The Original Ker & Downey Safaris

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The Original Ker & Downey Safaris

LEADING THE WAY FOR 70 YEARS -Since 1946, Ker & Downey has been leading safaris across eastern and southern Africa.

LEADING THE WAY FOR 70 YEARS

Since 1946, Ker & Downey has been leading safaris across eastern and southern Africa, connecting thousands of discerning travellers with the world’s most fabled wilderness. With a peerless guiding pedigree, an exceptional travel network, and a proud history of supporting local communities and conservation, Ker & Downey continues to bring unimaginable luxury to the wildest corners left on Earth.

23/07/2025

Some of our favourite places aren’t listed on guidebooks or travel sites.

They’re quiet valleys, seasonal pans, or remote ranges we’ve worked in for decades.

Ker and Downey Safaris - the longest-running safari outfitter in Africa.

To start planning your dream safari get in touch or follow the link in our bio to find out more:
📧[email protected]
🌐

Photo by K&D Directors & Guides

21/07/2025

A good guide reads tracks, weather, water, and light. That’s how we find the moments worth seeing

Ker and Downey Safaris - the longest-running safari outfitter in Africa.

To start planning your dream safari get in touch or follow the link in our bio to find out more:
📧[email protected]
🌐 https://www.rfr.bz/f290d9b

Photo by K&D Directors & Guides

18/07/2025

The best safaris don’t feel rushed. They make space for silence, observation, and real encounters with nature.

Ker and Downey Safaris - the longest-running safari outfitter in Africa.

To start planning your dream safari get in touch or follow the link in our bio to find out more:
📧[email protected]
🌐 https://www.rfr.bz/f05db0f

Photo by K&D Directors & Guides

16/07/2025

Ker & Downey Safaris has been operating since 1946. With that legacy comes deep knowledge of East Africa’s land, wildlife, and people—and a clear commitment to conservation over spectacle.

Ker and Downey Safaris - the longest-running safari outfitter in Africa.

To start planning your dream safari get in touch or follow the link in our bio to find out more:
📧[email protected]
🌐 https://www.rfr.bz/f7f22a1

14/07/2025

Meet our Guide: James Robertson

Like the safari industry itself, James Robertson was born and raised in Kenya, where his appetite for adventure has earned him a reputation as one of the modern pioneers of the global safari industry. Nearly forty years after leading his first expedition, James retired as chairman of the board at Ker & Downey, and is an influential leader of the movement in community-led conservation. James’ reputation for never following the same itinerary twice, and for continually searching out new experiences for his clients, has won him admirer sacross the industry, as well as an army of repeat guests – including two families who have each travelled with him over 30 times!

Although James’ first love and main base is Kenya, he is an “all-Africa guide” and is just as likely to be found travelling through any of the game-rich parks, reserves and conservancies of eastern and southern Africa. In 2001, James was a founder of The Mara Conservancy, a ground-breaking and widely-admired partnership between conservationists and the county government, which established a new public-private template to protect the critical wildlife dispersal areas north of the Maasai Mara Reserve. He also sat on the board of the Kenya Wildlife Trust, and his unrivalled contacts enable his guests to meet some of the leading conservationists and wildlife researchers in the world.

Having been raised on the edge of Tsavo, Kenya’s largest national park remains close to James’ heart. His latest conservation focus is on protecting the last of Tsavo’s ‘Great Tusker’ elephants, of which there are a precious few bulls each carrying in excess of 200 pounds of ivory. He is working closely with the Tsavo Trust to protect these magnificent pachyderms.

James and his other half, Abigail, have recently moved to live on the edge of Tsavo East National Park. They work together as much as possible out on safari, where their shared passions are apparent to anyone travelling with them.

To organise a safari with James email him at: [email protected]

11/07/2025

From Kenya to Botswana, Congo, Ethiopia & Sudan—K&D’s custom mobile camps follow the wild wherever it roams.

A legacy of unwavering adventure and luxury.

Ker and Downey Safaris - the longest-running safari outfitter in Africa.

To start planning your dream safari get in touch or follow the link in our bio to find out more:
📧[email protected]
🌐 https://www.rfr.bz/ff247e9

”

09/07/2025

Long before conservation was fashionable, we were outfitting Smithsonian and American Museum expeditions and supporting East African scientific research.

Today, we still give back—through profits, partnerships, and grassroots action.

Ker and Downey Safaris - the longest-running safari outfitter in Africa.

To start planning your dream safari get in touch or follow the link in our bio to find out more:
📧[email protected]
🌐

07/07/2025

Whether your passion is game drives, guided walks, camel safaris, horseback adventures, or scenic flights, Ker & Downey curates extraordinary ways to connect with Africa’s wild spirit.

What’s your dream safari?

Ker and Downey Safaris - the longest-running safari outfitter in Africa.

To start planning your dream safari get in touch or follow the link in our bio to find out more:
📧[email protected]
🌐 https://www.rfr.bz/fa4d944

”

04/07/2025

Discover why mobile safaris are our signature. Camp deep in the bush with all the luxuries you expect—ensuite tents, solar lighting, eco-minded practices for an unforgettable, low-impact experience.

Ker and Downey Safaris - the longest-running safari outfitter in Africa.

To start planning your dream safari get in touch or follow the link in our bio to find out more:
📧[email protected]
🌐 https://www.rfr.bz/f87fd01

02/07/2025

Ker and Downey and conservation:
The Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association (KPSGA)

In 1996, Ker & Downey helped to set up the KPSGA to provide a streamlined series of standards by which tour operators and their guides could be measured. This acclaimed body provides a series of voluntary exams for rating professional guides and lodge naturalists, which has become a template for guide accreditation across Africa.

A number of K&D guides are also proud members of other guiding associations across the continent, including the Field Guides Association of South Africa (FGASA).

K&D guides have regularly consulted for field guide associations and guiding schools in their attempts to improve product offerings across the East African region.

01/07/2025

Meet our Guide: Tim Melesi

One of six sons of Italian and British parents, Tim was born in Mombasa and educated in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania. His early years spent exploring the bush inculcated a lifelong interest in wildlife and the environment, and its conservation. After several years in the UK, he returned to Kenya in 1981 at the age of 21 to pursue his personal journey, acknowledging that his roots were embedded in Africa.

Tim has travelled extensively on the continent, walking with camels through uninhabited northern tracts and fishing on remote lakes of Kenya, tracking gorillas and chimpanzees in the east African hinterland and guiding trips in southern Africa. His less romantic journeys include building roads in Sudan, working with refugees in Uganda and managing movie locations in Kenya.

Tim is a great guide, not because he knows lots about Africa (which he does), but because he is charming, thoughtful, endlessly enthusiastic and a fabulous raconteur. A fluent Kiswahili speaker with over 30 years of experience, he has an extensive knowledge of the African wilderness and an unusual affinity with members of traditional African communities.

Tim is married to (and works closely with) Diana and they have two sons named Max and Angus. Diana is a great organiser, not because she is also charming and enthusiastic (which she is), but because she takes the trouble to ensure that every element of your journey is exceptional, from delicious meals to seamless travel to purchases of eclectic gifts. Together, they make an outstanding team.

Your sojourn with Tim (and Di) through Africa will be memorable, stimulating and exciting.

To organise a safari with email email him at: [email protected]

27/06/2025

Destination: South Africa

South Africa is a whole world within one country from fish rich oceans to majestic mountains, award-winning vineyards to arid deserts and wildlife-stalked bushveld to tropical forest.

South Africa is situated at the southern-most tip of the epic and mysterious continent of Africa. It has a land area of 1.2 million square kilometres that stretches from the great Limpopo River in the north to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Agulhas in the south. It is here that two great oceans, the Indian and the Atlantic, meet. The interior of the country is a high plateau, separated from the coastline by a chain of mountains giving South Africa an abundance of highly diverse and dramatic landscapes.

South Africa has had a turbulent recent history, with the release of Nelson Mandela from a 27-year jail sentence initiating the change from the apartheid regime to a multi-racial democracy. Home to approximately 49 million people, South Africa is a melting pot of culture, race, and ancestry with 11 official languages and 7 different ways of saying ‘South Africa.’ This diversity of languages gives an indication of the exotic combinations that makes South Africa truly unique.

This country is the epitome of African culture juxtaposed with the frenetic pace of world progress; a complementary blend of the third world and first world and a dynamic fusion of old-age customs and modern sensibilities.

South Africa’s contrasts are not limited to landscape, culture, and people but also found in flora and fauna. It is a fine depiction of Gondwanan distribution, the third most biologically diverse country in the world and the only country to hose an entire plant kingdom within its borders.

The Rainbow Nation is blessed with magnificent, unspoiled natural splendour and rich cultural heritage and is either a destination its own right or the perfect getaway to other African adventures.

Ker and Downey Safaris - the longest-running safari outfitter in Africa.

To start planning your dream safari get in touch or follow the link in our bio to find out more:
📧[email protected]
🌐 https://www.rfr.bz/fb4e683

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+254724252606

Website

http://www.kerdowneysafaris.com/

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