When my wife’s 60th birthday came around, I wanted to give her something she would never forget. Not a nice hotel and a cake, but something extraordinary. So I set out to plan a tailor-made journey through Kenya: three of its great wildlife regions, a few lazy days on the Indian Ocean, and a first-class train ride home.

The trip at a glance

• When: 10 days, 11 to 20 February 2026
• Nairobi: 1 night at PrideInn Azure
• Maasai Mara: 2 nights at PrideInn Mara Camp
• Lake Nakuru: 1 night at Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge
• Amboseli: 2 nights at Amboseli Sopa Lodge
• The coast: 3 nights at Leopard Beach Resort
• Getting around: our own Land Cruiser and driver guide on safari, then the Madaraka Express in first class from Mombasa back to Nairobi

Doing it the right way

Rather than pick a package from a brochure, I went straight to the people who know Kenya best. I worked with a Destination Management Company in Nairobi, and I had already met the owner of Sopa Lodges face to face at World Travel Market, the world’s largest travel trade show, held every November at ExCeL London. Sopa run lodges in some of Kenya’s best-known national parks, and between them and the DMC we shaped an itinerary of five-star stays where the food, the service and the welcome never missed a beat.

The single best decision we made was upgrading from the standard safari minivan to our own Land Cruiser, with our own driver. On game drives we would see vehicles packed with eight passengers or more, everyone jostling for a view. We had a Land Cruiser to ourselves, and we had Baboo.

Into the Maasai Mara

We flew from Heathrow and were met at Nairobi airport, spending our first night at the PrideInn Azure. Early the next morning Baboo collected us and we set off on the five-hour drive west, pausing at a viewpoint high above the Great Rift Valley, a view that stops you in your tracks. Along the way we stopped at a Maasai village, where the warriors welcomed us in their vivid red shukas and performed their famous jumping dance.

We arrived at PrideInn Mara Camp in time for lunch, and by four o’clock we were out on our first game drive.

A birthday she’ll never forget

My wife woke up on her 60th birthday in the Maasai Mara. By mid-morning we had watched lions dozing in the long grass, hyenas trotting along the track, giraffes peering over the treetops, a topi standing sentry on a termite mound and a magnificent lone bull elephant crossing the plains. Then Baboo pulled up beside a solitary acacia, and there, in the middle of the plains, was a table, two chairs and a picnic prepared by our camp, with a bottle of wine waiting. No crowds, no schedule, just the two of us and the whole of the Mara.

That afternoon we went down to the creek to watch crocodiles basking and hippos wallowing. It was an extraordinary day, and it was only our first full day on safari.

The colours of the bush

It isn’t only the big game. Kenya’s birdlife is dazzling: superb starlings flashing metallic blue and orange, golden weaver birds chattering in the branches, and jacanas picking their way along the water’s edge.

Lake Nakuru: flamingos and rhino

From the Mara we headed to Lake Nakuru National Park, game viewing as soon as we arrived. The park did not disappoint: thousands upon thousands of flamingos lining the shore, more giraffes, and both white and black rhino, something few visitors are lucky enough to see. Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge sits high on a hillside overlooking the lake, and lunch on the terrace with the whole valley laid out below, followed by sunrise from our balcony the next morning, are memories we will both keep for life.

Amboseli, in the shadow of Kilimanjaro

Next came the longest day on the road, around seven and a half hours via Nairobi to Amboseli National Park, with picnic lunch boxes so we could head straight out on a game drive when we arrived. Amboseli is famous for its great elephant herds and the snow-capped dome of Kilimanjaro on the horizon. We spent two nights at Amboseli Sopa Lodge and watched whole families of elephants, tiny calves tucked between their mothers, crossing the plains even in the rain, with others strolling right down the track between the vehicles.

Many of my favourite photographs from Amboseli simply would not exist without Baboo. He had a real knack for reading the animals and quietly getting us into the right spot ahead of the crowds.

Barefoot on the coast

After nearly ten days of bumping along safari tracks, with one last game drive on the way out of Amboseli, we were ready to slow down. Three nights at Leopard Beach Resort gave us white sand, palm-thatched umbrellas, turquoise water at low tide and camels strolling along the shoreline. The beach was stunning, and so were the cocktails.

Home in first class

Rather than fly back to Nairobi, we took the Madaraka Express from Mombasa in first class: swivel seats, waitress service, films and music, and one last chance to watch the Kenyan landscape and its wildlife roll past the window. We arrived in Nairobi that evening and were transferred straight to the airport for our flight home. It was the perfect, unhurried ending.

What I’d tell anyone planning Kenya

• Work with people on the ground. A trusted local partner turns a good itinerary into a great one.
• Upgrade to your own Land Cruiser and driver. It changes everything, from the sightings to the pace of each day.
• Mix your regions. The Mara, Nakuru and Amboseli each feel completely different.
• Expect some long drives. Seven hours on the road is part of the adventure, but plan for it.
• Finish on the beach. You will be glad of the rest.

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Want a trip like this?

This is how I plan every holiday: personally, with partners I know and trust, around the moments that matter to you. If you have a special occasion coming up, or just a place you have always dreamed of, I would love to help make it happen.