If you could select 3 parks in Kenya to visit on a 10 day safari, which would you choose and why? This is our dilemma right now and so could use some help. We are looking at The Mara, Samburu, Amboseli, East Tsavo, West Tsavo, Mt. Kenya and Lake Nakuru. Our 12 year old son will be with us and we want to give him abundant wildlife viewing with the greatest amount of diversity. We also hope to have opportunity to interact with various people and tribes.

Question 2: Which type of vehicle would you choose--we will have a driver/guide as opposed to self-drive. Our options are 4x4 or van.

We will be there in late December and staying in camps as opposed to lodges.

Would love any ideas or suggestions.

Good question, I suggest all of them

If you are fit to walk in altitude, I suggest to visit Mt. Kenya NP, drive as high as possible and then climb as much as you can. It doesn't offer much wildlife but unique flora and landscape, totally different to what you see in any other of the parks you mentioned.

Lake Nakuru: A bit like a small zoo compared to the other parks with a decent amount of wildlife (esp. rhinos). Having said that, Lake Bogoria and Baringo are also impressive and "on the way": Geyser, hot springs, flamingos etc.

Tsavo: Compared to the other parks, it is pretty empty and huge in size. I love Tsavo for that. You drive around for hours not finding a soul but when you do, you can find huge herds of buffalos or elephants. Obviously the park has a few highlights like the orphanage.

Samburu is very different from the aspect of the locals, the Samburu people are totally different to most other tribes (in my opinion, at least).

The Mara and Amboseli don't need explanation, I guess.

I would probably choose Tsavo, Mt. Kenya and Lake Nakuru for a first time visit, trying to squeeze in a stop over at Lake Bogoria. If you are not very fit to climb Mt. Kenya, replace that with the Mara or Samburu.

Having said that, I edited my suggestion quite a few times and realize it is a difficult question. I am curious to see what others think

Hi Jane:

First of all I think you need to decide what you hope to see. Is there one specific animal which is a must to see? What time of year will you be going? This would make a difference as to what animals you might see (for instance I love elephants so I always go to Ambo and Tsavo during the dry season where they will be plentiful).

If you are driving everywhere, with only 10 days, you may not be able to do three or four parks. Driving to Samburu takes about seven hours over roads that leave a lot to be desired. The Mara from Nairobi is also 6 - 7 hours on roads that are often atrocious.

What I have done in the past is fly from Nairobi to Amboseli (it is an early morning flight). You could stay there for two days. Fly back to Nairobi and connect with the Samburu flight and stay there two days. Then take the flight to the Mara and stay there three days.

The favorite place of many of us, though not well traveled by most safari goers because it is a little out of the way, is Tsavo. Tsavo West is more scenic, but Tsavo East has more wildlife to be seen.

If you can give us a little more information about when you are going and what animals you definitely have to see we could give you better suggestions. Also, is there any possibility you could extend your stay to 14 days?

Jan, in answer to you question--what we are wanting from this trip is for our son, who will be 12, to see both large numbers of animals, birds, etc as well as the greatest possible diversity. We also want him to have contact with people and tribes. We are not concentrating on one animal species.

When my husband and I were in Tanzania, we were there for 19 days and so had time to wait, hunt and see. This time we have fewer days as well as a child who may not be as patient looking at bush country and terrain with no animals in sight.

We have been in contact with two people in Nairobi who organize safaris. Both have given intriguing itineraries but there are differences which is why I listed the areas I did in the original post. Which would give Casey the best experience? One is Mara, Lake Nakuru, Amboseli, Tsavo West, Tsavo East with a flight back to Nairobi. The other is Samburu, Mt. Kenya, Lake Nakuru, Mara.
So my question is which do you think meets our critieria best and are there adaptations you would make? We choose tent camps as opposed to lodges.

I know that flying would be best but with three of us we can't afford to do that. Since we will need to go by vehicle, which what type of vehicle would you recommend. Whatever it is, it will just be the three of us.

Oh--we can not extend the trip as we are doing this during Casey's Christmas vacation schedule (obviously traveling in December). When he was younger, we would pull him out of school for weeks at a time but now his subjects are too complex to do that so we are controlled by the school year. We usually spend summer in Italy but this year are foregoing that in order to do this Africa trip. Cody is a good friends of ours.

Hi Jane:

I would go with Mara, Amboseli and Tsavo East and then fly back to Nairobi from Mombasa. If you're driving with a guide, it would take up the 10 days, but would be well worth it. Samburu is a lot like Tsavo.

Kat also does a lot of Kenyan safaris and it would be interesting to get her opinion also.

Hehe, I would go for the other one: Samburu, Mt. Kenya, Lake Nakuru, Mara

I forgot in my previous post that you have only 10 days. Even though I think you may be pushing it to do all those parks in 10 days by road, I think it shows much more variety. The mountain areas are so different from the Mara and Tsavo etc. A lake, like Nakuru gives again a different flora and therefore different fauna including wildlife. For the big herds of elephants and buffaloes, the lions etc. you go to the big parks = the Mara. Also the tribes will be very different.

About the car, if you can afford it, a Land Rover or Land Cruiser are the most comfortable way to travel but a van does the job as well. A good travel agent should know if you can take the planned trip by van.

Let's see more opinions ...