puddinbabe

If you were going to pick between the two sets of locations for a 7 day safari in January, which would you choose and why?

Baringo/Bogoria/Nakuru/Masaai Mara
or
Amboseli/Nakuru/Masaai Mara

So the only difference is Ambroseli vs Baringo/Bogoria.

Thanks!

sandi

If only 7-days - Amboseli/Nakuru/Mara takes too much time; Amboseli is Southeast from NBO - 3 to 3-1/2 hr drive each way unless you choose fly option returning from Amboseli (via NBO) before heading to Nakuru by road about 2-1/2 hrs; Nakuru to Mara which is south is a 5-6 hr drive as there is no fly option from Nakuru, but you can return fly from the Mara to NBO.

Baringo/Bogoria/Nakuru/Mara is drive all the way, except for a return fly from the Mara at the conclusion - just too many stops again for the short time you have.

The Mara deserves at minimum 3-days, leaving 4-days and with the driving needed between even the Lakes area takes up much of your actual game viewing or other activities.

Depending on your budget and you can get some flights into your plans consider:
- driving to Nakuru for 2-days, then back towards Lk. Naivasha for a day. There's a flight from here to the Mara (not certain of flight time or whether it goes via Nairobi) to end here and then return fly to NBO

I feel you should concentrate on only 2-destinations, unless as I mention above Nakuru and Naivasha are closeby and there is a fly option. Others have suggestions.

But, are your 7-days in country, or is Day-1 you day of arrival which requires an overnight. If so, then you only have 6-days.

Patty

Do you want an all game viewing experience or game viewing mixed with other activities? I would let that guide your decision.

Lake Baringo isn't really a game viewing area. The primary activities here are bird watching and visits to local Njemps/Pokot villages. We're using this stop as a relaxing mid-safari break. Lake Naivasha is another area that offers a variety of activities and lots of walking/hiking opportunities on Crescent Island, Mt. Longonot, Hells Gate NP, etc.

We're including all of these lakes (Baringo/Bogoria/Nakuru/Naivasha) on our trip next month.

Amboseli/Nakuru/Masai Mara will be more of a traditional game viewing experience with game drives conducted in a vehicle, though there are a few opportunities to get out of the vehicle as well.

What type of experience do you think you'd prefer?

As for drive times, I think the second combination is long but do-able over 7 days. It actually took us about 4-4.5 hours for the drive from Amboseli to Nairobi. Nairobi to Nakuru will be about 2.5 hours and approx. 6 hours from Nakuru to Masai Mara and Masai Mara back to Nairobi. If you go this route, you could spend 2 nights in Amboseli, 1 at Lake Nakuru, and 3 nights in the Masai Mara.

Nairobi to Baringo is also around 4-4.5 hours, then approx 2 hours back to Nakuru and the rest is the same as the other itinerary. I believe Bogoria is close enough so that it can be easily visited as a day trip from Baringo, so I'd opt for 2 nights at Baringo rather than 3 one nighters in a row.

Good luck with your planning!

Leely

puddinbabe,
You should also post your Tanzania camping safari itinerary here, so the experts (I'm definitely not one of them) can look at the "whole picture." What you'll be doing in TZ and what you're planning on for Kenya.

Good luck! I'm sure your itineraries will come together nicely very soon. And of course you'll enjoy East Africa.

puddinbabe

I suppose I didn't realy explain the whole situation. I was just looking for a quick "one or the other" answer.

Here's our plan as of now:
We're in East Africa from Jan 4th to Feb 2nd. We're looking to do a safari in both Kenya and Tanzania (appx 7 days each). We're going to be in Kenya first since we're flying into Nairobi. Yes, we do want to go on safari this long and we love animals! We're just wondering if we should visit the lakes or Amboseli.

In Tanzania, we're going for the popular places - Tarangire (although one company told us to skip this in Jan - any thoughts?), Lake Manyara, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater.

It looks like we're leaning towards Tropical Trails for Tanzania and Kenia Tours for Kenya. We're doing the camping safaris (not luxury).

With the rest of our time we're going to explore Nairobi, Arusha, Dar es Salam, Zanzibar, and do some diving.

Any and all suggestions, relating to this or not, are welcome.

Heimdall

A few years ago I did Amboseli in combination with a Tanzanian safari. That seems to make a lot more sense than combining it with other Kenyan parks, and having to double back through Nairobi.