DAY 1: Your guides will meet you at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport around 8:00 pm in Nairobi. They'll take you out to dinner and to a comfortable hotel in Nairobi where you can quickly recover from any jet lag you might have.
DAY 2: Leave Nairobi, passing through the coffee farms and tea farms of the central highlands. You will have a chance to interact with local farmers and learn about their work. Stop over in Karatina, a town in central Kenya named for the largest market in Africa. Head to Naromoru and spend the night at Naromoru River Lodge near the base of Mount Kenya. The rushing Naromoru River will lull you to sleep.
DAY 3: Visit Kambi Primary School where Muthoga, one of our guides, attended school as a child. You'll have a chance to tour the school and possibly listen to a performance from class choir groups. Have tea with the headmaster and leave a donation of some much-needed school supplies before continuing on to Sweetwater Sanctuary. In Sweetwater, get your first chance to spot animals and meet some of Jane Goodall's chimpanzee refugees. You'll also be able to pet a tame, orphaned rhino and meet some warthogs up close. Take a walk on the equator on your way back. Spend the night again at Naromoru River Lodge.
DAY 4: Leave for Kenya's exotic Samburu National Reserve. The reserve is situated on the Ewaso Nyiro River, where there's plenty of water, trees and shade to attract wildlife like elephants, lions, gerenuks, giraffes and zebras from the surrounding savanna. Lions and leopards are also regularly spotted. Stay overnight at Samburu Game Lodge.
DAY 5: Spend the morning and evening combing the reserve for all types of African mammals. During the day you can relax by the pool. Before your evening drive you'll visit a Samburu village where you can experience the dancing, fire making, beadwork, and company of these distant cousins to the Maasai.
DAY 6: Leave early for Nakuru town but stop en route to explore Thomson's Falls. Spend some time in the Nakuru market buying fresh foods before heading into the park for dinner and sunset from Nakuru Guest House. Guests have spotted antelope, buffalo, hyena, and even rhino right from the dining room windows!
DAY 7: Get up early for a chance to see the sun rise over Lake Nakuru and spot animals like rhino, giraffe, baboon, and birds when they are most active. Circle the entire lake and attempt to count just how many thousands of pink flamingos there are. After the game drive, have lunch in Nakuru town and then continue on to Lake Naivasha and Crater Lake. Enjoy a boat cruise in the Crater Lake volcano oasis amongst Cyprus, flamingos and colobus monkeys. Return to Fish Eagle Inn in time to watch the hippos come out of Lake Naivasha to graze.
DAY 8: Leave Naivasha for the Maasai "city" Narok to meet up with Jonathon, your Maasai laiason. Tour Narok, pick up some gifts for your Maasai hosts and then continue on to Jonathon's boma. Here you will be introduced to the intricacies of Maasai life and have a chance to interact with the many young children from the different families living in Jonathon's boma. They will be excited to show you their homes and take pictures with you. Make a big fire and share a traditional goat roast with new friends. Come nightfall, Jonathon will share stories and songs about Maasai origin. You'll have the opportunity to sleep in a Maasai home or in comfortable camping arrangements.
DAY 9: After hot tea and breakfast you can help take the livestock out to graze and try your hand at milking. Walk down to visit the local school before heading off to the Masai Mara Reserve. The Mara is the Africa that you've seen in pictures and on TV. Rolling plains as far as you can see should bring sightings of all the "big five" and your best chance to see cheetah as well. Stay overnight at one of several spectacular Safari lodges.
DAY 10: In the morning you'll head all the way down to the Mara river. Walk a few steps into Tanzania and trek along the river banks searching for an answer to the age old question: who is king of the river? The hippo or the crocodile?
DAY 11: Head back to Nairobi stopping for scenic vistas of the fertile Great Rift Valley along the way. Enjoy a banquet at the Carnivore Restaurant (rated in the top 100 in the world). You'll have a chance to taste local game and drink dawas... the perfect closure to an amazing African adventure.
DAY 12: Visit the Giraffe Center and then shop the Nairobi city market for curios to bring home. Dine at traditional "nyama choma" (BBQ) restaurant before catching the evening flight to Amsterdam to arrive home the following day.
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