Seventeen kilometres of white coral sand south of Mombasa, backed by palms and fronted by a reef that keeps the water flat and clear. Colobus monkeys move through the canopy behind the beach hotels. Kitesurfing, diving on the reef, dhow trips to Wasini Island and the Kisite Marine Park make it more than a place to lie down — though it is very good at that too.
The classic safari-and-beach finish. Water is bath-warm and the reef keeps it calm all day.
Dhow trip to Kisite was excellent — dolphins on the way out and good snorkelling.
Colobus monkeys in the trees behind the beach. Genuinely lovely stretch of coast.
Uganda2 daysTwenty-nine islands scattered across a deep, still lake terraced to the waterline in the southwestern highlands. Bunyonyi means "place of many little birds" and it delivers on the name. There is no bilharzia and no crocodile or hippo, so it is one of the very few lakes in the region where swimming is safe. Dugout canoe between the islands, or simply stop moving for a few days after a gorilla trek.
Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 3 reviews
Uganda3 daysAn archipelago of 84 forested islands in the northwestern corner of Lake Victoria, reached by ferry from Entebbe or Bukakata. Sand beaches, palm and rainforest, fish eagles overhead and almost nothing to do — which is the appeal. Buggala is the largest and most developed; the outer islands stay genuinely quiet. A natural finish to a longer Uganda circuit.
Rated 4.3 out of 5 from 3 reviews
Kenya4 daysThe northern reach of the Serengeti ecosystem and the stage for the Great Migration river crossings between roughly July and October, when close to two million wildebeest and zebra run the gauntlet of the Mara River. Outside migration season the Mara still holds the densest big-cat population in Kenya — lion, cheetah and leopard on open grassland that seems built for watching them.
Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 3 reviews