This is the route we recommend to anyone flying out of Mombasa, and to anyone who wants a real safari and a real beach in under a week. It runs downhill all the way: from Amboseli's elephant herds under Kilimanjaro, through the volcanic country of Tsavo West and the red-earth plains of Tsavo East, to bare feet on Diani sand by day five.
Amboseli: The Mountain and the Herds
Amboseli delivers the most famous photograph in Africa: elephant families crossing dusty flats with Kilimanjaro filling the sky behind them. The swamps at the park's heart hold hundreds of elephant daily, along with buffalo, hippo and huge birdlife, and dawn is the time the mountain shows itself.
Both Tsavos, Properly
Most coast-bound safaris pick one Tsavo. We drive through both: Tsavo West for Mzima Springs' underwater hippo viewing, the Shetani lava flows and the Ngulia rhino sanctuary, then Tsavo East for the red elephants dusting themselves along the Galana River and lion country that once made the park infamous.
Finish on the Sand
Two nights at a Diani Beach resort close the trip: reef-protected swimming, optional snorkelling at Kisite-Mpunguti, and nothing on the schedule. Departure works from either Ukunda airstrip or Mombasa, so there is no backtracking to Nairobi.
