Family Holidays in Kenya
What could be more exciting to a child than stroking a baby elephant, feeding giraffes or discovering a lion in the wild? A safari is a perfect holiday for the family, because not only will children will be exposed to incredible wildlife but also a vastly different culture, allowing for a fun and educational experience. Imagine your children seeing a magnificent Maasai warrior for the first time or learning to make a fire from wood and stone!
Kenya has long been a favourite holiday destination for families, not only for the above reasons but also due to its year round great weather and child-friendly beach resorts offering an abundance of family rooms and plenty of activities including water sports. Knowing the kids are entertained, ensures a relaxing and fun filled holiday for parents too.
The flight from Europe to Nairobi is a relatively short one for a long haul destination (8 hours from Europe) and the time difference is minimal (GMT +3 hours).
We often suggest that families with children aged 5 years and younger take exclusive use of a safari vehicle. This is because the attention span of children at this age is short and they tend to get tired quickly. With a private vehicle you can dictate the amount of game viewing you can do at any one time.
For children between 6 and 12 years in addition to game drives many lodges offer family packages. These involve children learning bush skills, such as identifying animal tracks, bush lore, animal identification, as well as games and competitions, hand line fishing and making bows and arrows,. With specially trained staff whose jobs it is solely to look after the needs of their young children, parents can relax and enjoy their holiday knowing their children are in good hands. We often suggest to parents travelling to Kenya with children that they include a night in Nairobi to enable them to see the Daphne Shelrick Elephant Orphanage to see the baby elephants and to feed the giraffes at the Giraffe Centre. These memories will last forever.
Children aged between 13 and 15 fully appreciate and enjoy the animals and the outdoors. Guides encourage teenagers to become interested in conversation and understand the issues facing wildlife. Also it is children of this age who will most gain from interactions with the local people and learning about their cultures and traditions. It is interesting (and humbling at times) to see these people building their homes, tending their livestock and surviving in sometimes harsh environments.
On Kenya's coast many of the beach resorts offer Kid's Clubs for younger children with activities ranging from inland excursions to wildlife parks, snake farms and butterfly centres, to arts and crafts. Water games and an introduction to the local marine and shore like all keep the children in a supervised environment that allows parents to laze pool side or on the beach without the worry of entertaining or keeping a vigilant eye on the little ones. For the older children, the activities include water skiing, sailing, snorkelling and scuba diving, as well as educational seminars on marine life. Many of these resorts also offer separate dining facilities for children with special menus and early dinner hours.
The following are our favourite child friendly lodges in Kenya
See below for three example Kenya family holidays:
This trip is a 9 day fly in safari taking in Kenya's most well known parks, the Amboseli and the Masai Mara and also includes a trip up north to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. Lewa is rich with wildlife
and in particular is famous for its conservation of black and white rhino. Three nights will be spent at Tortilis Camp an elegant small lodge with magnificent views across the plains to Mount Kilimanjaro...
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This family holiday combines a safari with a stay on Kenya's coast. Combining Lake Nakuru and the Masai Mara for your safari will ensure your family is exposed to the best wildlife that Kenya has to
offer. Between July and October you can also expect to see the famous wildebeest migration on the Masai plains. The holiday is completed with a week on the beach at a Mombasa resort...
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This sample family safari and beach combination in Kenya incorporates an exceptional standard of accommodation. This exciting family safari combines a visit to Lakes Naivasha and Nakuru with a 3 night stay in the Masai Mara. The holiday ends with 6 nights spent at Kinondo Kwetu on the Kenyan Coast. The accommodation offers an abundance of activities to keep the kids happy while ofering ample opportunity for relaxing. The below routing can easily be adapted with different lodges. Chat to Mahlatini's travel experts who will customise a trip similar to this for your family.
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View more sample Kenya safaris