Ten days through Amboseli and the two Tsavos, then five slow nights on the Indian Ocean. The classic Kenyan vacation.
The southern circuit — Amboseli, Tsavo West and Tsavo East — runs naturally downhill to the sea, which makes this the most relaxed way to see Kenya. No backtracking, no dawn flights, just a steady road east from the mountain to the ocean.
Five nights at the coast is enough to genuinely rest: reef snorkelling and Swahili history for those who want it, and long empty days for those who don't. Ideal for families and for anyone who wants a holiday rather than an expedition.
There are no internal flights until the very end — a single one-way hop from Mombasa or Diani back to Nairobi for your international departure.
A morning-by-morning account of the journey as it unfolds. Everything is flexible — this is a shape, not a script.
Collected in Nairobi after breakfast, you drive south through Maasai rangeland to Amboseli, arriving in time for lunch. Your first game drive is an introduction to the park's great elephant families, feeding knee-deep in the green swamps with Kilimanjaro filling the southern sky. Sundowners on the plain and dinner beneath the mountain.
Kilimanjaro is at its clearest at dawn, so you are out early. Morning and late-afternoon game drives bracket a slow middle of the day at the lodge. You will find lion on the pans, cheetah in the open grass, buffalo, hyena and pelican-crowded marshes — and, from Observation Hill, one of the great panoramas in East Africa. An optional Maasai manyatta visit fills the afternoon.
A morning drive through the Chyulu Hills brings you into Tsavo West — greener, more dramatic and far wilder than its reputation suggests. You visit Mzima Springs, where fifty million gallons of crystal water rise daily from the lava and an underwater chamber lets you watch hippo and barbel eye to eye. An afternoon game drive over the black lava flows, then dinner above a floodlit waterhole where elephant and buffalo drink in the dark.
You cross into Tsavo East — vast, red and open, a horizon country of dust and doum palms. This is the home of the red elephants, coated in the park's ochre soil, and of huge herds of buffalo along the Galana River. Game drives take in the Aruba Dam and the Yatta Plateau, the world's longest lava flow. The evening light here is extraordinary; keep the camera close.
A last morning game drive as you exit the park eastwards, and by early afternoon the air turns humid and salty and the Indian Ocean appears. You settle into your beach hotel — Diani, Watamu or the north coast, whichever we've chosen together — and the safari boots go away. Swim, shower off the dust, and eat grilled seafood as the sun goes down behind you.
A traditional dhow carries you out to the marine park for a morning of snorkelling over living coral — parrotfish, angelfish, turtles, and often dolphins on the way back. Lunch is served on board or on a sandbank, and the afternoon returns you to the shade of the palms.
Deliberately unplanned. Sleep late, read, swim at high tide, walk the beach at low. If you would rather be busy, we can arrange kitesurfing, a spa afternoon, deep-sea fishing or a skydive over the reef.
A guided morning through the Swahili coast's long history: the coral-stone alleys and carved doors of Mombasa Old Town and Fort Jesus, or the ruins of Gede swallowed by forest near Watamu. Spice markets, tamarind juice and a Swahili lunch, then back to the beach for the afternoon.
Your last day on the ocean, and it is entirely yours. A sunrise swim, a final dhow sundowner cruise, a long dinner with your feet in the sand. We'll confirm your flight times and repack the safari bags so tomorrow is effortless.
A leisurely breakfast, then a short one-way flight from Mombasa (or Diani/Ukunda) to Nairobi, timed to meet your international departure. A day room can be arranged if you have hours to fill. Our team sees you through to the gate.
Tell us who you're travelling with and when you dream of going. We'll refine this itinerary — lodges, pace, extras — into something shaped entirely around you.