Couples
A Mara honeymoon, planned properly
The two things couples most often regret are both fixable at the planning stage, and neither is about the camp.
The two regrets
- Too many parks. Four stops in ten days means four sets of packing, four flights and four first mornings. Honeymoons want fewer places and longer in each.
- No beach. A week of 5.30am starts is wonderful and relentless. Almost everyone who ends on the coast says it made the trip; almost everyone who did not says they wish they had.
The shape that works
| Nights | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nairobi | Absorb the long-haul flight. Do not fly straight to the Mara. |
| 4 | Masai Mara, one camp | Four nights in one place, not two and two. You settle in, the guide learns you. |
| 4 – 5 | The coast | Diani or Lamu. Nothing scheduled. This is the half people remember. |
Ten or eleven nights total. It is the itinerary we suggest most often to couples, and the one with the fewest regrets attached.
What is worth paying for
- A private vehicle. On a honeymoon, sharing a vehicle with four strangers for three days is a strange choice.
- A conservancy over the reserve. Quiet matters more than crossings to most couples. Sundowners and a night drive beat a hundred vehicles at a river.
- A camp with fewer than twelve tents. Intimacy is the point.
- One night of something absurd. A fly camp, a star bed, a private bush dinner. One, not five.
What is not
Rose petals on the bed, which every camp will do unprompted if you tell us it is a honeymoon. Upgrading from a very good camp to a famous one. A balloon flight, unless you both actively want one — it is an early start on a holiday that should not have many.
Tell us it is a honeymoon
Not because we will charge differently — we will not — but because most camps offer something, and because it changes what we suggest. Say so on the form.
More from our Kenya guides
Specialist guides across our Kenya network
Each of these is a focused guide we publish. Same Kenya specialist behind every enquiry.
Planning a honeymoon?
Tell us your dates and how long you have. We will suggest a shape, name the camps and price it within 24 hours — including the beach half.