Beyond the plains safaris
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Tours by Beyond the plains safaris
10-Day Grand Kenya Safari Expedition
4-Lake Nakuru & Masai Mara Luxury Adventure
5-Day Best of Rift Valley Lakes & Masai Mara
5-Day Samburu & Ol Pejeta Safari Adventure
6-Day Amboseli, Naivasha & Masai Mara Safari
7-Day Amboseli, Great Rift Valley & Masai Mara
7-Day Premium Kenya Safari Experience
9-Day Tsavo, Amboseli, Rift Valley & Mara
About Us
Beyond the Plains Safaris is a boutique, locally owned safari DMC based in Nairobi, Kenya, specialising in tailor-made luxury safaris and private guided tours across Kenya and Tanzania.
As an experienced Kenya safari tour operator, we design custom wildlife safaris, Big Five game drives, luxury lodge safaris, and authentic cultural experiences for discerning travellers from the USA, Europe, and beyond. Our deep local knowledge, professional safari guides, and carefully selected camps and lodges ensure seamless, high-quality safari experiences in iconic destinations such as the Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Tsavo, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater.
Whether you are planning a luxury Kenya safari, a Tanzania wildlife safari, a honeymoon safari, or a family safari holiday, Beyond the Plains Safaris delivers personalised service, ethical tourism practices, and unforgettable African adventures crafted with genuine local expertise.
Beyond the plains safaris Reviews and Ratings
Kenya nine days covering Masai Mara and Amboseli
I chose Beyond the Plains after reading three detailed long-form reviews on a German travel forum. The quality described matched my experience exactly. Joshua in the Amboseli segment knew the elephant families from the trust research programme and spent one morning specifically with the Amboseli Elephant Research Project observation area, watching a family group that has been under continuous study since the 1970s. The Kilimanjaro views from Observation Hill on both mornings were clear. The camp food at Amboseli Serena was outstanding.
Samburu and Masai Mara circuit, Daniel was outstanding throughout
Daniel spent the first morning in Samburu explaining how the northern ecosystem differs from the southern savanna: different geology, different rainfall pattern, different plant communities, different animals adapted to those conditions. That framework made the transition to the Masai Mara on day five feel scientifically coherent rather than just a change of scenery. In the Mara we found the lions immediately, a large pride near Keekorok using a kopje as a midday resting point. The eleven-hour drive back to Nairobi through the Rift Valley on the last day went quickly because Daniel continued the running commentary.
Eight days Kenya for my parents fortieth anniversary
I organised this trip for my parents who had always wanted to see the Masai Mara. Samuel made them feel genuinely welcomed and took time on the first morning to find out what they specifically wanted to see. My mother wanted elephants and my father wanted lions. Samuel delivered both on day one. By day three he had also found them a cheetah family with cubs, which neither had expected. The camp at Tipilikwani had a spa treatment that I had arranged as a surprise for my mother and the staff delivered it without giving it away.
Kenya Tanzania twelve days with family, children of ten and thirteen
Our children were engaged from the first game drive because Emanuel explained animal behaviour at their level without being condescending. My thirteen-year-old was tracking lion positions on a hand-drawn map of the Masai Mara by day three. The camp at Mara Serena had a swimming pool, which gave the children somewhere to decompress during the midday heat and meant we could maintain the pace of early starts and late returns without complaints. The Serengeti calving season in February was an ideal introduction to safari for children because of the constant movement and predator activity.
First trip to sub-Saharan Africa and I immediately understand why people return
Samuel explained on day one that the Masai Mara is not just about quantity of wildlife but about the interplay between species and landscape. Over six days that framing changed how I watched everything. The lion pride near Fig Tree Camp that was using the Talek River as a territorial boundary, the hippo pod at the Mara Bridge managing hierarchy within the water, the vulture competition at a carcass: each was a small story rather than a tick on a list. The camp at Governors was superb and I have already booked a return trip for next year.
Eight days in Kenya gave more leopard sightings than I had hoped for
I specifically requested a safari focused on leopard sightings, which are the species I photograph. Beyond the Plains assigned guide Daniel for the Masai Mara segment specifically because of his known expertise with leopard territories. We found females with cubs on three separate occasions over four days, and on one morning we tracked a male for two hours through dense riverine forest before he climbed into a fig tree above us. Daniel understood the value of silence and patience at sightings, which I cannot say of every guide I have worked with.
Kenya in November, green season and almost no crowds
Most operators push peak season and I deliberately chose November for the green season. Beyond the Plains were supportive of that choice and set expectations correctly: the Masai Mara would be lush, the migration herds would have largely crossed back to Tanzania, and we would have the park almost to ourselves. All of that was accurate. We spent three mornings at a cheetah mother with three cubs near Talek without another vehicle present. The short rains had stopped the week before we arrived and the grass was green but not obscuring.
Eleven days Kenya and Tanzania done properly
Coming from Western Australia I thought African dust would feel familiar but the Serengeti dust is its own thing entirely. Our guide Moses drove us to a leopard kill in a sausage tree on day two, right on the road to Seronera, and we watched the leopard feed for forty minutes while other vehicles queued behind us. The camp near Ndutu in the southern Serengeti had the best night sky I have seen outside of the Pilbara. The Ngorongoro Crater descent at seven in the morning with fog lifting off the floor was properly dramatic. Moses had a good sense of when to stay at a sighting and when to move on, which I appreciated.
Nine days East Africa with outstanding support throughout
I am seventy-one years old and was concerned about the physical demands of a safari. Beyond the Plains sent a detailed medical questionnaire before booking and designed an itinerary that included longer rest periods at midday and avoided early starts more than twice per week. The guides adapted their pace to the group without any prompting. I saw my first leopard in the wild at the Seronera River in the Serengeti, which I had tried to see on two previous trips. The camp at Governors in the Masai Mara had the most comfortable mattress I have slept on in any tented accommodation.
Honeymoon safari done exactly right
My husband and I celebrated our honeymoon with a nine-day Kenya circuit. Joshua arranged a champagne sundowner on the Mara plains on our second evening and had spoken to the camp beforehand to have rose petals on our tent bed. The thoughtfulness extended to the game driving: he kept us last at the cheetah cub sighting so we had the mother and four cubs entirely to ourselves for fifteen minutes after other vehicles had departed. Lake Nakuru at dawn with thousands of lesser flamingos turning the shoreline pink was a scene I could not have imagined from photographs.
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