Discover Africa
What each park is actually good for
Parks are not interchangeable. Each has a habitat, a set of species that thrive in it, and months when it is at its best. This is the reference we use when we build routes, written out.
In short
Two or three parks for a week, four at most. Every change costs you half a day of driving and a night of unpacking.
The skill is choosing parks with different habitats, so the week feels varied rather than repeating one landscape three times. A soda lake, then grassland, then swamp is a better week than three grassland parks in a row.
Our seven day route uses four parks, but two of them, Nakuru and Naivasha, are short stops on the way past rather than destinations in their own right. That is what buys the two full days elsewhere.
All park and reserve entry fees are included in the rates we quote. Ngorongoro crater service fees in Tanzania are shown as a separate line, because they are substantial and you should see them.
Parks in our routes
Ten
Ideal per week
Two or three
Longest single stay
Three nights
Park fees
Included
Off road driving
Conservancies only
Kenya
Six parks, six different days
Maasai Mara
Grassland · 5 to 6 hours
The best big cat viewing in Kenya, and the Kenyan half of the Great Migration from late July. Two nights minimum, three if the herds are in.
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Amboseli
Swamp and pan · 5 hours
Elephants at very close range on a dried lake bed, with Kilimanjaro behind on clear mornings. Best at first light.
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Tsavo East and West
Semi arid bush · Mombasa road
One of the largest protected areas in the world. Red soil, red elephants, Mzima Springs and the Aruba dam.
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Lake Nakuru
Soda lake · 3 hours
A fenced rhino sanctuary with both black and white rhino, Rothschild giraffe, flamingo and pelican. Small enough to cover well.
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Samburu
Semi desert · 6 hours
Dry, rocky and unlike the Mara. Grevy zebra, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk and Beisa oryx along the Ewaso Nyiro.
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The Aberdares
Montane forest · 3 hours
Highland forest and moorland, cold at night, with tree hotels over waterholes and species absent from the plains.
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Lake Naivasha, the break in a long driving day
Two more in Kenya
Naivasha and Ol Pejeta, which are not national parks
Lake Naivasha is not a park at all, but it works in almost every route we build. Freshwater, hippo, fish eagle, a boat trip, and Crescent Island where you can walk among zebra and giraffe because there are no predators. It is also the natural break in the long drive between the Mara and Amboseli.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy on the Laikipia plateau is private land rather than a national park, and that distinction matters: conservancies permit night drives and off road driving, which national parks do not. It is one of the best rhino areas in East Africa and has a chimpanzee sanctuary.
If seeing rhino matters to you, one of Nakuru or Ol Pejeta belongs in your route. If night drives matter, it has to be Ol Pejeta.
Tanzania
The northern circuit
Serengeti
Open plains
Enormous and open. Seronera holds resident lion and leopard year round; the southern plains fill with calving herds from January to March.
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Ngorongoro
Caldera
Around 260 square kilometres, enclosed, holding lion, elephant, buffalo, hippo and black rhino year round. The most reliable day in East Africa.
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Tarangire
River valley
Baobabs and the Tarangire river, with very large elephant herds concentrating in the dry season.
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How to choose
Matching parks to what you want to see
If you want
Big cats: the Maasai Mara, then the Serengeti and Ngorongoro.
Elephants at close range: Amboseli, then Tarangire.
Rhino: Lake Nakuru or Ol Pejeta, and Ngorongoro for black rhino.
The migration: the Mara from late July to October, the southern Serengeti from January to March.
Unusual species: Samburu, for the northern specials.
Forest and highlands: the Aberdares.
Practical notes
All park and reserve entry fees are included in our rates.
Ngorongoro crater service fees are charged separately and shown as a line item.
National parks do not permit off road driving or night drives. Conservancies such as Ol Pejeta do.
Park gates open at dawn and close at dusk, which shapes every game drive.
Some parks charge per 24 hours rather than per calendar day, which affects the last morning.
Park rules
We keep to them even when the vehicle beside us does not
No off road driving where it is prohibited, minimum distances at sightings, and no crowding a kill or a crossing. Those rules exist because the alternative is habituated animals and eroded ground, and they are the reason these parks still work. If a sighting is already surrounded, our guides will move on and find you something else, which is usually the better morning anyway.
Off road
Only where permitted
Night drives
Conservancies only
Distances
Kept, at sightings
Community fees
Paid to the village
Questions
Park and reserve questions
Which single park if I only have three days?–
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The Maasai Mara. The highest density of big cats, the migration in season, and enough variety that two full days do not repeat themselves.
What is the difference between a park, a reserve and a conservancy?+
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Mostly management. National parks are run by the national wildlife service, reserves by county governments, conservancies by private or community landowners. In practice conservancies allow off road and night driving; parks do not.
Are park fees included in your prices?+
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Yes, all park and reserve entry fees. Ngorongoro crater service fees in Tanzania are quoted separately.
Can I visit a Maasai village?+
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Yes, in the Mara and around Amboseli. There is a community fee which is not included in the package price, and we tell you what it is beforehand.
Which parks are best in the rainy season?+
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Amboseli and Nakuru handle rain well because the roads are firmer. The Mara access roads and parts of Tsavo get difficult, so we route around them.
Kenya registered tour operator
TRA registered
Our own 4×4 safari vehicles
In-house driver guides
Westlands, Nairobi
Start planning
Tell us your month and your interests. Choosing the right combination of parks is most of the work, and it is the part we do.