Overview: Nairobi Giraffe Centre visit

One hour, by pre-booking only

Visit the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage for a close-up encounter with elephant orphans – and sometimes rhino orphans. You can visit during daily between 11:00 and 12:00, or make special arrangements for a private visit in the afternoon.

3 hours in total - morning only

With the sun rising over the Loita Hills, you scramble into the balloon basket for the start of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You’re about to go drifting with the breeze above the trees and plains of one of the world’s greatest wildlife regions.

All day from sunrise to sunset

If you're not staying in the Maasai Mara National Reserve itself, you're likely to be staying in one of the outstandingly wildlife-rich Maasai-owned private conservancies just outside the reserve boundary. A full-day game drive in the reserve gives you the chance to visit the Mara River and see some of the reserve's fabled wildlife locations.

Half day - AM or PM, or full day

It is truly remarkable that the plains and woodland of Nairobi National Park, an area of around 70km² (some 17,000 acres) should exist in a near-natural state so close to the city that in any other conurbation they would just be suburbs.

One-and-a-half hours, plus transfers

Visit the community-run Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in Samburu, for an intimate experience meeting the orphaned baby elephants who have been rescued from the surrounding regions. They are hand-reared by Samburu keepers, until they are ready to be released back into the wild.

One hour, usually as part of your drive

Visit the Endangered Species Enclosure at Ol Pejeta Conservancy for a close encounter with the last two remaining northern white rhinos. You can visit either by game drive vehicle or visit on horseback if you're an experienced rider. Other rare species include Jackson's hartebeests and Grevy's zebras.

Half or full day

Seeing the Rift Valley's iconic pink flocks of flamingos massing on one of the region's lakes can be a somewhat hit-and-miss affair since lake water levels rose after about 2014 and the ecology of several of them changed significantly. Lake Bogoria, however, in the northern Rift, still usually retains some large flocks of many thousands of lesser flamingos.

Half or full day

Drive into one of Kenya's best-known national parks to explore the lakeshore, woodlands, cliffs and plains around this iconic lake. While the flamingos may no longer be here, Nakuru has some key mammals, including both black and southern white rhinos, lions, leopards and Rothschild giraffes.

30 or 60 minute flights

Soar high and fly low over the rolling hills and plains of Laikipia’s famed Lewa Conservancy, on a scenic biplane flight. Offering you the chance to spot wildlife from the air, this flight takes place in an open-cockpit WACO biplane – a truly unique excursion in Kenya.