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An acacia silhouette and the long savanna at golden hour
GIROS/The 2026 Journey

The Journey,
day by day.

Twelve days, three chapters, one country. From the orphaned elephants of Nairobi, beneath Kilimanjaro and into the Tsavos, ending on the long, quiet plains of the Maasai Mara when the river is running.

Duration
12 days · 11 nights
Departure
August 2026
Group size
14 travellers, no more
Lodging
Four-star and above
Hosts
All four, every day
The 2026 Journey

Twelve days.
Five landscapes.
One country
that will not
let you go.

What follows is the route, day by day, as we will travel it together next August. Distances are short, evenings are long, and nothing is rushed. We move in three vehicles — never a convoy.

Each day belongs to a place. Each evening belongs to a long table. The journey is built around three chapters — Nairobi & the Sheldrick orphanage; Amboseli and the Tsavos beneath Kilimanjaro; and the Maasai Mara, where we end when the great river-crossings are on. You will not see all of Kenya. You will know a small, deliberate part of her well.

Each chapter is hosted on the ground — the Ambassador in Nairobi and across the parks, Damaris on her old grounds at Karen Blixen, David and Kathy from arrival to farewell. Lodging is four-star and above. The reading list is on the Field Journal.

Chapter I.

Nairobi & the Karen.

An afternoon with the orphaned elephants of the Sheldrick Trust, then a private walk-through of the old Karen Blixen estate — led by Damaris, the museum's past director.

Days 1 — 2The arrival
1,795 mElevation
HemingwaysThe stay
Young elephants at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust orphanage in Nairobi Day 01 · Wed
01 — Nairobi · The Sheldrick Trust

An orphanage
that is not
for children.

An afternoon with the orphaned elephants of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, founded in memory of the man who became Tsavo's first warden in 1948.

The orphans here arrive days old and leave, eventually, for the wild. Dame Daphne Sheldrick's Love, Life and Elephants is the book to bring on the plane over. We arrive in time for the 11 a.m. feeding, then settle at Hemingways for the long evening — a welcome dinner with the four of us, your hosts.

Stay
Hemingways NairobiJunior Suite, garden side
Distance
12 kmFrom airport · private transfer
Hosted by
All fourDavid, Kathy & the Rotichs
The Karen Blixen Museum farmhouse at the foot of the Ngong Hills Day 02 · Thu
02 — Karen Blixen Museum · Ngong Hills

The farm at
the foot of
the Ngongs.

Damaris led the Karen Blixen Museum for twelve years. The afternoon she gives us, on her old grounds, is the one we built this safari around.

We walk the house, the coffee-drying machinery, the Ngong Hills she could see from her veranda. Damaris answers questions she has answered ten thousand times before, and a few only she can answer. A long, late lunch under the great trees, then the drive back into Nairobi for an unhurried evening.

Stay
Hemingways NairobiA second night
Lunch
Tamambo, Karen Blixen Coffee GardenGarden-side, set menu
Hosted by
Damaris RotichPast director of the museum
The road south, toward Kilimanjaro
Day 03 · The drive southThe road from Nairobi toward Kilimanjaro — the country opens, the towns thin, the dust changes colour.
Chapter II.

Amboseli &
the Tsavos.

South toward Kilimanjaro. The Elephant Research Center at Amboseli, Mzima Springs in Tsavo West, the famous red-dusted elephants of Tsavo East.

Days 3 — 7Five days, three parks
1,200 mElevation
Tortilis & KilaguniThe stays
A herd of elephants with Mount Kilimanjaro on the horizon at Amboseli Day 03 · Fri
03 — Amboseli · Under Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro
on the
horizon.

Amboseli is the place every photograph of Africa wants to be: long lines of elephants and a snow-capped mountain that should not, by rights, be where it is.

We arrive at Tortilis Camp by mid-afternoon and head out on a first game drive when the light begins to soften. Five thousand elephants live here, in the longest-running study of any wild population on earth. Tomorrow we visit their researchers.

Stay
Tortilis CampTented, Kilimanjaro-facing
Drive
Nairobi → Amboseli4.5 hr · one stop
Game drive
EveningCynthia Moss's research area
An elephant family on the Amboseli plain at first light Day 04 · Sat
04 — The Amboseli Trust for Elephants

The longest
study of an
elephant family.

Founded in 1972 and still the most important field study of elephant social structure on earth — the Trust opens its camp to us for a morning.

We sit with the researchers and the long file cabinets of named individuals. Names, mothers, generations. Then an afternoon game drive, a sundowner on the plain, and dinner under the stars on the airstrip. Tortilis Camp tonight.

Stay
Tortilis CampA second night
Morning
Trust visitBy private arrangement
Evening
Bush dinnerOn the airstrip, beneath Kili
The volcanic terrain and clear pools of Mzima Springs in Tsavo West Day 05 · Sun
05 — Tsavo West · Mzima Springs

Water from
a volcanic
eruption, five
centuries on.

South-east, into Tsavo West. Off the marked tracks lies Mzima Springs — water from a volcanic eruption five centuries ago, filtered through porous rock and emerging clear enough to drink.

It feeds the Tsavo River, and most of Mombasa. Hippos and crocodiles share the pools. We watch them from a submerged observation hide, then head on to Finch Hattons — named for the man Karen Blixen could never have.

Stay
Finch HattonsTented suite, riverside
Drive
Amboseli → Tsavo West3 hr · via Chyulu Hills
Walk
Mzima SpringsUnderwater hide, 45 min
Red elephants of Tsavo East with zebras on the red-earth plains Day 06 · Mon
06 — Tsavo East · The Red Elephants

The red
elephants of
Tsavo.

The largest national park in East Africa, and one of its quietest. The New York Times named it among the world's 52 places to go in 2024.

Tsavo's elephants dust themselves in the famous red ochre of this soil; you will not see grey elephants here. We track them for a long morning, lunch quietly at camp, and head out for an unhurried evening drive through baobab country.

Stay
Galdessa CampGalana River front
Drive
Tsavo West → East2.5 hr · on tarmac
Big Five
Four of fiveElephant, buffalo, lion, leopard
Elephants at the long Galana River in Tsavo Day 07 · Tue
07 — Galana River · A day at camp

A morning, an
afternoon,
and the long
river.

An unscheduled day. The migration in the Mara begins on time only if we are unhurried getting there.

A morning drive if you want one. A book on the deck above the Galana if you don't. Sundowner on the rocks above the river, where the elephants come down to drink before dark. We fly to the Mara in the morning — a chartered light aircraft, three hours of country from above.

Stay
Galdessa CampA second night
Optional
Bush walk2 hr · armed ranger
Flight
Sat 08:30Tsavo → Mara, charter
The long plains of the Maasai Mara from above at golden hour
Day 08 · The flight northThe plains open beneath the wing. We are above the Rift Valley, and then we are landing on grass.
Chapter III.

The Maasai
Mara.

Five unhurried days in the Mara — the Big Five, the river-crossings of the great migration when the timing is on our side, and a long, slow farewell.

Days 8 — 12The migration window
1,500 mElevation
Mara PlainsThe stay
Zebras and wildebeest at a river crossing in the Maasai Mara Day 08 · Wed
08 — The Mara · Arrival

Onto the
long plains
at last.

A chartered aircraft over the Rift, landing on grass. We are met by our drivers and at camp by mid-afternoon for the first of five Mara game drives.

Mara Plains is a small private conservancy — sixty-five thousand acres, twelve guests at a time. We have most of it to ourselves. An orientation drive at the golden hour, a long dinner under the stars, a fire that we will sit at every night for the next four.

Stay
Mara Plains CampTented, raised on platforms
Conservancy
Olare MotorogiPrivate · max 12 guests
Flight in
Olkiombo airstrip10:45 arrival
A lion at dawn on the Mara plains Day 09 · Thu
09 — Mara · The Big Five

Lions before
breakfast.

A pre-dawn departure with the drivers, hot flasks in the cruisers. We are out before the light is, and so are the lions.

The Mara is the densest big-cat habitat on earth — twelve prides on our conservancy alone. Back at camp for a long breakfast at ten, the afternoon at leisure, and a second drive when the sun begins to lower again. Most travellers see four of the Big Five today.

Stay
Mara PlainsA second night
Drives
Two05:30 and 16:00
Big Five
Likely all fiveLion, leopard, buffalo, ele, rhino
Wildebeest leaping into the Mara River during the great migration Day 10 · Fri
10 — The Mara River · The crossing

When the
river is
running.

A long day on the Mara River. The wildebeest move when they move; we wait, sometimes for hours, with our cameras and our patience.

If a crossing comes, it is the loudest, most extraordinary half-hour you will ever witness. If it doesn't, we will have spent the day with hippos, crocodiles and a long, slow lunch on the riverbank. There is no losing in either case.

Stay
Mara PlainsA third night
Picnic
Riverbank, set tableWhite linen, no rush
Window
July → SeptemberPeak: late Aug — early Sep
Maasai morani gathered in red robes on the savanna Day 11 · Sat
11 — A Maasai morning · A balloon, if you wish

The people
whose land
this is.

A morning in a Maasai village we have known for fifteen years — not the staged kind. Tea with the elders. The school the conservancy fees built. The questions you have wanted to ask.

Optional pre-dawn: a hot-air balloon over the Mara, landing at a champagne breakfast on the plain. Otherwise a slow morning, an afternoon drive, and a farewell dinner at camp under the great fig tree the Maasai call orpul.

Stay
Mara PlainsA fourth night
Optional
Hot-air balloon05:00 · sup. $590pp
Evening
Farewell dinnerBeneath the fig tree
A long flight over the patchwork of the Rift Valley Day 12 · Sun
12 — The slow farewell

Back to
Nairobi, and
then home.

A final drive at dawn — the one in which you tell yourself you have seen enough of the Mara, and find that you have not.

The light aircraft from Olkiombo at 11. A long lunch with all four hosts at Hemingways, your day rooms for showers, and our drivers to JKIA in the evening. Most travellers fly out around nine — a last unhurried meal, and then home.

Day room
Hemingways NairobiFor the long evening
Flight out
Olkiombo → NBO11:15 · charter
Transfer
JKIAPrivate, all guests
The full route

Six stops.
One unhurried
arc.

Distances are short. Roads are good or short. Where they are neither, we fly. Hover the legend to follow the route on the map.

KILIMANJARO EQUATOR · 0° i. Nairobi ii. Amboseli iii. Tsavo W. iv. Tsavo E. v. The Mara N 0 100 200 KM
Flight or drive segment
2026 · The 12-day arc
  1. i.NairobiHemingways · Karen2nights
  2. ii.AmboseliTortilis Camp2nights
  3. iii.Tsavo WestFinch Hattons1night
  4. iv.Tsavo EastGaldessa Camp2nights
  5. v.The Maasai MaraMara Plains4nights
  6. vi.Nairobi, againHemingways, day room—evening
For the flight over

The 2026 reading list.

Four books. The first is required. The other three will make a long flight pass quickly — and give you something to talk about, at the long evening table, in Nairobi.

i.
Love, Life and Elephants
Dame Daphne Sheldrick
Required
The Sheldrick memoir · 1948 → today.
ii.
Out of Africa
Karen Blixen
For Damaris's afternoon
Re-read it. Damaris will know.
iii.
West with the Night
Beryl Markham
If you have the time
For the long flights.
iv.
The Tree Where Man Was Born
Peter Matthiessen
For the Mara nights
The classic East African essay.
The fine print, plainly

What's in, and what's not.

What's included

Everything from arrival to farewell.

All lodging at four-star or above; all in-country transfers including the Mara charter; all park fees and conservancy levies; every meal from arrival to farewell; a small library of reading delivered to you in May.

What's not

The few things we leave to you.

International flights, your visa, the optional hot-air balloon over the Mara ($590pp), and tips for the drivers and rangers — we leave those to your discretion, as is local custom.

Six places remain for August 2026.

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