Bespoke travel agency in Kenya

Kenya can be visited almost year-round, but each season shapes a different journey. From June to October, the dry season offers the best safari conditions: low grass, wildlife concentrated around water sources, and between July and September, the arrival of massive herds in the Masai Mara during the migration. January and February, hotter and drier, are particularly suited for wildlife viewing in Amboseli or Samburu parks. The long rains of April-May are best avoided for the trails, but the short rains in November green the landscapes and thin out visitors. On the coast, in Diani or Lamu, the heat remains constant: visitors come mainly between December and March, when the Indian Ocean is calmest.

A Kenya trip requires a higher budget than one might imagine, but it's justified. Park entrance fees — USD 200 per day at Masai Mara during peak season, for example — weigh heavily, as do privatized 4x4 vehicles and lodges in the heart of nature. Plan on averaging between €250 and €450 per day per person for a comfortable itinerary with an English-speaking guide, sometimes more if you opt for upscale tented camps in private conservancies. A trip combining safari and a beach extension in Diani or Lamu can be built around €3,500 to €6,000 over two weeks. Beyond the figure itself, it's the choice of accommodation and pace that truly affects your budget.

In Kenya, the quality of a safari hinges on details you can't guess from abroad: choosing a camp in a conservancy rather than a tourist zone, the time you enter the reserve, the personal knowledge of a Maasai guide who knows where the leopard is hunting right now. Détours Kenya works from Nairobi with an English-speaking team that knows the trails, the rangers, the lodge owners. Frédéric and Sylvain adjust each itinerary based on the season, your pace, and what you're really looking for — observing, walking, meeting people. And because the agency is part of the Nomadays collective, you book in euros, with APST guarantee and French legal protection.

The Masai Mara remains the beating heart of most Kenya itineraries, especially between July and October, when wildebeest cross the Mara River. Yet reducing the country to this single reserve would be to miss out on its diversity. Amboseli unfolds its herds of elephants at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, Samburu reveals rarer wildlife — reticulated giraffes, beisa oryx — in semi-desert landscapes. Further inland, the Aberdare forests and the slopes of Mount Kenya offer a different Africa, cool and green. You can extend your journey through the pink flamingos of Lake Bogoria, an encounter in a Maasai or Samburu community, then descend towards the Swahili coast: Lamu and its historic port, Diani and its turquoise lagoons.