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Add this women-only Kenya tour to your travel bucket list

This women-only Kenya tour reveals the heart of Kenya, from local food, arts and cultural customs, to abundant wildlife on safari.
Zebras gather by a watering hole in Kenya, Africa.

I’d like to tell you about Kenya’s heart. How it beats, its rhythm. How this welcoming East African country takes you by the hand and shows you its ways. Kenya doesn’t hold its cards close to its chest; it shares them. On a women-only Kenya tour, kindred spirits add camaraderie during a journey that reveals Kenya’s customs and savannahs.

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I’m watching baby elephants bound across a paddock at Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a conservation organisation in Nairobi. They focus only on huge milk bottles held by their keepers, the bond between calf and carer is clearly parental. Rescued from the wild by rangers, the orphaned elephants, some only months old, suckle the containers dry.

An animal keeper feeds a baby elephant from a bottle.

Then it’s playtime, sploshing around in sludge. A four-month-old rhino joins the shenanigans as we hear why, and how, the animals were saved. I look over to my fellow travellers who are with me on Bench Africa’s Explore Kenya Tour, a 12-day fully escorted women-only Kenya tour, to see we’ve all teared up.

“What incredible work, I wanted to pop that baby rhino in my bag,” Shelagh, a retired nurse, says as we leave.

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Support local women’s art

The good vibes continue when we visit Kazuri Beads Factory. It’s a poverty-to-purpose story. Seeing a need to help struggling single mothers from Nairobi’s slums, Susan Buxton Wood, an artist and daughter of missionary parents, began the grassroots company in her home in the 1970s.

“We couldn’t dress or feed our children before Kazuri,” the manager tells us as she explains how the ceramic beads and jewellery pieces are meticulously crafted by hand. “We have over 50 workers, and each woman now has a sense of responsibility and focus.”

Female artist at the Kazuri Beads Factory in Kenya, a stop of the women-only Kenya tour.

Their joy is real. In a sudden flash mob moment they put down tools, drumming the tables, hollering soulful, gospel-like songs. We join the throng, swinging and singing along, our smiles as wide as theirs.

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A visit to the remarkable Giraffe Centre to learn how the endangered Rothschild giraffe was saved rounds off an inspiring day.

See wildlife on a Kenyan safari

The following morning our group of eight boards the Kenyan Railway for the four-hour train ride to Mombasa. Train attendants dressed in their finery usher us to first-class carriages. We’re kids on a field day having a field day as we take turns spotting distant wildlife: zebras, giraffes, elephants, warthogs — anything that moves.

A group of women-only Kenya tour gusts in a safari van

When we arrive at Tsavo National Park it’s not long before we encounter a “Big Five” safari animal. Less than five metres from our 4WD a pride of lions devour a kicking zebra. Their blood-stained faces are the only pop of colour in the dry grass as they survey the savannah. We watch the zebra still. It’s a bittersweet, circle-of-life moment.

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“The safari gods are smiling upon us!” Suzie, a mine site safety officer, shouts. “I’ve dreamt of witnessing a wild kill — it’s both sad and special.”

Women-only safaris bring like minds together and we easily connect as we search the plains. We write the script as we go, manifesting leopards, cheetahs, giraffes, rhinos and more, and are delighted when they come into view. It’s the beginning of the dry season and the landscape unfolds like a pop-up storybook. We watch herds of zebras merge like mind-bending puzzles, and see huge, tusked elephants walk within camera-lens reach.

A cheetah surveys the African savannah.

Learn to cook the national dish

Learning about Kenyan culture adds another layer to our journey. We don aprons and unforgiving hairnets to cook the national dish, ugali. Over a huge crock pot, we share the strong-arm task of mixing the ingredients — maize flour and water — until we achieve a dense, dough-like consistency, though there’s more laughing than ladling.

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Women-only Kenya tour participants in bright red aprons listen to a cooking teacher.

“Before we marry, the mother-in-law tests our ugali; if it’s bad, sometimes we cannot marry,” Daisy, our upbeat cooking teacher, explains.

“Is it harder to please the mother-in-law or husband?” Jane, a physiotherapist, asks.

“The mother-in-law!” Daisy laughs over a lunch of ugali, chicken curry, tasty Kenyan greens called Sukuma Wiki, chapatis and delicious bean dishes. I taste the efforts of our labour — it’s fair to say any one-knee proposals would be off.

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Witness traditional displays of strength

On our final day, Kenya’s rhythm comes full circle when we visit a traditional Maasai village. Tribal men wearing shukas — a vibrant red blanket worn by Maasai warriors. They dance Adumu, a jumping tradition performed to attract brides. Bejewelled Maasai women stand by keeping their eyes peeled for the highest jumper. His strength is seen as good marriage material.

A young Kenyan man jumps into the air.

It’s when a Maasai man asks me to photograph him inside his simple mud hut that another layer of Kenya reveals itself. Dignified, swathed in his shuka, he poses, kinglike — proud of his nation and his nonmaterialistic world.

When to go: Bench Africa has trips departing on June 3, 2025, and November 13, 2025.

Getting there: Emirates, Air Mauritius and South African Airways all reach Nairobi through various flight routes departing from Australia’s capital cities.

Tour details: Bench Africa’s 12-day Explore Kenya – Escorted Ladies Tour starts from $9990.

Visit benchafrica.com/experiences/classic-kenya-ladies-tour/

Travel tips for the women-only Kenya tour

The writer travelled as a guest of Bench Africa on their women-only Kenya tour.

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This article originally appeared in the December 2024 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Pick up the latest issue from your local newsagents or subscribe so you never miss an issue.

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