7-day Kenya safari itinerary: Amboseli and Masai Mara

The route: one Nairobi night, two Amboseli nights, three Mara nights

For a seven-day Kenya safari combining Amboseli and the Masai Mara, use day 1 for Nairobi, days 2–3 for Amboseli, days 4–6 for the Mara and day 7 for the return to Nairobi. That is six nights: one in Nairobi, two in Amboseli and three in the Mara. This is an editorial pacing recommendation, not a package, park rule or promise of availability.

The route suits a first visit with two different wildlife settings and a budget for a flight between the parks. It leaves one completely transfer-free day in Amboseli and two in the Mara. If seven days includes your international journey from home, rather than seven days in Kenya, shorten the route to one safari area. Do not squeeze this allocation into five days on the ground.

Choose dates before fixing the route

Compare the Mara migration window with resident-wildlife months and Amboseli conditions before booking these six nights. The same route is not the same wildlife proposition in every month.

Day 1: arrive in Nairobi; sleep in Nairobi

Keep the first night in Nairobi rather than attaching a long safari transfer to an international arrival. Choose the hotel around your next departure: a road pickup for Amboseli or a flight from Wilson Airport. Wilson and Jomo Kenyatta International are separate airports, so a safari flight is not an airside international connection.

Leave this day uncommitted if your arrival time is uncertain. There is no game drive built into this plan on day 1. Overnight: Nairobi.

Day 2: Nairobi to Amboseli; sleep in Amboseli

Travel to Amboseli by a prearranged guided road transfer or a Wilson flight, followed by the camp transfer. A road journey uses more of the day; do not count it as a full safari day. If arrival and park entry leave enough time, take an afternoon drive.

Choose the base before the transfer. A lodge inside the national park and a camp in an adjoining conservancy do not have identical access or fee arrangements. For this short stay, prioritise the place where you intend to spend day 3 rather than choosing by a photograph of Kilimanjaro. Overnight: Amboseli.

Day 3: a full Amboseli day; sleep in Amboseli

Keep the same base for a full day of game viewing. Plan drives around the wetlands and other accessible park habitats with your guide, with a break at camp if that suits your party. Elephant viewing is a reason to choose Amboseli; a clear mountain view is weather-dependent.

Do not spend this day moving to a second Amboseli lodge. With only two nights, a room change removes time from the only full day here. Overnight: Amboseli.

Day 4: fly from Amboseli to the Mara; sleep in the Mara

Use a booked Amboseli–Masai Mara safari service rather than assuming the parks make a short road pairing. Safarilink’s first-edition 2026 timetable lists flight 35 on this route throughout the year, but notes that low-season services, and services affected by operational needs, can route via Wilson. The combined Amboseli/Tsavo services also have minimum-passenger requirements. A route listing is not a confirmed departure.

The timetable is valid through 31 December 2026; trips beyond that date need the next schedule. Have the airline or booking operator confirm the actual service, routing and camp airstrip before fixing non-refundable rooms. Keep an afternoon drive optional, since landing times and camp transfers vary. Overnight: Masai Mara.

Day 5: your first full Mara day; sleep in the Mara

Use a full day for the area around your chosen base. If river-season reserve drives are your main objective, a reserve or Mara Triangle base avoids treating each day as an excursion from a different conservancy. If you booked Naboisho for its conservancy activities, keep time for those activities instead of leaving it every morning.

A full-day reserve drive with a picnic and a morning/afternoon pattern are different ways to use the same day. Choose the format for your party and location; neither guarantees a crossing or particular sighting. Overnight: Masai Mara.

Day 6: a second full Mara day; sleep in the Mara

Repeat drives from the same base rather than adding a third park. Two full days give you another chance when weather, wildlife movement or an unproductive drive changes the first day’s plans. For a conservancy stay, this is also space for an eligible guided walk or night drive within the camp’s programme.

Do not treat permission for a conservancy activity as permission to do it anywhere in the national reserve. Reserve excursions need their own access and fee arrangements. Overnight: Masai Mara.

Day 7: return to Nairobi; no included overnight

Return from the Mara to Nairobi Wilson by a booked safari flight. A morning drive is possible only if departure, camp transfer and park permissions leave time; it is not one of this plan’s full safari days.

For an international flight from Jomo Kenyatta, allow a separate ground transfer, international check-in and room for delays. Safarilink’s timetable does not guarantee connections to other carriers. Choose an overnight in Nairobi if the connection cannot absorb disruption; that extends this plan beyond its six nights.

If you need to do the whole route by road

Keep the same night count but treat day 4 as a long transfer day, not a safari day in both parks. Ask for the actual road routing, departure time, breaks and intended arrival gate in the proposal; a straight line between the park names does not describe the journey.

If the long road leg makes the trip too tiring, drop Amboseli and use one Nairobi night plus five Mara nights, or add days to the two-park route. Do not insert Samburu, Naivasha and a beach stay into this same week. Those are additions that require time, not free stops.

Price six nights, but identify which five are safari nights

This route contains five camp nights and one Nairobi hotel night. Compare proposals with those exact nights, the Amboseli–Mara flight, all airstrip transfers, each park-entry period, guide and vehicle, meals and the final Nairobi airport transfer. A headline rate multiplied by seven may price a different trip.

A private road vehicle for the first leg does not automatically mean private camp vehicles after you fly. Ask for that distinction in the quote.