We own the vehicles, we employ the guides, and we answer the phone. Everything we sell is a trip we run ourselves.
Arswan is based in Westlands, Nairobi, and has been putting people into the Kenyan parks since 2016. We are small on purpose. Everything we sell is a trip we run ourselves, which is the whole reason we can tell you what a camp is really like rather than reading you its brochure.
Most of what we do is straightforward: the Mara, Amboseli, Samburu, Nakuru, Ol Pejeta, Tsavo, and the coast afterwards. Day trips out of Nairobi for people with a spare morning, and long journeys for people who want to see that Kenya is not one landscape.
Some of it is less straightforward: a honeymoon that has to be right, a family travelling with grandparents, a photographer who needs to be at the river at 5.40am and not 7. That is the work we like most.
Almost everything that makes a safari good or bad comes down to your driver-guide: whether they know where the leopard has been feeding, whether they are willing to sit still for forty minutes, whether they can read a sky and decide to go the other way.
Meet themA value is a poster. A commitment is something you can hold us to, so these are written as things we will actually do.
Most Nairobi operators sub-contract the vehicle and the guide once your deposit clears, which is why the trip you were sold and the trip you get are sometimes different things. Ours are our own, and the guide you meet at the airport stays with you to the last drive.
Park fees, conservancy fees, transport, driver-guide and evacuation cover on multi-day trips are all in the number you are shown. The line most often left out of a headline rate is park entry, and on a Mara trip that is a substantial part of the price.
If the month you have picked is wrong for what you want to see, we will say so. If a camp is not worth its rate, we will say that too. A trip that disappoints costs us far more in the long run than a booking we talked down.
Professionally assessed, most with a decade in the same parks. They talk to each other on the radio all day, which is how a sighting twenty minutes away becomes your sighting.
We would rather show you real people than stock portraits. In the meantime, ask us who you will be travelling with and we will tell you, by name, and what they are best at.
Ask who is guidingEvery conservancy bordering the Mara is leased from Maasai families. Samburu works the same way further north. A visit to a village is not a side attraction. It is a look at the arrangement that makes the safari possible.
How it worksWe will be straight with you about what a village visit is. The dancing is put on for guests rather than happening by chance. That is normal, and worth knowing in advance. The fee goes to the community, and we will tell you what it is before you go. Always ask before photographing anyone.
What you get in return, if you actually talk to people, is a much better understanding of why there is wildlife here at all.
Arswan is a Nairobi company with its own vehicles and its own guides. That is the whole difference, and it shows up in the things that go wrong on other people's trips.
Our driver-guides are Kenyan, professionally assessed, and most have worked the same parks for a decade. They know which pride moved where last week. You get the same guide for your whole trip.
Pop-top Land Cruisers we own and service ourselves, not sub-contracted at the last minute. Six guests maximum on long trips, so everyone has a window and nobody sits over the wheel arch.
Every price on this site includes park and conservancy entry fees, a substantial cost, and the line most often left out of a headline rate. Flying Doctors cover is included on all multi-day trips.
We will tell you when a camp is not worth its rate, when the flamingos are not at Nakuru, and when the month you picked is the wrong one. Your itinerary is priced in full before you pay anything.
Registered in Kenya and a member of the bodies below. Ask for any certificate and we will send it.
Diani Local getaway
Three nights on the south coast, all inclusive, with the train from Nairobi and private transfers included. From KES 48,000 per person sharing.
Masai Mara Long safari
Five days across three landscapes, a rhino conservancy, a Rift Valley lake, and the Mara. This 5 day Masai Mara safari is the trip most people should take if they only take one.
Masai Mara Short safari
Two nights on the Mara with a full day inside the reserve. A 3 day Masai Mara safari is the shortest trip that gives you a proper day in the park rather than a drive there and back.
Every safari on this site comes as a printable itinerary with day-by-day detail, what is included, and the price. Send it to whoever you are travelling with. We will add you to a short monthly note on when to travel and what it costs, and nothing else.
