John Gitiri guiding a small-group safari in the East African bush

About Intra Africa Tours

Meet the People Behind Your East African Safari

Intra Africa Tours runs mammal-focused wildlife safaris and specialist birding expeditions across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, planned by trained naturalists, run in small groups, and built around what you actually want to see.

Meet Our StoryPlan Your Safari

Our story

A working safari company, built on fieldwork.

Not a fixed-departure operator with a brochure of set trips, a small team that plans each journey around the people taking it.

Intra Africa Tours runs wildlife and specialist birding safaris across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Two connected brands, Intra Africa Tours for mammal-focused wildlife safaris and Birding Around-Africa for specialist birding expeditions, operate under one roof, sharing guides, standards, and the same fundamental approach.

We do not run fixed-departure trips. Every itinerary is built around a specific group's interests, dates, and pace. Some guests come for photography; some for a checklist; some because they want their children to see elephants in Amboseli for the first time. We plan accordingly.

3 Countries

Kenya, Uganda & Tanzania

2 Brands

Mammal safaris & Birding Around-Africa

Tailor-Made

Every itinerary, every time

Naturalist-Led

Trained guides, not drivers

The person behind the plans

John Gitiri, Founder and Lead Guide.

John holds a Diploma in Tour Guiding and Administration from Nairobi Aviation College and spent seven years as a Research Assistant in the Ornithology Section of the National Museums of Kenya. That work (waterbird censuses, ringing sessions, distribution surveys and environmental impact assessments) is the difference between a naturalist and a driver who knows bird names.

Before the museum, he interned at A Rocha Kenya's Mwamba Field Study Centre in Watamu, surveying waders at Mida Creek and the Sabaki river mouth, searching Dakatcha Woodland for the endangered Clarke's Weaver, and ringing forest birds in Arabuko-Sokoke. He is a practising bird ringer with the Nairobi Ringing Group, an active citizen scientist on the Kenya Bird Map project, and Treasurer of Friends of Kinangop Plateau for Biodiversity Conservation.

Beyond safari he also guides hiking, camping and mountaineering trips, and he speaks English, Swahili and Kikuyu. John leads or personally briefs every Intra Africa Tours safari: the same eye for behaviour and habitat, whether the group is chasing the Big Five or a single endemic.

Professional GuideOrnithology Research AssistantLicensed Bird RingerAdventure & Hiking GuideConservation Trustee

2013–2015: Diploma in Tour Guiding and Administration, Nairobi Aviation College
2012–2019: Research Assistant, Ornithology Section, National Museums of Kenya
2011–2012: Intern, A Rocha Kenya, Mwamba Field Study Centre, Watamu
2010–present: Active volunteer and bird walk leader, Nature Kenya
Current: Treasurer, Friends of Kinangop Plateau for Biodiversity Conservation

Why guests choose us

Nine reasons travellers trust us with their safari

Every trip is designed to feel personal, planned by people who know the ground, not a call centre reading off a template.

Expert Naturalist Guides

Ornithology-trained leadership on every safari, not scripted commentary from a driver.

Small Group Safaris

Two to six guests per vehicle, enough for company, small enough for the guide's full attention.

Tailor-Made Itineraries

No fixed departures. Every route is built around your dates, interests, and pace.

Conservation Commitment

Nature Kenya volunteer since 2010; Treasurer of Friends of Kinangop Plateau.

Photography Friendly

Vehicles, timing, and pace chosen with photographers and patient watchers in mind.

Deep Local Knowledge

Field data feeds the Kenya Bird Map project, knowledge earned where we take you.

How we work

How Every Safari Comes Together

No fixed departures, no online checkout, every trip is settled by conversation, one step at a time.

Tell Us Your Interests

Share your dates, group size, and what you want from the trip, wildlife, birds, photography, or all three.

We Design Your Route

We propose an itinerary built around your interests and pace, not a fixed departure calendar.

Refine It Together

We go back and forth by conversation until the route, timing, and budget genuinely fit.

Confirm Your Safari

No online checkout. We settle payment terms directly, so the trip stays plannable.

Explore East Africa

You travel with a trained naturalist who leads or personally briefs every day in the field.

Our guiding philosophy

Slow down, look closer, plan around the people in the vehicle.

No fixed departures, every itinerary is built around one group
Small groups of 2–6 guests, always
Naturalist-led guiding, not scripted commentary
Flexible planning that bends around your pace
A photography-friendly rhythm in the vehicle and in the field
Local expertise built over years of fieldwork, not a manual

Conservation

Our safaris support the places you come to see.

John has volunteered with Nature Kenya since 2010 and serves as Treasurer of Friends of Kinangop Plateau for Biodiversity Conservation. Field records from our trips go to the Kenya Bird Map project, and he still rings birds with the Nairobi Ringing Group. The Kinangop grasslands where Sharpe's Longclaw survives are under steady pressure from agricultural expansion, which is why the monitoring continues between safaris.

When you book a safari with us, part of the value is that your guide is actively working to keep those places intact, not as a marketing line, but as a monthly practice.

Bird Mapping

Habitat Protection

Community Partnerships

Research Support

Local Conservation

Citizen Science

Regional expertise

Experts Across East Africa

Three countries, one consistent standard of guiding, built on years in the field, not a franchised script.

Kenya

Home ground. Our lead guide's fieldwork, from the National Museums of Kenya to the Kinangop grasslands, happens here, alongside safaris across the Mara, Amboseli, and beyond.

Uganda

Forest and wetland birding alongside classic mammal circuits, guided by the same naturalist-led standards we apply everywhere we operate.

Tanzania

Great Migration country and beyond, itineraries planned around your dates and interests, not a fixed departure calendar.

Start planning

Let's Plan Your East African Safari

Every trip we run starts with a conversation. Tell us the shape of what you want to see and we'll come back with a route, questions, and a plan that actually fits.

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