From the sweltering coastline of Kenya we take you through the wilderness of Tsavo East National Park, the rough hills of Tsavo West to the plains of Amboseli, with its stunning views of Mount Kilimanjaro, which lies just across the border in Tanzania.

Once you’ve touched the ground in Nairobi and had a night to gather your energy, we’ll fly to Malindi, from where you’ll be ferried to the beautiful coastal resort of Watamu. From our base on the white sandy beaches, we’ll explore one of the last stretches of coastal forest in East Africa: the Arabuko Sokoko National Reserve, famed among bird-watching afficionados for among others the Malindi and African Pipit, as well as the African Wood-owl. It is also one of the few places left to find the ephemeral Sokoke Scops-owl. We’ll visit the Gedi Ruins, the remains of one of the old Swahili settlements that used to dot the coast from northern Kenya to Mozambique — now overrun with forest and a paradise for birds, and a social project supporting the local community. We’ll be bird-watching

From Watamu we’ll hop from hotspot to hotspot along the Galana River to Tsavo East National Park, a wilderness untouched by mass tourism. Bring light clothes: Tsavo can get hot during the dry seasons! From Tsavo East, we’ll head to the sister park of Tsavo West. More hilly and rocky than its eastern counterpart, stretching into savannah further west.

Having explored the two Tsavo’s, we continue westward to the savannah and lake of Amboseli, with its stunning fews of Mount Kilimanjaro, which lies just across the border in Tanzania (ask us about the tale of colonial arrogance involving Queen Victoria and her Kaiser-nephew). We’ll be driving and walking around the park, exploring its many bird-watching hotspots. From Amboseli we’ll drive back to Nairobi, where we’ll do an afternoon walk at Ooloolua Forest trail or at Karura Forest National Reserve, taking a peek at the forests of Central Kenya. We’ll close our trip with a day drive through Nairobi National Park, the only national park in the world bordering a capital city. The forests of Central Kenya make way here for the savannah of the south, with wide-open panorama’s, little rivers and plenty of places to get out of the car and identify the rich bird-life, from bee-eaters, honeybirds, weavers and snipes to raptors such as kites, buzzards, or the Tawny Eagle.