Why a Kenyan safari deserves a spot on your bucket list

KENYA – I am not an early bird by nature, but each morning, the promise of a Kenyan sunrise is enough to rouse me from slumber.

Against the pastel hues of first light, wildlife wanders into my camera frame. A bushbuck at a watering hole, which I spot from my lodge’s animal hide; a herd of buffalo, chocolate-brown specks grazing on the lawn of the Maasai Mara National Reserve as I glide overhead in a hot-air balloon.

Little wonder that the East African nation is growing in popularity as a safari destination. More Singapore travellers are taking trips to the continent, with African destinations registering a 33 per cent increase in growth in the past three years based on booking data from tour operator Trafalgar.

This is driven in part by a growing interest in wildlife encounters, cultural interactions and adventure activities, says Ms Mae Cheah, managing director (Asia) of The Travel Corporation Tour Brands.

As an inveterate backpacker, my nine-day tour with Trafalgar in February is a departure from my usual travel style. Independent travel in Kenya is possible for the intrepid, but a tour eliminates the logistical constraints – not all tourist spots are connected by inter-city coach services, for instance, and delays are to be expected.

And while group travel minimises the chance for spontaneous local connections, it offers access to the community, such as meeting with second-generation tea and coffee plantation owner Elizabeth Kariithi, one of the managers in family business Kiburi Home (

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).

The 67-year-old’s stories provide a layman’s perspective of Kenya’s 1963 transition from British colony to independent nation, colouring in historical milestones with the realities of people on the ground.

Here are three reasons Kenya is worth a visit.

A land of contrasts

Kenya is often associated with scenes of arid plains – a blazing egg-yolk sun descending beyond a dusty horizon – or herds of wildebeest, numbering into the millions, making their annual migration, cycling between Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park and Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve in search of fresh pasture. But these postcard images belie Kenya’s varied landscapes, which also mean the game viewing evolves as I move through the country.

North of the equator, in the semi-arid Samburu National Reserve, my group of five spots the reticulated giraffe with its tidy patchwork coat, found predominantly in Kenya.

Farther south, we see instead the Maasai and Rothschild’s giraffes, identified by their irregular markings, the shape and colour of autumn leaves.

The differences are subtle, but to the wildlife lover, beautiful.

There are, of course, ample opportunities to spy the usual suspects – a herd of elephants with their young, a lone cheetah on the prowl, the endangered solitary black rhinoceros browsing.

But perhaps most captivating is watching these animals exhibit their natural behaviours. Scenes from wildlife documentaries grow visceral, up close. As vultures feed and a hyena scampers away with the bloodied ribs of an animal in its jaws, the wind carries the stench of carrion.

Another day, a pride of lionesses are on the hunt. Soundlessly, they encircle a lone topi – a reddish-brown antelope, a sprinter. The cubs are instructed to stay back. In a line of safari jeeps, watching from a distance, we wait with bated breath.

Something alerts the topi and, at the last moment, it skitters. Our group exhales a collective sigh. Disappointment on the lions’ behalf mingles with relief for the antelope.

Amid the landscapes, one thing is constant. Wildlife is Africa’s biggest tourism draw and Kenya offers a front-row seat in the theatre of nature.

Spot game from your hotel

My room at The Ark Lodge, located within Aberdare National Park next to a watering hole, is equipped with something like a call bell.

Upon checking in, I indicate on a list the wildlife I would like to see during the night – rhinos, elephants or lions, for instance – and staff will sound a wake-up call if the animals are spotted at the watering hole.

I sleep fitfully, but as luck would have it, no big game appears. Still, come morning, I spot a bushbuck from the lodge’s wildlife hide, along with a giant forest hog scavenging in the dirt as the bruised pre-dawn sky lightens.

The hide, a small circular stone room with narrow, unobstructed windows, keeps the cold and wildlife out while allowing guests to photograph them at eye level. I am close enough not to need the zoom lens on my camera – my iPhone will suffice.

There will be time enough, later, for more elephant sightings than I can count.

In the bush, natural water bodies indicate prime real estate. At Sweetwaters Serena Camp, located within Ol Pejeta Conservancy in central Kenya, a watering hole located just beyond the camp’s perimeter draws a veritable parade of zebras, giraffes, elephants, buffalo and rhinos that come to drink and bathe throughout the day, culminating in a herd of elephants that arrives for a sand bath at dusk. Only a thin electric fence keeps them at bay.

Guests line the perimeter of the camp, some moved to tears, some video-calling loved ones to show them the spectacle.

Just as majestic are the dozens of hippopotamuses that soak daily in the watering hole next to Muthu Keekorok Lodge.

It is hard to believe that these creatures, ponderous in appearance, are the world’s deadliest land mammal – but their formidable canines, which they display in a yawn, warn otherwise. Each time they do, the shutters go off.

Community experiences

As fascinating as Kenya’s wildlife are its people. Of the country’s more than 40 tribes, the Maasai are the most well known for their striking traditional attire, semi-nomadic pastoral lifestyle and adumu, or ceremonial jumping dance.

I pay a visit to a Maasai camp, one of many that line the road leading to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. For around US$40 (S$51), visitors can peer into mud huts where families live and watch young Maasai men put on a perfunctory display of the adumu, which is typically performed during weddings, religious rites and cultural events.

Photos are encouraged, donations to the local school are welcome and it is a fun visit, even if it feels more performative than informative.

The women I meet at the Shela Women’s Association (SWA) leave a stronger impression. Men line the streets in the neighbouring coastal towns of Lamu and Shela, but women are less visible. They might pop out to the shops for an errand or head to a friend’s home – usually burqa-clad in Muslim-majority Lamu, an outlier in a country where 86 per cent of the population identifies as Christian, and where I spend four days after my tour.

The association teems with colour and laughter and is one of the few community spaces where the women can let loose. A lounge area is bedecked with cushions and curtains in Kitenge fabric – printed designs ubiquitous on the continent.

Here, around 10 women aged between 22 and 50 gather daily to run cooking classes and cater food for weddings and restaurants, including supplying Camembert samosas to Peponi Hotel bar and restaurant, where tourists congregate.

In between work, the women shoot the breeze, wearing the vibrant headscarves and dresses they conceal in public.

Ms Jamila Abdillahi, 42, recalls being approached by SWA adviser Kelly Campbell seven years ago to run cooking classes out of her home, before expanding into the current location in 2023.

Ms Campbell, 47, who is from the United States and has been living in Lamu for a decade, says: “Myself, Jamila and the ladies started walking around the village and inquiring about available spaces that we could be creative with and renovate into a space for the women. We found a space that was being used as a closet and a small bedroom, secured the space and got to work.”

She is the co-owner of The Village Experience, which specialises in socially responsible tourism. She is also the executive director of The Village Cooperative, a community development arm that focuses on projects such as SWA, including funding the launch of its community kitchen and retail store.

The team sourced local artists and products as much as possible, including a logo created by a Kenyan designer and painted by a local artist (both living in Lamu), a reed mat handmade in nearby Matondoni village, and light fixtures from the town of Homa Bay in western Kenya. Kitenge fabric was brought from the capital Nairobi, and the cushion covers were made by a local seamstress. 

On the day I visit for lunch, a 12-member group from Spain on a wellness retreat takes part in a cooking class (US$40, go to

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), where they learn to make vegetarian samosas, beans, stir-fried vegetables and rice.

After they leave, the women tuck into their own seafood lunch. Ms Abdillahi, whose wages go to the school fees of her three children and supplement what her boat captain husband earns, picks apart a lobster with her hands as she tells me: “We get money, we enjoy, we make friends, we laugh.”

An apt description of the locals I have met, who have opened up a slice of their lives to tourism.

Travel tips

Airlines such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air India and IndiGo fly from Singapore to Kenyan capital Nairobi in 15 to 17 hours, including layovers in Dubai, Doha, New Delhi and Mumbai.

Uber is a safe and reliable means of transport in Nairobi. If you are travelling across the city, expressway tolls are well worth the time saved. A one-way Uber journey from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the upscale Spring Valley suburb in Nairobi takes around 30 minutes and costs about $15, including tolls.

Bargaining is expected at shops catering to tourists. As a rule of thumb, start at around a third to half of the asking price and work your way up.

A nine-day Trafalgar Wonders of Kenya tour starts at US$4,725 (S$6,080). Other Africa tours offered by Trafalgar include a 10-day South Africa trip, starting at US$4,286, and an 11-day Morocco tour, starting at US$2,606.

For more information, go to trafalgar.com