This was the second time we visited Ol Pejeta Kenya and going for the night game drive was our top priority. One important information about Ol Pejeta Night Game Drive Kenya is that you need to stay at Serena Sweet waters which is inside the conservancy. Night game drives are only possible if you are staying there. By 6pm the main gates of the conservancy are closed and no outside vehicles are allowed inside the park. So it’s really mandatory to stay inside the Ol Pejeta Conservancy Kenya. As this was going to be our first night safari Kenya experience ever, our excitement holds no boundaries. By the time of writing this blog we have experienced night game drive in various national parks in Kenya including Masai Mara and now we can confidently say that the game drive experience at Ol Pejeta offers the best night game drive in Kenya.
Excited and planning to stay at Serena Sweet Waters? Check our detailed review of Serena Sweet Waters Tented Camp at Ol Pejeta here.
Game parks after the sunset is a whole new world and one has to be really lucky to witness the African wilderness. Also most of the renowned national parks in Kenya do not offer the service of night game drives, which are only possible in some private conservancies. We would definitely suggest to experience it here at Ol Pejeta rather spending anywhere else.
Night Game Drive Time Slots
The game drive has two slots: 7pm-9pm & 9pm-11pm. We choose going between 9-11pm as animals are most active during those hours. By 8pm we finished our dinner and waited for our safari van at the lobby. To begin with it was in the month of June and the weather turned extremely chilly by evening. We started early by 8.45pm. Our guide welcomed us to the safari van and handed over two masai blankets which were really required for that cold temperature. Though we already wore our winter layers, but that wasn’t enough. There was also a co-guide to help with the filtered spot lights to spot the animals in that silence dark. Writing about it still gives us goose bumps thinking about the whole adventure. Trust us we felt like we are in a complete dark world only with a spot light in hand. The surrounding was dead scary, and could see the raw nature, we loved it so much.
Why you should not miss a night safari
To our experience we would definitely recommend going for one. You really need to experience, to know how amazing the forest looks at night. Day game drives are very common where we see animals strolling around, it’s different fun altogether we agree! While night safaris can be a little tricky and really needs patience & endurance. It gives an opportunity to spot some unusual sightings of nocturnal animals which are not easily seen at the daylight. Most of the animals are pro-active while they hunt at night which could be a rare sight.
Ol Pejeta Night Game Drive Price
Night game drive: $80 per person
Day game drive: $65 per person
We made our night safari booking from Serena sweet waters itself from their reception desk right after our arrival only. Make sure you book it in advance at-least 5-6hr prior. Also make sure to bargain a bit with the rates they might consider discounts, as we received a discount of 3000ksh, not that bad right! One thing which we really liked a is that they offered us a whole safari van just to the two of us and not on a sharing basis. The advantage of this was, we could stop and wait anywhere as long as we wished.
NOTE: Night game drives are only permitted to the Ol Pejeta vehicles and guides, while private vehicles are not allowed to go for night game drives unaccompanied. So don’t try that you might be highly fined by the rangers.
Our Experience during Ol Pejeta Night Game Drive Kenya
As we mentioned earlier game drives are solely on pure luck which also needs a lot of patience. One might see something extraordinary while others might return with disappointment. So we would say don’t go with any high hopes. When we started it was pitch dark and silence prevailed all around the park. Just around the corner in 5min we spotted some zebras & gazelles. Moving forward for another 1hr almost there was no sign of anything accept some Riverine rabbits running around. Yes, we felt disappointed the beginning but show went on, while we didn’t lose hope and further kept searching in multi directions with the spot light.
Our guide exclaimed!! Yes, it’s there…finally we could see a lion’s eye sparkling from behind some bushes, when it came in contact with the light imagine our nerves? May be we clicked 100s of photos in that dark for one to come perfect. Moving on for next 20min our guide spotted a pride of lion resting in an open area. There were almost 6-7 of them and also one of our best time we would ever forget. One moment came, may be the lion got irritated with the spotlight and roared at us at the top of its lungs, trust us a real chill ran through our vein, he-he! We could also spot a Hyena, herd of Elephants & buffalos and some nocturnal animals. Our guide was kind enough to continue the ride for another one more hour and we were really thrilled by the end of the trip. What an amazing night we had into the wild, watching animals in their natural habitat and their behavior.
We returned back to our tent by 11.45pm and dozed off, looking forward to an another self-game drive at the sunrise.
Check out our amazing night safari video here.
Hope our night safari experience encourages you to go for the same and have the thrill of your life at least for once. Do let us know in the comment section below if you wish to know anything else about Ol Pejeta. Also if you have ever experienced the same anywhere else feel free to recommend us as well.
Thanks.
