A dreamy Kenyan driving expedition

One of Kenya’s most popular national parks thanks to its easy location and dreamy scenery, Lake Nakuru is varied and diverse and home to a good cast of the animal kingdom. As ever, game drives are the name of the game and you’ll traverse terrain ranging from the mist-shrouded lakeshore to pretty acacia woodlands. White rhino are plenty, especially by the lake, and giraffe, hippo and buffalo are also easy to spot. The big cats are present but elusive, and interestingly, there are no elephants. The park is fenced so if you’re visiting slightly off-season, game viewing should still be good – but it does get busy.

The birding at Nakuru is glorious. Whilst the famous pink flamingo (Greater and Lesser species) are not quite as numerous as they once were, they still make a pretty sight - and 500 recorded species of other birds should make up for it. Raptors include Verreaux’s and the long-crested eagle, and the long-tailed widowbird is another excellent tick on your bird list.

Not far from Nairobi, you’ll encounter one of Kenya’s most unique destinations, where vast savannahs are replaced by a verdant expanse of rainforest intermingled with rivers and cascading waterfalls. As one of the smallest parks in Africa, a visit to Aberdare feels like you’re being let in on a secret.

Spend your days on game drives and guided hikes, spotting colobus and vervet monkeys as well as rare bongo antelope and black rhino. Certain lodges have fantastic hides, allowing you to capture moments spent unbelievably close to the wildlife including big cats, elephant and buffalo. If you’re up for it, horseback or mountain bike rides through ravines and into the highlands of the Great Rift Valley are also available.

The private farms and reserves of Laikipia offer a blockbuster of activities, each as unique as they are, and here more than anywhere, your experience will be determined by where you stay. Laikipa is renowned for its fantastic wildlife viewing – rhino, big cats, elephant, buffalo and wild dog are all present in sizeable numbers – but it’s up to you how you choose to find them…

Across the board, morning, afternoon and (usually) night game drives are on offer. We recommend using the drives as your base and adding on extras as you fancy. These can include walking safaris (around 3-4 hours) and hardier foot and fly-camping expeditions that involve walking through the bush by day and sleeping in a simple camp under the stars by night. Horse riding safaris are very common, and it’s not unusual to be offered a safari by camel! Also on the agenda are cycling and mountain biking trips, fixed-wing flights for game viewing by air, and a chance to spend time with the iconic Maasai and Samburu warriors who are very often landowners in the conservancies.