Kenya's Safari Circuit, Then Three Seychelles Islands

Two continents, one flight path

In September 2021 we flew Vienna to Nairobi, spent our safari days in Kenya, then continued on to Mahé in the Seychelles before flying home the same way we came. On paper it looks like two unrelated trips stitched together, but it’s actually a well-worn route — Nairobi is a genuine regional aviation hub for East Africa, and it connects onward to the Seychelles more easily than you’d expect for two destinations that feel worlds apart. Pairing a dusty, wildlife-focused safari with several days of Indian Ocean island time turned out to be one of the better contrasts we’ve built into a single trip.

Safari basics worth knowing before you go

East African safaris run on a rhythm that’s worth understanding in advance: game drives are typically scheduled early morning and late afternoon, when temperatures are cooler and animals are most active, with the hottest midday hours reserved for resting back at camp. A good pair of binoculars matters more than most first-timers expect, since a lot of wildlife viewing happens at real distance across open plains rather than up close. If you’re bringing a camera, a real zoom lens earns its weight — phone cameras and short lenses simply can’t reach across a savanna the way a 300mm-plus lens can. It’s also worth confirming vaccination and malaria prophylaxis requirements with a travel clinic well ahead of departure rather than assuming what worked for a previous trip still applies; recommendations and requirements shift, and East Africa is a genuine malaria-risk region.

Landing in the Seychelles

From Nairobi we flew into Mahé, the largest of the Seychelles’ 115-odd islands and the one with the international airport, the capital Victoria, and the bulk of the archipelago’s infrastructure. We stayed at Mango House Seychelles, part of LXR Hotels & Resorts, which put us within easy reach of Victoria while still feeling like a proper island base rather than a stopover. Mahé functions as the gateway for almost every Seychelles itinerary — most visitors land there first and then branch out to the smaller islands for a different pace.

Island-hopping to Praslin and La Digue

From Mahé we moved on to Praslin, staying in Baie Sainte Anne at Sahaj Holiday Apartments. Inter-island transfers in the Seychelles run either by ferry or by short domestic flight, and Praslin is close enough to Mahé that either option is genuinely practical — we found the ferry a relaxed way to watch the outer islands come into view. From Praslin, La Digue is just a short boat ride further out, and it’s a different experience again once you arrive: the island deliberately keeps car numbers low, so bicycles are the normal way to get around, and we stayed at Cocotier du Rocher for a stretch of days spent mostly on two wheels and bare feet. There’s something genuinely calming about an island where the loudest sound most of the day is bicycle chains rather than traffic.

What the two halves gave us

The safari portion gave us scale — vast landscapes, animals moving in numbers that are hard to describe until you’ve seen a migration crossing in person. The Seychelles gave us the opposite: small, quiet islands where the biggest decision of the day was which beach to walk to. Doing both back-to-back, rather than as two separate trips years apart, made the contrast land harder than it would have otherwise.

Practical notes

Because this was one continuous itinerary, we built in a buffer day around the Nairobi connection in both directions in case of delays, which is generally a sensible habit whenever a trip depends on a single regional hub to link two very different legs. The Seychelles run warm and humid year-round with a wet season worth checking against your travel dates, and safari lodges in Kenya vary enormously in comfort level, so it’s worth being clear with yourself about how rustic versus how comfortable you want camp life to be before booking.

[Editor’s note: add what this trip actually meant to you both — the safari moments, the La Digue bike rides, whatever stuck with you — and swap in your own photos when ready.]