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Kenya with teenagers: the Maasai Mara and Lamu
Photo: Daniel Case, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Sample trip

Kenya with teenagers: the Maasai Mara and Lamu

Ten days for a family with teenagers: orphaned elephants in Nairobi, four nights in a tented camp on the Mara River in migration season, then a Swahili island where the only traffic is donkeys and dhows.

10 days, 9 nightsFor a family with teenagersA tented camp and a beach hotelRelaxed safari and Swahili cooking
NairobiNairobiMara NorthMara NorthLamuLamu
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August is the month of the great migration, when more than a million wildebeest and zebra move north into the Maasai Mara and gather on the banks of the Mara River to cross. This trip puts a family right there: in a tented camp on the river in a private conservancy, where game drives are shared with few other vehicles and the teenagers can walk with Maasai guides. It opens gently in Nairobi, with the Sheldrick orphanage's baby elephants at their midday feed, and ends slowly on Lamu, a car-free island of old stone houses and sandbanks, with a hotel on the beach at Shela and time to do nothing at all.

Arrive in Nairobi

Day1

Getting there

Fly into Nairobi (NBO); a driver takes you round the city on the southern bypass to Karen, about 40 minutes.

Where you're staying

The Karen Blixen Coffee Garden, a handful of cottages in a garden on the old coffee farm of the author of Out of Africa, close to her house, now a museum.

  • Every room can be set up as a twin, and each cottage has its own fireplace for the cool August evenings
  • Close to Wilson Airport, where tomorrow's flight to the Mara leaves
The cottages in the garden
The main house and its veranda
A bedroom with a canopy bed
A cottage sitting room
A twin room
Armchairs by the fireplace

Photos: karenblixencoffeegardens.com

Baby elephants, then the Mara

Day2

Morning

The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust raises orphaned baby elephants in Nairobi National Park, and every day from 11:00 to 12:00 visitors can watch the keepers bring them in for their milk and a mud bath.

  • Visits are by advance booking only
  • You can foster one of the elephants and follow its news from home, which teenagers tend to love
A keeper with the youngest orphans
Orphans at the midday feed
Keepers and elephants on the red earth
Visitors watching from the rope

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (U.S. Department of State, Erahmbuthia, Daniel Case; Public domain, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Afternoon

A light aircraft from Wilson Airport to the Mara North airstrip, under an hour, and the camp's vehicle meets you on the grass.

Where you're staying

Karen Blixen Camp, a tented camp on the bank of the Mara River in the Mara North Conservancy, with the hippos in the water below the tents.

  • Four nights, full board with drinks, shared game drives and a night drive in the conservancy
  • A triple tent works well for two teenagers; parents take the next tent along
Tents under the trees
A triple tent
A twin tent
Games in the pool
Breakfast out in the bush
Sundowners on the plain

Photos: karenblixencamp.com

The conservancy on foot and by jeep

Day3

The day

An early game drive, a bush walk with a Maasai guide and a ranger, and a visit to a Maasai village in the afternoon.

Flagship day

A crossing on the Mara River

Day4

Day 4

The day

A full day in the Maasai Mara reserve with your own vehicle and guide, following the herds to the Mara River crossing points, where wildebeest and zebra gather on the bank, hesitate for hours and then pour down into the water all at once.

  • Nobody can promise a crossing on a given day, so the guide reads the herds and moves between points; a packed lunch means you never have to leave early
  • Reserve fees are 200 US dollars an adult and 50 dollars a child under 16 for the day
  • A private vehicle in the reserve is about 350 dollars for the day
Wildebeest pouring down the bank
The herd in the river
Zebras among the crossing

Photos: Wikimedia Commons (Charles J. Sharp; CC BY-SA 4.0)

One river, two countries

The migration is a year-round loop between the Serengeti in Tanzania and the Mara in Kenya. The herds cross the Mara River again and again from July to October.

Balloon over the plains

Day5

The day

A dawn hot-air balloon flight over the Mara with a champagne breakfast in the grass, then a slow afternoon at the pool and sundowners on the plain.

To the coast

Day6

Getting there

Light aircraft back to Nairobi and on to Manda Island, where a boat crosses the channel to Shela in ten minutes.

Where you're staying

Peponi Hotel, a family-run beach hotel on the waterfront at Shela, for four nights.

Lamu town

Day7

The day

A walk through the alleys of Lamu old town with a local guide: carved doors, the donkey sanctuary and the fort, then lunch on a rooftop.

A day on a dhow

Day8

The day

A full day on a traditional sailing dhow through the channels, with snorkelling and fish grilled on the boat.

The beach

Day9

The day

Twelve kilometres of empty beach and dunes at Shela, a kitesurf lesson for anyone who wants one, and a last dinner on the jetty.

Home

Day10

Getting home

Boat to Manda, fly to Nairobi and connect to the flight home.

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