Mountains, Mara & Coast
13 nights, 4 distinct landscapes — mountains, mara & coast.
From the first transfer to the final morning, every stop earns its place — Kenya’s gateway city; snow on the equator and forest foothills; big cats and the migration; beaches, Old Town and Fort Jesus.
Add a night in Nairobi before or after — a relaxed arrival or a buffer before your flight home. Just ask.
What you'll see
The journey, one day at a time
Arrive in Nairobi
Arrive in Arrival · Nairobi, met and transferred to your accommodation.
To the foot of Mount Kenya
Drive to Mount Kenya to the forested foothills of Mount Kenya, the country's namesake peak, and settle into a lodge with the mountain filling the skyline. Foothill drives or walks with elephant and buffalo in the woodland, the snow-capped summit above, and a rhino sanctuary or trout stream within reach.
Around the mountain
Foothill drives or walks with elephant and buffalo in the woodland, the snow-capped summit above, and a rhino sanctuary or trout stream within reach.
Into the Mara
Drive to Mara into the Maasai Mara and head out on a first game drive as the light softens — plains game, elephant and the first cats on the way to camp.
Full day on the plains
Morning and afternoon drives with a Maasai guide, routed by where the predators are moving, with the long midday hours to rest at camp.
Deeper into the reserve
A full day further afield — river lines, kopjes and open grassland — with a picnic lunch out in the bush.
Dawn from the air
Lift off over the waking plains and land to a bush breakfast, then an afternoon drive once the heat eases.
To the Mombasa coast
Fly to Mombasa to the Mombasa coast — white-sand beaches either side of an old Swahili port, with Fort Jesus and the spice-scented Old Town to explore. Time on the reef and the sand, with Fort Jesus, the Old Town lanes and a Swahili meal when you want a break from the water.
Beach and Old Town
Time on the reef and the sand, with Fort Jesus, the Old Town lanes and a Swahili meal when you want a break from the water. A free beach day — dhow cruise, snorkelling, a spa hour, or nothing at all but the Indian Ocean.
A day by the ocean
A free beach day — dhow cruise, snorkelling, a spa hour, or nothing at all but the Indian Ocean. Mombasa makes most sense as a cultural day or two bolted onto beach time. <strong>Nyali and Bamburi sit just north, Diani a short way south</strong> — white sand and reef within easy reach of the Old Town. The smart coast trip uses Mombasa for its history and food, then decamps to the beach for the rest. Treat the city as the soul of the coast and the sand as its edge.
Beach and Old Town
Time on the reef and the sand, with Fort Jesus, the Old Town lanes and a Swahili meal when you want a break from the water.
A day by the ocean
A free beach day — dhow cruise, snorkelling, a spa hour, or nothing at all but the Indian Ocean.
Arrive in Nairobi
Arrive in Nairobi, met and transferred to your accommodation. Nairobi National Park is the city's one true wonder: a genuine wildlife reserve — lions, rhino, giraffe, hundreds of bird species — with skyscrapers and passing planes as the backdrop. You can be on a real game drive within twenty minutes of a downtown hotel. It's not the Mara, and it's fenced on the city side, but as a first taste of African wildlife on a jet-lagged arrival day, nothing else comes close.
Journey's end
Transfer to the airport for your onward flight home.
The season changes what you see.
The migration window
The wildebeest are in the Mara and the river crossings are on — the headline months, and the busiest. Book well ahead.
Resident game, green plains
The Big Five never leave. Fewer vehicles, lower rates, newborns in the grass and clean light for photography.
Hand-picked camps & lodges
Giraffe Manor
The famous 1930s manor where resident Rothschild's giraffes lean through the windows at breakfast.
Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club
A storied colonial estate on the equator, with manicured grounds and the mountain rising behind.
Ilora Retreats
An intimate, design-led tented retreat in the heart of the Mara, built around quiet luxury and private guiding.
Angama Mara
Glass-fronted suites suspended on the Oloololo Escarpment, with one of the most cinematic views in Africa.
Mara Plains Camp
A tiny, conservation-driven Great Plains camp in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy — copper, canvas and real exclusivity.
Mahali Mzuri
Richard Branson's striking twelve-tent camp in Olare Motorogi, with low vehicle numbers and big-cat country at the door.
Make it yours.
Add nights, swap a park, extend to the coast — this route is a starting point, not a fixed menu. Tell us how you travel and we'll route the rest.