Best known for its annual Great Migration through the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya is a year-round destination home to spectacularly diverse safari regions. After her research trip in June 2025, Lara Webster shares her experiences in three of its notable areas: the Mara, Lewa, and Samburu.
While witnessing river crossings during the annual Great Migration is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the density of wildlife across the Maasai Mara National Reserve is really very good, having just returned from a phenomenal 13-night trip to Kenya, I find myself amazed that other parts of the country are so often overlooked. Kenya’s landscapes are vast and myriad, and its wildlife, scenery, and experiences vary wonderfully with the changing geographies and seasons.
Why June?
June, especially the start of the month, typically falls under low or mid-season in Kenya. As a result, camps offer lower rates and finding space is easier. As well as having a better chance of securing a favourite lodge, you’re likely to share your wildlife experiences – and the camps themselves – with fewer travellers.
During my recent trip, I enjoyed some of my best wildlife encounters to date: three opportunistic lionesses stalking a wildebeest that had crossed their path when staying with Kicheche Bush Camp; a curious striped hyena scenting the breeze as it approached our car at Basecamp Samburu; and sitting amongst a breeding herd of elephants with my guide from Kifaru House as the babies trundled along to catch up with their older siblings and mothers, the dusky evening light changing the Mathews Mountain Range from orange to pink to blue. These moments were made even more special because I was enjoying them in complete peace, with no disruptive radios or engines.
As well as this wonderful sense of having vast wilderness to yourself, the landscapes and wildlife benefitted from the country’s long rains, which typically occur between the end of March and May. In the Mara, we time and again encountered healthy antelope feeding on lush plains and full-bellied cats snoozing off the midday heat; while in Lewa, the vibrant greens of its marshlands and fever tree forests brought vivid variety to the conservancy’s golden grasslands.
Weather patterns are becoming less predictable and we were told the rains were continuing longer than usual this year. That said, it rained on only a handful of occasions whilst I was in the Mara. These dramatic downpours were usually short and our vehicles’ canvas flaps, complimentary ponchos and wellies were put only briefly put to use. On one exhilarating sundowner, during a stay at Little Governors’ Camp, a lightning-crossed downpour forced us to leave a pair of mating lions who had been entertaining us while we sipped our drinks. After a slippery drive at dusk, and almost back at camp, a final adventure awaited us when we crossed on the boat-bridge over the Mara River while the rain cascaded around us. After the crossing, we were rewarded with a restorative hot chocolate inside the camp’s lantern-lit mess tent, and later that evening I slept to the hypnotic patter of rain on canvas.
Next morning, a breathtaking sunrise in clear skies lit our ascent on a hot air balloon safari which conveniently launched just behind the camp.
These few showers, sudden and atmospheric, typically occur in the evenings or overnight and rarely cause serious interruptions to the day’s activities. The abundance of water encourages fruits and flowers to bloom, migratory birds to remain just that little bit longer, and often provides dramatic photographic opportunities as light breaks through the gathering clouds. All in all, travelling at this time of year proved to be a very special (and more often than not, completely dry) experience.
Why the Conservancies?
Kenya pioneered the community conservancy model, where a small number of camps lease the land from community land-owners through business models that benefits the community, wildlife, conservation, and visitors alike. Alongside community-owned conservancies, such as Samburu’s Kalama Conservancy and those found in the Maasai Mara region, Kenya’s wildlife also benefits from a range of privately-owned conservancies, most of which use a community-based conservation approach.
Unlike the government controlled national parks and reserves, these conservancies restrict the number of ‘bed-nights’ per year, in turn limiting visitor impact and helping to safeguard the environment. A limit is also placed on the number of vehicles allowed at a sighting (five vehicles in the Mara conservancies and only three in Lewa and Kalama). These rules are strictly adhered to, with vehicles equipped with trackers that the conservancy rangers closely monitor.
With reduced visitor numbers, conservancies offer a greater range of activities, including off-road driving, night drives, and walking safaris, as well as horse and camel rides from certain camps. During our June 2025 trip, we were able to pass just metres from Grevy’s zebras and Grant’s gazelles on horseback at Lewa Wilderness; and walk past not one but seven rhinos, including both black and white, and solo males and mothers with babies, during an expertly guided walking safari with our guide from Lewa House. These encounters were immersive, vividly sharpening the smells and sounds of the bush in a way you cannot experience from a vehicle. In Samburu, having opted for a hike instead of a nature trail or walking safari (and having underestimated the level of exertion required), I ascended Thumbs Up rock with my guide and an armed ranger, sometimes literally scrabbling up the old elephant trail until we summited the ridge to be met with an unending 360-degree view over the conservancy and neighbouring national reserve. Intended more as exercise than a chance to observe the bush’s smaller details or come close to wildlife, I certainly felt as though I’d earned my delicious breakfast that morning – and felt quite smug when Sumaro, my guide, told me it had been his fastest ascent with a guest.
What really blew me away on this trip, though, was the wildlife we found in Kenya’s northern conservancies and I was repeatedly impressed by the guides’ interpretations of the landscape and the wildlife encounters we enjoyed thanks to their heightened senses.
Here, where the topography and shrubland is more varied than the Maasai Mara’s rolling plains, it really felt as though the local guides had grown up honing their ability to read nature’s sounds and tracks. On one occasion, my Samburu guide Sumaro spotted cheetah tracks which he surmised weren’t very fresh. I expected us to continue with our drive, but instead we spent 25 minutes traversing the surrounding area as he lost and then relocated the tracks. Eventually we followed them over a dry river bed and through some brush as they became fresher and fresher, until we rounded a thicket to find three young males feasting on the carcass of a baby impala.
Another morning, our Laikipiak Maasai guide Philip stopped the car to survey a tree some 20 metres away, identifying a young male leopard in its upper branches. It took me five minutes scanning the same branches with my binoculars to pick out the rosettes and emerald stare that he had seen with his bare eyes, while also concentrating on driving our vehicle. The observation and attention skills of these guides led to exciting big cat sightings which supplemented the plethora of birdlife, rhinos, and abundance of unique northern species that we encountered daily.
Of course, safari preferences are nuanced: every traveller has different priorities for their wildlife experiences. Personally, I loved beginning my trip with the excitement of big-hitting animal encounters in the Maasai Mara, before getting a sense of stepping further off-grid and slowing down to take in the details in the lesser visited north. And while bucket list wildlife sightings appeal to some folks, just spending time in unadulterated nature is what resonates most with others.
If you’d like help planning a safari suited to your own personal preferences, we’d be more than happy to learn about your unique interests and make tailored recommendations. Please give us a call or enquire now to speak to an expert.
