Budget camping safari in Kenya

A camping safari staying in small private mobile camps is one of the best ways to experience Kenya's natural attractions. The safari has been designed to include a variety of habitat so that the widest diversity of wildlife can be seen. The camps are sited in private conservancies so that walking and night drives may be taken but are also conveniently located for easy access to Amboseli and Nakuru national parks and the Mara. Transport is by four-wheel-drive Toyota Landcruiser with roof hatches. Your driver-guide is a wildlife and nature expert and member of the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association.

A safari cook travels with the safari. At each camp site we will have staff who do the work like washing up, heating water for showers, doing the cooking and serving the food but clients also help put up and take down their tents. Equipment is carried in a trailer behind the vehicle - when in camp the trailer is removed and game drives are done in the vehicle. Tents are heavy-duty canvas dome tents for 2 persons. Clients bring their own sleeping bag and a towel but all other camp furniture and equipment is provided. Food is of the same quality as in a luxury camp - produced by our experienced safari cook- and is included in the price, (not bought through a "kitty" like some other camping safaris). Camps are set up on our own exclusive camp sites. Drinks other than mineral water are not included.

Selenkay Conservation Area and Amboseli National Park
The Selenkay Conservation Area lies in the heart of Maasailand a few miles north of Amboseli National Park and is an important dispersal area and rangeland for wildlife in the Amboseli eco-system.  The local Maasai community has set aside the area as a reserve for wildlife so that the habitat can be protected and wildlife conserved. The community is receiving an income from leasing the area for ecotourism and also receives an entry fee for each tourist visitor.  All roads have been constructed using local labour so that the members of the community gain employment from the Conservation Area.  In addition to the road maintenance team, Game Scouts have been employed to carry out patrols to see that the wildlife is protected.

Within the conservation area there is a greater diversity of species than in Amboseli itself and the following animals have been seen recently: elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah, Thompson's and Grant's gazelles, gerenuk, impala, eland, oryx, lesser kudu, zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, warthog, spotted hyena, striped hyena, jackal, bat-eared fox, caracal, African wild cat, serval cat, genet cat, honey badger, aardvark, porcupine, zorilla, mongoose, bushbaby and dik-dik.  Birdlife is prolific, especially birds of prey. Amboseli National Park, at the foot of Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, is one of Kenya's most popular national parks. Established as a national park in 1974. it lies 150 miles south-east of Nairobi very close to the Tanzania border. The snow capped peak of Mount Kilimanjaro rising above the clouds dominates every aspect of Amboseli. Covering 150sq miles, Amboseli supports a wide range of mammals (well over 50 of the larger species) and birds (over 400 species). Years ago this was the locale around which such famous writers as Ernest Hemingway and Robert Ruark spun their stories of big game hunting in the wilds of Africa. The park encompasses dry lake beds, savannah woodland and extensive swamps constantly fed by springs emanating from the mountain. The water and seasonal lakes attract a wide variety of bird and animal life, in particular herds of elephant. Amboseli is one of the best parks in Africa to observe family groups of elephants and large bull elephants at close quarters.

Kigio Wildlife Conservancy and Lake Nakuru.
Kigio is located beside the Malewa River on 3,500 acres, about thirty miles south of Lake Nakuru. The expansive private conservancy area offers the opportunity to walk safely amongst wildlife. Learn how to identify animal spoor and about the traditional use by the local people of medicinal properties of the many plant species in the conservancy. In addition to plains game like zebra, giraffe and antelopes, birdlife abounds and a walk along the river gives the opportunity to see hippo and maybe even a python!

Lake Nakuru, a shallow alkaline lake, lies about 30 miles north of Kigio on a tarmac road. The lake is world famous as the location of the greatest bird spectacle on earth - myriads of pink flamingo whose numbers are legion, often more than a million and which literally turn its shores pink. They feed on the abundant algae which thrive in the warm waters. But flamingo are not the only avian attraction, as the lake is rich in other birdlife. There are over 400 resident species on the lake and in the surrounding park. Large numbers of pelicans concentrate by the fresh water streams that flow into the lake and thousands of other birds may be seen including African fish eagles, white winged black terns, stilts, avocets, ducks and in the European winter, the migrant waders.

Siana Springs Wildlife Trust and Masai Mara
The Siana Springs Wildlife Trust is a wilderness area owned by the local Maasai people and stretching alongside the Mara Reserve. This is prime wildlife country and the Maasai community allow a number of safari operators to use their area for camping and wildlife viewing. From our private campsite near Siana Springs we explore the surrounding savannah plains to seek out the huge variety of wildlife species for which the Mara is famous, in particular the large population of lions. Considered by many to be Kenya's finest wildlife area, the 650sq miles of the Maasai Mara adjoin Tanzania's well known Serengeti, forming one eco-system.  The open rolling savannah grassland of the Mara is the home of numerous animals including elephant, rhino, lion, cheetah, leopard, hyena, jackal, buffalo, eland, topi, impala, gazelle, warthog and zebra. 

From June to September, the annual wildebeest migration takes place when thousands of these animals sweep across the plains and seek out new grazing areas.