Our 2-weeks self-drive roadtrip through Kenya
Our 2-weeks self-drive roadtrip through Kenya
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After our wonderful self-drive trip in Uganda we decided to continue with a self-drive roadtrip in South Kenya, and we can absolutely recommend it! We rented a 4×4 Lancruiser Prado with a rooftop tent and a sun-deck in front of the tent for watching the animals in the National Parks, which was a great decision! We could camp directly in the Hells Gate National Park on a beautiful mountain and saved a lot of money because we didn’t need to stay in a luxury lodge in Masai Mara. Also the freedom you have with your own car is so unique. For Masai Mara you can hire a Masai guide for 20 USD per day, who drives your car and shows you everything. We combined the National Parks with a few days at the beach in the end. If you have more days you can also add climbing Mount Kenya or visiting Pemba island.
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Take a flight to Nairobi ✓
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1. Nairobi and Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Day 1-2
We didn’t spend a lot of time in Nairobi, since it’s a busy big city. After you get your car (most rental agencies can bring you the car directly to the airport), it’s a nice stop over to visit the small elephants at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. To experience the elephant orphanage, you have to reserve a ticket weeks or even months before. However, if they are sold out for the day you want to visit, ask to get on the waiting list, we got a ticket for 4000 KES that way for our preferred date a few days before our visit. Only one time a day between 11am and noon a limited number of tourists can see, how the keepers feed the small elephants. Make sure you get in with the first people to stay in front at the fence. First, they showed a little rhino and then it got really cute, because a lot of baby elephants run to the keepers to get their feeding bottle. You can also adopt an elephant. I think the Sheldrick family does a great job, however we had a bit mixed feelings when we heard, that they also pay their private luxury holidays with the income of the orphanages. The Sheldrick family is one of the richest families in Kenya.
We had a bit of bad luck with our car rental agency. They let us wait 2 hours at the airport until it was already dark. Therefore we didn’t noticed that the roof top tent was completely moldy. We had to drive to the other side of Nairobi the next day, to get another rooftop tent fixed on our car. It was a really poor area of Nairobi, but we found such wonderful people there. It’s where the pictures with the cute kids were made.
What to do?
- Sheldrick’s Wildlife Trust (reserve a ticket as soon as possible, 4000 KES)
- Giraffe Center (honestly we don’t have the best feeling about this place, so we didn’t visit. They let the giraffes eat from tables in the hotel Giraffe Manor every day, which doesn’t seem very natural)
Where to eat?
- Boho Eatery: The best restaurant we’ve been in Kenya! The interior is so beautiful and they have a lot of healthy vegetarian and vegan food options.
- Art Cafés are always a good option for a coffee, you can find them everywhere in Kenya
Where to stay?
- Jungle Junction: A campsite in a gated community in the South of Nairobi. A lot of people leave their car or caravan there until their next holiday. The owner is a funny german guy.
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Drive from Nairobi to Hell’s Gate National Park in 3 hours ✓
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2. Hell’s Gate National Park, Day 2-4
This National Park is pretty special, because it’s allowed to jump out of the car and discover the National Park by bike or by foot. Since there are no lions or elephants it’s very safe for people. How cool is it to be surrounded by zebras, giraffes and buffalos while riding a bike. Don’t miss this on your Kenya trip! Also this was the only place, where we could camp directly in the National Park. Naiburta Campsite, located on a little hill, had such a great view and we had a wonderful sunrise and sunset. We arrived very late in the evening at the gate when the park was already officially closed, but the lady let us drive to the campsite anyway.
What to do?
- Drive to the beautiful campsite for sunrise or sunset (entrance fee for the National Park 30 USD per person for a 24 hour ticket).
- Rent a bike at the entrance of the National Park and drive on the main road to the canyon.
- Get a guide at the canyon who shows you where Lion King and Tomb Raider was filmed.
Where to eat?
- There was no great place for eating. If you don’t stay in a lodge, bring some cooking gear and cook some food yourself!
Where to stay?
- Naiburta Campsite directly in the National Park with the best view from a hill!
- There are also two other campsites in The National Park: Ol Dubai and Endachata, but we found Naiburta the most beautiful one!
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Drive from Hells Gate National Park to Masai Mara in 4 hours ✓
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3. Masai Mara National Park, Day 4-8
It was a dream for years to visit this National Park. Everyone says it’s THE place for wildlife photography in the world and we can confirm! It’s incredible for wildlife photography but also the landscape with the big yellow grass and the alone-standing trees is stunning! I absolutely fell in love with this National Park, and no other National Park in this country could catch me as much as this one did! Masai Mara is the Northern part of the huge (!) Serengeti, simply the part of the Serengeti which is located in Kenya (most of the Serengeti is located in Tanzania). But Masai Mara is definitely not small! You can easily spend a few days there, driving on different roads every time! I loved the thousands of small off-road tracks through deep grass and the beautiful sunrises and sunsets behind the trees. It’s nice to be able to drive through the National Park on your own, but we also hired a wonderful Masai Johnathan Lenjir, who drove our car and showed us the Masai Mara on a few different days! He really knew every (!) track. Besides the wonderful wildlife seeings, you can visit different Masai villages and learn about their tradition. I loved their dances and the songs! I hope I can come back someday!
What to do?
- Do a self-drive safari through Masai Mara National Park (only 12 hour tickets: 80 USD per day per person + 800 KES fo the car, 70 USD when you pay additionally for a campsite in the National Park)
- Get a Masai guide for a game drive: We can highly recommend Johnathan Lenjir! He knew every small path in the whole Masai Mara and could tell us exactly about the behavior of any animal. (2.000-3.000 KES per day, number: +254 717 121156)
- Visit a traditional Masai Mara village! On every gate there are several Masai villages who welcome tourists. Just ask your guide or your camp.
Where to eat?
- Honestly the best way is to eat either in a lodge or to bring a gas stove and something to cook. There are no nice restaurants. But you can get some bananas and water in the really small stores there.
Where to stay?
- Talek Gate: Rover Public Campsite (1.000 KES per person per night, outside the NP but only 5 minutes from the gate)
- Sekenani Gate: Oseki Camp (2.000 KES per person per night, nice owners, also very close to the gate)
- Inside the National Park there is only Sand River Camp and a camp in the Mara triangle
Good to know:
- The street from Talek to Sekani Gate outside the National Park is very bumpy. Drive through the National Park instead!
- There are several gas stations (only cash payment) in Talek.
- Talek has an ATM.
- They just changed the 24 hour ticket to a 12 hour ticket.
- It’s allowed to enter the Mara triangle through the gate from Masai Mara NP with the normal ticket in the day. But to stay the night in Mara triangle, you have to tell them when buying the ticket. They didn’t let us drive to a camp in the Mara triangle in the evening, because we didn’t tell them before. The rules are very confusing there, and not really transparent.
- You can buy the 12 hour ticket directly at the gates with credit card.
- There are al lot of women trying to sell jewelry in front of the gate, but there was no queue when we’ve been there.
Watch the wildebeest migration
The wildebeest follow a circle from the Serengeti in Tanzania to Masai Mara in Kenya and back to Tanzania for the whole year. Every year from mid July on, they cross the border and run through Sand River first, then a few weeks later they cross the big Mara River. When we’ve visited in 2023 the first wildebeest arrived on 12th July. After the first animal crossed the border, they need 10 days in total until all wildebeest from Serengeti arrive in Masai Mara. We watched the wildebeest migration at the 3rd and 4th day of these 10 days and we already saw thousands of animals.
The wildebeest will stay in Masai Mara until November before they go back to Tanzania. In all these months from late July to November, they cross Sand River many times and after that Mara River 4 to 8 times. The best months to see the wildebeest would be September, when they jump into the deep Mara River. In July we could only see them in Sand River, which was still very impressive! I remember the deep roaring sounds they made all the time.
Actually it’s a wildebeest migration joined by zebras, they work together as a team. The wildebeest are really great at smelling but they can’t see very well, the zebras have good eyes but can’t smell that good.
The wildebeest are not really intelligent to be honest. They go back and forth through the river, one animals acts scared, all other animals run. They seem to forget after 2 seconds what they wanted to do, without any plan they run from A to B. It’s really funny to see. Unfortunately, we also saw some hurt animals, because they sometimes jump several meters deep in the river although there is a less steep area a few meters away.
Learn from the Masai People
We visited two Masai Villages, Kolong Village near Talek Gate and Masai village near Oseki Camp at Sekenani Gate. For Kolong Village we payed 2000 KES per person, for the Masai Village in Sekenani we payed 15 USD per person directly at Oseki Camp. Both villages showed us their beautiful traditional dances, their homes and how to make fire. We found the village near Oseki Camp a little bit more authentic. You can also stay one or two nights in the village, then you can join the real dance contests and stories at the evening campfire. But you have to sleep in the small dark smoked huts.
The Masai people still eat cow blood with milk. The women build the little huts with branches and cow dung, the huts are really small without light and they have a fire place in the middle. Some kids go to school, but it seemed that there are lot of kids that have to stay in the village.
The boys have to go to the wilderness for 3 months when they reach an age of 15 years. There they learn how to survive in the wilderness with all the animals. After that they compete in jumping contests. The guy who jumps the highest, has better chances to win a woman. The eldest build a jury for the jumping contests. They get married after only 3 months knowing each other.
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Drive from Masai Mara to Amboseli National Park (via Nairobi) in 8 hours ✓
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4. Amboseli National Park, Day 8-9
The most special thing about Amboseli National Park are the views of Mount Kilimanjaro. When we drove there from Masai Mara, it was almost a shock when we first noticed Kilimanjaro in front of us. Because it’s so massive! We had a great view of Kilimanjaro in the evening, we could even see the snow at the top. Sadly, in the next morning almost the whole mountain was covered by clouds, that was a bit disappointing. The National Park itself is known for the huge population of elephants. Since there are no animals that are dangerous for elephants, you can see a lot of very old and very young members in the families. Most of the elephant research have place in Amboseli National Park, since you can watch the social behavior in these families very well. We stayed at a campsite nearby, where we had a fire in the evening. It was very windy, but we could see so many stars!
To be honest Masai Mara was way more impressive and way bigger than Amboseli National Park. Also we found it a little sad, that there are only a few big streets in Amboseli National Park and you can’t drive off the beaten track. However, you can see a lot of elephants, it’s a great stopover on your way to Diani Beach and if Kilimanjaro is visible the view is spectacular.
What to do?
- Drive through Amboseli National Park yourself (honestly we don’t really think a guide is necessary, because you are only allowed to drive on a few big streets, 60 USD per person for a 24 hour ticket, you can buy it at the gate).
- Enjoy the views of Kilimanjaro. You can already see the mountain on your way to Amboseli!
Where to eat?
- It’s best to bring some food and cook yourself, since there is not a lot around Amboseli NP. Or you ask in some lodges.
Where to stay?
- Winni’s Campsite (1500 KES per person including firewood, very close to the gate)
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Drive from Amboseli National Park to Tsavo West National Park in 2 hours ✓
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5. Tsavo West National Park, Day 9-10
Again nothing beats Masai Mara National Park. But if you want to drive from Amboseli to Diani Beach, it’s best to drive through Tsavo West National Park (with a ticket)! Otherwise you have to drive a detour. Tsavo West is known for incredible wildlife and you can find all animals here, including lions, cheetahs and leopards! The streets are a lot more beautiful than in Ambosli National Park and the National Park is way bigger. Tsavo is divided in the huge Tsavo East and Tsavo West, only Tsavo West is located on the way to Diani Beach.
What to do?
- Do a self drive safari (52 USD per person for a 24 hour ticket, you can buy the ticket at the gate)
Where to eat?
- It’s best to bring some food and cook yourself, since there is not a lot around in Amboseli NP. Or you ask in some lodges.
Where to stay?
- Kudu Campsite (You can find it at the website of Kenya Wildlife Service, it’s located 2km from Rhodesia Gate Bridge, near Kilaguni lodge on the Tsavo River)
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Drive from Tsavo West National Park to Diani Beach in 6-7 hours ✓
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6. Beach days in Diani (South of Mombasa), Day 10-13
Diani Beach is a relaxed, laid-back place, with only a few things to do. Unfortunately, it rained a lot when we’ve been there. We expected a hot sun and locals with camels on the beach. But we didn’t see both. However, we still had a great time in Diani and it’s a nice way to end a safari trip through Kenya at the beach! Diani Beach is also known for kite surfing, since the wind is very consistent.
There are two options to drive to Diani beach: if you drive via Mombasa town you have to use a ferry which is often very crowded by locals. The other option is to turn right before Mombasa and drive a small mountain gravel road, which we chose.
If you have more time left, check out the ferries that drive from the South of Diani (I think it’s Galu) or from Mombasa to Pemba island.
What to do?
- Nicest beach: between Soul Breeze and Pallet Café very calm and beautiful beach with no local sellers
- Kongo River sunset boat tour (Mohamed Sinago Ali: number 0723 135 393)
- Secret beach: a small cove surrounded by rocks
- sail on a little wooden boat (ask the boatmen)
Where to eat?
- Salty Squit (nice and beautiful beach)
- Pallet Café with kite school
- Tribeearth: ethopian restaurant with very nice people and smoothie bowls, try the traditional curry plate
Where to stay?
- We booked a small airbnb bungalow with a kitchen for 40 USD per night.
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Drive to Mombasa via the ferry and return the car in Mombasa (you can also drive back to Nairobi to avoid the one-way rental, but the distance is very far, it’s a lot more comfortable this way!, There is also a train driving between Mombasa and Nairobi) ✓
Fly from Mombasa back home ✓
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Did it feel save?
Yes! We felt absolutely save the whole time! There was no strange situation either with the traditional people, the policemen or with driving ourselves in the National Park! Don’t worry, just do it! It feels as save as in Europe! In the National Parks it’s allowed to look outside from an open sun-deck or standing in an open pop-up roof. You can also open your windows. It’s not allowed to get out of the car or to sit on top of the car. The animals are used to pop-up roofs and most tourists had one. Only Hells Gate National Park is an exception, there you can step out of the car.
How expensive is Kenya?
If you rent a car with a roof top tent, campsites are not expensive at all. But the entrance fees for the National Park are really really intense! It’s crazy what they ask for a 24 hour ticket or even only a 12 hour ticket in Masai Mara (new rule). Therefore we decided to minimize the costs for lodges by using campsites.
Best time to visit Kenya?
If you come to Kenya with Masai Mara as a priority, we recommend to visit in September! It’s the time when the thousands of wildebeest jump in the deep Mara River slowly making their way back to Tanzania. We could see the animals arriving from Tanzania in mid-July, we had really good weather in the National Parks, but a lot of rain at Diani Beach, and Nairobi was really cold.
June to October: best time, dry season (rainy at Diani Beach)
November to December: rainy season with smaller rainshowers
January to February: usually dry but with chance of rainshowers
Mid-March to May: rainy season with heaviest rainshowers
Wildebeest migration: Mid-July to November, best in September when they jump in the deep Mara River
Which car did we rent?
We rented a 4×4 Landcruiser Prado with “4×4 Uganda” for 90USD per day including a rooftop tent and a sun-roof in front of the tent, a table and chairs and cooking gear. We had a bit of bad luck with our car rental agency, although we had a good experience with them in Uganda. They let us wait 2 hours at the airport until it was already dark. Therefore we didn’t noticed that the roof top tent was completely moldy. We had to drive to the other side of Nairobi the next day, to get another rooftop tent fixed on our car. In the end we got almost a complete new tent, but it was really stressful for one night staying in a moldy tent, driving to the other side of Nairobi and fixing a new tent. However, most of the other car rental companies asked for 150USD per day, so I guess we had a low-budget solution here.
Where we would love to go next time in Kenya:
- Lamu (we heard that it is not very save to drive there with a rental car, so it might be better to book a driver from Mombasa, do a sailing trip on a traditional Dhau boat there!)
- Mt. Kenya (climbing it or at least doing a hike with Masai people with a nice fire in the night)
- Spending more time learning from the Masai people (Either living at their village or join hikes with them)
- Mt. Ololokwe: camping with Samburu warriors
- Lake Naivasha
- Lake Nakuru NP (watch the rhinos)
- Pemba Island
- Good Samaritan Health Service
We visited Kenya in July 2023.
Anzeige / ad: Most of the hotels, restaurants and companies we mentioned above didn’t sponsor us. All our recommendations are always based on our own opinion.
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