8 DAYS: AMBOSELI & MASAI MARA WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY SAFARI

Pick up from the hotel at 0730 hrs to start your Amboseli and Masai Mara photography safari– A safari briefing session with our Tour officer then drive to Amboseli National park at the foot of the snow- capped Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain. Lunch at the camp. Afternoon game drive. Dinner and overnight

Morning and afternoon game drives spent photographing this park. Amboseli is home to big herds of Zebras, Gazelles, Buffalo's along with Lions and Cheetahs. A great variety of water birds can be observed in and around the marshes.

However, its main attraction is the great population of Elephants. Approximately 1,500 of these fascinating creatures live in the ecosystem and visit Amboseli regularly. It is fantastic to watch them walk to and from the swamps in the mornings and evenings. During times of plenty, Elephants concentrate sometimes in hundreds, with old bulls following the herds of females and calves.

Photographically it is very rewarding. Its flat and dusty plains and dry lake beds provide amazing backdrops for dramatic and evocative images, especially in certain remote areas of the park. In the early mornings and late afternoons, the snowy peak of Mt Kilimanjaro may emerge from the clouds, and when a herd of Elephants appears in the distance it is one of the most iconic scenes in the entire African continent.

Breakfast then travel to Lake Naivasha with a brief stop at the Great Rift Valley viewpoint to take photos – Visit Hells gate National Park in the afternoon to photograph the beautiful landscapes /wildlife as you walk within the park – Walk freely among the wildebeest, giraffe, impala, and zebra. Keep your distance though, and of course, do not chase for obvious reasons as wild animals can hurt you if provoked. Dinner and overnight at Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge.

Optional morning boat ride at Lake Naivasha to see numerous species of birds – drive to Masai Mara to arrive in good time for lunch at Matira Camp. Afternoon game drives at the vast Masai Mara plains with an opportunity of taking beautiful shots of the sunset. Dinner and overnight stay.

We will spend 3 days exploring the Masai Mara, with its abundance of large mammals and diverse birdlife. Our daily routine here will start with a morning safari, during which breakfasts are taken on the plains, usually under the shade of a flat-topped acacia, whilst watching the herds and often in the company of a Topi, the Mara’s most diligent predator spotter, perched up on a termite mound. 

We have the option to either have full and complete days out in the field when both breakfast and lunch can be served out on the Savannah or we can return to camp for lunch.

Big cats are a very prominent feature of the Masai Mara and also include Cheetahs and Leopards, both of which are fairly straightforward to find here. We are definitely at ‘Predator Central’ here and there can be few.if any wildlife spectacles anywhere in the world that can rival the tension, drama and emotion of a Mara crossing. As many as a million wildebeest and 200,000 zebra attempt this epic journey each year. Watching as thousands of wildebeest and zebra gather at a crossing point you can almost feel the pressure build on the animals at the front as they consider the right time to attempt to cross the dangerous waters of the crocodile-infested Mara River. It is, however, a time of plenty for the gigantic Nile Crocodiles that live in the river and lie in wait as hundreds of thousands of animals head north from the Serengeti Plains to feed on the lush Mara grasslands. The foaming waters, noise and drama of a Mara crossing has to be experienced to be believed and offers dramatic action photo opportunities. Dinner and overnight stay.

Breakfast then proceed for further game drives as you drive to Nairobi to arrive by 1500 hrs. Drop off to be advised. End of our Amboseli and Masai Mara photography safari.