Secret lives in Samburu

The BBC’s latest 3-part wildlife documentary, The Secret Lives of Elephants, reveals the complex and dramatic lives of elephants in Kenya's Samburu reserve. Wildlife Worldwide’s 10-day Kenyan Highlights tour allows travellers access to observe these remarkable mammals and other wildlife Samburu National Reserve, Aberdare Mountains, Lake Nakuru and Maasai Mara, departing Heathrow every Saturday throughout 2009.

On arrival, transfer to the Nairobi Panafric Hotel in time for afternoon sightseeing, including a visit to the Giraffe Centre for a view of the rare Rothschild Giraffe, the bustling city market or the National Museum. Leaving the city, head into the arid fringes of Kenya's vast northern region and Samburu National Reserve – home to the Samburu people, close relatives of the Maasai.

The park provides a habitat to numerous wildlife species rarely found elsewhere, including Grevy's Zebra, Reticulated Giraffe, Somali Ostrich, Nile Crocodile and the unusual long-necked Gerenuk, as well as Elephant, Buffalo, Lion and Cheetah. Continue south west to Aberdare National Park, where a range of extinct volcanoes clad in thick montane forest conceal Black Rhino, Sykes Monkey and Bongo Antelope.

Here, based at Serena Mountain Lodge, uniquely situated in a forest glade, a floodlit waterhole and underground-viewing platform allows guests to observe wildlife from an entirely different perspective. On to Lake Nakuru National Park via the beautiful Nyahururu Falls. Lake Nakuru’s headline resident species include Defassa Waterbuck and Leopard, however, it’s most famous for the one of the world’s greatest avian spectacles - myriad fuschia pink Lesser and Greater Flamingo feeding on the lake’s abundant algae.

Next, it’s the Maasai Mara, where gentle rolling grasslands ensure that plains game is never out of sight. As well as being on the perpetual intra-African wildebeest migration (mid-September, returning November) the fertile plains provide a unique pastoral environment where distinguished Maasai herdsmen tend their cattle under the watchful eye of predators. The grasslands sustain an enormous population of wildlife including Elephant, Burchell's Zebra, Maasai Giraffe, Bat-eared Fox, Spotted Hyena and Hippopotamus, and spectacular avifauna such as Usambiro Barbet and Yellow-throated Sandgrouse. The tour ends in Nairobi with a final night for souvenir shopping in the markets before homeward flights.

The tour costs from £1,695 p/p including flights, transfers, Safari lodge and hotel accommodation, most meals and expertly guided activities.

For more information, log on to Wildlifeworldwide.com.