How to get to Kenya for Safari – Tips for traveling on safari in Kenya – How to travel to Kenya for safari?
How to travel to get to Kenya for safari? – Welcome to Africa’s ultimate Kenya holiday guide. A Kenya safari holiday offers the intrepid traveler the best that Africa has to offer, from the legendary Masai Mara and intriguing cultures to its pristine coastlines with tropical beaches. Curate your holiday experience and let us do the rest for you. Kenya consistently ranks as one of Africa’s greatest safari destinations. Every year, thousands of safari goers see the country’s astonishing wildlife areas and spectacles like the Great Wildebeest Migration.
Central Kenya
This is typically where all Kenya safari itineraries start, as Nairobi is the country’s logistical hub. The area around Nairobi also has plenty of conservation areas, the most popular being Nairobi National Park, Lakes Nakuru, and Naivasha as well as the Aberdare Mountains. The land is green and lush during the rainy season while the lakes attract plenty of birds- and wildlife.
Western Kenya
The biggest name in western Kenya is of course the Masai Mara National Reserve, home to some of Africa’s best year-round game viewing as well as the annual Wildebeest Migration. Present in their hundreds of thousands from about August to November, the massive wildebeest and zebra herds attract constant attention from Africa’s top predators, and consequently, visitor numbers are high in the peak season (about June to October).
The biggest reason that the Masai Mara attracts the Migration is that its open, flat savannah produces superb grazing. There are few thickets, forests, or high peaks: the wide landscape is a safari classic with green grass that turns golden as the season passes. The plains attract game-like reticulated and Masai giraffe, topi, Thomson’s gazelle, and are dotted with occasional flat-topped acacia trees.
Getting there
International flights land and depart from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi. It’s a major flight hub in East Africa and the gateway to the rest of Kenya.
Light aircraft flights for fly-in safaris to the Masai Mara, Amboseli, Samburu, and other areas depart from Wilson Airport, which is about 15km (10mi) away from JKIA. Ensure you have time between your international flight and domestic flight to make the transfer between the two airports – it can take up to 90 minutes for the road transfer on a good day. Book cheap Kenya car rental services in Nairobi online today.
Chartered flights are a great way to get around Kenya, saving you long road transfers and allowing for more time on safari. Road transfers from bush airstrips to lodges are conducted in 4X4 safari vehicles.
Kenya is one of the best places anywhere in Africa for ticking off the Big Five: lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, and rhino. A good short safari combination for those hoping to see all these charismatic creatures (and much more besides) would be Masai Mara (for lion, leopard, buffalo, and elephant) and Lake Nakuru (for black and white rhino). Other top safari destinations that host all or most of the Big Five include Tsavo East, Tsavo West, Amboseli, Laikipia Plateau, Samburu-Buffalo Springs-Shaba, Meru, and to a lesser extent Shimba Hills.
It is important to note Kenya’s ongoing conservation efforts to protect some of its greater and lesser species – one of which is the elephant population. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is today the most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world and one of the pioneering conservation organizations for wildlife and habitat protection in East Africa.
