We travel to Kenya to fulfill a long-held dream: to see East Africa’s wildlife roaming freely before those wild places and creatures become harder to find. We want to witness animals often seen only in zoos or documentaries — chief among them Africa’s famed Big Five: elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard and lion — and also other favorites on our private Top 10: giraffe, hippo, zebra, gazelle and, above all, the cheetah. To increase our chances, we book a 12-day safari with a respected operator, Abercrombie & Kent, which has guided game-viewing tours in Kenya and neighboring Tanzania since the early 1960s.
Our first encounters are with elephants. Arriving a day early in Nairobi, we set aside jet lag and the comforts of the Nairobi Serena Hotel for a visit to the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. Located just minutes from downtown and open daily from 11 a.m. to noon, the orphanage gathers visitors around a dusty field where rescued infant elephants bathe and play while keepers feed them formula from oversized bottles. It’s a moving scene, made more poignant by the presence of calves rescued after their mothers were killed by poachers.
From Nairobi we drive roughly 150 miles to Amboseli National Park to begin the formal safari. Known as “Africa’s Elephant Park,” Amboseli delivers on its promise: among the park’s 1,500 elephants we see hundreds in a single day as herds cross the grasslands. Towering over the landscape is Mount Kilimanjaro, the world’s highest freestanding peak, often hidden by clouds but briefly showing its snowy cap to frame the elephants below.
Our tour director, Cosmos Maluki, a veteran with the company, quickly gauges that our group is eager for abundant wildlife sightings. Over the next hours we encounter herds of Grant’s and Thomson’s gazelles, elegant impala, stately crowned cranes, surging wildebeest with their newborns, and numerous elephant families that halt our vehicles with their slow crossings. As dusk approaches, guides spot a male lion and, nearby, a pride of two adult females and five cubs. The sight is thrilling — especially knowing how dramatically lion populations have declined in recent decades. In parts of East Africa lions exist in only a fraction of their former range, and in the Amboseli region only a small number remain, sharing land with Maasai communities and large numbers of livestock.
A spotted hyena bares its fangs, Maasai Mara National Preserve, Kenya © J.D. Brown
The next morning delivers more diversity: Egyptian geese and pelicans on pools where hippos churn the water, spotted hyenas flashing formidable teeth and displaying the powerful jaws that make them efficient scavengers and hunters. We spot a surprisingly long-eared hare, abundant zebras and Cape buffalo, and are struck again and again by the sheer density of wildlife around us.
After visiting Vachuma, one of several traditional Maasai villages in the region, we cross into Tanzania and continue the journey, swapping Land Rovers for Land Cruisers for the rougher roads ahead. At Lake Manyara we encounter another mix of species: elephants, lions, giraffes and vast troops of baboons. The playful boldness of the baboons is on full display when one leaps through an open window of a vehicle to snatch a plastic bag and then escapes through the roof hatch.
From Lake Manyara we climb to the rim of Ngorongoro Crater, where we stay on the caldera’s edge. Ngorongoro is the world’s largest unfilled volcanic caldera, and its floor supports a remarkably intact ecosystem. The crater bowl is home to Maasai settlements and some 25,000 large animals, including endangered black rhinos, hippos, wildebeest and vast herds of zebra and gazelle. Much of the wildlife remains on the crater floor year-round. During a day of game drives we spot hippo-filled lakes and encounter a significant number of lions among the wildlife concentrated in this protected basin.
Hippos open wide at Retima Hippo Pool, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania © J.D. Brown
Continuing west across the Great Rift Valley, we reach the Serengeti, Tanzania’s celebrated reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Serengeti is synonymous with sweeping savannahs, ancient human history in places like Olduvai Gorge, and some of the continent’s most iconic wildlife concentrations. Our visit includes a stop at Retima Hippo Pool, where hundreds of hippos float closely together and intermittently reveal massive jaws in yawning displays. A long, single game drive takes us across stream beds and grasslands, punctuated by solitary flat-topped acacia trees and rugged kopjes where lions and other predators often rest.
The Serengeti offers constant sightings: fish eagles and warthogs, Nile crocodiles on riverbanks, and hippo clusters so dense they seem to form a living bridge. Lions are everywhere — lazing in grasses, sunning on rock outcrops and even sleeping in trees. The Serengeti hosts one of the largest concentrations of lions on the continent, and we see every species of the Big Five here as well as elusive leopards draped over branches. At one point we watch a coordinated hunt where lionesses separate to encircle a family of warthogs; the kill is fast and efficient, a raw but natural moment on the savannah.
During a picnic at the Serengeti Visitors Centre we notice tiny rock hyraxes — small mammals that, despite their appearance, are the closest living relatives to elephants. Later we locate leopards, one melting into the grasses, another lounging across a thick limb with tail and legs dangling. The Serengeti’s variety and scale make it an unmatched arena for wildlife viewing.
Our final stop is Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, where the Serengeti ecosystem continues across the border. We spend three nights at Mara Intrepids Club, a comfortable camp of permanent tents along the Talek River where thoughtful touches — dawn coffee deliveries and hot-water bottles at night — add to the experience. On our first game drive here we spot the animal that brought many of us to Africa: a cheetah. Young and playful, the yearling rolls on its back and strolls between vehicles while dozens of jeeps watch. Nearby we encounter a pride known locally as the Ridge Pride: three adult females and five young cubs only weeks old, their tiny calls audible from our parked vehicle.
The Maasai Mara delivers more close encounters: black rhinos, Nile crocodiles along the Mara River that prey on wildebeest during the Great Migration, topi and waterbuck on the hills, and a leopard napping in a tree with its impala kill secured high above the ground. Lions are never far; we spend a quiet, captivated half-hour watching a powerful male nicknamed “Lipstick” because he often licks his lips. On our final drive we meet Malaika, a 7-year-old cheetah known for climbing onto open safari vehicles to scan the plains — one of fewer than 50 cheetahs estimated in the region — who pauses atop a termite mound to survey the savannah before moving on.
As our journey winds down, we return to Mara Intrepids Club on Valentine’s Day to a warm reception and an elegant dinner arranged by the staff. Small gestures — rose petals on the bed and a carefully prepared evening on the lawn — remind us of the hospitality that accompanies the wild beauty. We leave Kenya and the Maasai Mara changed: more attentive to movements on the horizon, more alert to the natural rhythms around us, and grateful for the chance to witness these animals living as they have for millennia.
Kenya Info to Go
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport connects to downtown Nairobi by taxis, with fares typically around $20, and many travelers are met by hotel shuttles or safari operators. Most visitors need a tourist visa, which can be obtained in advance through embassies and consulates (recommended) or at the airport visa counter. Hotels and tour operators can arrange local transport, chauffeured cars and day excursions. Abercrombie & Kent and other reputable operators offer a range of luxury safari options and maintain offices in Nairobi. Be mindful that Nairobi traffic can be heavy — allow at least two hours to reach the airport — and take sensible precautions against pickpockets and common scams while exploring the city.