Reply To: Ideas and recommendations for my 40th birthday trip

[masaccio]

For the 9/11 years olds, a safari would be a good choice and there is always lots of NBO availability. Fly into NBO, stay overnight near the airport and then depart to the safari from Wilson airport in Nairobi. From there, it’s easy to get to Diani beach where there are loads of plush resorts. Safari is expensive, but the beach isn’t. I can’t recall seeing newborns on safari, but for your sanity I’d pick somewhere close timezone-wise. You don’t need an overnight on the way home and NBO is a night flight leaving around midnight which makes it great for sleeping.

For booking a safari, Yellow Zebra and Kusini are decent value and listen to what you want. Audley is expensive and doesn’t listen. Many camps advertise online booking and you can book the airstrip flights through https://www.alternativeairlines.com/, but I’ve not taken the plunge to do Africa unpackaged myself yet despite always doing that for South/Central America and India.

South Africa is the other obvious choice in timezone, but it’s a unicorn route.