A male lion resting on the granite boulders of a kopje under a bright sky

Kenya · 8 days

Lion King Adventure

A privately guided family week with The Safari Collection. Giraffes at breakfast in Nairobi, Borana's Pride Rock, camels and star beds in Samburu, and the Mara's resident lion pride at Sala's Camp.

Duration: 8 days, 7 nights · 4 flights
Where: Kenya
Experiences: Road Safaris Horseback Safaris Camel Safaris Flying Safaris
Board: Full board
Price: FromUSD 48,000per family of four with a private guide

At a glance

Where the nights go

1222

7 nights across 4 places · 4 flights · Full board. Drawn from the draft day-by-day below.

Overview

The shape of the journey

This is a family safari built around the landscapes behind the film, and it works whether or not anyone in the car has seen it. Eight days, a private guide the whole way, and four places that look nothing like each other: Nairobi, the Laikipia highlands, the dry north, and the Mara.

NairobiBoranaSamburuMaasai Mara

The Safari Collection runs three of the four, and the guide travels with you rather than changing at every airstrip, which is the part that actually makes a family trip easy.

Where you'll stay

The camps and hotels

Giraffe Manor

The manor house whose wild Nubian giraffe come to the dining-room windows at breakfast and to the lawn at tea. Warthogs handle the ground floor. The AFEW Giraffe Centre is across the lawn.

Borana Lodge

A lodge on a 35,000-acre private rhino sanctuary, with a pool looking down into Hyena Valley. Mountain biking, riding for all abilities, and rhino tracking on foot with the anti-poaching rangers.

Sasaab

Moroccan and Swahili in style, set high above the Ewaso Nyiro. Open-air rooms with private plunge pools, camel rides to sundowner rock, rooftop star beds and quad biking for children over twelve.

Sala's Camp

A small tented camp where the Sand River meets the Keekorok, in the remote south of the reserve. Spotters here are good with children. The Little Five, bush toothbrushes and volleyball between drives.

The Retreat at Giraffe Manor

The wellness house beside the Manor, taken as a day room on the last day, with pool, spa, gym, homegrown food and a transfer timed to your flight.

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
Giraffes at the window
Met at Jomo Kenyatta and driven half an hour to Giraffe Manor, part of it along the edge of Nairobi National Park. Afternoon tea on the lawn is when the giraffes usually arrive. They are wild, so nothing is promised.
Giraffe ManorAll meals
Day 2Flight
Fly north to Borana
Breakfast with the giraffes, then a scheduled flight from Wilson to Lewa Downs and roughly an hour of game driving across to Borana Lodge. Hyena Valley sits below the pool.
Borana LodgeAll meals
Day 3
Pride Rock and the rhino sanctuary
A bush breakfast or sundowners on the outcrop The Safari Collection points to as the inspiration behind Pride Rock. Between meals: riding, mountain biking, or tracking rhino on foot with the rangers who protect them.
Borana LodgeAll meals
Day 4Flight
Charter to Samburu
A private charter from Lewa Downs to Sasaab at a time that suits you. The land turns hot and bare on the way, and the rooms open straight onto it.
SasaabAll meals
Day 5
Camels, quads and the Special Five
Game drives for Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, Somali ostrich, gerenuk and Beisa oryx. A camel ride to the rock for sundowners, quad bikes for children over twelve, and rooftop star beds if the sky is clear.
SasaabAll meals
Day 6Flight
Fly to the Maasai Mara
Sasaab airstrip to Keekorok on the scheduled flight, then a game drive across to Sala's Camp with the Sala team. You are now in the south of the reserve, close to the Tanzanian border.
Sala's CampAll meals
Day 7
The Mara's resident pride
Morning and evening drives, the two hours the cats agree to work. Sala's own pride lives nearby, and the spotters are unusually good at keeping children interested between sightings.
Sala's CampAll meals
Day 8Flight
Kwaheri
A last breakfast in camp, then Keekorok to Wilson and out to The Retreat for a day room with pool, spa, gym and lunch, before the transfer to Jomo Kenyatta for the flight home.
Breakfast and lunch

What's covered

Inclusions and exclusions

In line with the itinerary above. Your written quote is the version that counts.

Included

A professional private guide throughout the trip
Full-board accommodation with meals, house wines and spirits, soft drinks, beers, laundry and selected activities
Internal scheduled and charter flights
Park and conservation fees
Game drives, sundowners and bush picnics
Road transfers between airports, airstrips and camps and to and from activities, in 4x4 vehicles
Meet and assist at the airport
Medical evacuation cover

Price & terms

What it costs

FromUSD 48,000per family of four with a private guide

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.