Begin your safari adventure with a drive to the Equator, passing by smiling farmers and lush countryside, and end up at the Aberdares Country Club in time for lunch. Then drive through the forest to The Ark which overlooks the Yasabara waterhole, perhaps the largest salt-lick in the Aberdare Mountains, which is uniquely shaped to resemble the actual Ark, designed with decks from which numerous balconies and lounges provide superb vantage points for viewing the animals visiting the salt-lick and waterhole, at all times of the day and night. A ground-level bunker provides excellent photographic opportunities, and the Yasabara waterhole is floodlit by night to enable all-night viewing of wildlife. A resident naturalist is always on hand to point out the diverse wildlife and interesting landscape. As you relax this afternoon and evening, you may spot elephant, rhino, buffalo, bushbuck, giant forest hog, Sykes monkey, leopard, and bongo. THE ARK.

Your drive takes you through the forest again to the110,000-acre Ol Pejeta Conservancy in the Laikipia Plains. Enjoy wildlife drives into the bush against the backdrop of Mt. Kenya, Africa’s second highest mountain. At an additional cost, you can experience a walking safari, camel safari, horse-back riding, or a night drive. Visit a 200-acre Chimpanzee sanctuary, a project of the Kenya Wildlife Services and the Jane Goodall Institute, established to provide permanent haven for abused and orphaned chimpanzees. Your camp overlooks a floodlit waterhole and offers an unforgettable opportunity to watch and photograph wildlife in its natural habitat wrapped in the comforts of luxuriously appointed tents. SWEETWATERS TENTED CAMP.

Discover the Great Rift Valley, the huge geological trench that stretches round one-sixth of the Earth’s circumference, visible from far out in space. At 2,000 feet deep and 30 miles wide, it possesses the accoutrements of change: volcanoes, some of which still breathe with steamy breath, give shape to the valley rim, hot springs simmer and geysers explode with tectonic heat. Within the Rift Valley, Lake Nakuru National Park was once host to millions of flamingos, which are slowly returning in lesser numbers. The park is home to the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe, and white and black rhino. Look up at the yellow-barked acacia branches as a leopard might be lazing there. Your cozy, exclusive home is located at nearby Lake Elmenteita and is evocatively styled to echo the area’s rich history, blending aristocratic elegance with modern luxury. ELMENTEITA SERENA CAMP.

Start your morning with a boat ride on Lake Naivasha, where hippos and waterbirds abound, en route to Crescent Island, which you can explore on foot. No predators are found on this island, so walking among the free-roaming antelope is sure to be a fun experience. This island, shaped like a quarter moon, is a sanctuary for herds of antelope and many species of birds. Over 350 bird species have been recorded, with Thomson’s gazelle, waterbuck, monkeys, and other wildlife to keep them company. Your afternoon is at leisure to take advantage of the numerous activities on offer at your camp, or to just relax and enjoy your fabulous accommodation. ELMENTAITA SERENA CAMP.

You now drive to the Maasai Mara. The seemingly endless savannah is beautifully rendered in the film, Out of Africa and is inhabited by iconic species such as cheetah, elephant, leopard, giraffe, zebra, rhino, hippo, more prides of lion than any other park in Kenya and over 500 resident species of birds. Covering an area of 700 square miles, the reserve hosts the annual Great Migration where millions of wildebeest, thousands of zebra and gazelle arrive with the rains and fresh grass. An exciting optional activity (at additional cost) is watching dawn break over the Serengeti from a hot air balloon. Your luxury lodge is an interpretation of a traditional Maasai Manyatta village of domed huts and is set on the saddle of a hill overlooking the rolling plains, woodlands and rivers that make up the Mara Triangle – one of the world’s richest wildlife sanctuaries. MARA SERENA SAFARI LODGE.

Drive back to Nairobi after basking in one last sunrise over the Maasai Mara (an optional flight is available at additional cost). Continue to the airport in Nairobi for your flights home.

Extend your safari to Tsavo West National Park, a volcanic landscape crossed by four rivers and home to over 1,000 plant species. Watch hippo and crocodile in their underwater world at Mzima Springs. Observe elephants, whose skin is painted red by the iron rich soil. Look for descendants of The Ghost and the Darkness, the infamous man-eating lions of Tsavo. Visit a nearby local village and school. Then journey to Amboseli National Park, beneath the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro, home to an impressive five wildlife habitats that attract a wide variety of animal and bird life. Its large elephant herds have been studied for over 30 years by noted American naturalist and author, Cynthia Moss, founder of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project.