A table laid with white linen and glasses under the trees of a safari camp, a herd of elephants standing over it

Kenya · 8 days

Culinary Safari

Eight days of Kenya eaten rather than looked at. Nairobi's markets and the Hemingways Wine Cellar, bush dinners and a cave in the Mara, then Swahili cooking and fresh seafood at Watamu.

Duration: 8 days, 7 nights · 2 flights
Where: Kenya
Experiences: Flying Safaris
Board: Board varies by stay
Price: On request

At a glance

Where the nights go

232

7 nights across 3 places · 2 flights · Board varies by stay. Drawn from the draft day-by-day below.

Overview

The shape of the journey

Kenya's three kitchens are nothing like each other: highland produce in Nairobi, fire and open air in the Mara, Swahili spice on the coast. This itinerary treats that as the trip rather than as something that happens between game drives.

NairobiMaasai MaraWatamu

It is Hemingways' own take, so the cooking happens in their kitchens: the Brasserie and the Wine Cellar in Karen, bush and cave dining at Ol Seki, and a cooking class at Watamu.

Where you'll stay

The camps and hotels

Hemingways Nairobi

The Karen hotel, where the kitchen cooks off its own garden and the Wine Cellar seats a set menu below the dining room.

Hemingways Ol Seki Mara

A tented camp in the Naboisho Conservancy that moves dinner out of the mess tent, into the open, or into a cave.

Hemingways Watamu

A beach hotel on the north coast where the fish is landed the same morning and the spicing is Swahili.

Day by day

How the days run

A proposal, not a timetable. The routing, timings and inclusions are confirmed in writing before you pay anything.

Day 1
Nairobi, and the Brasserie
Straight out to Karen after the airport. Dinner is at the Brasserie, which cooks off the kitchen garden. A gentle first night after a long flight.
Hemingways Nairobi
Day 2
Markets, then the Wine Cellar
Into the city for the produce markets, which is where highland Kenya actually shows itself. Back for a set menu in the Wine Cellar in the evening.
Hemingways Nairobi
Day 3Flight
Fly to the Maasai Mara
A light aircraft to Naboisho and Ol Seki. The kitchen here works over fire and moves outdoors most nights.
Hemingways Ol Seki Mara
Day 4
Dinner under the stars
A day in the conservancy, and dinner laid out in the open with the plains going dark around it. No walls, no roof, no menu card.
Hemingways Ol Seki Mara
Day 5
The cave
The camp's cave dining, which is exactly what it sounds like and better than it sounds. The rest of the day is yours to spend out in the conservancy.
Hemingways Ol Seki Mara
Day 6Flight
Fly to the coast
North-east to the coast and Watamu. Lunch is the first proper seafood of the trip, and the spicing changes completely.
Hemingways Watamu
Day 7
A Swahili cooking class
Learn the coast's spicing from the people who use it: the pilau, the coconut, the tamarind. You cook it, then you eat it, then you go and lie down.
Hemingways Watamu
Day 8
Depart
A last breakfast by the sea, then the transfer to Malindi Airport for your flight.

Price & terms

What it costs

Priced on request. This itinerary is quoted for your dates, your party and the grade of camp you choose, which is why there is no single number on this page.

What this price covers

Rates are per person sharing unless the line above says otherwise.
Prices move with the season and with availability, and are held only once your quote is confirmed in writing.
The day-by-day above is a draft. Final routing, timings, inclusions and any park or permit fees are confirmed with your quote.

Before you go

Worth reading before this trip

The best time to visit Kenya, month by monthJanuary and February, then July to October, are the months we send most people.
Safari packing list for KenyaA working checklist for a week on safari in Kenya: the bag, the layers for a cold six o'clock start, optics, health and documents, with quantities for seven nights and what changes by season.
Kenya safari cost: where the money goesWhat you pay for on a Kenya safari, why two similar weeks can differ threefold, who sets the park fees, and how to get more from the same budget.
Practical facts by countryPlugs, currency, time zone, driving side, SIM, tipping and tap water.