hi there, I am going to be in kenya with a group of 10-13 people in july. we are a group of nursing students and professional rn's who are going to be volunteering in clinics in and around the rift valley. after all our hard work we would like to reward ourselves by going on a short 3-4 day safari near the end of july! we would like to spend 2 full days in the masai mara, one day in lake nakuru and possible another day somewhere else. can you recommend some moderately priced safari operators? we cant afford a luxury safari but we don't want a bare bones budget type safari either, i.e. where we have to cook our own meals/clean/sleep in pup tents. thanks in advance for your help!

Eastern & Southern Safaris

You can get a quote from a variety of KATO agents at
http://www.katokenya.org/safari_quotation.asp

July is a great time for a Kenya safari.

Hello ,
The Canadian website , www.HealthCareVolunteer.com offers some good budget travel agents basically for volunteers going to KeNYA and the rest of Africa . Regards,

j.

Bushbuck Adventures
http://www.bushbuckadventures.com/

Atravelynn’s idea of filling out the safari quotation thing on the website of the Kenya Association of Tour Operators is very good. That way all interested operators who think they can provide what you’re looking for will contact you. I don’t like enquiring with various companies when I’m only going to use one and make the others lose their time. The problem is that some (or many) will send you the itinerary they think you should have instead of the one you want.

I have had that exact experience when contacting companies directly. When filling out the KATO survey, the itineraries hardly deviate at all.

Thank you everyone for your help! You've given me a lot of great leads.

Hi cbloch,
Mara and Nakuru are a great choice you will have a good time there.How about Game Viewers Adventures, Andrew there will be of great help try him.
And also check if the operators you contact are registered with KATO.
Good luck

I just wanted to let everyone know I put in a request to kato and have gotten several replies. thank you for that suggestion! i havent had a chance to look through all of responses yet. bushbuck actually contacted me through kato and presented me with 2 different itineraries that look really good and i'm waiting to hear back from eastern and southern. i really liked a couple of the itineraries they presented on their website. thanks kinky, i will check into game viewers as well.

we're thinking about adding a day or two onto the safari to fit in amboseli. so now the full safari itinerary would be mara, nakuru and amboseli. any suggestions on how many days we are going to need to see all this? we want to spend at least 2 full days in mara, but is one day each enough for amboseli and nakuru? what about driving times between camps? any suggestions on the order? I apologize for all the questions but i'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed!
thanks!

You can visit Nakuru for 1/day/nt, but for Amboseli, at least 2/nts. The drive from NBO is 4.5/hrs, so with only 1/nt you'd be departing next morning...

You can visit:
Day 1 - Drive (4.5/hrs) to Amboseli; afternoon game drive - o/n
Day 2 - Amboseli; morning/afternoon game drives - o/n
Day 3 - Drive (4.5/hrs) to NBO, lunch; drive (2/hrs) to Nakuru; afternoon game drive - o/n
Day 4 - Early game drive at Nakuru; Drive (5/hrs) to Masai Mara; afternoon game drive - o/n
Days 5 & 6 - Masai Maral 2 or 3 game drives daily (depends where staying some lodges/camps offer 3/drives - o/n
Day 7 - Drive (5/hrs) or fly (50/min) to NBO