Green Season Kenya

You’ll begin this Kenya adventure by flying into Nairobi and staying one night in the buzzing capital. Your part city hotel, part safari resort is the Ole-Sereni Hotel, which is located between Nairobi’s airport and a wildlife-packed national park. If you’ve had a long flight, head straight for the salon and health club where you can have a soothing massage or shake off the travel fatigue in the swimming pool and sauna. At sunset, make sure you have your favourite aperitif in hand for the perfect sunset on the massive hotel veranda – it overlooks the park and you might be able to spot a few members of the Big Five right from your seat.

From Nairobi, you’ll fly south to spend two nights beneath the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro in Amboseli National Park. Your luxurious safari base is the wonderful Tortillis Camp, which is perfectly placed for enjoying some of the best views of area. Make sure your camera battery is charged as green season in Amboseli is ludicrously photogenic, with the landscape glowing a deep emerald, Kilimanjaro peaking above the clouds and families of elephants loping into shot just at the right moment. As the sun sets, find a quiet spot, perch on the front of your 4x4 with a cold Tusker beer and watch the sky turn scarlet – definitely a moment you’ll remember forever.

From Amboseli, you’ll be whisked back to Nairobi by light aircraft before journeying through the Rift Valley to the shores of Lake Naivasha. Here you’ll spend two nights at lovely Loldia House, exploring the farm, meeting lively children in the village school and admiring the extraordinary birdlife. Within the walls of the farmhouse, you’ll be taken back to the time when the early settlers arrived here - snuggled up, gazing into the fire with a gin and tonic and enjoying long dinners into the night. During the day, you can take a morning boat trip around Lake Naivasha to see the pods of hippo along the shallow shores and then head to Lake Nakuru National Park, which is fringed by thousands of pink flamingos and rhino grazing beside the water.

After several days of relaxation, a light aircraft will come calling to take you down to the Masai Mara. Make sure you get a window seat- more often than not you’ll see giraffes, ellies and zebras before you even land! You’ll spend two nights here getting up close and personal with the feline stars of Big Cat Diaries, the antelope that stride soundlessly through camp and the sort-after Big Five in the national reserve. Encounter Mara will be your base, an intimate and very eco-friendly camp located in an exclusive conservancy on the edge of the Mara. Not restricted by the national reserve’s rules and regulations, you can go on foot and night safaris around the camp’s reserve to see a very different side of the incredible Kenyan bush. If you are looking for a ‘must-do’ experience, we suggest waking up early for the beautiful morning hot-air balloon safari across the plains – you’ll fly so close to the ground that the basket brushes the grass and so high that the herds of wildebeest look like ants.