Itinerary
Amboseli National Park
Arrive in Nairobi and transfer to Wilson Airport for your flight to Amboseli National Park, best known for its high concentrations of big-tusked elephants and unrivalled views of Mt Kilimanjaro, which stands just across the border in neighbouring Tanzania.
You’ll be met and transferred to Elewana Tortilis Camp in the quiet southern reaches of the park. The camp’s 16 thatched tents have king or twin beds, polished wooden floors and shady verandas with glorious views of Africa’s highest mountain, while the bar looks down upon a waterhole frequented by elephant, zebra, giraffe and gazelle.
Game drives cover both the camp’s 30,000-acre private conservancy and the national park itself, where lion, leopard, cheetah and buffalo can also be seen framed against snow-capped Kilimanjaro.
Luxurious solar-powered eco-lodge with breathtaking views of Africa's highest mountain.
View AccommodationWhat better way to discover Amboseli than in the company of the local Maasai? Tortilis Camp’s Maasai walking guides have been walking the park since childhood and there’s little they don’t know about its flora, fauna, geography and geology. Take time to leave the vehicles behind and walk with the Maasai. They’ll share their knowledge of the terrain, traditional uses of herbs and barks, and help you to focus on details you’d often miss on traditional game drives.
Meru National Park
Fly back to Wilson Airport to connect with a light aircraft flight north to the wild, remote and gloriously crowd free Meru National Park. Your base for the next three nights will be Elewana’s Elsa’s Kopje, one of our favourite camps in Kenya. It sits above the site of George and Joy Adamson’s original camp in Meru. It was here, long before conservation became fashionable, that the Adamsons raised and released orphaned lions, the most famous being Elsa, the lioness of Born Free fame after whom the camp is named.
Although the sound of roaring lions can still ring out across the park, it’s actually rhinos that tend to cause the most excitement. The park’s rhino sanctuary is home to over 70 black and white rhinos, making Meru one of the best places in Kenya to see these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat.
A beautifully styled and romantic lodge, built above the site of George and Joy Adamson’s original Meru camp, where they famously raised the lion cub Elsa, an experienced immortalised in the classic Born Free.
View AccommodationWe have an excellent relationship with the team at Elsa’s Kopje and although not typically offered as an excursion, we can arrange for you to trek to the grave of Elsa, the lioness made famous by George and Joy Adamson’s biographical book and film, Born Free. For many it’s an emotionally charged experience, with a chance to consider the life of the Adamsons and that state of conservation in Africa today over a special picnic lunch.
Masai Mara
Another couple of short flights via Wilson Airport will bring you to the Masai Mara and on to Governor’s Il Moran. This intimate camp of just 10 spacious tents offers exceptional year-round wildlife viewing right on its doorstep. Hippos wallow in the waters below camp, elephants wander nonchalantly between tents, and the night-time is punctuated by the whoops of hyenas and the throaty calls of lions.
It's a great place to base yourself in July and August, when hundreds of thousands of wildebeest and zebra attempt to cross the Mara River not far from the camp, risking fatal encounters with enormous Nile crocodiles in their search for fresh pastures.
Fly back to Nairobi on day 11 to catch your flight back to London.
An excellent choice for those who like the plush side of bush life, with exceptional wildlife viewing right on the doorstep.
View AccommodationThere are few better ways to start your day than soaring majestically over the fertile grasslands of the Masai Mara, staring down at a million migrating wildebeest from the basket of a balloon. Many camps and lodges offer balloon safaris but Governor’s Il Moran is one of the best camps to do it from, largely because the launch site is so close to the camp, greatly reducing how early you have to wake up in order to be airborne before dawn.