A week split in half: a few unhurried days in the park and the rest on the coast, with time to breathe between the two.
Seven days is the length at which savannah and ocean can sit together without treading on each other. You go into the park for as long as it takes to live it, you come back to the coast, and you leave at least one slow day in between, because coming back from a safari and setting off again the next morning is the surest way to enjoy neither.
This is an outline, not a closed programme. The order of the days depends on where you are staying, on the gate timings and on what is available for your dates: when we write to each other, we adapt it to you.
Day 1
Settling in at Watamu or nearby, and no serious plans. I let you find your feet, explain how distances work around here, and we agree the timings for the following days. If you feel like moving, a walk along the coast in the late afternoon is more than enough.
Days 2-4
An early start from the coast and into the park. Three days allow at least four proper game drives in the good hours, early morning and late afternoon, plus an extra night that shortens the daily transfers. The exact route and the properties depend on availability and on the entry gate.
Day 5
The drive back to the coast takes up most of the day: it is a real leg of the trip, not a detail. The afternoon stays free. This is the day when the dust of the park comes off and the photographs get sorted, with nothing else added.
Day 6
A boat trip in the Watamu marine park, with snorkelling at whichever spots the conditions of the day make workable. Timing and route depend on the tides and on the state of the sea: it is decided the evening before, not weeks in advance.
Day 7
A last half day among the mangroves of Mida Creek, by dhow in the late afternoon if the timings of your departure allow it, otherwise in the morning. Then the transfer to the airport or on to the next stage of your trip.
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.
See the experience
A morning on the water between reef and lagoon, on a route adapted to the sea, the tide and what the group can manage.
See the experience
A couple of hours on a traditional sailing boat on the creek, in the slot when the light drops. You sit, you don't paddle, and you come back in the dark.
See the experience
A morning split between the ruins of a Swahili town and the edge of the largest coastal forest left in East Africa.
See the experience
No off-the-shelf programme: you tell me how much time you have and what interests you, and I write you an itinerary built on that.
See the experience
Almost everything in here can change: the timing of the trips at sea follows the tides, the route in the park depends on the gate and on the state of the tracks, the drive back from the savannah gets longer or shorter with the traffic and the season. If a day cannot be done safely, it is moved or replaced.
Nothing you read here is confirmed until you receive a written proposal from me with dates, real availability, properties, price and conditions. This page is here to show you how I think about the days, not to hold a place.
Tell me how many days you actually have, where you're starting from and who you're travelling with: I'll move the stops, redo the timings and tell you what I'd cut.
