Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru and three nights in the Maasai Mara, staying in upscale lodges with romantic touches.
A six-day honeymoon through the Great Rift Valley and the Maasai Mara. Begin at Lake Naivasha with a quiet boat ride, continue to Lake Nakuru for rhino and birdlife, and finish with three nights in the Mara at an upscale lodge or tented camp, with private bush dinners, sundowners and a bubble bath with a view.
After an early breakfast you are collected from your Nairobi hotel and drive to Lake Naivasha (about 1.5 to 2 hours). Check in to your lakeside lodge for lunch, then take an afternoon boat ride on the freshwater lake among hippos, fish eagles and pelicans, with time to walk on Crescent Island among grazing giraffe and zebra.
After breakfast, travel from Lake Naivasha to Lake Nakuru (about 1.5 hours), with a picnic lunch or lunch stop on the way. Check in for lunch, then enjoy a first game drive around Lake Nakuru, a protected rhino sanctuary where white and black rhino, Rothschild's giraffe and buffalo share the acacia woodland with pelicans and, depending on lake levels, flamingos along the shore.
After breakfast, travel from Lake Nakuru to Maasai Mara (about 4 to 5 hours), with a picnic lunch or lunch stop on the way. You arrive at your camp in time for lunch, then head out on your first game drive across the open plains of the Maasai Mara, home to lion, cheetah, elephant, buffalo and vast herds of zebra and wildebeest. Dinner and a night of lion calls follow.
Start with coffee at sunrise and a private breakfast set up on the plains, then a slow game drive. In the evening, a candle-lit sundowner replaces the usual camp dinner.
Leave at first light with a packed breakfast to find big cats on the open plains. Enjoy a bush picnic lunch near the hippo pools, then spend the afternoon tracking lion, cheetah, elephant and buffalo before returning at dusk.
After breakfast, and one last morning game drive if time allows, you drive back to Nairobi (about 5 to 6 hours) with a lunch stop on the way. You are dropped at your hotel or at the airport; an evening flight home is recommended.
