5-Day Nairobi to Mombasa Safari via Amboseli and Tsavo East

Your driver-guide collects you in Nairobi and follows the southern road to Amboseli, with a comfort stop along the way. The journey crosses changing farmland and dry country before the mountain landscape opens out near the park. Allow a substantial morning for the transfer; the chosen lodge determines the approach gate. Arrive for lunch and settle into your room before the afternoon drive.

Enter Amboseli and explore the grasslands and wetland margins on permitted tracks. Your guide watches for elephant families feeding and moving towards water, with zebra, wildebeest and gazelles on the plains. Buffalo and waterbirds add interest around the marshes, while giraffe favour the woodland edges. Pause for photographs of Kilimanjaro when cloud clears, then return to your accommodation for dinner before park closure.

Leave after breakfast for a full day among Amboseli’s grasslands, acacia edges and permanent wetlands. Follow elephant movements between feeding areas and water, stopping to watch herd behaviour rather than rushing between sightings. Zebra, wildebeest, buffalo and gazelles are regular subjects; your guide also scans open ground and shaded cover for lion, spotted hyena and cheetah. Predator encounters depend on the animals’ movements.

Continue around the marsh margins for waterbirds and hippos in deeper pools. At Observation Hill, take the designated walking trail for a wide view over the basin and enjoy your packed lunch at a permitted picnic site. The afternoon drive returns through productive habitats as light changes across the plains. Your guide keeps the route within open tracks and park hours, returning to the same accommodation for dinner.

Depart after breakfast and travel to Tsavo East, with lunch and comfort stops built into the day. The transfer links two distinct wildlife landscapes and is treated as a travel stage rather than an uninterrupted game drive. Entry gates and the approach road are selected for the lodge location and the tracks currently open to visitors.

After entering Tsavo East, watch for elephants carrying the red dust that gives this landscape much of its character. Giraffe, zebra, buffalo and antelope use the open bush and grasslands. Your guide follows an accessible game-viewing route towards the accommodation, making time for sightings before check-in and dinner. The following day provides the main opportunity to explore further inside the park.

Spend the morning on a game drive through Tsavo East’s open bush and wide plains. Follow the tracks serving active water sources and grazing areas, watching for elephant herds, zebra, giraffe and buffalo. Your guide checks the surrounding cover for lion and other predators while allowing time to photograph the scale and colour of the landscape.

Take lunch at the lodge or an authorised picnic area before another drive. The afternoon circuit follows current wildlife information and open roads; water levels and seasonal access determine which dam or river areas are appropriate. Birdlife, smaller mammals and changing light add interest between larger sightings. Return to the same accommodation for dinner. Routes closed by flooding or park management are excluded from the drive, with another permitted circuit used instead.

After breakfast, check out and leave Tsavo East on a final game-viewing exit drive. The package covers the required admission for this planned exit, and your guide balances wildlife stops with the onward coastal transfer. Lunch and comfort breaks are included along the road.

Continue towards Mombasa. Traffic on the coastal approach and the location of your hotel affect the final journey time. Your safari ends at the agreed hotel drop-off. Beach accommodation, evening meals after drop-off and the journey back to Nairobi are outside this safari package. Confirm the precise hotel location when enquiring so the transfer can be priced and scheduled correctly.