Lake Naivasha 1 Day Trip Safari | Begins & Ends in Nairobi | Short and easy Kenya Safari that covers ~ 90 to 105 km (2.5 hours) each way
Our 1 Day trip from Nairobi to Lake Naivasha is a popular excursion, roughly a 10-hour, action-packed escape, with travel time being around 1.5 to 2.5 hours. Lake Naivasha is an easy drive from the hustle and bustle of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city.
Take the day and escape the city on this Lake Naivasha tour that departs from Nairobi after breakfast. It’s an incredibly beautiful place with amazing birdlife, loads of hippos, and a smorgasbord of other animals.
1 Day Trip from Nairobi to Lake Naivasha Itinerary
0800 Hours: Nairobi Departure
Depart from Nairobi by road
Travel northwest toward the Great Rift Valley
Stop at the scenic Great Rift Valley Escarpment viewpoint
1000 Hours: Elsamere Lodge Visit
Arrive at Elsamere Lodge for high tea
Explore the historic former home of Joy and George Adamson.
Learn about their pioneering conservation work with Elsa the lioness
Enjoy the peaceful acacia forest setting on the lake banks
1200 Hours: Lakeside Lunch
Proceed to a local lodge on the shores of Lake Naivasha
Relax and enjoy lunch with a view of the water.
1400 Hours: Lake Naivasha Boat Ride
Board a boat to explore the 13 km wide freshwater lake
Spot wild hippos wallowing in the shallow waters
View birdlife, including fish eagles, ospreys, and herons
1500 Hours: Crescent Island Conservancy Walk
Land on the flat, easy-to-walk paths of Crescent Island Game Sanctuary
Walk safely alongside giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, and elands.
Observe colobus monkeys in the treetops and buffaloes in the swamps
1630 Hours: Departure for Nairobi
Board your tour vehicle at the boat docks
Begin the return drive, climbing back up the Rift Valley escarpment
Rest and view the changing landscape in the evening light
1830 to 1900 Hours — Arrival in Nairobi
Arrive back in the capital city, depending on evening traffic conditions
Get dropped off at your hotel, residence, or the airport
1 Day Lake Naivasha Trip from Nairobi, activities include
✓ Enjoy a Scenic Drive from Nairobi, stopping at viewpoints of the Great Rift Valley
✓ Take a tour of the Adamsons Museum, which houses the original home of the Adamsons, and enjoy a documentary about Joy Adamson’s life and the origins of the Elsa story
✓ Enjoy High Tea at Elsamere Lodge (freshly brewed Kenyan teas and coffee with homemade cakes, pastries, and sandwiches. Watch colorful birds darting through the trees, hippos grazing by the water, or monkeys playing in the garden
✓ Lunch at Elsamere Conservation Center in Naivasha is a relaxing, farm-to-table experience set in the historic former home of Joy and George Adamson
✓ Lake Naivasha Boat Safari offers excellent opportunities to see a diverse range of wildlife, especially hippos and a spectacular array of bird species, in a scenic freshwater lake environment
✓ Crescent Island Game Sanctuary in Lake Naivasha, Kenya, offers a unique “walking safari” where you can roam freely among wild animals without the barrier of a vehicle. Because there are no resident predators, it is one of the few places in Kenya where it is safe to walk directly alongside herds of giraffe, zebra, and wildebeest
Lake Naivasha 1 Day Trip Safari Highlights
✓ Enjoy a scenic drive from Nairobi to Naivasha via the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway (A104), which offers breathtaking views as it descends the Great Rift Valley escarpment. The journey covers approximately 90-100 km and takes around 2.5 hours by road
✓ Elsamere Lodge Naivasha High Tea on the shores of Lake Naivasha, usually held on their manicured lawns under acacia trees, providing views of resident colobus monkeys and birdlife features traditional, homemade pastries and, at times, includes talks on the conservation history of Joy Adamson’s “Born Free” legacy
✓ Elsamere Lodge Lunch: buffet-style lunch on the lawns overlooking Lake Naivasha, where you can often see wildlife like giraffes and zebras grazing nearby. Meals, including lunch, are home-cooked, generally tasty, and served buffet-style, featuring African, American, and local cuisines
✓ Lake Naivasha boat ride offers a 60 to 90-minute scenic excursion to view hippos, diverse birdlife (pelicans, fish eagles), and giraffes on Crescent Island
✓ Crescent Island Walking Safari: Take a boat to Crescent Island, a private game sanctuary. Here, you can enjoy a guided walking safari among non-predatory wildlife like giraffes, wildebeest, and waterbucks in a predator-free environment
Lake Naivasha 1 Day Trip Safari from Nairobi visits the original home of Joy Adams of Born Free – Elsamere and Crescent Island Game Conservancy for a Walking Safari.
Enjoy a fantastic experience on a boat ride on the calm waters of Lake Naivasha and a foot safari on Crescent Island Game Conservancy. Lunch is served at one of the lodges located on the shores of Lake Naivasha.
Lake Naivasha 1 Day Trip Safari from Nairobi takes you to Lake Naivasha, the second largest freshwater lake in Kenya, which is approximately 100 km’ss from Nairobi – a 2-hour drive away.
The Lake is located north west of Nairobi, outside the town of Naivasha. It is part of the Great Rift Valley.
Lake Naivasha 1 Day Trip Safari Itinerary
0800 Hours: Lake Naivasha 1 Day Trip Safari from Nairobi departs by road, and the journey takes you northwest of the city of Nairobi to the Great Rift Valley Floor. Along the way, you make a special stop at a viewpoint to enjoy views of the Great Rift Valley Escarpment.
1000 Hours: Once in Lake Naivasha, we proceed to Elsamere Lodge, the original home of Joy Adams of Born Free fame, for high tea. Elsamere lodge or Camp is a haven for lovers of nature, set in an acacia forest on the banks of Lake Naivasha in Kenya’s Rift Valley.
It is the former home of the late Joy Adamson, who, together with her husband George Adamson, became world famous for their pioneering conservation work and relationship with the lioness Elsa, as told in her best-selling book and subsequent film, ‘Born Free’, and she did much of her writing at Elsamere up until her murder in 1980.
Her relationship with Elsa, the lioness, whom she raised from a young cub and later successfully released back into the wild.
1200 Hours: After the visit, we proceed to lunch at one of the lodges located on the shores of Lake Naivasha.
1400 Hours: Early afternoon, we take a boat ride on Lake Naivasha. This is a beautiful freshwater lake, fringed by thick papyrus, that is almost 13 km across, with shallow waters averaging five metres deep. The waters of the lake draw a great range of game to these shores. The lake has a lot of hippos, which you can easily spot from the island. Among the resident birds are fish eagles, ospreys, lily-trotters, black crakes, and a variety of herons. Hippos also live in the lake.
1500 Hours: Our next discovery takes us to Crescent Island Conservancy. The terrain is flat, making it easy for walkers of all abilities to enjoy themselves. There is a lot of easy-to-spot game, such as giraffes, waterbucks, elands, wildebeests, zebras, and impalas. It is also a haven for birds, with more than 200 species recorded.
Giraffes wander among the acacia, Buffalo wallow in the swamps, and Colobus monkeys call from the treetops while the Lake’s large hippo populations sleep the day out in the shallows. A number of mammals can be seen grazing in the surrounding lake area, including zebra, impala, buffalo, giraffe, Kongoni, and, at night, hippos.
1700 Hours: We return to Nairobi in the evening.
Lake Naivasha 1 Day Trip Safari Prices
Lake Naivasha 1-Day Trip Safari Rates Include:
✓ Bottle water on Safari
✓ Boat Ride in Lake Naivasha
✓ Entrance fee to Crescent Island Conservancy
✓ Lunch at one of the lodges on Lake Naivasha
✓ Round-trip transportation from Nairobi to Lake Naivasha
✓ Entrance fee to Joy Adamson video, Special Teas, and a visit to the Museum
✓ Professional English-speaking driver guides. All are experts in African wildlife, culture, and tour guiding, many of whom speak other European languages
| Dates From | Dates To | Price Per Person | Children Aged 8 to 12 Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st January 2026 | 31st December 2026 | Request for rates | Request for rates |
Notes
* Departs daily at 0800 Hours from your hotel or city Residence
Lake Naivasha Safari Rates Exclude:
* Minimum of 1 person required
* Tips or gratuity, drinks; travelers insurance; laundry, communication charges, visas
* International airfares and airport taxes; meals, sightseeing not included in the package; optional activities
* Personal expenses such as transfers to/from the airport (supplement airport transfer cost applies for tours starting from the airport)
Booking & Reservations, Lake Naivasha 1 Day Trip Safari, Contact
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