Twenty million years ago the Earth’s crust tore apart, creating the phenomenal 8,000km Great Rift Valley and giving rise to Kenya’s most spectacular scenery. It’s a landscape distinguished by contrasts: uninhabitable desert, beautiful deep blue and green lakes, arid plains, sheer escarpments and towering volcanic mountains.
Rift Valley holidays have endless possibilities. Drive by a pride of lions or a solitary leopard, watch elephants protecting their babies as they search for food and sit by a lake watching crocs, hippos and rhinos in the mud while witnessing a million and more flamingos taking flight from the lake. See it all on one of our Kenya safari holidays, and if you’ve a head for heights, it’s hard to beat a sunrise balloon ride as the light and warmth of a new day brings the plains of the valley to life below you.
Kenya’s top holiday experiences: The Great Rift Valley
The Rift Valley Lakes: Relax by the freshwater lakes of Naivasha and Baring,o where, as you take in the myriad birdlife, sleepy crocodiles stare sideways at you and fat hippos wallow in the mud. A boat journey onto the lake gets you closer to the birds and you may even get a fish eagle swooping down to your boat in anticipation of food.
Enter Hell’s Gate: On the drive through Olkaria, natural vents erupt with huge sighs and groans as you pass through to enter Hell’s Gate, one of the most intriguing, surreal places in east Africa. As you’re allowed to walk or cycle unaccompanied through the park, you can come face-to-face with grazing zebras, be looked down on by towering giraffes and stare up at the two huge volcanic towers, sometimes teeming with hyraxes.
Teeter on the Losiolo Escarpment: When you stand on this knife-edge ridge and look at the 2,000m sheer drop down into the Suguta Valley, the longest drop in the Rift Valley, you’ll understand why it’s also known as the ‘World’s End’. Try to get there just before dawn and as the sun rises: you’ll see the breathtaking views slowly unfolding below.
The idea is sound – visiting four parks maximises the chance of seeing a good variety of wildlife.
However the trip notes seriously under state the terrible condition of the roads and therefore the time it takes to make the transfers. We spent more time on the road between parks than we did on game drives.
The driving is terrifying.
The whole trip felt rushed, as soon as we arrived at a park we were hurried into a meal and then straight out in the vehicle again. There was no time to relax or make use of the facilities in the lodges (which were lovely.)
The behaviour of the guides in the parks was shocking to me. There is a 5 vehicles per animal rule but whenever there was a big cat there were a crowd of 30 or more, all jostling for position and hounding the animals if they moved off. At one point I thought they had run over a chetah. Our driver also broke the no driving off road and no speeding rules. I felt ashamed to be part of it.
The amount of wildlife we saw on our Exodus Travels safari in Kenya & Tanzania blew my mind! Elephants, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, hyenas, many kinds of antelope, baboons, monkeys, hippos, rhinos, alligators, cheetahs, and of course…….. lions. This trip was a dream one true, 50 years in the making. Thanks Raymond/”Dolly” for being the perfect person to guide us on this splendid adventure!
Kenya’s week-long safari adventure was an unforgettable journey, taking us from the breathtaking elephant herds of Amboseli National Park beneath Mount Kilimanjaro, to serene early-morning boat rides among hippos on Lake Naivasha, and the vibrant birdlife of Lake Nakuru, where hundreds of species filled the skies. It concluded with the wildlife-rich plains of the Masai Mara, where we encountered lions, rhinos, giraffes, and zebras in their natural habitat. Each moment was seamlessly organised, our guides were expert in all areas, covering topics on not only the animals in the parks, but welcoming us into the essence and culture of Kenya as a country, allowing us to fully immerse ourselves in all that Kenya had to offer – it’s beauty and wildlife while experiencing the peace and wonder of Africa’s landscapes—a truly inspiring and transformative adventure.
