Local experiences with John Nyale
Safaris, days on the water and routes built around the days you have, the people you travel with and what you actually want to see. Plan from home, or write to me once you are already in Watamu.
One person, not a call centre
You write to John and John replies, not an automated form.
Timings stated upfront
How long the transfer really takes is on the page, not discovered in the car.
No promises about nature
Sightings can't be guaranteed. Everything else can: timings, inclusions, conditions.
The rest of the site adapts to your answer.
You don't need all the dates yet. Tell me what you'd like to experience and I'll help you put together stops, timings and pace.
Start shaping the tripTell me where you are and when you're free: I'll check what is genuinely available in the next few days.
Check availabilityWhere to start
A day among mangroves and coral, a night under the Tsavo sky, or a trip that brings it all together.
Leave the coast at dawn and give the savannah the time to surprise you, instead of turning the safari into a one-day dash.
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Two parks that look nothing alike: the red earth of Tsavo East and the low plains of Amboseli, with two nights so you are not spending the whole trip chasing the clock.
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You leave by plane from Malindi airport: the Mara is reached by air, not with two days on the road, and the days stay free for game drives.
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A morning on the water between reef and lagoon, on a route adapted to the sea, the tide and what the group can manage.
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A few hours by canoe in the channels of Mida Creek, with the tide deciding the time and the route. You really do paddle, and you move in silence.
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A morning split between the ruins of a Swahili town and the edge of the largest coastal forest left in East Africa.
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Collections
Parks, game drives and nights away from the coast, with transfer times stated plainly.
4 experiences
Reef, sandbanks and days on the boat, with timings set by the tide.
4 experiences
Mangroves, forest, Swahili history and sunsets: what is around the beach.
7 experiences
When no ready-made plan fits, we start from your days and build from there.
1 experience
Who you travel with
Kenya isn't a destination I sell. It's home.
I take people who arrive in Kenya around the country at a pace built on the real trip: how many days you have, who you are travelling with and what actually makes you curious.
I won't promise you what nature will do. I will tell you how long the drive really takes, what is included and which experience makes sense for the days you have.
I don't keep the reviews myself: they live on TripAdvisor, with their own dates and alongside every other review by the people who wrote them. There nobody gets to pick them, shorten them or put them in a flattering order — me least of all.
Before you go
It applies to me as much as to anyone else: if these five answers are not there in writing, don't confirm.
Keep reading
There is no wrong month, there are different months. Here is what tends to happen, and what nobody can promise you.
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The white sand is why most people come here. It is not why some of them come back.
Keep reading
FAQ
Yes, and it is the most common situation of all. To get started, even just the month you think you'll be in Kenya is enough: from there we work out from the time you really have and the kind of trip you have in mind.
If the dates then move, we start again from the new ones. It is more useful to think it through from a rough idea than to wait until everything is decided.
Write to me and I'll check what is available over the following days. I'll tell you what is realistic to put together at short notice and what is not.
It depends on three things: where you are setting off from, how many days you have and the pace you want to travel at.
A short safari is a first meeting with the savannah: it gives you the idea, but it compresses the transfers. With more days available the rushed journeys are cut back and there is more time inside the park, in the hours when the animals really do move.
Either way I'll explain the real travel times and the alternatives that exist, including when the honest answer is that a particular safari does not fit into the days you have.
When both formats are available for your dates I set them side by side: the price changes, and so do the flexibility over timings and the number of people travelling with you.
The proposal you receive lists only the options genuinely available in that period. I don't set out arrangements that I then cannot put on.
Every proposal states explicitly what it covers: transport, entry fees, guide, meals, accommodation and activities. And it states what is left out as well, because that is usually where misunderstandings begin.
Before confirming you always receive a written summary with these points, so you can read it through calmly and ask me about anything that doesn't add up.
Only when you receive a written confirmation from me setting out availability, itinerary, price, conditions and payment terms. Before that message we are still at the stage where the proposal is being built.
Tell me where you are in your trip and how much time you have. We start from there.
