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

11-20 of 50 Best Things To Do in Kenya

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    11. Overnight at Nairobi’s Giraffe Manor

    Hang with the world’s tallest animal at this luxury lodge in the Giraffe Centre

    Giraffe Manor is a selfie-lover’s paradise. Indeed, this luxurious boutique lodge has been listed in the world’s 10 most Instagrammable hotels. Centered on an ivy-draped 1930s homestead, the manor is part of the Giraffe Centre, which

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    has been a breeding facility for the rare Rothschild’s giraffes since 1979. Luxurious rooms, fine dining and attentive service are all part of the overnight package. A stay also incorporates a more immersive giraffe experience than the one offered to day visitors.Exclusive interactions include a sumptuous afternoon tea where guests get to hand-feed the giraffes pellets of compacted corn, wheat and grass. Even more surreal is the breakfast experience, where the giraffes’ seemingly insatiable appetite for pellets has them poking their heads through the windows while guests sip their morning coffee. It’s great fun, but also serves a serious purpose – more than 40 giraffes born here have been released into the likes of Ruma and Lake Nakuru National Parks.

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    12. Visit the Maasai and Learn About Their Culture

    Tradition remains strong among the cattle-herding Maasai people

    From the Masai Mara National Reserve to Amboseli National Park, the southern Kenyan interior lies in the very heart of Maasai country. It is a region where tradition informs every aspect of life, from colorful ceremonies

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    and dynamic dances to the core Maasai occupation of driving cattle herds across the great savannah grasslands they call home.Opportunities to spend time with Africa’s most distinctive pastoralists can be arranged as an add-on to most safaris. Spend a morning in a local market, visit a genuine Maasai village, or book an overnight community stay. The more time you dedicate to such an encounter, the deeper your experience and understanding will be. Better still, join a community-run conservation program that helps keep Maasai traditions alive while protecting wildlife. Perhaps more than any other safari experience, this will help you understand Kenya and its people.

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    Safari & Maasai Village Packages

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    13. Enjoy Boats, Birds and Views at Lake Naivasha

    Explore Kenya’s most popular and accessible Rift Valley lake

    Of all the lakes that stud Kenya’s Rift Valley, freshwater Naivasha is the closest to Nairobi and the most popular with local and international visitors. This beautiful lake is ringed by fever trees and mountains, and

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    boat excursions offer the chance to admire the scenery and get close to hippos. Then there’s Naivasha’s reliably sensational birdlife, which includes flotillas of great white pelicans, soaring African fish eagles, and gem-like Fischer’s lovebirds and malachite kingfishers.Lake Naivasha is a great base for day trips. Visit Hell’s Gate National Park or Crescent Island Game Sanctuary to walk among giraffe, zebra and other plains wildlife. A more ambitious day hike leads to the immense crater at the jagged summit of volcanic Mt Longonot. Other attractions include flamingos at adjacent Lake Oloiden and black-and-white colobus monkeys in the gorgeous gardens of Elsamere, the former lakeside home of Joy Adamson of ‘Born Free’ fame.

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    Lake Naivasha Packages More About Lake Naivasha

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    14. Float Over the Masai Mara NR in a Hot-air Balloon

    Rise above the savannah in all its dawn glory

    There’s no better way to get a sense of the scale and beauty of the Mara than on a hot-air balloon safari. You’ll rise before dawn and take off just as the sun appears to illuminate

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    a landscape still softened by the morning chill. At such an hour, high above the Masai Mara, there is magic in the air, a sense of wild Africa stretching to every horizon. Far across the grasslands, you’ll see the bare hills and steep escarpments that encircle the Mara. Down below, you’ll see wildebeest herds, elephant families and perhaps even a lion or cheetah on the hunt.Most Kenya tour operators can book you onto a balloon safari. It is not usually included in standard safari itineraries, but offered as an add-on.

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    Masai Mara Balloon Safaris About Masai Mara Balloon Safaris

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    15. Climb the Ramparts of Historical Fort Jesus

    This 16th-century fort on Mombasa’s harborfront is a Unesco World Heritage Site

    Mombasa’s most popular tourist attraction, Fort Jesus stands at the north end of the Old Town overlooking the old dhow harbor. Constructed by Portugal in the mid-1590s, it was for centuries the most important strategic asset

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    on the East Africa coast. Indeed, a succession of naval bombardments – including a 33-month Omani siege in the 1690s – led to it changing hands nine times prior to the British occupation of 1895.Fort Jesus remains an imposing presence, with thick coral stone walls that rise to 16m/52ft. The seaward ramparts are lined with cannons and offer fabulous views over the harbor to the facing mainland. A site museum displays a collection of African, Arabian, Indian, Chinese and European artifacts unearthed during excavations, as well as some fine examples of the eerie Mijikenda memorial posts known as vigango. Another highlight is a wall covered in Portuguese paintings that went unseen for three centuries before being rediscovered in the 1960s.

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    Safari & Fort Jesus Packages

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    16. See Red Elephants in Wild Tsavo East and West

    The vast twin park is dense with elephants and dotted with volcanic relics

    Flanking the main Nairobi–Mombasa road, Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks together form Kenya’s most extensive protected area. Larger than Kruger or Serengeti, this immense park combines a palpable wilderness feel with an accessibility that

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    draws safari-goers from nearby coastal resorts. All the Big Five are present, including elephants colored ocher by Tsavo’s characteristic red dust, and the 200-plus Critically Endangered inhabitants of a black rhino sanctuary that was expanded to 3,200km²/1,235mi² in 2025.Tsavo West is dotted with volcanic relics such as the bare ash cone of Chaimu Crater and eerie Shetani lava flow. It is also home to the forest-fringed Mzima Springs, which gush into a series of crystal-clear pools. Scenic highlights of Tsavo East include the massive inselberg known as Mudanda Rock and Lugard Falls on the Galana River. It is also good for dry-country antelope such as gerenuk, fringe-eared oryx and Hunter’s hartebeest (hirola), while birds include vulturine guineafowl, golden pipit and golden-breasted starling.

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    Tsavo Safaris

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    17. Dive or Snorkel on Kenya’s Indian Ocean Coast

    Explore coral gardens alive with colorful reef fish and other marine wildlife

    From the northerly Lamu Archipelago south to Kisite-Mpunguti Marine National Park, Kenya’s offshore reefs offer some of the best diving and snorkeling on the Indian Ocean. Whether you are based at Malindi, Watamu, Diani or elsewhere

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    along the coast, options range from a PADI-certified multiday course with a professional dive school to a short snorkeling excursion on a traditional wooden dhow. However you get there, the astonishingly diverse marine life that inhabits Kenya’s coral reefs makes for an underwater wildlife-viewing experience no less remarkable than the land-based Big Five safaris for which the country is famed.

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    Kenya Beach Packages

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    18. Go on Safari in an Exclusive Conservancy

    Kenya’s conservancies are a model of community-led wildlife conservation

    Conservancies are community-owned or private reserves that complement, and often buffer, Kenya’s official network of national parks. Generally managed in partnership with Maasai or other local communities, these wildlife areas offer guests high-quality animal encounters by

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    vehicle or on foot. It’s a win-win ecotourism model that benefits visitors, wildlife and surrounding communities alike.Some of Kenya’s top conservancies – including Mara North, Ol Kinyei, Olare Motorogi and Mara Naboisho – border the world-famous Masai Mara National Reserve. Here, wildlife densities rival those in the neighboring reserve, but visitor numbers are far lower. Conservancies near Amboseli National Park provide stunning views of elephant herds below Mt Kilimanjaro, while those on Laikipia Plateau host the Big Five alongside rarities such as Grevy’s zebra and reticulated giraffe. Smaller conservancies operate in the vicinity of Tsavo West, Lake Naivasha and Lake Elementaita, extending low-density safari experiences across the country.

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    Mara Conservancies Safaris

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    19. Admire the Thunderous Thomson’s Falls

    This mighty waterfall plummets into a forested gorge in the Central Highlands

    Situated outside the highland town of Nyahururu, Thomson’s Falls is a convenient stop on road safaris connecting Rift Valley lakes such as Naivasha and Nakuru with the likes of Mt Kenya, Samburu National Reserve and Laikipia

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    Plateau. The 74m-/243ft-tall waterfall is also an impressive sight in its own right. Joseph Thomson, the Scottish explorer for whom it is named, was ‘impressed mightily by the stupendous thundering of the waters’ when he first saw it in 1883. Most modern visitors are too, particularly those who follow the steep set of stairs into the spray-filled forest-lined gorge below the falls.

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    Thomson’s Falls Packages

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    20. Scramble Around the Mysterious Gedi Ruins

    The abandoned Swahili city of Gedi sprawls through the jungle near Watamu

    Gedi is the archetypal lost city. The best preserved of several abandoned medieval ports strung along Kenya’s Indian Ocean coastline, this jungle-bound ruin is of interest for both its impressive architecture and mysterious aura. Notable constructions

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    include the Sheikh’s Palace, the Great Mosque and a number of tall pillar tombs. The city’s cosmopolitan trade links are demonstrated by the diverse artifacts – originating in China, Iraq, India, Egypt, Portugal, Spain and elsewhere – displayed in the site museum. Blue monkeys love to scamper along the old stone walls, and forest birds and butterflies are often seen along the footpaths.

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