If you’ve read some of my older blog posts about Kenya, you’ll know that I am a big fan – for many reasons – but mostly because of the country’s incredible diversity. From the point of view of a photographer of any level of competency and experience – or anyone who wants to light up social media with a great image – Kenya is the shutter that keeps on clicking.
Thinking back over many Kenya trips starting 30 years ago, these are some of the reasons which keep me going back again and again and recommending Kenya as the #1 option for a first, an only and a repeat safari.
The elephants
We’ve long been firm believers that any really good African safari itinerary should have at least one signature elephant experience. One day, one game drive, one elephant experience, one photograph which you will remember forever. To be sure, Kenya has more than just one area where the elephant experience will blow your socks off.
Amboseli is one. It’s where I took what might still be my most liked elephant photo. One morning on a game drive from Tortilis Camp we were watching a herd of elephants move through the woodland. A herd of elephants moving down to the swamps, kicking up some dust, is always worth watching so we stopped. I soon had a 400mm lens pointed in their direction. 100 different photos of elephants walking in good light in Amboseli would all be nice shots, but none would have stood out.
Nothing would have distinguished any one of them from a 1,000 similar photos taken at Amboseli every day of the year. Except this time, something clicked. The matriarch paused for barely a second, and turned her massive head to check on the herd. It changed everything. When I later checked the images on the computer, this one and only this one stood out. It was not ‘just’ elephants walking. The one turned head created an arresting moment, an artfully captured scene. A scene which speaks volumes about elephants. About their herd behavior, how they instinctively protect their young and above all: who’s in charge.
Another great Kenya elephant experience awaits visitors to Tsavo East, particularly in the dry season when small breeding herds kick up the telltale red Tsavo dust, creating drama and pathos. Even the most dispassionate of observers, analyzing the scene purely in terms of its photographic potential, cannot help but to be moved by the experience. It becomes impossible not to sense and empathize with the elephants’ barely suppressed distress. You cannot look away when their struggle for survival in this harsh environment is as clear as if it were written in the Tsavo dust.
Ideally I think everyone who comes back from a Kenya trip should have a dozen or so of those once-in-a-lifetime elephant images locked away in memory. The baby orphan elephants being bottle-fed at Sheldrick in Nairobi. The startlingly white tusks of Amboseli’s swamp-feeding elephants – and their daily, dusty marches back into the woodlands. The unmistakable red clay colored elephants of Samburu, and their equally dusty Tsavo cousins. The joie de vivre of the young elephants being readied for reintroduction into the wilderness at the Sheldrick reintegration units at Ithumba and Galdessa. They’re all special, all precious and infinitely fascinating and you could spend a lifetime observing and admiring them and never tire of it.
The mammal and bird diversity
In a single Kenya trip, you can observe and photograph as many as 45 different species of mammals and over 100 different kinds of birds. Among these, some standouts are three type of giraffes (Rothchilds, plains and reticulated giraffes), two species of zebras (Burchells and Grevy’s zebra), two different ostriches (common and Somali ostriches) and both white and black rhinos with their horns intact. Even if you spend just a week in Kenya, you’ll also see at least two, likely three different big cats – lions, cheetahs and leopards. Plus several other predators including spotted hyenas, black-backed jackals, and with a bit of good fortune, a sighting of bat-eared foxes, servals or caracals.
Kenya’s mammals and birds are generally easy to see, often present in large numbers in open terrain such as the grassy plains of the Masai Mara. Where it is not unusual to see as many as six or seven different large mammals all at the same time.
I personally look forward to every return trip to Kenya knowing that so much of what I will be seeing and experiencing will be new and exciting. Every time. It’s a slightly different recipe, but still your favorite dish. Your most beloved opera with a particularly callous Pinkerton. All the same glorious notes and melodies but fresh like newborn gazelles finding their feet.
Is there a best and definitive cheetah sighting? Can you ever see enough giraffes in one tower? Is one super tusker very much like another one? No, no and no. There’s no magic potion for reverse aging but seeing Origins Safaris’ Lydia Mwangi’s big, warm smile upon exiting Nairobi Airport after a long transatlantic flight makes me feel a lot younger every time. Which is why Kathy and I will be returning to Kenya again – soon. And why I think everyone should consider traveling there.
The people and an efficient tourism infrastructure
In a world where crossing international borders has become more than just a nuisance factor, Kenya is the ‘easy button’ option for a safari. You arrive on one international flight on day 1 and leave on another one on day 12 or whatever. Visiting three very different areas, north and south of the equator, all without having to take even one additional commercial flight with all its attendant irritations and inconveniences.
A well functioning tourism infrastructure may not be the sexiest reason to pick one safari destination over another but it may be the savviest. Losing hours and even days because of delayed or cancelled flights or having to spend hours on horrendously bad roads is not a feature of Kenyan safaris. Where it makes sense to drive (on transfers of not more than three hours or so) there are serviceable main asphalt roads. Where it doesn’t – you fly. Safely and at a reasonable cost with first class charter operators like Safarilink.
In the 2025 Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Choice Awards, Kenya was named the world’s friendliest country, scoring an impressive 98%. Voters highlighted Kenyan safari guides’ warmth, its welcoming culture and all-round hospitality. The poll confirmed what we’ve known all along. From the cabin crew on Kenya Airways to the chef at your safari camp, Kenyans positively, actively want you to have a great time in their country. Learn a few words and phrases of Swahili (start by rewatching the Lion King) and you will be making lifelong friends.
The equator
Because of its proximity to the equator, there’s not much difference in the duration of summer versus winter days in Kenya. Their longest summer day is only 9 minutes longer than their shortest winter day. Which results in no great swings between summer and winter temperatures. Also, many of the safari areas such as the Masai Mara, the Mt. Kenya area, the Aberdares and Laikipia/Lewa are at generally higher elevation with a reliable cooling effect. So it comes as no surprise that over the course of many trips to Kenya, we’ve rarely experienced any dreadfully hot or exceedingly cold days. Which makes it a true year-round destination – outside of maybe a couple of months during the ‘long rains’ in March and April. Just don’t be looking forward to even one long summer night on your Kenya trip. It’s not going to happen. It’s dark right around 7 pm – every day of the year. And it takes barely 25 minutes to go from broad daylight to dark night.
In sharp contrast, Southern Africa’s higher latitude leads to distinct seasonal shifts. With extremely cold winters and scorching summers. Spend a few days in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park in late October and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
Even so, Kenyan safari areas to the north or ‘above’ the equator, and in lower lying areas such as Tsavo East can be harsh, hot and dry at certain times of the year. Paradoxically, for photographers and visitors in general, this just adds to the appeal of the country. The invisible equatorial line creates a north and a south which can hardly be more different. North of the equator areas such as Samburu feature arid, rugged landscapes where several special endemic mammals such as the reticulated giraffe and Grevy’s zebra can be observed, together with other arid-area specialties such as the peculiar gerenuk and the ubiquitous Kirk’s dikdik.
By contrast, the predator-rich Masai Mara south of the equator offers iconic, vast grasslands which are seasonally overrun by massive herds of wildebeest and zebra. The Great Migration. Sitting at the northern edge of the Serengeti plains, the Mara offers consistently good viewing of lions, leopards, and cheetahs. One of the reasons why we almost always schedule guests’ last few days on safari in the Mara.
The wildebeest and zebra migration
Any seasoned East Africa tour operator or advisor knows better than to promise guests a migration experience. Even with the best laid plans the migration is a natural phenomenon which is largely weather-driven and as a result devilishly difficult to predict. In broad strokes we all know where the migration is likely to be at any specific time of the year but there’s just too many factors which can and does throw it off by weeks, or stop it in its tracks.
When fortune smiles on you and you find yourself witnessing thousands of wildebeest and zebras spread out around you in a 360-degree arc, it can be magical. Even more so when you’re witnessing hundreds or even thousands of them plunging into a swollen river, risking life and limb just to get to the other side.
As magical as the July–October migration can be, we’ve taken some of our best photographs around the time of the short rains in November. The Mara becomes green, textured, and alive and mornings can bring the most exquisite of photographic opportunities such as a rhino or a journey of giraffes emerging from a dense fog bank. From January through March, it’s the calving season – yet another gift for photographers.
Jason and Katie are just back from a long Kenya trip so send Jason an email at jason@fisheaglesafaris.com for fresh news and updates about conditions there, and for assistance planning your next trip there or elsewhere in East Africa.
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