Located in East Africa, Kenya is the original safari destination. Home to the Big Five, pass splendid days watching wildlife such as lions, cheetah, elephants, Cape buffalo, and endangered black rhino. Zebra, antelope, giraffe, wildebeest, warthog, jackals, mongoose, hippo, and hyenas round out the wildlife parade.
On a Kenya safari, you’ll likely arrive in the capital of Nairobi, then travel by small plane, touching down at a remote airstrip in safari destinations like the Maasai Mara, Laikipia Plateau, Samburu, or Amboseli. You’ll be greeted by your driver-guide—perhaps welcomed with a drink and a snack—and then driven to a gorgeous, tented safari camp or luxury lodge, snug in the bush. You’ll probably spot wildlife along the way, so the transfer feels like a mini-game drive.
Your days will revolve around a morning and afternoon game drive, but what makes a Kenya safari especially appealing is the myriad of activities to enjoy outside the Land Cruiser.
What to Do on a Kenya Safari
For many people, a Kenya safari is a once-in-a-lifetime experience—sometimes marking a celebration or milestone. Safari first-timers probably know that a fair amount of time might be spent in a vehicle. But that’s not the only way to experience safari.
In our favorite Kenya safari destinations, you’re able to view wildlife on foot, from the saddle, or while soaring overhead. Moving at a much slower pace than driving, bush walks, horseback safaris, and biking are a thrilling and embodied safari experience. Activities are also a welcome opportunity to stretch your legs after rumbling along unpaved, corrugated tracks—or even off-road.
When planning your extraordinary journey with our safari experts, consider including a few of these Kenya safari activities.
Best Kenya Safari Activities
What to Do on a Kenya Safari
Game Drives
Each morning, you’ll receive a wake-up call as the sun gently rises above the horizon. Pack up and sip a coffee before joining your guide at the game vehicle. Rumble off for your morning game drive, checking for footprints and kills—clues to the predator action that occurred overnight. You might return to camp mid-morning for brunch, or you could be treated to a surprise bush breakfast in a secretive location.
Your afternoon is free until the late afternoon when you’ll once again assemble at the Land Cruiser and set off for an evening game drive. With the heat of the day behind you, wildlife becomes increasingly more active. You’ll track wildlife until sunset, then enjoy a round of sundowners and snacks on the hood of the vehicle or on camp seating at a scenic outlook. The veil of night descends, and you might experience a mini night game drive on your return to camp, looking for nocturnal species as they begin their “day.”
Great Migration
A Kenya safari highlight for travelers who visit in summer and early fall, is the opportunity to spy mass concentrations of Great Migration zebra and wildebeest. Described as “the world’s greatest wildlife spectacle,” throngs of grazers cycle between Tanzania’s Serengeti and Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. At the same time, another migration of zebra and wildebeest is making its way from Kenya’s Loita Hills to the Mara.
Planning a Kenya safari to coincide with the Great Migration is a highlight for many. You may spy a dazzle of zebra or a herd of Cape buffalo year-round, but the sheer masses of migration wildlife is a spectacular affirmation of life. With luck, you might arrive upon a herd amassing at a river crossing. Should the animals make the perilous crossing, you’ll be treated to one of the most iconic portraits of safari drama.
Bush Walks & Walking Safaris
A walking safari or a shorter (~one-hour) bush walk is all about bringing the subtle signs of the bush into focus—things you would miss in a game vehicle. Slowing down means safaris supporting actors take center stage. Without a rumbling engine, you’ll notice laboring insects and delicate blooms while suddenly paying great mind to the direction of the wind. Identify scat, follow animal tracks, smell wild sage, or learn how termite mounds are made. You might see some large game as well, such as elephant, giraffe, or buffalo.
On foot, you truly appreciate wildlife’s size, and your senses sharpen immediately. Your primordial instincts respond to the sights, sounds, and smells of the wilderness. Without hesitation, bush walks and walking safaris are some of the best Kenya safari activities.
Note: Walking safaris are typically age-restricted to youth 16 and older.
Horseback Safari
Kenya is a popular place to experience safari on horseback. From the vantage of the saddle, traverse open plains or undulating hills at an ambling pace that’s entirely unlike a game drive experience. Plus, wildlife doesn’t see a Land Cruiser—it sees another animal. If you’re a horse lover, trail riding is a Kenya safari activity you definitely want to consider.
Horseback safaris can last multiple days or can be as brief as an hour. Beginners and experienced riders can be accommodated, but note that stables are often stocked with ex-polo Kenyan Thoroughbreds. These highly trained professional horses mean a horseback safari may require you to command a bit more confidence than a North American, single-file lazy trail ride.
Horse safaris are a Kenya safari activity that can be enjoyed in the Mara North, Loisaba, Lewa, and Borana Conservancies. We also like riding at Ol Donyo Lodge, between Amboseli and Tsavo National Parks, adjacent to Chyulu Hills.
Note: Horseback safaris are typically age-restricted to youth 16 and older.
Hot Air Balloon Safari
The most whimsical of Kenya’s best safari activities is floating above the Maasai Mara in a hot air balloon. From above, glide above the open plains, atop riverine forest, and across snaking rivers filled bloats of hippo.
Depending on your camp’s distance to the launch site, you will wake at dawn (or even pre-dawn) to be collected by a driver.
Board the 16-passenger basket, which lays on its side to start, taking your spot in a dedicated compartment. (There are four sections that seat four persons.) Once aloft, drift suspended above the African savannah, taking in the glory of the rising morning sun painting the sky in a kaleidoscope of color.
Thanks to the cumbersome nature of navigating a hot air balloon, the flight path is sketched in pencil rather than ink—though efforts are taken to land near a picnic breakfast. Ideally, you’ll be able to walk to it; realistically, you’ll be picked up and driven a short distance to breakfast.
Pop Champagne (a ballooning tradition) and toast to another splendid day on safari.
Sleep in a Star Bed
Romantic, celestial, sublime—all ways to describe the magical experience of a star bed sleepout.
An absolute Kenya safari must-do, a star bed sees a bed assembled or moved onto an elevated outdoor platform or roofless deck. Beds are draped with a gauzy net that elevates the whimsy while also serving a practical purpose—keeping the night critters from biting.
More than just a sleep-out, the star bed experience usually begins after the evening game drive. Rather than returning to your suite or tent, you’re treated to a special dinner and roaring fire located in close proximity to the star bed. Enjoy an unhurried dinner and perhaps some wine before retiring beneath the star-spangled African night sky. Staff is in the area—far enough away to assure privacy—but within distance of a Walkie Talkie call, should you require anything. You’ll drift to sleep listening to the chorus of the bush and the calls of any wildlife wandering nearby.
Not all Kenya safari lodges offer a star bed experience, so be sure to communicate your wants with your Extraordinary Journey safari specialist.
We love the luxurious star beds at Ol Donyo (Chyulu Hills) and Ishara (Maasai Mara). Another more rustic option is Loisaba Star Beds on the Laikipia Plateau.
Conservation Activities
Conservation is central to Kenya’s safari industry. The country continues to recover from dark periods of intense poaching in its modern history while re-wilding landscapes that had been appropriated for agricultural farming. National parks and reserves aside, local communities are working in cooperation with families who have historic ties to the land to safeguard tracts of land while repopulating big game and reintroducing biodiversity.
Travelers seeking a unique Kenya safari activity can experience conservation in action, especially when staying on private ranches and conservancies. Sometimes that means partaking in a census or a darting operation. Clients can visit rhino breeding programs in Lewa, Loisaba Conservancy, and Nairobi, visit elephant research projects in Samburu and Amboseli, meet anti-poaching K9 units of Ol Pejeta Conservancy, and visit the orphaned elephants at Reteti Elephant Sanctuary.
Maasai & Samburu Cultural Exchange
When it comes to making a cultural connection on an African safari, there is no better destination than Kenya where semi-nomadic communities still practice traditional and pastoral ways of life. The Maasai and Samburu are among the most well-known.
Cultural exchanges as a Kenya safari activity can be as casual or as involved as you like. You could be matched with a Maasai safari driver-guide, spending multiple days getting to know them better. Alternatively, you could visit a not-for-profit or village; venture to the Singing Wells, spend time with the Ilkonono Blacksmiths, or learn to bead with a women’s group (Samburu); participate in a Warrior Academy; renew your vows in Maasai ceremony; or go on a Maasai-guided, multi-night walking safari.
Whichever type of experience you choose, you can be assured that your Extraordinary Journeys Kenya safari specialist will apply their deep knowledge and experience to choose an authentic cultural experience. Not every property is able to offer a genuine, feel-good experience; there are many that feel contrived or downright uncomfortable. Our firsthand experience in Kenya (and beyond) means that we can help you avoid the multitude of culturally insensitive and canned experiences available.
Helicopter Safaris
Take to the skies for aerial safari views and unprecedented access to Kenya’s remote corners. Traveling by helicopter, the options for your day are near limitless. Paired with a pilot who intimately knows the region, you can kick back and go wherever the wind takes you; it’s absolute freedom. Fly along mountain spines, skim the tree canopy, or soar above 8,000 feet. A helicopter safari is decidedly one of Kenya’s best safari activities.
Over the course of the day, you might stop six or seven times, exercising spontaneity to inspect curious geographic wonders, to land on a dune (and then run down it!), or stop off for a swim at a secretive lake. A helicopter safari is the best way to view Lake Turkana’s jade waters and volcanic cone, and to admire a flamboyance of bright pink flamingos at Lake Logipi.
Read more about co-founder Elizabeth Gordon’s full-day Kenya helicopter safari.
Biking/E-Biking Safaris
There’s something about wheeling about on a bike that emotes a sense of joy. Whether it’s the carefree ease afforded by an electric-assisted bike, or a flowy, cross-country effort, biking is one of the best Kenya safari activities for active travelers. It’s yet another opportunity to stretch your legs while burning off some of the gourmet meals and wine you’ve been enjoying at camp.
Options for biking can last an hour, an afternoon, a day, or even multiple days. Some of our favorite places to enjoy a bike safari in Kenya are at Ol Donyo and in the Borana Conservancy.
Fly Camping
As much as we love the comfort of a luxurious Meru tent, there’s nothing like an old-school starry sleepout. For the adventurous Kenya safari-goer, fly camping offers unfettered wilderness immersion.
Fly camping typically involves a bush walk, camel trek or horseback ride to a secretive location where a staffed camp has been assembled for you. Image: a basic tent with a comfortable bedroll, folding chairs circling a fire pit, a table, bucket shower, and a modest bush “bathroom.” Some fly camping set-ups are elevated with picnic blankets, throw pillows and lanterns. Others are simple, with a mosquito net being the only barrier between you and the wild. But don’t worry; your safety and security are assured by Askari, watchman. Chefs prepare gourmet meals, served al fresco, and there’s likely to be a mobile bar, too.
Some of our favorite flying camping experiences take place at Sarara Camp (Matthews Range), Kicheche (Mara Naboisho Conservancy), Serian (Mara North Conservancy), and Lewa Wilderness and Ol Malo (Lewa/Laikipia).
Camel Trekking
Camel trekking is the most novel Kenya safari activity on this list, but the desert-adapted animals have long had a cultural connection to northern Kenya. More drought-resistant than cattle, the semi-nomadic Samburu rear camels for livestock and milk and also for transportation. Depending on your camp, you might add a camel ride to your safari itinerary.
Although rides might be age-restricted (~eight years and older), the plodding gate of a camel is a “cruise control” alternative to travelers who might not feel comfortable riding a horse in the African bush. What’s more, camelback safaris are led by a guide, traveling single-file, and often times linked together with lead ropes.
From your high camelback perch, absorb the landscape at a gentle pace. Much like a bush walk/walking safari, your senses will heighten, and you will notice the smaller details and creatures that you’d otherwise miss on a game drive.
Rides typically embark in the late afternoon, once the heat of the day has broken. You’ll ride for about 45 minutes to an hour, arriving at a scenic spot for an ambient sundowner.
It’s possible to add camel trekking as an activity to your Kenya safari when staying at Sosian Ranch, Loisaba Tented Camp, Sasaab Camp (Samburu) or Ol Malo Lodge—all in Laikipia.
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