Best Things To Do in Kenya – Our Expert’s Choice

36 Top Things To Do in Kenya

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   1. Follow the Great Migration in the Masai Mara NR

   Watch the greatest wildlife show on Earth

   Imagine seeing so many animals that the Earth seems alive. That’s what happens when around 2 million wildebeest, zebra and Thomson’s gazelle cross into Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve and feed on the vast savannah grasslands. In most years, the herds begin to cross the Mara River from the Serengeti National Park (in Tanzania) and into the Mara in August and into September, there to remain until October or sometimes into November. Then they move south again.
   

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   It's an extraordinary spectacle. The river crossings, where crocodiles lie in wait, are the most famous moments in great migration lore. But there are so many highlights, from the sheer scale of the swarming masses to the individual encounters between predator and prey, between a straggling young zebra and a big cat who has waited all year for this moment. This is nature’s raw beauty at its most powerful, and is not to be missed.
   Safaris to Masai Mara More About Masai Mara

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   2. Track Down the Big Five on Safari in Kenya

   Encounter Africa’s most sought-after animals

   The Big Five are top of many safari wish lists. But they’re just the start when it comes to going on safari in Kenya. When you’re out exploring wild Africa, there is no feeling to compare with the thrill of knowing that a lion or an elephant could appear at any moment. Perhaps your safari highlight will be seeing a cheetah on the hunt. Or it could be a soulful encounter with a leopard or giraffe. Whatever it is, going on safari is a simply wonderful thing to do.
   

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   Opportunities to see the Big Five are numerous in Kenya, from Ol Pejeta Conservancy to the Masai Mara National Reserve. It’s rhino that often proves elusive. But you can always mix and match, combining the relatively easy rhino sightings of Lake Nakuru or Nairobi National Parks with other places where the remaining four are easy to see.
   Kenya Safari Tours Best Safari Parks in Kenya

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   3. Enjoy Elephants and Mt Kilimanjaro in Amboseli NP

   Africa’s largest mammal meets the continent’s highest mountain

   Africa’s tallest summit, Mt Kilimanjaro, is actually in Tanzania, but the best views are from Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. Amboseli belongs among the elite of East African safari parks. Although it’s relatively compact compared to other Kenyan reserves, everything here seems cast on a grander scale. There’s nowhere else in Africa, for example, where you can get this close to big-tusked elephants, and the classic Amboseli image is of an elephant family framed by the snowcapped peaks of Kilimanjaro.
   

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   From a wildlife perspective, there are also lions and cheetahs, zebra and giraffe, and so much more to see across the verdant green swamps and semi-arid plains of the park. Despite its size, Amboseli shelters more bird species (420) than many European countries. And just beyond park boundaries lies the modern Maasai heartland, a world of community-run conservancies where you can immerse yourself in traditional Maasai culture.
   Safaris to Amboseli More About Amboseli

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   4. Explore Nairobi, East Africa’s Cultural Capital

   Kenya’s capital has attitude and appeal in equal measure

   Nairobi can be one cool city. Yes, its reputation precedes it. And yes, its traffic can be awful. But this is a city with its very own national park where you can see wild lions and rhinos against a backdrop of skyscrapers, fill your day with museums and art galleries, eat in some of Africa’s best restaurants in the evening, then dance the night away.
   

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   Nairobi is Kenya in microcosm. It's also the sort of city that very easily gets under your skin. In addition to its more obvious attractions, you can explore Africa’s second-largest shanty town, Kibera, in the company of a local, get a kiss from a giraffe and even adopt an elephant. More than anything else, however, Nairobi is its people and their irresistible love for their city and its music, culinary diversity and sheer energy.
   Nairobi Day Trips

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   5. Relax on Kenya’s Indian Ocean Beaches

   Laze beneath the palms along the lovely coast

   If you could design a perfect coastline with all the necessary elements for the ideal beach holiday, it would look something like Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast. Here is a world of palm trees and long, white-sand beaches, of well-equipped beach resorts and quiet fishing villages, of pristine underwater reefs and traditional wooden dhows, silhouetted against the rising or setting sun.
   

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   For those who like their holidays to carry a whiff of intrigue, of adventure or adrenaline, there are plenty of opportunities to get active, to get out on (or under) the water and to explore. The Kenyan coast also has that rare combination of shapely Indian Ocean coastline and a fascinating historical story laden with spices carried from far-distant shores. But for many, the lure of the languid tropical sun and bath-warm waters is more than sufficient reason to come and do very little at all.
   Kenya Beach Packages

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   6. Get To Know Kenya’s Second City, Mombasa

   Immerse yourself in Swahili culture, history and beach life

   Steamy Mombasa feels like no other city in Africa. From the 16th-century Unesco World Heritage–listed Fort Jesus keeping watch over the city to the tight tangle of lanes in the Old Town with their call-to-prayer soundtrack, Mombasa heaves with energy and an unmistakable hint of the exotic. Many travelers use Mombasa as a gateway to the parks of the interior or the beaches up and down the Kenyan coast. And its location certainly lends itself to such a purpose.
   

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   But Mombasa is brimful of personality in its own right. Here you’ll encounter East Africa’s pan-Swahili culture at its strongest, whether you’re exploring labyrinthine markets or queueing for spicy Swahili curries in a corner canteen frequented by rich businesspeople and rickshaw drivers alike. Take a tour, wander to get lost, and then head for the sea to catch your breath and catch a wave. Either way, you’ll very quickly fall under Mombasa’s spell.
   Mombasa Day Trips

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   7. Search for Tree-climbing Lions in Lake Nakuru NP

   Look up at lions and watch out for rhinos

   There aren’t many places in Africa where lions climb trees, but it’s a special experience when they do and you happen upon them. Lake Nakuru National Park may be small, but it does pack in some amazing wildlife, from Rothschild’s giraffes and black rhinos to flamingos and leopards. And yes. Lions. Up. Trees. Whether it’s a big male looking unsteady on that narrowing branch, or a playful cub with no fear of heights, seeing an arboreal lion is quite the prize.
   

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   Lake Nakuru is one of Kenya’s most accessible parks. It’s almost an extension of Nakuru city. Depending on your route, you could visit on your way between Nairobi and the Masai Mara National Reserve. But with such a distinctive wildlife offering, Lake Nakuru is also worth crossing the country for, not least because lions up in the trees is one of the great sights of a safari lifetime.
   Safaris to Lake Nakuru More About Lake Nakuru

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   8. Spend Time on the Soulful Lamu Archipelago

   Soak up the sea breeze in laid-back Lamu

   Lamu is a special place. Like Zanzibar in Tanzania but without the crowds, this one-time spice-trading port has that beguiling mix of storied history, stunning good looks and so many landmarks to relaxed, beautiful island living. Nothing happens here in a hurry. You can drift on a trade wind in a traditional wooden dhow, snorkel or dive with just locals and Indian Ocean marine life for company, or spend time with a local family learning about the traditions and quiet pleasures of Lamu life.
   

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   A visit to Lamu is about more than just a beach. It has that unmistakable tableau of local life, timeless and unhurried. For that reason, it draws sophisticates and the just plain curious in equal numbers.
   Tours to Lamu

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   9. Observe Tsavo’s Maneless Lions and Red Elephants

   This is where wildlife roams the red dust

   Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks: put them together and you have Kenya’s largest park complex. Tsavo is big, so big that it combines a palpable sense of wilderness with an accessibility that draws safari-goers from the coast and elsewhere in large numbers. Most of them come looking for some of Africa’s wildest lions whose fearsome reputation is diminished somewhat by the scraggy manes of the males. Or they come to see the ochre-hued elephants after their mud baths, caked in Tsavo’s deep-red dust.
   

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   You could also visit a rhino sanctuary, watch for leopards sleeping off the night’s excesses up in the trees, or explore the back country where very few travelers ever reach. But it’s the unusual experience of seeing an apex predator with a difference, or Africa’s largest mammal like you’ve never seen it before, that you’ll really remember.
   Tsavo Safari Tours

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    10. Admire Perfect Sunrises at Diani Beach

    Experience Kenya’s biggest and best Indian Ocean beach resort

    Diani Beach doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. Unlike Lamu with its celebrated history, or the first-rate diving and snorkeling of Kenya’s far southern coast, Diani is, first and foremost, a good, honest and often spectacular beach experience. It’s all based around a long and perfect arc of white sand, framed by palm trees and bathed in the warm, tropical light.
    

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    Yes, you can go kitesurfing and much more. And yes, there are coral mosques and fine restaurants and a buzz that can be difficult to resist in season. But Diani Beach is above all else a place where the sand and water and gentle sea breeze are all you really need.
    Diani Beach Packages