Here is something I love about every safari I have ever been on — the world gets so amazingly quiet while you are immersed in the vastness of the savannah. I have been countless times, and it does not get old. I know it will still be true every time I return.
The thing is, it might not really be quiet. But it is in my head, because I am so present with an amazing animal right in front of me that I do not notice anything else. And that is the beauty of it — being pulled into the present moment with elephants and zebras and giraffes, and more importantly yourself. Being pulled in to feel what is truly important.
This journey takes you through twelve nights and Kenya’s most extraordinary wild places — Nairobi, Samburu, Ol Pejeta, Naivasha, and the Masai Mara. Each location has its own character, its own cast of animals, its own way of making you feel small in the best possible way.
Why Travel With Karen
Karen Cleveland has been leading people into Africa for nearly a decade. She knows these parks and these lodges. Her guides and drivers have been doing it for many decades – they know where to position the vehicle so the light is right and the animals are close. What Karen brings that no itinerary can describe is the ability to help you actually meet the animals — not just see them.
Karen is a professional animal communicator and on this trip she will guide you through optional practices before you leave home, on every game drive, and in the evenings when you are still in the awe and amazement of the day. This changes everything about how you move through the safari. The lions, the elephants, the birds — they stop being a sighting and become something closer to a conversation. And what comes back has a way of being exactly what you needed to hear.
Are you willing to be open to that?
Nairobi 2 Nights
Your African journey begins in Nairobi, where upon arrival you will be escorted to Nairobi National Park for the first two night.
Nairobi National Park sits on the edge of the city and offers something you will not find anywhere else on earth: lions and rhinos with a skyline behind them. The wild and the modern exist in genuinely unlikely proximity here, and the park consistently delivers memorable game viewing despite its urban setting.
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage is one of the great wildlife conservation stories of our time. Baby elephants who have lost their mothers to poaching or human conflict are brought here, hand-raised by dedicated keepers, and eventually returned to the wild. You will watch the mud bath, meet the babies up close, and learn the story of each one. If you have any softness for elephants at all — and if you are on this trip, you do — this morning will reach you somewhere deep.
Samburu 2 Nights
Samburu is unlike anywhere else in Kenya. The landscape is drier, more elemental, stripped back to rock and riverbed and acacia. The Ewaso Ng’iro River runs through the reserve and draws wildlife from across the region — leopards, lions, and elephants come to drink, and the banks are alive with activity morning and evening.
Samburu is also home to species you will not see in the south — the reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, the Beisa oryx, and the long-necked gerenuk, who stands on her hind legs to reach the highest thorns. The light here in the early morning is extraordinary. Bring an open heart and a willingness to be surprised.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy 3 Nights
Ol Pejeta is the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa and the home of some of the world’s last northern white rhinos. It is a working conservancy committed to proving that wildlife and community can thrive together, and you feel that intention in every interaction here.
This is where you will meet Baraka.
Beyond the rhino encounter, Ol Pejeta offers exceptional game viewing across open savannah and riverine forest — lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, buffalo, and more. Three nights here gives you time to go slow, go deep, and let the place work on you.
Lake Naivasha and Lake Elementaita 1 Night
Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in the Great Rift Valley, ringed by fever trees and papyrus reeds and busy with birdlife. You will take a boat out onto the water at dusk and drift among the hippos — close enough to hear them, close enough to feel the particular kind of reverence that comes from being genuinely near a wild animal that could end you and choosing not to.
Before leaving the area, you will visit nearby Lake Elementaita, a shallow alkaline lake that draws flamingos in extraordinary numbers. There are mornings when the shoreline turns pink as far as you can see. It is one of those sights that makes you wonder why you waited so long to come.
Masai Mara 3 Nights
The Mara is where it all comes together. If you have heard the name your whole life and imagined it, the reality is more than you imagined.
The great plains of the Mara are one of the last places on earth where the relationship between predator and prey still plays out at full scale. The Big Five are all here. The wildebeest and zebra move through in their hundreds of thousands. The light at sunrise turns everything gold, and in the evenings, the sky does things that no photograph ever quite captures.
Three nights gives you six game drives, morning and afternoon, to be fully present with one of the most alive places on the planet. This is where the animal communication work reaches its fullest expression. By this point in the trip, you have had time to practice, to open, to quiet the part of you that needs to understand everything immediately. The Mara rewards that kind of readiness.
Who This Trip Is For
This trip is for you if Africa has been on your list for years and you keep finding reasons to wait. If you want more from a wildlife journey than a collection of photographs. If you are at a point in your life where you are genuinely open to being changed by something — and you are willing to let a blind rhino and a herd of elephants be the catalyst.
You do not need any experience with animal communication. You only need to be willing.
Groups are kept small — a maximum of twelve travelers — so that the experience stays intimate, the game drives stay unhurried, and the people around you feel like companions rather than a crowd.
This IS an Animal Communication trip
I have been a professional animal communicator for over a decade. On trips marked Animal Communication, I will guide you through optional practices that help you slow down, get quiet, and connect with wildlife on a level that most people never experience.
Here is what I know to be true: animals are not passive in this, they are willing participants in our personal transformation. They want to be heard. They know that when human lives shift, so do theirs. And when you get present enough to actually listen, what comes back can be extraordinary.
You do not need to believe anything in advance. You only need to be willing and open.
To learn more about my animal communication work, visit karenclevelandandtheanimals.com
EXPERIENCE INVESTMENT:
$6840 Per Person with 2 sharing a room
Payment plans available
TOUR COST INCLUDES:
- Accommodation in double room for 11 nights
- All meals from breakfast on Day 2 until lunch on Day 12.
- Arrival & Departure transfers in private vehicles
- Game drives in 4WD exclusive vehicles in the National parks as mentioned in the itinerary
- Services of accompanying English speaking guide
- All Park fees
- Coffee/tea at meals
- Bottled drinking water in the vehicle during transfers and on road journeys
- All presently applicable taxes
TOUR COST DOES NOT INCLUDE:
- International Airfares to Kenya
- Tips & gratuities for guides and camp staff
- Travel & Health insurance
- Other meals where not mentioned in the program
- Any drinks/beverages at any place.
- Kenya VISA/ETa
- Personal expenses – mineral water, telephone calls, laundry, etc.
- Other services/activities which are not listed in inclusive column
- Fuel surcharge if prices rise 10% or more from time of booking
Passports & Visas:
All visitors to Kenya require a valid passport and pre-approved Electronic Travel Authorization
Cancellation policy:
- $500 non refundable regardless of cancellation date.
- Cancel more than 180 days before departure : 100% returned less $500
- Cancel more than 120 days before departure : 75% returned less $500
- Cancel more than 90 days before departure : 50% returned less $500
- Cancel less than 90 days before departure: no refund
- We highly recommend you purchase travel and/or medical insurance the same day you make your deposit