Soul of the Savannah: An Intimate Escape
You are up before sunrise, tracking rhino across the savannah. By mid-morning, you are back at your lodge with a hot breakfast, a full bathroom, and nowhere you need to be.
That is the principle behind this journey. Active Luxury places movement and comfort alongside each other rather than in opposition. It is the conviction that the most profound engagement with a wilderness does not require sacrifice — it requires intention.
This seven-day circuit covers two of Kenya’s most significant wildlife landscapes: Lake Nakuru, an alkaline sanctuary for both species of African rhino, and the Masai Mara, the northern arm of the world’s most celebrated wildlife corridor. The journey is designed and hosted by Bena Roberts, a women-only safari specialist with ten years of direct East African experience, operating under the infrastructure of Best Safaris.
Eight guests per departure. No men. No compromises.
Brief Itinerary
| Day | Place | Highlights | Property |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nairobi arrival | Arrival & transfer to your Hotel | Lion Hill Lodge, Nakuru |
| 2 | Lake Nakuru National Park | Rhinos, Flamingos & the Golden Hour | Lion Hill Lodge, Nakuru |
| 3 | Lake Nakuru → Masai Mara | The Rift Valley Floor & Arrival at the Mara | Soroi Mara Bush Camp |
| 4 | Masai Mara National Reserve | Bush Walk · Photography · The Mara on Foot | Soroi Mara Bush Camp |
| 5 | Masai Mara · Community & Conservation | Schools, Trees & the Reiki Circle | Soroi Mara Bush Camp |
| 6 | Masai Mara National Reserve | The Big Five & A Maasai Sunset Blessing | Soroi Mara Bush Camp |
| 7 | Masai Mara → Nairobi · Departure | The Final Morning | N/A |
$ Pricing
| Validity Dates | Price Per Person | Single Room Suppliment |
|---|---|---|
| Green Season — October / November 2026 Departure Date: October 22, 2026 November 2, 2026 November 9, 2026 | US$ 7,111.00 | US$ 490.00 |
More Information
- Deposit to reserve: $600
- Balance due: 60 days prior
- Group maximum: 12 women
Other Information
- All accommodation — 4 and 5-star eco-certified properties throughout
- All meals — full board from Day 1 dinner to Day 7 breakfast
- All national park and conservancy entry fees
- All game drives in 4×4 safari vehicles with professional guides
- Nairobi Giraffe Centre visit (Day 1)
- Guided bush walk with Maasai rangers (Day 4)
- Photography workshop with camp photographer (Day 4)
- Tree planting and school visit — Mara community (Day 5)
- Reiki circle facilitation (Day 5 evening)
- Maasai blessing ceremony (Day 6)
- Internal flight — Mara airstrip to Nairobi Wilson (Day 7)
- All airport and in-country transfers
- Bena Roberts as host throughout the entire journey
- Drinking water throughout
- Change in itinerary.
- Travel / medical insurance.
- Tips / gratuities for driver / guide and hotel staff.
- Return international air fare & Visa fee.
- Items of personal nature i.e., Alcoholic beverages & laundry, telephone, souvenirs etc.
- Any extras not mentioned above e.g., extra meals, activities – balloon safaris, sundowners etc.
Rabecca Wanjau
Safari Planner+254 733888042
Key
| BB | Bed & Breakfast |
| Half Board: | 2 Meals per day (Breakfast / Dinner) |
| Full Board: | 3 Meals per day (Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner) |
| Eco-status: | Indicates the Environmentally friendly/ sustainable approach of the hotel |
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Nairobi · Lake Nakuru
Nairobi, the Giraffe Centre & the Road to Nakuru
10:00 AM — The group convenes at the Four Points Sheraton, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Introductions are made over coffee. Bena conducts a pre-departure briefing. These are the first moments you spend with women who have, like you, chosen a different kind of travel.
11:30 AM — Transfer to the Nairobi Giraffe Centre, where Rothschild’s giraffes — among the rarest subspecies on earth — can be fed from a raised platform at eye level. It is not a sophisticated experience. It is simply an excellent one. Allow approximately one hour.
Lunch — A relaxed meal at a local Nairobi restaurant. Kenyan food. No itinerary pressure.
Afternoon — A three-hour drive southwest to Lake Nakuru National Park, crossing the floor of the Great Rift Valley. The geological scale of the Rift is difficult to prepare for. Stop at the rim viewpoints. Photographs rarely do it justice, but take them anyway.
Evening — Check into Lion Hill Lodge, a four-star property situated within the park boundary. Sundowners on the terrace. Dinner as the African night settles in. The wildlife begins at dawn.
Accommodation
Sarova Lion Hill Lodge
Hotel Type: Standard Lodge
Location
Rooms
They offer clean, secure accommodation in the traditional Samburu/ Rendille huts and spacious self-contained modern rooms.
Villas
Stay in one of the rooms during your entire stay and enjoy local and international cuisines. Or opt for the local huts and experience the cooling effect of the traditional huts.
Camping
Beautiful and secure place to accommodate a large group, green environment to relax and enjoy to camping activities. Enjoy amazing golden sun down & rise, bonfire and entertainment from the locals with traditional dances and songs.
Facilities/Amenities
- Heated Swimming Pool
- Wellness center
- En-suite bathrooms with showers
- Beds draped in mosquito netting
- Bureau de change
- Laundry
- Baby Sitting
- Business center with Wi-Fi
- Outdoor games
- Large Dining room
- International Cuisine /Buffet
Meal Plan: Lunch & Dinner
Day 2: Lake Nakuru National Park
Rhinos, Flamingos & the Golden Hour
Dawn — The Kenyan early morning has a quality that is hard to name. The air is still cold. The light arrives at a low angle through the acacia. The earth smells of rain and red dust. Lake Nakuru holds a nationally significant population of both black and white rhinos, and the morning game drive is where you may encounter them at close range, unhurried and enormous against the flat lakeshore.
Also possible — Lions in the fever tree woodland, leopards resting on branches above the track, and, depending on the season, the famous flamingo congregations that rim the alkaline waters in bands of deep pink.
Midday — Return to Lion Hill Lodge. The Active Luxury principle in practice: breakfast, a swim if you choose, time to journal or simply sit.
Late Afternoon — A second game drive as the light turns gold. The late afternoon in a national park is different from the morning — quieter, longer shadows, animals moving toward water. A photographer’s hour.
Evening — Dinner at the lodge. Conversation by the fire. Rest.
Accommodation
Sarova Lion Hill Lodge
Hotel Type: Standard Lodge
Location
Rooms
They offer clean, secure accommodation in the traditional Samburu/ Rendille huts and spacious self-contained modern rooms.
Villas
Stay in one of the rooms during your entire stay and enjoy local and international cuisines. Or opt for the local huts and experience the cooling effect of the traditional huts.
Camping
Beautiful and secure place to accommodate a large group, green environment to relax and enjoy to camping activities. Enjoy amazing golden sun down & rise, bonfire and entertainment from the locals with traditional dances and songs.
Facilities/Amenities
- Heated Swimming Pool
- Wellness center
- En-suite bathrooms with showers
- Beds draped in mosquito netting
- Bureau de change
- Laundry
- Baby Sitting
- Business center with Wi-Fi
- Outdoor games
- Large Dining room
- International Cuisine /Buffet
Meal Plan: Half Board
Day 3: Lake Nakuru → Maasai Mara
The Rift Valley Floor & Arrival at the Mara
After Breakfast — The convoy departs for the Masai Mara: a 4.5-hour drive across one of Africa’s most varied overland routes. Maasai boma settlements, forested highland ridges, the vast open floor of the Rift — the landscape changes in chapters. Stops are made for photographs, for roadside fruit sellers, for the unhurried pleasure of watching Kenya unfold.
Entering the Reserve — An en route game drive as the group crosses into the Mara ecosystem. Something changes at that boundary. The horizon extends. The sky broadens. Wildlife appears without warning in the grass. Those who have been to the Mara before describe the feeling; those arriving for the first time simply go quiet.
Camp Arrival — Mara Bush Camp occupies a riverbank position of unusual quality: tented suites with proper beds and en-suite facilities, solar-powered, no-plastics throughout, Maasai staff employed at fair wages. It holds a Gold Eco-rating — not a marketing designation but a verified certification. This is where you will spend the next four nights.
Accommodation
Soroi Mara Bush Camp
Tented Camp
Location
Rooms
The tents have a spacious deck at the front, furnished with lounge chair and a table.
Facilities/Amenities
- Bar/Lounge Area
- Photograph lounge
- Dining tent
- Solar power electricity
- Power outlets in tent and photography lounge
- WiFi throughout the camp
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 4: Masai Mara National Reserve
Bush Walk · Photography · The Mara on Foot
Morning — A guided bush walk with Maasai rangers: two to three hours on foot in the reserve. No vehicle. No elevated position. Just the ground as the wildlife experiences it. Rangers teach the group to read tracks, identify bird species by call, distinguish between safe and dangerous approaches, and move through the landscape without disturbing it. Guests return to camp with a different relationship to the bush than they left with.
Late Morning — A one-hour photography session with the camp’s resident photographer. The focus is practical: how light behaves in the African midday, how to compose a frame that tells a story rather than simply records a moment, how to use a smartphone as effectively as a professional camera. The skills learnt here will improve every photograph taken for the remainder of the trip.
Afternoon — Game drive across the Mara plains. Cheetah, elephant, giraffe, the possibility of leopard in the riverine forest. The new photography eye is already working.
Evening — Dinner at the fire. The sound of the bush arrives at night: hippos from the river, nightjars, distant lion.
Active Luxury Defined
No glass between you and the land. Feet on red earth. Wind from the river. Then back to a proper bed, a hot shower, and dinner by firelight. This is why we call it Active Luxury.
Accommodation
Soroi Mara Bush Camp
Tented Camp
Location
Rooms
The tents have a spacious deck at the front, furnished with lounge chair and a table.
Facilities/Amenities
- Bar/Lounge Area
- Photograph lounge
- Dining tent
- Solar power electricity
- Power outlets in tent and photography lounge
- WiFi throughout the camp
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 5: Maasai Mara · Community & Conservation
Schools, Trees & the Reiki Circle
Morning — A visit to a local primary school in the Mara ecosystem. Children attend classes in buildings with earthen floors; their aspiration has no ceiling. This is not a staged cultural encounter. The group participates in a tree-planting exercise — roughly one hour — contributing directly to a reforestation scheme. Each tree planted is registered to the individual who planted it. The Plastics-for-Books programme, which converts recovered plastic waste into funding for school libraries, is explained by teachers who run it.
Afternoon — A game drive back toward camp, or time at rest. The day carries weight; space is offered to hold it.
Evening — A Reiki circle at the campfire. Guided, unhurried, and optional in the truest sense. Guests who arrive sceptical often leave having experienced something they cannot easily describe. The African night sky forms the ceiling.
The Maasai Sunset Blessing
The savannah turns gold. The elders speak words in Maa that you will not understand but will not need to. You will feel the privilege of standing exactly here, in this circle, at this hour, having earned your place in it.
Accommodation
Soroi Mara Bush Camp
Tented Camp
Location
Rooms
The tents have a spacious deck at the front, furnished with lounge chair and a table.
Facilities/Amenities
- Bar/Lounge Area
- Photograph lounge
- Dining tent
- Solar power electricity
- Power outlets in tent and photography lounge
- WiFi throughout the camp
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 6: Masai Mara National Reserve
The Big Five & A Maasai Sunset Blessing
Full Day — Extended game drives across the Mara’s iconic open plains. The reserve’s scale becomes apparent when you spend a full day within it: the corridors between rivers, the kopjes where predators survey their territory, the woodland edges where elephants move between feeding grounds. Maasai guide knowledge — of animal behaviour, of ecological relationships, of the living stories embedded in this landscape — is the thing that distinguishes a game drive from an education.
Picnic breakfast in the field, under a thorn tree, with the plains extending in every direction.
Late Afternoon — As the sun drops toward the western Mara horizon, Maasai elders perform a traditional closing blessing for the group. Prayers for safe passage, for abundance, for the preservation of what has been witnessed. This is not organised for tourists. It is offered as a genuine ritual by people for whom such ceremonies carry real meaning. Stand in the circle. Receive it.
Evening — A final dinner at Mara Bush Camp. The conversation tends to run late.
Accommodation
Soroi Mara Bush Camp
Tented Camp
Location
Rooms
The tents have a spacious deck at the front, furnished with lounge chair and a table.
Facilities/Amenities
- Bar/Lounge Area
- Photograph lounge
- Dining tent
- Solar power electricity
- Power outlets in tent and photography lounge
- WiFi throughout the camp
Meal Plan: Full Board
Day 7: Maasai Mara → Nairobi · Departure
The Final Morning
Morning — No alarm. A last breakfast on the terrace, watching the Mara River. Pack at whatever pace suits. Say goodbye to staff who have, over the course of a week, become familiar. These are not goodbyes without feeling.
Late Morning — A scenic one-hour flight from the Mara airstrip to Wilson Airport, Nairobi. From altitude, the reserve reveals its full scale: the river systems threading through grassland, the acacia ridgelines, the immensity of the plains. It is the best possible farewell.
Afternoon — Transfer to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Those wishing to extend their stay — toward Mombasa’s coast, or further time in Nairobi — can be assisted with arrangements.
Kenya changes people. It does so quietly, without announcement. You will notice it on the flight home.
Optional Day Room upon request
