A 5-day journey through Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha, with proper beds, good food and lodges that sit where the wildlife is. 4 nights on safari, priced on request.
Maasai Mara - Lake Nakuru - Lake Naivasha
About this safari
The route opens in Maasai Mara — big cats, open plains and the northern stage of the Great Migration — and works through 2 further destinations over 5 days. It stays within Kenya; the final proposal will confirm transfer times and the balance between travel and game viewing. Accommodation is at the mid-range standard: comfortable tented camps and established safari lodges. The balance most travellers settle on — proper beds, en-suite bathrooms and well-run lodges in good positions, without the premium that the top end of the market commands. Like every safari in this catalogue, it is priced on request rather than sold at a published rate, because park fees, permits, group size and contracted accommodation all change the figure.
Day by day
Written out in full before you book, so you can see exactly how the days are paced and where each night is spent.
Day 1
The route is drafted from Nairobi. Citrus will set out the actual meeting arrangements and first transfer in writing. The approach takes you across the floor of the Great Rift Valley and up onto the grasslands that stretch south to the Tanzanian border. It is a long drive, broken for lunch and leg-stretching, and it does the useful work of showing you how the land changes — from dense highland cultivation to the open, lightly wooded country where the great herds can move freely. The Mara rewards early starts. Leaving camp while the grass is still wet puts you out when lion are finishing the night's work and cheetah are looking for the high ground that lets them scan for gazelle. Your guide will work the riverine forest along the Mara and Talek rivers, where leopard rest through the day in the fig branches, then move out onto the open plains where topi stand sentinel on termite mounds and elephant families cross in single file. The suggested standard is mid-range. Citrus will confirm the property and contracted services in writing before booking.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 2
The rhythm of a Mara day follows the animals rather than the clock. Dawn is the most productive window, when cats are still active and the light is low enough for photography. Later the plains settle into the heat and the emphasis shifts to elephant, buffalo and the birdlife along the water. By late afternoon the predators stir again, and the last hour before the gate closes is often the best of the day. Today is given over to the reserve, and how it unfolds depends on what your guide finds. Radio traffic between vehicles helps, but the best mornings often come from reading tracks and working a hunch. Lion are the most reliably seen of the big cats here; cheetah favour the open ground where they can use speed; and leopard, though present in good numbers along the watercourses, still ask for patience and a bit of luck. The catalogue suggests a comfortable mid-range stay here. The exact lodge, room basis and meals are confirmed in the quotation.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 3
The next section of the circuit moves on, the route crosses some of Kenya's most productive farmland before dropping towards the lake basin, and the contrast at the park gate is abrupt. One moment there is maize and small-holding, the next there is acacia woodland with waterbuck standing in it and pelican working the shallows a short distance away. The park's compact size means a drive here covers several habitats in a couple of hours: open lakeside grassland where rhino and buffalo graze, dense acacia woodland holding lion and waterbuck, and the euphorbia forest on the higher ground. A stop at Baboon Cliff gives the whole basin at once, which is the best way to understand how the lake sits inside its bowl of hills. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Lake Nakuru
Day 4
If this optional activity is included in your written quotation, a boat trip on the lake is the reason most itineraries stop here. Cutting the engine near a hippo pod brings you closer to these animals than any vehicle can, and the birdlife along the shoreline is extraordinary — fish eagle calling from the dead trees, pelican working the shallows in line, cormorant colonies packed onto drowned branches, and herons stalking the papyrus edge. Boat trips are normally an optional extra rather than an automatic inclusion. The route then continues onward, the drive to Naivasha is easy going on good tarmac, and it delivers you to somewhere that feels like a change of gear after several days of early starts and dusty tracks. The lakeshore is green and shaded, the water is fresh, and the activities are gentler — a boat among the hippos, a walk among plains game, or simply an afternoon with binoculars. This outline assumes a comfortable safari stay near the route. The named property remains a suggestion until quoted.
Overnight: Lake Naivasha
Day 5
The final day's exact pace depends on the confirmed transfer and onward travel arrangements. Time at Naivasha is spent close to the water. The lakeshore forest holds black-and-white colobus, the fever trees draw an enormous range of birds, and hippo emerge from the shallows at dusk to graze the lawns. Boat trips, the Crescent Island walk and Hell's Gate are arranged as optional extras rather than assumed, so it is worth confirming which of them your itinerary covers. The planning route returns to Nairobi; the final drop-off and timing will be agreed around the confirmed onward arrangements.
Safari ends
Where you stay
Accommodation below is the suggested standard for this package, taken from the Citrus catalogue. Where an entry describes a standard rather than a named property, we confirm the exact camp or lodge with your quotation. Named properties are suggestions and are substituted with comparable alternatives if they are unavailable for your dates.
Source catalogue listing
Masai Mara Sopa + Sarova Lion Hill + Lake Naivasha Sopa
This is reproduced exactly from the catalogue. The written quotation will allocate nights and confirm each available property before booking.
These are planning examples, not confirmed inclusions for this package. Your written quotation will confirm exactly what is included.
The quotation will identify every separate cost before you confirm.
Where this safari goes
Before you ask
The catalogue sets the route and travel standard, but it does not publish a fixed price or a contracted inclusion list. Citrus will prepare a written quotation for your dates, party and rooming, showing the exact transfers, activities, accommodation, meals, fees and permits before you confirm.
No. It is suggested accommodation from the source catalogue. Availability and any proposed alternative are confirmed in the written quotation before a booking is made.
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