Where to go
The Masai Mara
Contiguous with Tanzania's Serengeti, and the reason most people come. July to October for the migration and the river crossings; the resident game is excellent year-round and the low season is a third of the price. Three to four days, flown in or driven.
Nairobi
More than a transit point: the national park within the city limits — the only one in the world — the Giraffe Centre, the elephant orphanage, and the Karen Blixen museum. The Nairobi National Museum is worth a morning. Two days.
Amboseli and Tsavo
Amboseli for elephants against Kilimanjaro, which sits across the border in Tanzania and dominates the horizon; Tsavo for red-dust landscapes and far fewer vehicles. Easily combined by road from Nairobi.
Lake Nakuru and the Rift Valley
Flamingos in their thousands when water levels suit, rhinos, and the chain of Rift Valley lakes — Naivasha, Bogoria, Baringo. A day or two from Nairobi and a complete change from the savannah.
Lamu
A Swahili town on an island, a World Heritage site, with no cars — donkeys and dhows instead. Coral-stone houses, carved doors and a rhythm a thousand years old. Check current advice for the coast north of Malindi before planning.
Diani and the south coast
White sand, reef and warm water, an hour from Mombasa. The natural second half of a safari trip, and the easiest place in Kenya to do nothing at all.
Building the itinerary
- Three stops a week, no more. Every move costs half a day at minimum, often a whole one, and you see nothing of a place where you sleep one night.
- Alternate the pace. A dense city, then two quiet days: that is what makes travelling as a couple sustainable, especially if one of you lives there and works.
- Keep a buffer day before the flight home, in the departure city. Domestic transport delays are the leading cause of missed flights.
- Ask the person who lives there what they want to show you. Guidebook itineraries and the places that matter to them rarely overlap — and the second list is the better one.
Two reflexes that change a trip
Distances deceive. On a map two points look close; on the ground, road conditions, checkpoints and terrain double or triple the time. Plan fewer stops and more time at each.
Ask before photographing anyone, and never insist. Official buildings, soldiers, airports and bridges are best avoided almost everywhere — the most banal and most avoidable source of trouble.