Bush to Beach Active Safari

Start your Kenya safari in Nairobi, welcomed with a VIP escort through customs. A private driver whisks you to The Emakoko, a family-run lodge tucked into a river valley on the edge of Nairobi National Park. Sip a welcome drink by the pool and spot your first giraffe or zebra before you’ve even unpacked. Enjoy a restful sleep, it’s been a long travel day.

Sleep in, shaking off jetlag with a relaxed breakfast. This afternoon, your family enjoys private access to Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, one of Africa’s most inspiring conservation projects. Watch on as dedicated keepers bottle-feed precious orphan elephants and rhinos, sharing their stories. It’s a heart-lifting introduction to the power of hands-on conservation sure to imprint on young minds.

Fly north to Borana, a private conservancy where kids and teens will experience conservation in action. Here, every game drive or walking safari is part of a visionary effort to protect wildlife and empower local communities. Once you’ve settled into your family cottage at Borana Lodge, gear up for your first thrilling game drive. Return for a dinner buzzing with safari stories, then gather at the firepit to stargaze beneath an inky-black sky.

The sunrise paints Mount Kenya with honeyed light on your morning game drive. Borana is home to Pride Rock from the Lion King, so be sure to stop. At the lodge, lunch unfolds on a shaded deck where elephant visits are never ruled out. In the afternoon, restless teens are released from the Land Cruiser. Saddle up for a horseback safari, e-bike past dazzles of zebra, take a guided bush walk, or visit a Maasai community.

Rhinos are rare, but they thrive in Borana. Alongside a scout, your family will help locate and identify rhino—a roll call performed every single day. Later, as the sun wanes, clamber into a vehicle to deploy members of the anti-poaching unit across the conservancy where they monitor wildlife and surveil the perimeter overnight. It’s a sobering examination of the frontline dedication required to safeguard rhino populations in East Africa.

Fly from the hilly Laikipia Plateau to the Maasai Mara plains, arriving at Kicheche Valley Camp. Clasped by acacia trees and tucked away in Mara Naboisho Consevancy—far from the central Mara crowds—you have the freedom to linger in unblinking wildlife moments as long as you please. This afternoon, make your first survey of the savannah to meet the resident lion pride and sundown in a secretive spot in the bush.

Dedicate this day to the wildlife parade that the Mara offers. Your guides at Kicheche are excellent; follow them on a walking safari, feeling your primordial senses kick in while deciphering tracks and other clues left in the bush. Game drives here ramble across 52,000 private acres with the ability to trail lions and cheetah off-road. (Not permitted in the Reserve.)

Park the Land Cruiser to follow guides and Maasai scouts on foot between two conservancies. Make any excuse to pause: wildlife sightings, bushcraft lessons, a packed lunch in the shade of an acacia tree. By late afternoon, arrive at a private fly camp arranged just for your family. Pared back to basics, it’s a wild night chorused with hyenas and nightjars echoing through the dark.

We don’t rush you out of the Mara; plentiful stories are yet to be written. Arrive at Kicheche Bush Camp, a six-tent camp that’s luxurious without pretension. An intimate setting, the crew here feels less like staff and more like friends. Settle into a spacious family tent, then enjoy an afternoon game drive that ends with a gin pop-up bar on the open plains.

Mornings start with warm mugs next to a dawn fire before game drives that trace Olare Motorogi Conservancy. Drives feel like family treasure hunts, with lions or cheetah appearing when you least expect them. Giraffes tower, elephants lumber, and wily jackal scavenge for an easy meal. In season, you might spy Great Migration masses. Back in camp, make fast friends, swapping safari diaries with other guests at communal dinner tables.

Savor your final Kenya safari game drive this morning. You’ll then fly from the Mara to Nairobi and onward to the Seychelles. Worry not, we’ve handled every last detail for a seamless travel day. On Mahé, the Seychelles' main island, you’ll overnight at a chic hotel fronting the harbor. An urban pause between the wild and the water, stroll the marina boardwalk or dine out at a café, sampling a Seychellois curry.

A short flight brings you to Alphonse Island, a breathtaking private island afloat in a deep blue ocean. Ringed by platinum sand and kaleidoscopic blue shallows, it’s an untouched paradise plucked straight from a daydream. Take sanctuary in a secluded beach villa at Alphonse Island Lodge. Steps from the beach, the ocean is filtered through waving palms and lush native flora for postcard porch views.

On Alphonse, the ocean exerts a gravitational pull, and splendid days revolve around it. Today, your family gets its first glimpse of the island’s enchanting water world. Whether snorkeling or scuba diving, the crystal clear, warm waters reward you with vibrant coral gardens teeming with turtles, rays, sharks, and tropical fish. Recount your marine safaris while gathering over meals of line-caught fish and garden-grown produce dressed in Creole influences.

It’s a choose-your-adventure ocean day. Offshore anglers might set their intentions to hook a sailfish or tuna. A blue safari all but guarantees dolphins and whale watching. For aqua immersion, learn to freedive or snorkel alongside giant sailfish or manta rays. Cruise to the deserted beaches of Bijoutier or St. François to play castaway on uninhabited outer islands. Or, close out the day with a sundowner cruise in the lagoon. 

Pencil in an Alphonse quintessential: wild dining in the sand. Kayak or paddleboard to a secluded beach where a picnic awaits your appetite or boat to a gourmet buffet on a tidal shoal borrowed from the sea. Wile away the rest of your day surfing, cycling the island’s palm forested heart, saltwater fly-fishing, or swaying in a hammock with a book.

Dedicate some time to the conservation of vulnerable marine habitats. Join a biologist on the inner reef flats to perform some citizen science. Your family helps collect data on species you encounter in the seagrass meadows and in reef crevices, while juvenile turtles, eagle rays, and eels parade by. Later, embark on a turtle patrol or view giant tortoise feeding with an expert at the Island Conservation Society.

Your family’s active safari comes to a gentle close. Fly from Alphonse back to Mahé, then board your international flight home with a suitcase of stories that will be retold over the dinner table for years to come