Begins with your arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, where you are warmly welcomed by your professional safari guide and photography host. After a smooth transfer to your carefully selected hotel, you have time to rest, freshen up, and organize your camera gear, ensuring lenses, batteries, and memory cards are ready for the days ahead. Later in the afternoon, a detailed safari and photography briefing is conducted, covering the overall itinerary, daily shooting routines, vehicle positioning for optimal angles, ethical wildlife photography practices, and safety protocols in the field. You may also receive personalized guidance on camera settings suited for African light and fast-moving wildlife. As evening falls, enjoy a relaxed welcome dinner, providing an opportunity to meet fellow photographers, discuss expectations, and ease into the rhythm of the safari before settling in for an early night to prepare for the first game drive.

Accommodation at: Crowne Plaza Nairobi

Meal Plan: Bed and Breakfast

Starts with an early breakfast in Nairobi before departing by road toward Amboseli National Park, a scenic journey that offers changing landscapes from urban outskirts to open plains and rural villages. Upon arrival in Amboseli around midday, you enter the park and enjoy a slow photographic game drive en route to Oltukai Lodge, with your first opportunities to photograph elephants, giraffes, zebras, and abundant birdlife. After check-in and lunch at the lodge, there is time to rest during the midday heat while enjoying views of Mount Kilimanjaro from the lodge grounds. In the late afternoon, you head out for an extended game drive, focusing on Amboseli’s famous large-tusked elephants, dust-filled scenes, reflective swamps, and dramatic compositions with Kilimanjaro as a backdrop. As the sun sets, you return to Oltukai Lodge for dinner and an overnight stay, reviewing images and preparing gear for the following day’s early start.

Accommodation at: Oltukai Lodge

Meal Plan: Full Board

This is a full day dedicated to photography in Amboseli National Park, beginning with an early morning game drive as the soft golden light reveals vast open plains, acacia woodlands, and the iconic silhouette of Mount Kilimanjaro rising in the distance. This prime morning session focuses on large elephant herds, often seen moving through the swamps, as well as lions, cheetahs, buffalo, and a wide variety of birdlife, with opportunities for both wide environmental shots and intimate wildlife portraits. You return to Oltukai Lodge mid-morning for breakfast and a short rest, allowing time to review images and recharge equipment. After lunch, enjoy a relaxed midday break before heading out again in the late afternoon when the light becomes dramatic and wildlife activity increases. The evening game drive emphasizes creative compositions dust trails, backlit elephants, reflections in the wetlands, and changing skies before returning to the lodge after sunset for dinner and an overnight stay.

Accommodation at: Oltukai Lodge

Meal Plan: Full Board

The Day begins with an early breakfast at Oltukai Lodge followed by a final morning game drive in Amboseli National Park, capturing last views of elephants against the backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro as the soft morning light spreads across the plains. After exiting the park, you depart by road toward Lake Nakuru National Park, enjoying a scenic drive through the Great Rift Valley with planned stops for stretching, refreshments, and panoramic photography of the dramatic escarpments. You arrive in Lake Nakuru around midday, entering the park for a game drive en route to your lodge, where you may photograph rhinos, Rothschild’s giraffes, buffalo, and flamingos along the lake shoreline. After lunch and a brief rest, a late afternoon game drive offers excellent opportunities to focus on black and white rhinos, tree-climbing lions, and diverse birdlife in golden evening light. You return to the lodge at sunset for dinner, image review, and an overnight stay near the park.

Accommodation at: Sarova Lion Hill Lodge

Meal Plan: Full Board

A full day dedicated to photography in Lake Nakuru National Park, with accommodation at Sarova Lion Hill Lodge. Your day begins early with a sunrise game drive along the lake and surrounding woodlands, capturing flamingos and pelicans against the shimmering pink waters, and photographing rhinos, giraffes, buffalo, and baboons in the soft morning light. After returning to the lodge for breakfast, you can spend mid-morning reviewing your shots or exploring the lodge grounds for bird photography and scenic compositions. A midday break allows time for lunch, rest, and camera battery recharge before heading out for an extended afternoon game drive. This session focuses on more intimate wildlife encounters, dramatic landscapes of the Rift Valley escarpments, and opportunities to photograph animals like leopards, lions, and eland in golden light. As the sun sets, return to Sarova Lion Hill Lodge for dinner, image review, and overnight stay, preparing for the journey to the Masai Mara the following day.

Accommodation at: Sarova Lion Hill Lodge

Meal Plan: Full Board

Begins with an early breakfast at Sarova Lion Hill Lodge, followed by a morning game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park, giving one last chance to photograph flamingos, rhinos, and other wildlife in the soft morning light. Mid-morning, you depart for the Masai Mara National Reserve, traveling through scenic Kenyan landscapes that include rolling hills, farmlands, and occasional wildlife sightings along the way, with stops for photography and refreshments. Arriving in the Mara around midday, you check in at your Tipilikwani Mara Camp, have lunch, and take time to rest and prepare your camera gear for the afternoon. The late afternoon features your first Masai Mara game drive, with golden-hour lighting perfect for photographing lions, cheetahs, elephants, zebras, and wildebeest across the vast savanna. You return to the camp at sunset for dinner and overnight stay, reviewing your images and preparing for two full days of immersive wildlife photography in one of Africa’s most iconic reserves.

Accommodation at: Tipilikwani Mara Camp

Meal Plan: Full Board

Full day Masai Mara The next two days will be a full day dedicated to photographing the abundant wildlife of the Masai Mara National Reserve. Your day begins with a pre-dawn wake-up, coffee or tea, and an early morning game drive while the savanna is bathed in soft golden light perfect for capturing lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants, and giraffes in natural, active behaviour. You focus on both wide landscape shots with herds of wildebeest or zebras and intimate wildlife portraits, using the morning mist and long shadows for dramatic effect. Mid-morning, return to Tipilikwani Mara Camp for a hearty breakfast and a short rest, reviewing images and recharging camera batteries. After lunch, head back into the Mara for an extended afternoon game drive, taking advantage of the rich late-afternoon light to photograph dust clouds behind running elephants, predator-prey interactions, and silhouettes against the setting sun.
As dusk falls, return to camp for dinner, sharing highlights from the day and preparing for another early day of photography in the Mara.

Accommodation at: Tipilikwani Mara Camp

Meal Plan: Full Board

Your day begins with an early wake-up at Tipilikwani Mara Camp for one last sunrise game drive in the Masai Mara, capturing the soft morning light on wildlife and the expansive savanna one final time. After returning to the camp for breakfast, you pack your belongings and check out. Mid-morning, you transfer by road or optionally by a short charter flight back to Nairobi, enjoying scenic views of the Kenyan countryside along the way. Upon arrival in Nairobi, you are either taken directly to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for your onward flight or to your hotel if staying overnight, concluding your 9-day photography safari with a collection of breathtaking images, unforgettable wildlife encounters, and memories of Africa’s iconic landscapes.

Accommodation at: NA

Meal Plan: Breakfast Only