Hello there!

Kenya is again announcing one of The Greatest safari on Earth - The excellent wildebeest migration! Not that it ever went away, you understand, but it is about to get to its cycle. Indeed, the year 2023 was a real show despite the two years we were under the COVID-19 travel ban.

 

It hasn't been easy, but it is back, and mind you, all the corners of the world with everyone on hold for the safari is on the way. What about you?

Yet the great wildebeest migration is not all you will be excited about when you come to Kenya - Let us delve into the diversity of Kenya's wild adventure destinations - a must-visit.

 

People have always regarded Kenya as a wildlife destination – Kenya has news for you: the real adventure has migrated beyond the south and back north, back to its original home, where the like of Hemingway and Roosevelt and Finch Hatton found their Africa.

 

These days, it doesn't have to be the Masai Mara. Either because, many other much wilder safari destinations have come of age. And what they offer is undoubtedly the most incredible, exciting, compelling real adventure in the continent.

 

Here is a small taste of the wild ingredients that make Kenya the Greatest Adventure melting pot.

 

With many years recorded, offering the world's best game viewing, Kenya is pulling out all stops to provide an even more wild adventure, where you can follow your elephant tracking with different adrenaline rises. The opening of the wilder areas of Laikipia, Tsavo, and the Great Rift Valley has led several specialist safari companies to offer action adventures in some of Kenya's most stunning locations.

 

Together with white waters rafting in Uaso Nyiro river, you can now experience Kenya's most challenging action sports here – paragliding across the Great Rift Valley, climbing on the 30 incredible technical routes up Mt. Kenya, Mountain biking among the great games of Laikipia, or jogging on several private game reserves, horse riding – including the now famous Safaricom Marathon at Lewa Downs, where some of the bests runners go feet to feet with Masai warriors and the endangered Black Rhinos.

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None of the world's most fantastic birding spectacles can beat the incredible avian metropolis of Kenya's great Rift Valley lakes. At Lake Baringo, more than 400 spectacular water birds, birds of prey, and European migrants meet in a single destination feted by The Guinness Book Of Records for the most species ever spotted in a single day.

 

Consider the 35 sparkling sunbirds in the forests of Mt. Kenya and Kakamega, the stunning lammergeier vultures at Hell's Gate, the world's rarest owl, the Sokoke scops, in the ancient coastal forest of Arabuko Sokoke, or the rippling pink sheet of over 2 million lesser Flamingos that prompted sir Peter Scott to call Lake Nakuru "The world's Greatest Bird Spectacle." We nest our Case.

 

Among the wildest tours of the world's most untamed lands, few can beat a footloose camel safari across Kenya's Northern desert. With experienced companies running these unique adventures, including Ewaso River Camel Hikes, Desert Rose, and Wild Frontiers, which have guided camel safaris for over 20 years, you will have the Experience of a lifetime.

 

The itineraries include the elemental wilds of Samburu, the epic waters of Lake Turkana, and the remote Oasis of the Mathews and Ndoto Mountains - home to migrating elephants, prehistoric cycad palms, And the ancient tribal initiations. These trips last from three days to three weeks, whereas accommodations range from a sleeping bag beneath the stars to a magical cottage at Desert Rose, where the End of the Earth meets atop sacred Mount Nyiru.

 

No, it is not the name of a safari company, but how can we not boast about it in Kenya? With the Ancient sacred forest along the Kenyan coast, the rugged-snow-capped peaks of mounts Kenya and Kilimanjaro (just over the border), the glistering white beaches, the intense green tea plantations, the burning yellow deserts, the sparkling "jade sea" of Turkana – The geography is arguably unmatched in the planet.

 

And you can see it from an unmatched diversity of perspectives: Landcruiser to horseback, hobbies cart to parasails, hot air balloons, helicopter – or often most adventurous of all, on your own two feet.

 

After several wasteful decades, Kenya is getting very serious about preserving its natural assets. Looking after Rhino and Roan antelopes is one thing, but if you are not looking after their habitats, you are just delaying the inevitable. Fortunately, Kenya has woken up to this reality.

 

With help from the European Union, USAID, and other farsighted donors, several unique community conservation schemes are taking off, and established tour operators are getting together to 'think green.' The dynamic Ecotourism Society of Kenya plans to have a strict series of eco-rating criteria by early next year.

 

At last, it's not just adults and wealthy old-timers who can leap Kenya's natural rewards. Several safari operators and hotel groups have launched innovative new options for families with young and older children, activities that help guests understand the wilderness they are visiting.

 

A fine example is Heritage Hotels' Adventurers' Club, which offers educational safaris at the coast and the preserves of Tsavo, Samburu, and Mara, with everything from animal studies and bush skills to sports contests with local kids and game drives aboard a fleet of child-friendly trucks.

 

And the guides are genuinely child-friendly – so that mum and Dad can rest very assured by the pool!

 

 

 

 

It's a surprise that Kenya has never blown this trumpet louder because it does have some of the most beautiful and challenging golf courses in the world. From the forest-franked fairways' of Nairobi's Winsor, Karen, and Muthaiga clubs to Antelope-dodging antics at the Aberdare Country Club and playing against the world's most spectacular backdrops at Naivasha's Great Rift Valley Lodge & Golf Resort.

 

Kenya is going green in every sense – and making the rest of Africa turn it into envy.

 

While Kenyan safaris were supposedly dropping into the doldrums, another group of visionaries was quietly lifting the fabulous "wild week" – a magical week-long safari in a five men squirrel helicopter, flying across the spectacular deserts of Northern Kenya to various verdant oases with swimming pools and bathtubs with hundred of miles views.

 

Of course, it's expensive, but if this doesn't get you high, you should probably consider joining the next wave of American space tourists.

 

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There are so many spectacular destinations in Kenya, but no one stands out for this individual beauty. Il' Ngwesi stands out for particular mention, if only because of its incredible success in saving its wild surroundings.

 

Where once this 16,500-acre community ranch in Laikipia was only known for its ivory poaching and livestock-ravaged land, a small four-room ecolodge has, in five short years, succeeded in turning around years of destruction, declining wildlife numbers, and, most importantly, local animosity towards elephants and lions.

 

Both can be seen here in abundance, with the run becoming one of Kenya's endangered rhinos' conservancies.

 

None of Kenya's charismatic creatures evokes such pleasure (or, in the past, such pain) as the enigmatic and emotional African Elephant. Since it launched the Global stand against ivory trading (and led the movement against its resumption at the last CITES meeting), Kenya has been at the forefront of the research against this magnificent beast – which means ensuring its survival. It's not all pretentious, closed-door academia, either.

 

Iain Douglas Hamilton, the world's famous elephant researcher, invited a team of researchers to join his team on "Elephant watch safaris" in Samburu National Reserves, where they helped to track, record, and study the movement of the elephants that they knew personally.

 

Tsavo Galla camp allowed participating tourists to hang out with elephant researchers. At the same time, several lodges in Laikipia have affiliated research camps that are happy to take guests into the field.

 

Lewa and Solio have long been studying the rare black Rhino, while Loisaba has been conducting the world's first research on the striped hyena, and several other ranches are also involved in the Laikipia Carnival project, which was examining means to keep Laikipia's Livestock off local lions' lunch menus.

 

 

 

 

In 1995, a group of disenchanted safari guides got together to discuss the declining standards of guiding and the need for a certification scheme.

 

The result was the KPSGA, which tested the applicants in everything from elephant to etiquette, bugs to birds, insects to ingenuity before approving them – and then committing themselves to strict social and environmental codes.

 

Kenya is arguably, therefore, back to where it was at the beginning of the 20^th century with the best Outdoorsmen in the world.

Let's face it: Life cannot be lived without a bit of luxury. While Hong Kong and Dubai get visitors with the promise of seven-star services, Kenya has always rested on its laurels in this department t until now. In recent years, we have seen the emergence of spectacular lodges, tented camps, and resorts opening up and bringing a new order of luxury and sophistication and outright incredibly high levels of personal services.

 

The luxury of Borana and Ol Malo in Laikipia must be seen to be believed. More so, even more luxurious camps spring up in the country's time-tested destinations – Bateleur and Explorer in the Mara, Kilalinda in Tsavo, and Elsa's Kopje in Mer. If luxury has a lap, then Kenya's superlatives are in danger of slipping below the belt.

 

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Masai Mara National Reserves is the world's talked about wilderness still getting crowned in the summer months, but wow – it is still worth your visitation. Tell me, where else can you see all the big 5 in an hour and let you drift back to our ancestor's birth a few miles down the road?

 

It's all here.; the magnificent migration, humanity's cradle, Masai Initiations – indeed witness a million magical moments to make you go "Mmmmmmmmm..."

 

This might sound like a one-week activity in the line of adventure, but considering the vast numbers still taking the long road to Africa, you will only have to think otherwise.

 

Kenya has been the center of the overland business in Africa for a time now. If you visit the Nairobi Park services campsite to see where the company is going, you will find visits to Uganda to see gorillas and other camps around Kenya.

 

Many more respectable visitors, such as Doctors and IT specialists, get involved in these overland safaris.

 

 

 

 

In the growing business of incentives travel, Kenya is emerging as Africa's ultimate reward – a DESTINATION WHERE A DOZEN OF HIGH-ACHIEVERS can bond over a magical safari, or parties of 800 can be hosted and entertained in utter style at "grand out of Africa" galas or sumptuous banquets in the bush.

 

This well-established business has attracted a range of specialist incentives companies. It has also seen the establishment of Kenya's classic attractions, such as game drives, hot air balloon safaris, and diving with dolphins, with several added advantages involving severe safety measures.

 

 

 

 

Turkana is one of the most dramatic, soul-stirling places on Earth, where guests can fly in for tea aboard a charter plane or spend dramatic days searching for their ancestral roots among the pastoralists Turkana and the crocodile-hunting El Molo (the world's smallest tribe.

 

You can drive or fly from the ranches of Laikipia, camels from Samburu, and various intrepid operators. Prepare to go further back in time than beyond your known usual back!

 

This is home to some of the Indian Ocean's most beautiful and endangered creatures, from sperm whales and whale sharks to sea turtles and dugongs. However, the hard-hitting maritime legislation is being able to preserve these precious species, together with the fragile coral reefs and Mangrove forest on which they and the entire marine ecosystem depend.

 

Visitors to the coast can immerse themselves in this world with some of Africa's most experienced underwater hosts: the aqua ventures on the spectacular offshore reefs at Watamu, diving the crab on the sparkling southern reefs, the buccaneer diving on Kenya's famous deep-water hidden reefs.

 

 

 

 

No other country can Match Kenya's wildlife on the ocean waves. Alongside different types of fun craft – from jet skis and parasailing to water skis and windsurfing, Kenya offers some of the best big game fishing in the world, including an epic sailfish run from October to December that can see boats land up to 20,40 kilos of fish a day in Malindi and Watamu.

 

The Marlin is world-class, with extensive runs of up to 800 pounds blue and black from December to March.

With its state-of-the-art Boats, highly experienced captains, and disciplined tag-and-release systems, Kenya's fishing comes in all shapes and sizes, from the legendary tale-stretching bar of Hemingways at Watamu and sea adventures in Shimoni to the private pampering of Malindi Indian Ocean lodges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of our guests enjoy reading about their destination - before their trip or while traveling - to add context to their visit. Whether reading a traditional guidebook, learning about history and culture, or simply enjoying a fictional novel set in the destination, a good book can add significantly to your Experience. Similarly, a good movie set in your destination helps set the mood before you travel. We asked our Tour Managers and staff to recommend books and films that past guests may have enjoyed. The following does not constitute an endorsement of any authors, books, or movies listed; it is merely a collection of guests' recommendations.

 

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KENYA & TANZANIA: Books
Out of Africa by Karen Blixen
Born Free by Joy Adamson
Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway
The Flame Trees of Thika by Elspeth Huxley
The Tree Where Man Was Born by Peter Matthiessen
Serengeti Shall Not Die by Bernard Grzimek
West with the Night by Beryl Markham

 

The cross-border safaris are possible because of Kenya's location, which offers umpteen unique opportunities to reach the parts that the Boers can't. Fancy an Unforgettable wild encounter?

 

The gorillas of the Bwindi Impenetrable forest in the neighboring Uganda will force you to look deep into your soul (as well as into your Shoes). How about the Ultimate Hiking challenge? You can't get much higher than the "roof of Africa" just over the Tanzanian Border.

 

Want Another wildlife spectacle? The Mara ecosystem extends into the vast grass plains of the Serengeti, where a million wildebeests meet the ghost of the ancient Homo habilis. Need to cross a more active border?

 

Try paragliding in the Rift Valley, base jumping the Mathews mountains, or watching the safari rally – the world's most formidable four-wheel challenge. If you got the brawns, Kenya's full of brains. Mark this as your moment of Experience.

 

It's one thing about action and adventure, but you will have trouble finding your first base if no one knows you. Not so for Kenya. Blaval Adventure will plan the A- Z OF ALL YOUR TRAVEL DETAILS.

 

As the original home of African Safaris, Kenya lays claim to many of the notable profound experiences. It indeed has a wealth of records to entertain guests from virtually all corners of the world. It also boasts the most hospitable people with incredible geographical diversity, which is indeed the newest safari adventure – Cultural Tourism.

 

With all these lined up for you, we fully understand that with your hikes in Samburu, the jumping with Masai, jogging at the Lewa marathon, and the battling with the 200-pound perch, you want to lie on the beach for a few days and Zzzzzzzzzzzz ….

 

Blavals is good at this: we listen and are your planning partner to help you derive the best of your dreams for the most notable Adventure in Africa, Kenya in particular.