Wild Romance Safari

Duration: 9 days

Highlights: Nairobi, Lewa Downs Conservancy, Masai Mara National Reserve

Adopt an elephant at the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, explore Lewa Downs on foot, enjoy a romantic Out of Africa picnic at Angama Mara and end your safari with a once-in-lifetime, early morning, hot air balloon ride over the Masai Mara plains.

Itinerary

Day 1 - Arrive Nairobi

Upon arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and after clearing immigration formalities, you are met by your guardian angel who transfers you to Hemingways Nairobi and assist you with check in.

Hemingways Nairobi is a boutique hotel in the serene, green suburb of Karen. The hotel bears South Carolina plantation style dimensions, huge verandahs and enormous windows that let all the light in and deliver views across the knuckles of the Ngong Hills. Inside a graciously winding Gone with the Wind staircase leads from the lobby to the top floor. The hotel sports 45 beautifully furnished rooms with high ceilings and king-sized beds. And, despite an elegant retro feel - punkahs gently paddle the air to keep it cool, potted palms dot the interior - is up to the minute modern with express check in, Wi-Fi, spa and gym. Hemingways prides itself on a uniquely individual service which includes a personal butler who assists with unpacking as necessary, pressing anything that's creased in transit, delivering morning tea and generally anticipating your every whim.

Overnight: Hemingways Nairobi

Meal Plan:

Day 2 - Nairobi

After breakfast, set off on a tour of Nairobi with visits to the Giraffe Centre and the David Sheldrick elephant orphanage.

Giraffe Centre is the headquarters for AFEW, the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife. Made famous by ‘Daisy Rothschild’, a giraffe calf rescued from Soi, on the border of Western Kenya, Giraffe Manor was established in 1983 as a sanctuary for the then endangered Rothschild giraffe. The breeding programme has been a great success and visitors can now watch these gentle giants at eye level from a raised platform. There is also the opportunity to learn more about giraffe at the interpretation centre and hand-feed them whilst watching the semi-tame family of warthog’s snuffle around their hooves in search of titbits.

We have reserved a table for you at the Talisman Restaurant. After lunch, take a short drive to the elephant orphanage for the 17:00 semi-private visit (depending on availability). 

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust was founded by the late Dame Daphne Sheldrick in 1977 in memory of her late husband, David Sheldrick MBE, one of the most famous and successful of Africa's game wardens, and founding warden of Tsavo East National Park where he worked for over twenty years. The sanctuary, on the edge of Nairobi National Park, provides a perfect home for growing youngsters, with the habitat and space to mimic those that elephants enjoy in the wild. Much is done to simulate a real-life experience to rear them for release into Tsavo: the orphans grow up in mini herds, are bossed about by mini matriarchs and enjoy mud baths, filled with a hose pipe, when they slap wet mud to their skins as sun block and insect repellent.

Overnight: Hemingways Nairobi

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 3 - Fly to Lewa Conservancy

Enjoy breakfast at the Brasserie Restaurant then meet your driver guide at the hotel lobby who transfers you to Wilson Airport for your flight to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. On arrival you are met at the Lewa airstrip by a Sirikoi representative and driven to the camp where you check in for lunch and enjoy an afternoon game drive.

At Sirikoi, in the heart of the Lewa Conservancy of central Kenya, four beautifully appointed tents, each with vast bathrooms and Victorian baths, overlook a well-watered lawn which tempts the wildlife into graze. A secluded two-bedroom family cottage offers just that: seclusion if that's what you're after. The three-bed roomed Sirikoi house, is tucked into a private corner of the camp near wetlands where elephant and buffalo are regular visitors. All the rooms are sumptuously decorated, huge, bright so that Africa seems to spill in, and full of glorious fabrics and furniture. There's masses to do at Sirikoi, you can walk with a guide, go game driving, quad-biking, camel-riding, take a flight over Mount Kenya, get to know the local tribes - Samburu and Maasai, or just hang out by the pool and watch Africa drift by.

Overnight: Sirikoi

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 4 & 5 -  Lewa Conservancy

Head out for an early morning game drive and come back for a late breakfast. Relax during the afternoon before heading out on a nature walk.

Lewa Downs is a family owned 60,000-acre game reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the foothills of Mount Kenya, this premier wildlife haven has been the home of the Craig family since 1924. Although just 48 kilometres (30 miles) north of the equator, it is home to animal species not seen in the southern hemisphere, including reticulated giraffe, the endangered Grevy zebra and blue-skinned Somali ostrich. Black and white rhino, introduced here in the early eighties in a bid to provide sanctuary, thrive here and are relocated to other parks in Kenya - guests can witness this extraordinary endeavour in species support and spend time with orphan rhinos being hand-raised.

All three of the big cats, up to 200 elephant, Greater kudu and the graceful gerenuk antelope with its elegant neck which stands on its long hind legs to browse on shrubs and trees, are part of the unique experience that is Lewa. As a trailblazer in conservation, it presents as an award-winning catalyst, Lewa has pioneered community-based initiatives. As an activity based reserve, it lends unique bush experiences that are restricted in national parks: you can ride horseback alongside herds of giraffe, zebra and antelope, take a night game drive, walk with armed rangers, or enjoy a camel ride to a bush breakfast. Several springs bubble up and feed the reserve's perennial water supply which supports the game and ensures wildlife sightings year-round - including rare sitatunga antelope which, with their splayed hooves, are swamp residents.

Overnight: Sirikoi

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 6 - Fly to Masai National Reserve

After breakfast, bid the Sirikoi staff farewell and transfer to the airstrip for your flight to the Masai Mara. After check in and lunch you head out on a game drive.

Perched high up on the Oloololo escarpment, Angama - the name derives from the Swahili for 'suspended in midair' - lends an extraordinary view across the world renowned Maasai Mara; you can see for hundreds of miles from your tent - whether lying in bed, eating breakfast on the deck or brushing your teeth. Africa is even reflected in the mirrors above the hand wash basins in the bathroom. It floods in, none of it's wasted. Angama - two intimate camps of just fifteen tented suites each - is seriously funky, the design and furnishing fabulously interesting. There is masses to do in camp as well as out - there's a pool, a spa, a gym, even a beading studio where Maasai women work their incredible, intricate craft. There are delicious meals to be eaten - picnics, bush barbeques, sumptuous afternoon teas. There are walks, game drives, balloon rides. And the view; always that view.

Overnight: Angama Mara

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 7 - Masai Mara National Reserve

Your lunch today is on the Out of Africa rock where the picnic scene was filmed. A Maasai guide leads you up a hill where you find a picnic set out for you: a checked blanket, comfy cushions, safari canvas chairs, wicker picnic basket, sparkling wine on ice and that view. This is a totally private encounter and you can spend as long as you like up there.

If you please, you have the option of visiting of a Maasai village where you get a taste of the Maasai’s traditions and the chance to dance alongside the leaping men and beautifully beaded women.

Overnight: Angama Mara

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 8 - Masai Mara National Reserve

Start the day hot air ballooning over the savannah at dawn. Departure is from a perfect natural launch site, flames from the hot air balloon burners light the darkness as the crews inflate their craft. The first, pink tongues of sunlight flicker across the skies as the hot air balloon fills, then rises. Suspended in a basket beneath the rainbow-coloured canopy, you’re off for a wildlife viewing adventure with an entirely different perspective. What amazes most is the absolute stillness: the silence as you float above the plains, the forest and the rivers of the Masai Mara. The flight lasts an hour or so, drifting wherever the air currents take you, and with ample opportunities for photography and video filming. Then your Kenyan Hot Air Balloon Safari finishes with a flourish. In the time-honored tradition of balloon flights the world over, you toast your return to earth with a champagne breakfast, cooked wherever you land.

In the afternoon, adventure out on a drive culminating in a sundowner.

Overnight: Angama Mara

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 9 - Fly to Nairobi

Bid the Masai Mara farewell and fly back to Nairobi where you are met and assisted to connect onto your international flight home.

Overnight:

Meal Plan: B