Safari from the coast
Local guide and safari organiser · Watamu, Kilifi County
Languages: Italian, English, Swahili, Giriama
Leave the coast at dawn and give the savannah the time to surprise you, instead of turning the safari into a one-day dash.
At dawn the coast falls away behind you and the road changes colour. This trip is for anyone who wants to meet the savannah without compressing it all into a few hours.
A night in the park leaves room for an afternoon game drive, for the sounds after sunset, and for a second drive in the morning, when the animals move more and the light is still low. The final plan depends on the entry gate, on the lodge and on the conditions confirmed for your dates.
Day 1 · morning
I pick you up from where you are staying very early. The drive to the park is the longest part of the day: I tell you that up front, so it is not a surprise. Along the way we stop for a break and to talk about what to expect.
Day 1 · afternoon
After the gate and checking in at the lodge we head out in the hours when the heat drops and the animals start moving again. That is when the park opens up: elephants, gazelles, giraffes, and if the day goes well something rarer.
Day 1 · evening
Dinner and the night in a lodge or tented camp. There is nothing you need to do: the evening in the park is for listening. It is the part people mention most often when they come back.
Day 2 · dawn
We go out in the low morning light, while the temperature is still down and sightings are more likely. Depending on the area we can look out over the Galana or drive up to a viewpoint.
Day 2 · afternoon
Breakfast, a last stretch inside the park and the drive home. I take you back to where you are staying in the afternoon, with time to put your thoughts together again before dinner.
I meet you at your accommodation in Watamu, Malindi or Mambrui. The exact time depends on where you are staying and on the entry gate we plan to use: I confirm it in writing along with the rest of the proposal.
The total time on the road, there and back, is the thing most often described badly. I would rather tell you first: it is the reason this experience takes two days and not one.
Tsavo East can be visited all year round, but it is never the same park twice. In the dry months the vegetation is low and the animals gather near water, so sightings come more easily. After the rains the landscape turns green and photographs better, but the wildlife spreads over a wider area and some tracks can be difficult.
No sighting is guaranteed. The animals are free, they move, and they do not follow our plan. What I can guarantee is the way we look for them: without forcing, without chasing, without leaving the tracks.
The night is spent in a lodge or tented camp inside the park or on its edge. The specific property depends on availability for your dates and is named in the written proposal, along with the meals included.
The tracks are rough and the transfers are long. If anyone in the group has mobility difficulties or back problems, write to me beforehand: we can work out together whether this experience suits you or whether something else would be better.
5/5 across 1 verified reviews
We were afraid two days would be too few and instead it was the right choice. John told us straight away how many hours on the road we should expect, without dressing it up, and the second game drive at dawn paid us back for everything. I won't forget the elephants red with dust.
Avevamo paura che due giorni fossero pochi e invece è stata la scelta giusta. John ci ha detto subito quante ore di strada ci aspettavano, senza girarci intorno, e il secondo game drive all'alba ci ha ripagati di tutto. Gli elefanti rossi di polvere non me li dimentico.
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.
No. The animals are free, they move and they follow nobody's programme: sightings cannot be guaranteed, not in the savannah and not at sea. If someone promises them to you, know that they are promising something they do not control.
What I can tell you is how we look for them: keeping our distance, respecting the park rules, staying on the tracks, without chasing and without forcing an approach for the sake of a photograph. Respect for the wildlife comes before any promise.
Many of them can be, but there is no single answer: the duration, the length of the transfers and the timings all have to be weighed against age. A dawn departure with hours on the road is not the same thing for a four-year-old and for a twelve-year-old.
In the form all I need is the number of children and their age ranges. Names, dates of birth and other personal details are not required: those, if they are needed at all, come only when a property or a park asks for them.
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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Four days and three nights to cross the Tsavo area, the country around the Taita hills and the plains of Amboseli, without rushing any of it.
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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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Tell me how many of you there are and when: I'll tell you what's realistic and what isn't.
