9-Day Big Five Signature Safari: Tracks of Legends

Welcome to Kenya. After clearing immigration at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, you are met by your Gip Adventure driver-guide and transferred to your hotel in Nairobi, the lively capital that serves as the gateway to East Africa's great safaris.

If you land early, ask us about a short afternoon visit to the Giraffe Centre or the Karen Blixen Museum at the foot of the Ngong Hills. Otherwise, settle in, enjoy dinner and a full safari briefing, and rest well before your journey into the wild begins. Overnight in Nairobi.

After breakfast, drive north from Nairobi through the tea and coffee country of the central highlands to the Aberdare Range, around 3 hours. Arrive in time for lunch at the base hotel, then continue up into Aberdare National Park, where misty montane and bamboo forest, deep ravines and tumbling waterfalls create a cool, green contrast to the savanna.

Tonight you stay at one of the park's famous tree lodges, built above a floodlit waterhole and salt lick. As darkness falls, settle in on the viewing decks and watch elephants, buffalo, bushbuck, giant forest hogs and perhaps even the elusive bongo or a leopard come to drink. Ask to be woken if something special appears during the night. Dinner and overnight in Aberdare National Park.

After an early breakfast overlooking the waterhole, descend from the Aberdares, perhaps stopping to see one of the park's waterfalls, and continue to Ol Pejeta Conservancy on the Laikipia plateau, a drive of around 2 hours with Mount Kenya ahead of you.

After lunch, enjoy an afternoon game drive on the conservancy, home to the largest population of black rhinos in East Africa as well as southern white rhinos, lions, elephants, leopards and large herds of buffalo. As the sun sets, watch the light turn gold on the slopes of Mount Kenya before returning for dinner and overnight at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Spend a full day on the conservancy with morning and afternoon game drives. Visit the enclosure where the last two northern white rhinos on earth, both female, are guarded around the clock, and hear from the rangers about the extraordinary science and dedication being used to try to save their subspecies from extinction.

Later, stop at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, the only place in Kenya to see chimpanzees, before continuing across the plains in search of lions, cheetahs, elephants and the painted dogs that sometimes range across Laikipia. Return to your camp as the light fades over Mount Kenya. Dinner and overnight at Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

Enjoy a final early game drive at Ol Pejeta, then return for breakfast before driving to Lake Nakuru National Park, around 4 hours. Along the way, stop at Thomson's Falls in Nyahururu, where the Ewaso Narok River tumbles over a 70 m drop, before the road winds down into the Rift Valley.

In the afternoon, explore Lake Nakuru on a game drive. Drive up to Baboon Cliff for a superb view over the lake and its pink fringe of flamingos, then search the grassland and woodland for rhinos, buffalo, lions and Rothschild's giraffes. Dinner and overnight at Lake Nakuru.

After an early breakfast, and perhaps a final short game drive along the lakeshore, leave Lake Nakuru and drive south-west through Narok, the last town before the Mara, to the Masai Mara National Reserve, around 5–6 hours. The scenery opens up as you go, with Maasai herders and their cattle on the rolling plains.

Arrive at your camp in time for lunch, then head out on an afternoon game drive across the spotted plains that give the Mara its name. Lions, elephants, giraffes, topis and herds of plains game are everywhere, and the golden late-afternoon light is the perfect introduction to Kenya's most celebrated reserve. Dinner and overnight in the Masai Mara.

Today belongs to the lions. The Masai Mara has one of the highest densities of lions in Africa, and its prides and coalitions of males are among the most closely watched anywhere. Set out at first light to find them while they are still active, perhaps feeding on a kill, calling across the plains or leading cubs to water.

With a picnic lunch on board, you can follow a pride through the day at your own pace, learning from your guide how lionesses cooperate in a hunt and how males defend their territory. In the late afternoon, as the heat eases, the cats begin to stir again, often the best time for action. Dinner and overnight in the Masai Mara.

Enjoy another full day in the reserve, this time exploring towards the Mara River with a picnic lunch. Hippos crowd the river pools, giant Nile crocodiles bask on the banks, and the riverine forest is a favourite haunt of leopards. During the migration months, this is where the famous crossings take place.

On the open plains, look for cheetahs, which favour the Mara's short grass for hunting, and for the elephants, buffalo, giraffes, topis and elands that make every drive different. With over 400 bird species recorded, the birdlife is superb too, from secretary birds to martial eagles. Return to camp at sunset for dinner and overnight in the Masai Mara.

Rise early for a last game drive in the Masai Mara as the sun comes up over the plains, then return to camp for breakfast. Afterwards, drive back to Nairobi, around 5–6 hours via Narok, with a lunch stop on the way.

On arrival in Nairobi you are transferred to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in time for your onward flight, or to a city hotel if you are staying longer. We hope you leave with wonderful memories and a heart full of Kenya. Safe travels.