Georgian Designer Swaps Caucasus Peaks for Masai Mara Horizons

By Safari News — Africa Calling Safaris, Partner desk, Nairobi · 20/10/2025

Updated 23 October 2026

Nino Beridze, a 33-year-old graphic designer from Tbilisi, chose an unusual first destination outside Europe this March: the Masai Mara, rather than the Dubai or Istanbul trips favoured by most of her compatriots. Travelling with Nairobi-based Africa Calling Safaris, she found the journey easier than expected — Tbilisi connects to Nairobi via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines (11–13 hours) or via Dubai on Emirates or flydubai (10–12 hours), with only a one-hour time difference between Georgia and Kenya.

Since January 2024, Georgian passport holders have been able to enter Kenya visa-free for up to 90 days, part of a wider policy change that has coincided with a sharp rise in Caucasian visitors: Africa Calling reports that Georgian and regional clients grew from under 1% of its customer base in 2019 to 6% in 2024, its fastest-growing market. Travellers planning the route from Tbilisi should note Jomo Kenyatta International Airport sits at 1,624 metres, while the Masai Mara itself lies around 1,500 metres — altitudes not far removed from Georgia’s own highlands.

Beridze described Nairobi’s Karen district as green and unexpectedly quiet, and the Mara’s scale as more overwhelming than Kazbegi. Africa Calling’s managing director, Nikos Pocock, said first-time visitors from countries without a safari tradition often arrive without preconceptions, producing some of the most genuine reactions he sees in the field.

Based on reporting by Safari News, the travel desk of Africa Calling Safaris (Nairobi), GTour’s partner for East Africa. Read the original there.