6-Day Kenya Safari | Amboseli, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara – Sopa Lodges

Depart your Nairobi hotel or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport early in the morning, typically by 7:00am. The road south on the Nairobi-Mombasa highway passes through Athi River and the eastern edge of Nairobi National Park, visible on the left, before the terrain opens into the semi-arid Athi-Kapiti plains. Turn south at Emali toward Loitoktok and the Amboseli boundary. The landscape transitions from bush to open savannah and Mount Kilimanjaro, if the morning cloud has not yet built, begins to appear on the southern horizon as you approach the Kimana-Amboseli corridor.

Arrive for check in and lunch at Amboseli Sopa Lodge befor embarking on an afternoon game drive in Amboseli National Park. The lodge sits on the eastern edge of the park with direct views south toward Kilimanjaro across the open swamp plain. The lodge has rooms arranged around a central pool and dining area, all facing the Kilimanjaro massif. Check in, settle and use the remaining afternoon light for a sundowner game drive on the swamp circuit before dinner.

The Kilimanjaro photography window opens between 5:30am and 7:30am in the dry months, before the heat of the day draws cloud onto the mountain’s upper slopes. We are in the vehicle and moving toward the Observation Hill viewpoint or the Enkongo Narok swamp edge by 6:00am. In the right conditions, the combination of elephant herds against the full Kilimanjaro massif – Kibo summit, Mawenzi peak and the glaciers catching the first sunlight – is one of the most photographed wildlife landscapes on earth. There is no equivalent anywhere in Africa.

The Enkongo Narok swamp circuit is the most productive game drive route in Amboseli: buffalo herds in the papyrus margins, lion prides resting in the shade of the Acacia tortilis trees and elephants entering and exiting the swamp in continuous procession throughout the morning. The Ol Tukai circuit adds the open lakebed and the dry acacia woodland north of the swamp where cheetah, bat-eared fox and Maasai giraffe are regularly located. Picnic lunch in the park.

The elephant-Kilimanjaro image that defines Amboseli is not a stock photograph. It is what the park looks like on most clear mornings between June and October. The challenge is not finding the composition. It is choosing which of the hundred frames to keep.

After breakfast, check out and depart for Nakuru. The dawn Kilimanjaro window is worth setting the alarm for even on a transfer day.

The transfer from Amboseli to Lake Nakuru covers approximately 285 kilometres through the Nairobi bypass and north on the Nakuru highway. Lunch is taken en route at a suitable stopping point.

Enter the park at the Main Gate on the eastern side and proceed to Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge on the rim above the lake. The lodge sits at an elevated position on the Menengai Crater escarpment with panoramic views down over the lake and the pink flamingo lines on the shore. Check in and take the afternoon game drive on the lake circuit: the rhino sanctuary zone in the western section of the park holds both black and white rhino, and the Rothschild giraffe – one of the most endangered giraffe subspecies in the world – was reintroduced to Lake Nakuru in 1977 and the population here is now well established.

After breakfast before checkout and embark on the drive to the Masai Mara. The transfer from Lake Nakuru to the Masai Mara covers approximately 225 kilometres via Naivasha and the Narok road, 4 to 5 hours. This is the most scenic of the three transfer days on this itinerary: the road descends from Nakuru through the Rift Valley, passes Lake Naivasha on the south, climbs again through the Mau escarpment and then drops into the Mara ecosystem through the rolling wheat farms of the Loita Plains, where the first zebra and gazelle herds appear at the roadside before the reserve boundary.

Arrive for check in and lunch at Masai Mara Sopa Lodge. The lodge sits on a hill inside the Masai Mara National Reserve with panoramic views across the open plain and the Mara ecosystem. The lodge has 100 rooms, a swimming pool and an elevated dining area with game viewing directly from the terrace. Enjoy lunch at the lodge and take an afternoon game drive on the circuits surrounding the lodge as the light drops to golden hour.

A full day inside the Masai Mara National Reserve. Departure from Masai Mara Sopa Lodge by 6:30am for the early game drive, the most productive two hours of any Mara day. The Masai Mara covers 1,510 square kilometres and the guide plans the morning circuit based on radio intelligence from the previous evening: which lion prides were active overnight, where the cheetah family was last located, which section of the Mara River the leopards are using.

The Talek River is a productive predator corridor: lion prides use the riverine forest as shade and cover, leopards hold territories in the fig trees above the water and cheetahs scan the open plain from termite mounds on the grassland margins. The resident wildebeest and zebra herds in the eastern Mara are substantial outside of migration season and provide the prey concentration that keeps predator densities high year-round.

During the Great Wildebeest Migration between July and October, the game drive extends to the Mara River crossing sites in the western section of the reserve where over 1.5 million wildebeest and 400,000 zebra attempt crossings through Nile crocodile-filled water at unpredictable intervals. Positioning at the crossing sites requires early arrival and patience. The guide reads herd behaviour and crocodile position to identify the most likely crossing point. Picnic lunch in the field. Return to the lodge at golden hour.

After breakfast, check out and begin drive to Nairobi with lunch on the way. The journey covers approximately 270 kilometres via Narok and takes 5 to 6 hours depending on traffic into the city. Drop-off at your Nairobi hotel or directly at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for domestic or international connections.