Kenya (Safari)

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi is well-connected from Europe and the Americas. Spend the afternoon in Nairobi rather than rushing on to the bush. The Giraffe Centre, run by the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife, allows visitors to feed endangered Rothschild's giraffes by hand from an elevated platform at eye level — an experience that is genuinely moving, and being kissed on the face by a giraffe's 45cm prehensile tongue is uniquely memorable. The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's elephant orphanage has a daily visit (11am, book in advance) where infant elephants rescued from poaching and drought are fed by keepers and play in the mud in front of visitors. These are two of the most emotionally affecting wildlife experiences available anywhere in Africa.

Take the 45-minute charter flight from Wilson Airport to one of the Masai Mara's private airstrips — the moment the plane descends into the Mara, the landscape opens up below in an astonishing expanse of golden grassland, acacia woodland, and the glinting silver ribbon of the Mara River. Transfer to your tented camp and take the afternoon game drive immediately — the Mara light is at its best in the late afternoon when the sun is low and the grass turns amber. The Masai Mara has the highest density of large mammals in Africa: lion prides, cheetah families, large elephant herds, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest (year-round), and the world's largest population of black-maned Masai lions. The Great Migration crossing the Mara River occurs typically July-October; at other times the resident wildlife is still extraordinary. Sundowners on the plains as the sun sets behind the Oloololo Escarpment.

Wake at 5am for the hot air balloon safari — the most romantic wildlife experience available in Africa. The balloon launches at dawn and drifts silently over the Masai Mara for approximately one hour, at heights ranging from treetop level to 300 meters, watching the wildlife below: elephant families moving through the grassland, hippos returning to the river, cheetah on termite mounds scanning for prey. The scale of the Mara — which you understand for the first time from above — is extraordinary: an unbroken grassland extending 20km in every direction. A champagne bush breakfast follows the flight, laid out on white tablecloths in the bush while the sun rises over the escarpment. Afternoon: the Mara River crossing (July-October) — thousands of wildebeest waiting nervously on one bank before plunging into crocodile-filled water in a chaos of fear and movement that is one of the most dramatic natural spectacles on earth.

A full day in the Masai Mara with dawn and dusk game drives and a walking safari in the midday. Dawn game drives (6am departure) have the best light and the most active wildlife — lions returning from night hunts, cheetahs beginning to hunt, elephants moving to water. The Mara North Conservancy (adjacent to the national reserve) has the best leopard sightings in the Mara — the ridge habitats and fig tree groves between the Mara River and the hills concentrate them. A walking safari with a Masai guide and armed ranger in the midday heat is a profoundly different experience from the vehicle game drive — slower, more intimate, focused on the smaller things: tracks, dung, insects, medicinal plants, and the Masai's own knowledge of the land. Sundowners at a different location from yesterday — a kopje (granite outcrop) with the entire Mara spread below.

Fly by charter from the Mara to Amboseli National Park — a 90-minute flight over the Great Rift Valley and the volcanic highlands of southern Kenya. Amboseli has the largest elephant population in Kenya (1,700 individuals) and the most extraordinary photographic backdrop in Africa: Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895m, Africa's highest peak) towers above the park on the Tanzanian border, and the classic image of elephants walking through the dust with the snow-capped peak behind is one of wildlife photography's great compositions. The elephants of Amboseli are the most studied in the world — the Amboseli Elephant Research Project has followed individual elephants since 1972 and the animals are remarkably accustomed to vehicles. Afternoon game drive specifically for the elephant family herds crossing the Kilimanjaro foothills.

Dawn and afternoon game drives in Amboseli focusing on the elephant herds and the changing light on Kilimanjaro. The summit of Kilimanjaro is most commonly clear at dawn before the afternoon clouds build — the 6am game drive specifically to position for elephant-and-Kilimanjaro compositions in the golden morning light is the signature Amboseli experience. Visit a Masai village (enkang) in the late morning — the Masai cultural experience in Amboseli is genuinely authentic (many Amboseli Masai families have been associated with the same camps for generations) and includes the warriors' jump (adumu), the bead jewelry process, and a tour of the enkang's domestic structure. Final sundowners with Kilimanjaro turning pink in the evening alpenglow.

A final dawn game drive before the charter flight back to Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta for international departures. Kenya Airways and other carriers connect Nairobi to London Heathrow, Amsterdam, and other European hubs directly; Nairobi is also an excellent hub for East African onward connections. Take home the memories in photographs and a bag of excellent Kenyan single-origin coffee (Kenya AA from the highland estates is among the world's finest) and a piece of Masai beadwork from the camp gift shop. A Kenya safari is one of the world's most reliably life-changing travel experiences — the combination of extraordinary wildlife, the romance of the bush, and the scale of the African landscape creates an impression that does not fade.