When planning a vacation, one of the most critical decisions you have to make is how how long the whole vacation will be and how many days you will spend in each of the locations you plan on visiting. If your plan is to visit Kenya, your question may be: how long should you spend in Kenya when on a Safari? Having lived in Kenya all my life, I have a few ideas on the best answer to this question. I also did some research with a number of tour companies and here is what I found.
How long you stay in Kenya will depend on your budget the number of parks and attractions that you intend to visit. Ideally, though, you will want to spend at least 2 weeks in Kenya with the time being divided among three national parks and the coast. Spending more time than this will make the experience bland unless you are visiting other parts of the continent that will give you greater diversity. In this article, I will tell you what timings are best and give you a few itinerary ideas for your Kenya Safari.
How long should you stay in each National Park in Kenya
There are over 40 national parks in Kenya and each of them has something interesting to offer. Ordinarily, you would visit each park to view particular types of wildlife and sceneries.
For example, the Maasai Mara allows you to see the Big Five (the African lion, the black rhinoceros, the African elephant, the African leopard, and the Cape buffalo) and rolling Savannah grasslands. On the other hand, the Aberdare National Park gives you the opportunity to view Highland Elephants more closely and lush mountain forest sceneries.
To optimise your enjoyment of what kenya has to offer you need to visit at least three of these national parks and spend at least two or three days in each of them.
This will give you ample opportunity to view all the wildlife that are in these parks and also give you an opportunity to take in the beautiful sceneries without feeling rushed.
How long should you stay on the Beaches in Kenya
The other very beautiful thing about kenya are the white sandy beaches of the coast. these are warm and toasty all year and you may want to spend some time here soak in that tropical sun.
The coast also has a number of marine parks that are worth checking out. Scuba Diving and snorkeling is available in the parks and you will get the opportunity to observe the coral reef there.
To sufficiently enjoy the Kenyan coast, you should plan to spend at least 2 nights there and you can easily stretch it out to a week if you really enjoy it spending time there
Kenya itinerary 14 days
Now this itinerary is really hectic and will be almost impossible to do unless you are ready for touch and go tour experiences in each park and have a good budget for it. I have provided it as a guide on what’s possible but you need to talk with your tour operator to plan out an itinerary that will suite your budget, interests and time.
- Day 1: Nairobi arrival: Rest in a hotel in preparation for the next day’s drive. If you have time, visit the National Museum and the Nairobi Animal
orphanage . - Day 2: Nairobi – Meru National Park: Drive through the highlands of Kenya and enjoy the lush rolling hills. Stop by some curio shops and buy some gifts.
- Day 3: Full day in Meru National Park: Animals you are likely to see: Elephant. Giraffe Hippo Buffalo, Zebra Common. Wildebeest, White Rhino
- Day 4: Meru National Park – Samburu National Reserve: Short flight to the Samburu National park and rest for the next day’s
- Day 5: Full day in Samburu National Reserve: You will get to see Cheetahs, Lions, Leopard Impala, African buffalo, Hippopotamus Dik-dik on the game drive here.
- Day 6: Samburu National Reserve – Sweetwater’s Sanctuary: At Sweetwater’s Private Sanctuary, you will get the chance to view chimps and the black rhinos, and an amazing variety of wildlife such as zebra, lion, leopard, Thomson’s gazelle,
grant’s gazelle, oryx, eland, baboon, elephant and various species of birds. - Day 7: Sweetwater’s Sanctuary – Lake Nakuru National Park: Giraffe, Hippo
,Buffalo , Zebra, White Rhino - Day 8: Lake Nakuru National Park – Masai Mara Game Reserve: Fly to the Maasai Mara.
- Full day in Masai Mara Game Reserve: View the Big 5: African elephant, Black rhinoceros, Cape buffalo, African lion, African leopard. You will also get to see hippos, crocodiles and warthogs.
- Full day in Masai Mara Game Reserve: If you come in the right time of year, you will get to also witness the great wildebeest migration and the crossing on the Mara River
- Masai Mara Game Reserve – Lake Naivasha: Fly to Lake Naivasha and spend the night in one of the Lodges on the shores of this lake
- Lake Naivasha – Watamu Malindi: Fly to
watamu - Full Day in Watamu Malindi: Visit the marine park
and spend some timein the beaches. Almost all the hotels there have swimming pools and you can take a dip. - Watamu – Nairobi (depart The next day): Fly back to Nairobi and Depart the next day
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