The Maasai Mara, the Migration & More
PLAN MY KENYA SAFARIThe word safari is Swahili — and Kenya is where it was born.
Welcome to Kenya — home of the Maasai Mara, the Great Migration river crossings and the original luxury African safari. At Ancient Africa Safaris, we craft tailor-made Kenya safari packages that go far beyond the famous: private Big Five game drives in the Mara's exclusive conservancies, Amboseli's elephants beneath Kilimanjaro, rhino conservancies in Laikipia and Lewa, Samburu's Special Five and a barefoot Diani Beach holiday to finish. Tell us your dream — and we will build your luxury Kenya safari around it.
Five days deep in big-cat country — private conservancy game drives, a dawn balloon over the herds and sundowners above the Mara River.
The grand tour — Kilimanjaro's elephants, the red dust of Tsavo and a migration-season finale in the Maasai Mara.
Walk with rhinos on the high plateau, then follow the Ewaso Ng'iro into Samburu for the Special Five and scarlet-robed culture.
The best of two worlds — the big cats of the Masai Mara by private 4×4, then an intimate audience with Rwanda's mountain gorillas.
Kenya invented the safari and has spent a hundred years refining it — pioneering the conservancy model, protecting its rhinos and welcoming travellers with a polish no newcomer can match. Here is why we believe the original still belongs at the very top of your list.
Start PlanningFrom July to October the Great Migration storms the Mara River — thousands of wildebeest plunging past waiting crocodiles in the most dramatic wildlife spectacle on earth.
Kenya's private and community conservancies lease land directly from Maasai families — fewer vehicles, night drives, walking safaris and tourism that visibly pays its way.
Lewa and Laikipia hold East Africa's healthiest rhino populations — walk among them with the rangers your visit funds, and meet the world's last two northern whites at Ol Pejeta.
Amboseli's great tuskers wading through green marsh with Africa's highest mountain behind them — the continent's most iconic photograph, waiting for your shutter.
From Karen Blixen's farm to gin trolleys at sundown, Kenya wrote the romance of safari — and its camps still set the standard the rest of Africa chases.
Coffee arrives before the sun does. By the time golden light spills across the Mara you're already out — mornings are when the big cats hunt.
Maasai guides who grew up on this land read it like a book — decades of bush wisdom turn every drive into your private masterclass.
Canvas and candlelight, clawfoot tubs facing the plains, gin trolleys at golden hour — a century of safari style, perfected.
Two million wildebeest in season, lion prides forty strong, elephants beneath Kilimanjaro and rhinos on the plateau — Kenya delivers, daily.
A gin and tonic as the horizon catches fire, dinner under lanterns, and a night sky no city has ever dimmed.
Light aircraft hop you between parks in under an hour — we meet you at every airstrip, handle the luggage and keep the champagne cold.
Drag or use the arrows to explore
Glass-fronted suites floating 300 metres above the Mara Triangle — the view that inspired Out of Africa, with the migration below.
View LodgeThe 1930s manor where endangered Rothschild giraffes join you for breakfast through the window — pure, joyful magic.
View LodgeBotanical-garden villas on 50,000 private acres — world-class art, wellness and rhino conservation in a single retreat.
View LodgeSir Richard Branson's twelve futuristic tents above a valley the migration pours through — conservancy freedom beside the famous reserve.
View LodgeMigration season in the Maasai Mara — daily river-crossing drama, with reserve fees at their $200-per-day peak and the best conservancy camps selling out a year ahead. We book early.
Emerald plains, newborn wildlife, half-price reserve fees ($100 per day January–June) and the Mara's resident big cats virtually to yourself between the rains.
The world's most reliable big-cat country and stage of the Great Migration's river crossings — Kenya's crown jewel.
Great tuskers in green marshes beneath the snows of Kilimanjaro — Africa's most iconic photograph, live.
Kenya's conservation heartland — walking safaris, night drives and East Africa's healthiest rhino populations on exclusive private land.
Red earth, doum palms and the Special Five along the Ewaso Ng'iro — Kenya's wild, culture-rich north.
Twelve kilometres of flour-white sand inside a coral reef — Africa's leading beach destination, one easy flight from the Mara.
We are Ancient Africa Safaris — a family of East African guides, planners and storytellers who have spent more than fifteen years crafting private journeys through the wild heart of this continent. From our home in Kampala we design every safari by hand: no templates, no crowds, just the Africa we grew up with, shared with you. Every trail we recommend, we have walked ourselves.
Karibu sana — welcome to the family.
Still unsure? Tell us what you love about travel — we'll tell you, honestly, whether Kenya is your place.
TALK TO A SAFARI EXPERTJuly to October is migration season in the Maasai Mara, with the famous river crossings at their peak. January to March offers superb resident big-cat viewing with far fewer vehicles, while April, May and November bring green landscapes and the best rates.
The herds usually pour in from the Serengeti during July and stay until around October, with Mara River crossings possible on any day in that window. Crossings cannot be scheduled — we build in three to four Mara nights so the odds work for you.
Top conservancy camps run roughly $700–$2,000 per person per night, full board with game drives. Maasai Mara reserve fees are $200 per adult per day from July to December and $100 from January to June — always included in our quotes, never a surprise.
The safari circuit is mature, professional and well protected — you fly between parks, travel with our trusted guides and stay in vetted camps. As in any big city, normal precautions apply in Nairobi, where we arrange all transfers privately.
Kenya has replaced visas with a simple electronic travel authorisation (eTA, about $30), applied for online before departure. The East Africa Tourist Visa ($100) remains the smart option if you're combining Kenya with Uganda and Rwanda.
The national reserve is the famous heartland — spectacular, but busy in peak season. The private conservancies on its borders lease land from Maasai families and cap visitor numbers: off-road big-cat approaches, night drives and walking safaris, with reserve access whenever the crossings call. We favour the conservancies.
Effortlessly — light aircraft link the Mara airstrips with the coast, so you can trade dawn game drives for Diani's white sand or Lamu's old town the same day. Three to four beach nights is the classic finale.
The best in Africa, we would argue: short flights, malaria-free options in Laikipia, conservancy camps with private vehicles and child-focused Maasai guides — and giraffes at the breakfast window in Nairobi to start it all with a laugh.
Tell us your dream — the thunder of the crossing, the tusker beneath Kilimanjaro, the gin trolley at golden hour — and our experts will shape it into a journey that is yours alone. No obligation, no templates; just an honest conversation about extraordinary travel.
