We’re just back from a safari holiday with kids in Kenya, and it was AMAZING. We booked with Trailfinders who were great - it was all very easy, including when one of our return flights was cancelled. They also have a good COVID policy.
Trailfinders arranged for us a bespoke itinerary which included a couple of activities (giraffe and elephant sanctuaries) in Nairobi and four nights on safari in two separate lodges - one in Ol Pejeta Conservancy (Sweetwaters Serena Camp) and one on the Masai Mara (Zebra Plains). We had light aircraft flights between Nairobi and the camps because I wasn’t sure how the kids would cope with long drives between places, and private safari vehicles for the game drives. My kids were 3/6/9 and loved it. I was nervous with how they’d fare, being so
young (we went to Kenya for a family wedding, which is why we decided to do the safari now) but they did really well - they loved all of the game drives, we were out for 2-3 hour drives two or three times per day. We then finished off with six days on the coast (Diani beach, south of Mombasa).
I’d highly recommend Kenya. You’ll have a better idea of how your kids will get on, but our little ones absolutely loved it so I wouldn’t discount safari based on their ages. Also, the flight is manageable, no jet lag and I never had any safety concerns (though we were sensible about where we went/what we did). We saw all of the Big 5 across the two different safari locations and I’d really recommend two different locations. The Masai Mara has the iconic Africa feel - wide open plains, vast skies and the acacia trees, but Ol Pejeta was brilliant as well and we saw loads of rhino there (we didn’t see any on the Mara). It was also really exciting doing the light aircraft flights in between.
It was tiring (early starts/late finishes some nights) so we felt like we needed some unwinding time on the beach at the end. That was more of a standard All Inclusive experience. A couple of negatives about that - you couldn’t walk on Diane beach without being hassled, so we stuck to the swimming pools and just went down to the beach in the evenings when it was quieter. Also, there was some fairly obvious (to the adults) sex tourism going on in the hotel which was a bit unpalatable. I understand it’s generally an issue along the Diana coast though.
Happy to share more details/what we paid if you want to PM me. Have a wonderful time if you
do go - it’s easily the best family holiday we’ve ever had and has inspired us to take more adventurous trips in the future!