Women of the Wild | 8 Days  Samburu to the Masai Mara

You are met at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by Hellen Asiko, Director and Guest Experience Curator at Afrikan Accent Adventures, for your private transfer to the Sarova Panafric’s Wangari Maathai Wing, Kenya’s first hotel wing reserved solely for female guests. Once settled, take a short walk to plant a seedling in the hotel gardens, a small, symbolic gesture that opens every one of our women’s journeys. The evening closes with a welcome dinner, where Hellen walks you through the days ahead over Kenyan coffee and conversation.

From this morning, your dedicated female driver-guide from Afrikan Accent Adventures takes over for the remainder of your safari. After breakfast, depart Nairobi for the road journey north to Samburu, around five to six hours trading the city skyline for the russet plains of Kenya’s northern frontier, with a stop en route. Your guide brings you directly to Sarova Shaba, a lodge built around natural springs and doum palms on the banks of the Ewaso Nyiro River. After lunch, set out on your first game drive in search of the Samburu Special Five: Grevy’s zebra, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk, Beisa oryx and Somali ostrich, species found almost nowhere else in Kenya.

A full day to explore Shaba’s volcanic hills, natural springs, and riverine forest, tracking elephant, lion, and leopard alongside the Special Five, with your guide reading tracks and calls as she has for years. In the early afternoon, visit a nearby Samburu women’s beadwork cooperative, where intricate collars and jewelry are handcrafted using techniques passed down through generations.

Late in the afternoon, head to the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary for a private, intimate feeding session with Samburu’s “Milk Mamas”—the local women caretakers who hand-raise orphaned elephant calves and mix custom milk formulas. It is a powerful, inspiring look at community-led wildlife conservation driven by women. Return to Sarova Shaba for a relaxed evening and dinner under the stars beside the Ewaso Nyiro River.

An early game drive before breakfast offers a last quiet hour with Shaba’s wildlife in the soft morning light. Depart on the road journey to Lake Nakuru, around six hours via Nyahururu, arriving at Lion Hill in time for a late lunch. Lion Hill sits on a forested ridge above the lake itself, with views stretching over one of Kenya’s most protected ecosystems. The afternoon is given to a game drive through Lake Nakuru National Park, home to a closely guarded rhino sanctuary, the park’s famous tree-climbing lions, and, in season, dense flocks of flamingo along the shoreline.

A final morning game drive through Lake Nakuru National Park, with time to track the rhino sanctuary’s residents once more, before the road journey south to the Masai Mara, descending through the Great Rift Valley with panoramic stops along the way. Arrive at Sarova Mara Camp, a tented camp on the banks of the Mara River, in time to settle in before an afternoon game drive across the reserve’s open grassland, your guide reading the plains for lion, elephant and the first signs of the resident herds.

A full day dedicated to the Masai Mara National Reserve, searching for lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino, with the Great Wildebeest Migration and Mara River crossings adding drama to the plains between July and October. In the afternoon, visit a Maasai women-led enterprise near the reserve, where local women run a craft and conservation initiative supporting their families and communities directly through tourism.

Rise before dawn for a sunrise game drive and bush breakfast, watching the plains wake with the light, with an optional hot air balloon safari available for those wanting to see the Mara from above. The afternoon is left unhurried and open, whether that means a spa treatment at camp, quiet time by the river, or a short guided nature walk with your guide along camp’s private grounds. As evening falls, gather around the campfire for stories, including your guides’ own journeys into a profession still largely led by men.

One last game drive after breakfast and check-out enroute. Drive back to Nairobi, arriving in time for a farewell lunch at the Carnivore restaurant, where Hellen joins you to reflect on the safari and the memories you’ve shared. Drop-off is at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport or a Nairobi address, timed to your onward travel, with your guide staying with you until the very last moment of the journey.