Safari from the coast
Local guide and safari organiser · Watamu, Kilifi County
Languages: Italian, English, Swahili, Giriama
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.
Tsavo East and Amboseli often end up in the same sentence, but they are not the same thing. Tsavo is enormous, red and bushy: you look into the distance and you wait. Amboseli is lower and more open, with wetlands where the animals stay out in plain sight and can be seen from far off.
This trip puts the two environments together in three days and two nights. The part that weighs on it is the road: the transfer between the two parks takes a whole morning, and I would rather tell you now than let you discover it in the car.
Day 1 · morning
I pick you up from where you are staying very early, while it is still dark. The road to the park is the longest part of the day: we stop along the way for a break and to talk about what to expect. We go in through the planned gate and carry on already looking around.
Day 1 · afternoon
Once you are checked in we head out in the hours when the heat drops and the animals start moving again. We are back at the lodge before the light goes. In the evening there is nothing you need to do: you sit outside and listen.
Day 2 · morning
We leave early, with a stretch inside the park before taking the road west. The transfer takes most of the morning and it is the hardest part of the trip: the road changes character, the dust increases, the landscape opens up. Lunch on the way or at the property, depending on what time we actually arrive.
Day 2 · afternoon
Amboseli is driven differently from Tsavo: the distances are shorter and the vegetation lower, so you observe more than you search. We move towards the wetlands, where the animals gather in the hours when the temperature drops.
Day 3 · dawn
We go out in the low morning light, while the temperature is still bearable and sightings are more likely. It is also the only part of the day when the sky occasionally clears: I am promising nothing, but if it happens, it happens here.
Day 3 · afternoon
Breakfast, out through the gate and the drive back towards Watamu or Malindi. It is a long day in the vehicle: we arrive in the evening and I take you straight to where you are staying.
I meet you at your accommodation in Watamu, Malindi or Mambrui. The departure 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, I do not improvise it the night before.
The group stays small, so that everyone has a window seat. You can choose the private option, only for the people travelling with you, or share the vehicle with other guests: it changes the rhythm of the day and it changes the price, which is on request either way.
Putting together three days with two overnight stays needs notice: in the busy weeks the lodges fill up quickly. Write to me as soon as you have your dates, even just to find out whether I am free.
In the dry months the vegetation is low and the animals gather around water: sightings come more easily and there is a great deal of dust. After the rains the landscape turns green and the photographs improve, but the wildlife spreads over a wider area and some tracks can become difficult.
Amboseli sits at the foot of Kilimanjaro, but the mountain spends most of its time behind cloud, sometimes for whole days. Anyone selling it to you as guaranteed is describing something that is in nobody's hands.
No sighting is guaranteed. The animals are free 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 two nights are in lodges or tented camps, one in the Tsavo East area and one in Amboseli. The exact properties depend on availability for your dates and are named in the written proposal, along with the meals included.
If you have particular needs — a triple room, separate beds, a specific diet — tell me before you confirm: afterwards it becomes harder to move things around.
Three days means many hours sitting on rough ground, with frequent climbing in and out of the vehicle. If anyone in the group has back problems, mobility difficulties or does not cope with heat, write to me beforehand: we can work out together whether it makes sense or whether a shorter trip would be better.
5/5 across 1 verified reviews
We were travelling with children aged seven and ten. John broke up the transfers, kept to the pace of the little ones and had the patience to answer two hundred questions. Amboseli with Kilimanjaro clear in the morning was the best day of the holiday.
Viaggiavamo con bambini di sette e dieci anni. John ha spezzato i trasferimenti, ha tenuto il ritmo dei piccoli e ha avuto la pazienza di rispondere a duecento domande. L'Amboseli con il Kilimangiaro scoperto al mattino è stata la giornata più bella della vacanza.
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.
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.
Leave the coast at dawn and give the savannah the time to surprise you, instead of turning the safari into a one-day dash.
See the experience
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.
See the experience
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.
See the experience
Tell me how many of you there are and when: I'll tell you what's realistic and what isn't.
