This 7-day route links Tsavo West, Amboseli and Maasai Mara, staying in comfortable tented camps and established safari lodges throughout. 6 nights on safari, priced on request.
Tsavo West - Amboseli - Maasai Mara
About this safari
The route opens in Tsavo West — volcanic hills, crystal springs and wild, rugged country — and works through 2 further destinations over 7 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 route runs towards the hills and lava country of Tsavo West, where the Shetani flow spreads raw and black across the ground — the name means 'devil' in Kiswahili, and local accounts describe the eruption that created it. The park's scenery does as much work here as its wildlife, and the two together make it the most visually striking of Kenya's southern parks. Mzima Springs is the highlight of any day in Tsavo West. Fifty million litres of water a day filter through porous volcanic rock and emerge crystal clear, and an underwater viewing chamber lets you watch hippo and shoals of barbel from below the surface. A short guided walk along the pools passes vervet monkeys, crocodile and an unexpectedly lush stretch of raffia palm and fig. This outline assumes a comfortable safari stay near the route. The named property remains a suggestion until quoted.
Overnight: Tsavo West
Day 2
Mzima Springs is the highlight of any day in Tsavo West. Fifty million litres of water a day filter through porous volcanic rock and emerge crystal clear, and an underwater viewing chamber lets you watch hippo and shoals of barbel from below the surface. A short guided walk along the pools passes vervet monkeys, crocodile and an unexpectedly lush stretch of raffia palm and fig. Game drives here work the waterholes and hill circuits, where elephant coloured red by the local soil come to drink and buffalo gather in the late afternoon. The thicker bush makes predators harder to find than in open country, but it also means a lion or leopard sighting feels properly earned. Lesser kudu and klipspringer are among the dry-country specials worth watching for. The suggested standard is mid-range. Citrus will confirm the property and contracted services in writing before booking.
Overnight: Tsavo West
Day 3
The next leg links the two destinations, today's drive crosses the dry Kajiado rangelands where Maasai herders move cattle across open country and dust devils spin up off the flats. It is hot, bright driving, and it sets up the contrast that defines Amboseli — a parched landscape holding permanent water at its centre, with Africa's highest mountain filling the southern horizon whenever the cloud lifts. A full day here divides between the permanent swamps, which hold water all year and concentrate game reliably, and the open plains where zebra, wildebeest, giraffe and gazelle spread out. Lion, cheetah and spotted hyena are present, though at lower densities than the Mara and requiring more patience. A short climb up Observation Hill gives the only elevated view in the park and makes sense of how the swamps sit in the landscape. The catalogue suggests a comfortable mid-range stay here. The exact lodge, room basis and meals are confirmed in the quotation.
Overnight: Amboseli
Day 4
Amboseli's elephants are the most closely studied in the world, monitored continuously since 1972, and the families here are relaxed around vehicles in a way that makes for exceptional viewing. Drives follow them between the swamps, where they feed belly-deep in water with cattle egret riding their backs, and the open plains they cross in long processions. Among them are some of the last genuinely big-tusked bulls left in East Africa. The open, almost treeless terrain gives Amboseli long sightlines and makes it one of the best photographic parks in Kenya. Morning drives work the swamp edges where elephant, buffalo and hippo gather, while the dry lake bed shimmers and distorts in the heat further out. If the cloud lifts off Kilimanjaro — most likely in the first and last hour of daylight — the mountain dominates everything. A mid-range camp or lodge is proposed for this night, subject to availability and written confirmation.
Overnight: Amboseli
Day 5
Leaving the previous stop behind, leaving the highlands behind, the descent into the Rift Valley opens onto a view that runs for fifty kilometres, with the floor spread out below and volcanic cones breaking the far skyline. Beyond Narok the tarmac thins and the country turns to rolling grass and scattered acacia, Maasai herders moving their cattle along the verges, until the reserve gate brings you into the ecosystem itself. The Mara's density is what makes it remarkable — sightings come quickly, and the day tends to build rather than drag. Expect long stretches of plains game: zebra, topi, Thomson's gazelle, eland and Maasai giraffe, with buffalo herds grazing in the bottomlands. Overhead, vultures circling low is always worth following, and the sudden stillness of a grazing herd usually means a predator is somewhere in the grass. This outline assumes a comfortable safari stay near the route. The named property remains a suggestion until quoted.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 6
A full day here usually divides itself naturally. The first hours go to the predators, tracking the prides your guide knows by territory and following whatever the night has left behind. Through the middle of the day the vehicle heads for shade near the river, where hippo crowd the deeper pools and crocodile lie out on the banks. The last light brings the plains alive again, with hunting cats moving and dust rising gold behind the herds. Game drives cover genuinely different country within a short distance. The Musiara marsh draws elephant and buffalo to permanent water, the open grassland of the central plains is where cheetah have the room they need to run, and the broken ground towards the escarpment holds different prides again. Between sightings there is the sheer breadth of the place — grass running to the horizon under an enormous sky. The suggested standard is mid-range. Citrus will confirm the property and contracted services in writing before booking.
Overnight: Maasai Mara
Day 7
The last morning remains flexible until the departure point and timing are agreed. Leaving the Mara means retracing the route through Narok and back up the escarpment. The landscape runs in reverse — open grassland to grazing land, grazing land to smallholdings and maize — and the market towns along the way are busy with the day’s trade. There is usually a stop for lunch and a chance to stretch before the final stretch of road. Nairobi is the working end point, with the final transfer stated in the written proposal.
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
Kilaguni Serena + Kibo Safari Camp + Masai Mara 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.
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.
No. Cloud and weather can obscure the mountain even when a route is timed well.
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