6 Days Samburu, Aberdares, and Amboseli Safari

Samburu National Reserve sits in the arid north, about 350 kilometres from Nairobi, where the landscape shifts from highland farmland to semi-desert scrub. The Ewaso Nyiro River is the park's lifeline — during dry spells every animal in the reserve gravitates towards its banks. This is where you will find species that do not occur in southern parks like the Mara or Amboseli: the Grevy's zebra with its thin stripes and comically large ears, the reticulated giraffe with its crisp geometric patterns, and the gerenuk, an antelope that stands on its hind legs to browse acacia branches like an awkward ballerina.

The second phase of the trip — the Aberdares — is completely different. Here you are in mountain forest at 2,200 metres, staying at the Ark, a lodge built to resemble Noah's vessel, with viewing decks and a bunker-like hide overlooking a waterhole and salt lick. Elephants, buffalo, and bushbuck visit throughout the night. There is an optional buzzer in your room that rings when something rare — a leopard, a bongo — appears. The experience is unlike any other lodge in Kenya. You do not go on game drives. The animals come to you.

The final destination, Amboseli, is Kenya's postcard park. The combination of open plains, swamp-fed by Kilimanjaro meltwater, and Africa's highest mountain rising behind makes for the kind of photographs that sell safari brochures. The elephant herds here are among the most studied in the world — Cynthia Moss has run the Amboseli Elephant Research Project since 1972 — and they are remarkably relaxed around vehicles. The six-day circuit covers roughly 1,000 kilometres through central and northern Kenya. It is a proper journey, not a series of day trips.