Laikipia › Maasai Mara › Lamu
This nine-day itinerary is built for travellers who want more than a game drive — those who want to ride, walk, run, fish, paddle, and immerse themselves in the places they visit. Beginning on the vast Laikipia plateau at the legendary Sosian Lodge, where a remarkable breadth of activities — from horse riding and camel treks to fly camping and ranching — transforms the safari into something genuinely active and personal. The journey continues southwest to the Mara North Conservancy and the exceptional Offbeat Ndoto camp, where unlimited game drives, guided walks, night drives, and deep community engagement redefine what a Maasai Mara experience can be. Finally, a flight to the ancient island of Lamu delivers four nights at The Cabanas — a serene, soulful retreat on the edge of the Indian Ocean, where yoga, paddleboarding, and the unhurried pace of Swahili island life provide the perfect counterpoint to nine days of adventure.
Your Offbeat Safari Experience begins at Wilson Airport, where a scheduled morning flight carries you north over the Great Rift Valley escarpment and onto the vast, open plateau of Laikipia — one of Kenya's most diverse and underexplored wildlife regions. Covering over nine thousand square kilometres of private ranches, community conservancies, and wildlife corridors, Laikipia supports one of the highest concentrations of endangered species outside a national park in the whole of Africa. On landing at Sosian airstrip, your guide will meet you for the short transfer to Sosian Lodge — a working cattle ranch and wildlife destination of extraordinary character. Arrive in time for lunch, then head straight out for an afternoon game drive or your first ride through the bush on horseback.
Accommodation
Sosian Lodge is a working cattle ranch turned wildlife haven on the Laikipia plateau — a rare property where guests can ride, walk, fish, trek by camel, and camp under the stars alongside exceptional game viewing in a truly off-the-beaten-track setting.
1 Night · Full Board
No two days at Sosian look the same. The lodge's extraordinary breadth of activities means you can shape your day entirely around your own appetite for adventure. Rise before dawn for a game drive with a ranger searching for Laikipia's resident lion prides, leopard, elephant, and the endangered black rhino that roam the conservancy. Later, swap the vehicle for a saddle and join a guided horse ride through the open grasslands — on horseback, the landscape opens up in ways no vehicle can replicate, allowing you to approach plains game at close range. For those drawn to the water, fly fishing on the ranch's river offers a meditative counterpoint to the day's energy. As evening falls, your guide may lead you out for a night drive — one of Sosian's many privileges as a private conservancy — before a candlelit dinner back at the lodge.
Accommodation
A full day to explore Sosian's remarkable range of activities — from horse riding and camel treks to fishing, mountain biking, guided walks, and fly camping in the open wilderness.
1 Night · Full Board
After an early game drive and breakfast at Sosian, transfer to the airstrip for your scheduled flight southwest to the Maasai Mara. The aerial transition from the highland plateau to the open savannah of the Mara is one of Kenya's great geographical contrasts — a shift in altitude, vegetation, and atmosphere that takes less than an hour but feels like a journey between worlds. Your destination is Offbeat Ndoto, a camp of real character and depth set within the Mara North Conservancy — a vast private ecosystem bordering the national reserve that offers far greater freedom, exclusivity, and community connection than the main park. Exclusive use of a vehicle, unlimited game drives, and the most comprehensive activity programme in the Mara await.
Accommodation
Offbeat Ndoto is an intimate, community-connected camp within the Mara North Conservancy — offering exclusive vehicle use, unlimited game drives, guided walks, night drives, and an extraordinary depth of cultural engagement with the Maasai community.
1 Night · Full Board
Offbeat Ndoto's position within the Mara North Conservancy unlocks a depth of experience that the main reserve simply cannot offer. With an exclusive vehicle at your disposal and no cap on game drive hours, your guide can follow a pride of lions or a pack of hunting wild dogs for as long as the moment demands — no other vehicles competing for position, no need to move on. Begin the morning with a guided safari walk through the conservancy, where your Maasai guide reads the landscape on foot in the way his community has for centuries. Later, visit the Koiyaki Guiding School and Aitong Primary School — genuine community projects supported by Offbeat — before an afternoon drive followed by a dramatic Maasai running display at sundown and a bush dinner served under the open sky.
Accommodation
A full day that blends world-class big game encounters with some of the most authentic Maasai community experiences available anywhere in the Mara ecosystem.
1 Night · Full Board
After a final dawn drive and a bush breakfast on the plains, transfer to the Mara airstrip for your morning flight back to Nairobi's Wilson Airport before reconnecting with your onward flight to Lamu that departs for the ancient island on Kenya's North Coast. The approach into Lamu's airstrip — low over the mangroves and the shimmering channel that separates the island from the mainland — announces a world apart. No cars, no crowds, no rush. The Cabanas vehicle meets you at the dock for the short dhow transfer across the water to this serene, soulful retreat where the pace of life is dictated entirely by the tides and the trade winds.
Accommodation
The Cabanas is a beautifully conceived beachfront retreat on Lamu Island — ocean-view cabanas, a yoga shala (excludes an instuctor(instructors come at an extra cost)), paddleboarding, a pool, and the timeless charm of East Africa's oldest and most atmospheric island town on your doorstep.
1 Night · Full Board
Lamu is the oldest continuously inhabited town in East Africa — a UNESCO World Heritage Site where Swahili, Arab, and Portuguese influences have layered over centuries to create a culture unlike anything else on the continent. Begin the morning at leisure: breakfast on your private terrace, a paddleboard along the calm channel, or a yoga session in The Cabanas' beautiful open shala as the Indian Ocean breeze drifts through. In the afternoon, board a traditional hand-carved dhow for a sailing excursion (at an extra cost) through the Lamu Archipelago — one of the finest ways to experience the island's intricate network of channels, mangrove forests, and secluded sandbars that emerge at low tide. Return to the island as the call to prayer drifts across the rooftops and the sky turns deep rose over the water.
Accommodation
Lamu rewards slow exploration — by dhow, on foot through the coral-stone alleyways, or simply from the edge of the pool as the Indian Ocean does its work.
1 Night · Full Board
Dedicate today to exploring Lamu Town on foot — a living museum of Swahili architecture where donkeys remain the primary mode of transport and intricately carved wooden doors open onto courtyard gardens that have changed little in five hundred years. Your guide will navigate the narrow alleys past the old fort, the bustling seafront promenade, and the fragrant spice stalls of the market, sharing the layered history of a place that once sat at the crossroads of trade routes connecting the Arab world, the Indian subcontinent, and the African interior. In the afternoon, return to The Cabanas for a restorative swim and a late lunch on the terrace, or join a local cooking class (at an extra cost) and learn the art of Swahili coastal cuisine — coconut rice, urojo soup, and fresh seafood prepared over open wood fires.
Accommodation
A day immersed in one of East Africa's most extraordinary living heritage sites — ancient alleyways, Swahili architecture, market aromas, and the gentle rhythms of an island that has resisted modernity on its own terms.
1 Night · Full Board
Your last full day at The Cabanas is yours without agenda. Sleep until the ocean calls you, or rise early for a sunrise paddleboard across the stillness of the channel before the trade winds build. The beach in front of the lodge stretches wide and unhurried, and the pool offers a perfect vantage point for watching the dhow traffic drift back and forth across the water. For those with energy to spare, a bicycle ride to Shela Village — a quiet, whitewashed settlement with one of the most beautiful beaches on the island — takes less than half an hour. Alternatively, The Cabanas' yoga shala (excludes an instuctor(instructors come at an extra cost) is available throughout the day, and a restorative massage can be arranged on request. As the evening comes and the island settles into its timeless, unhurried close, a final dinner on the terrace feels like the only possible way to end nine days extraordinarily well spent.
Accommodation
A final, unscheduled day on one of the most beautiful and culturally rich islands in East Africa — time to absorb, restore, and linger a little longer.
1 Night · Full Board
After a final breakfast with the island channel stretching before you, The Cabanas team will arrange your dhow transfer back to the dock and onward scheduled flight to Nairobi. At Wilson Airport, a private vehicle will be waiting to escort you across the city to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for your international departure. Nine days, three remarkable destinations — the wild highlands of Laikipia, the legendary grasslands of the Maasai Mara, and the ancient Swahili soul of Lamu. Each one a world apart. Together, an itinerary that captures the full, extraordinary range of what Kenya offers to those willing to go a little offbeat.
Free baggage allowance for each passenger is STRICTLY 15kgs in soft bags, inclusive of hand luggage and cameras. The fares quoted are current and pricing is subject to change based on availability of flight seats at the time of booking.
Set on a 50,000-acre working cattle ranch on the Laikipia plateau, Sosian Lodge is one of Kenya's most distinctive and activity-rich safari properties. The lodge supports a thriving wildlife population — lion, leopard, elephant, cheetah, endangered black rhino, reticulated giraffe, and Grevy's zebra roam freely across the ranch alongside the resident cattle. Sosian's unique character comes from its breadth: nowhere else in Kenya can guests ride horses, trek by camel, mountain bike, fish, fly camp, and join authentic ranching activities, all within a single property and all on a full-board basis.
Offbeat Ndoto is an intimate, character-rich camp set within the Mara North Conservancy — a vast private ecosystem bordering the Maasai Mara National Reserve that allows night drives, off-road game viewing, guided walks, and a level of exclusivity impossible within the main park. The camp is known for its deep community roots, with genuine partnerships with local Maasai that transform cultural activities from optional extras into authentic encounters. Exclusive use of a vehicle means your game drive is yours entirely — no shared vehicles, no compromise on time or direction.
The Cabanas is a beautifully considered retreat on the shores of Lamu Island — a collection of ocean-view cabanas set within lush gardens, steps from the water. The property embraces the unhurried spirit of Lamu entirely: a yoga shala (excludes an instuctor(instructors come at an extra cost)) open to the breeze, paddleboards on the channel, a pool that seems to dissolve into the horizon, and full-board dining that draws on the extraordinary seafood and spice traditions of the Swahili coast. Lamu Town — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — is a short dhow ride away, and the island's famous beaches are at your doorstep.
Fly-in luxury from the savannahs to the spice islands
Three iconic Sanctuary properties across Kenya's finest reserves
An elegant journey through Kenya's most storied landscapes
Remote camps and untouched wilderness off the beaten track
