bit more interesting in that sense. Ol Pejeta also has the last two remaining northern white rhinos in a protected enclosure. You can see them there before they're gone.
It's a bit of a wake-up call... to realize that the wildlife and all the animals aren’t going to be here forever. And humans are one of the main reasons why they are going extinct.
Another thing Ol Pejeta has that's interesting is a rhino graveyard, it's a memorial site for poached rhinos, which is another stark reminder that rhinos need to be protected.
The transport on our Kenya safari was great.
It was a converted Toyota Land Cruiser. They are really common in Kenya, the ones with the soft pop-up roof. They use these vehicles because when you're inside the parks, you can open the roof for your game drives and your safari time. When you're driving outside the parks, they have to close the rooftop, even if it's a short distance, they're not allowed to have it open.
The tour vehicle was comfortable. Everything ran on time. We were never late for anything.
Some of the hotels on our safari in Kenya had their own game-drive vehicles, which were open. So it's not a hard top; it has canvas sides that can be rolled up or open-style vehicles.
The open vehicles are nice for game drives, but the vehicle we were in, the Toyota Landcruiser, didn't take anything away from our African safari experience, it was great.
In Part II of On Safari in Kenya, we talk to Dan about the Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, and Lake Naivasha, and discover his Kenya safari highlights and what he would do differently next time.
For Dan's safari packing tips and the day-to-day details of his 10-day Kenya safari this year, see A Classic Kenya Safari: Dan’s Adventures on Safari in Kenya.
Compare all of our affordable Kenya safaris for more ideas, or contact African Budget Safaris to chat with a travel expert.
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