His name is Max,” offered the smiling game warden, “He likes you!”

I gingerly extended my palm. Max snuffled over my hand, trailing dirt, flies, and sticky slobber. His tiny eye squinted against the setting sun. A camera shutter clicked through the afternoon stillness.

Christmas Eve in Kenya: No twinkling lights and piles of presents — but I was petting a rhinoceros. A mud-encrusted, pebbly-skinned, thousand-pound young White rhinoceros.

The morning had begun with breakfast banditry. I’d watched the yellow-billed hornbill flit among wicker chairs behind my husband, tilting its head to calculate its next move. We were alone in the spacious dining area of the Serena Lodge in Samburu National Reserve; our slingshot-toting ‘guard’ was nowhere in sight. The fresh-baked buttery rolls and heaps of imported cheese were simply too tempting, and after a tumult of flapping wings and human shrieks, my husband was left empty-handed.

Later we jounced south along the highway to our next stop, the Sweetwaters Tented Camp in Kenya’s private, not-for-profit Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Between Samburu and Ol Pejeta lies rich agricultural land, green with vast coffee plantations among massive fields of yellow flowers. Silence, vibrant air, the open road, guaranteed adventure; this was why we’d fled Cairo for the holiday.

We custom-designed a private safari with a Kenya-based travel agent recommended by friends. Our medium-paced trip consisted of nine days of wildlife viewing, with two game drives most days. While Kenya has more than 25 game parks and reserves, we focused on only five, mostly in the center and southwest corner of the country: Samburu National Reserve, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Aberdare National Park, Lake Nakuru and Masai Mara. We wanted to spend our time with the wildlife, rather than driving between parks.

Wild animals are the stars of any Kenyan safari. Nearly every traveler will see Kenya’s “Big Five” up close: African elephants, Cape Buffaloes, Black rhinoceros, lions and leopards. Also expect to see hippopotami, crocodiles, many types of antelopes, zebras, three species of giraffe, baboons, vervet monkeys, rhinoceros and warthogs, among many many others. Kenya is also home to more than 1,000 species of birds, hundreds of which, including two species of ostrich, can be spotted on a short safari. Bird lists specific to certain parks can be found in the camps and lodges.

Ol Pejeta teemed with the animals we’d flown 3,500 kilometers to see. Elephant herds, Reticulated giraffes, cranes, Thompson’s gazelles; hundreds of species meander the acacia-studded hills. While gorillas and chimpanzees still live in the wild in neighboring Uganda and Rwanda, in Kenya the only place to encounter a great ape is the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Ol Pejeta where 43 chimpanzees — all with names and their own internet profiles — make their home. The chimps have been rescued from shockingly abusive conditions around the world and they clearly like their new home. They wrestle with massive strength and somersault through the grass, hooting and tickling each other. A male named Poco darted up and down the fence line, rattling a stick along its thin wires to draw people closer. Entertainment and enjoyment flowed in both directions, which is the great joy of observing primates.

The best way to conclude a long dusty day on safari is to enjoy one of the perks of traveling in Kenya: luxury. Our “tented camp” was indeed a tent, but with gleaming wooden floors, steaming hot showers, flushing toilets and hot-water bottles slipped surreptitiously between the sheets. Dessert with lunch? Swan-shaped cream puffs. For tourists, at least, the glamour of colonialism still echoes in East Africa.

Even after hours, the safari doesn’t stop. Our Christmas Eve candlelight dinner was interrupted when a family of rhinos lumbered into the spotlit watering hole a few meters from our linen-draped table. Later, we shared a bottle of wine with a fellow traveler at the water’s edge, to the susurrus of ibis wings and the soft grunting of unseen boars.

After another extravagant breakfast the following morning, we headed for Aberdare Country Club, nestled on the slopes of the Aberdare Mountains. The rolling lawns of the flower-filled gardens are peppered with meandering giraffe, wild pigs and antelope. Only 150 kilometers north of Nairobi, the club is a popular weekend destination for locals in search of luxury.

The country club also serves as the check-in and staging area for Aberdare National Park and its lodging, limiting the tourist footprint on the park’s numerous environments. We were surprised to discover that neither our luggage nor our guide would be ascending with us into the rainforest. Fortunately, the staff seemed practiced at handling last-minute frantic repacking efforts.

The well-dressed Kenyan families celebrating Christmas eyed the commotion briefly, then returned to the club’s extensive holiday brunch. But nothing could compete with the excitement of Santa’s arrival on a motorcycle, sporting a green wig, galoshes, and a classic white beard. We watched the commotion from the corner of the veranda and waited for the shuttle to take us — and one small bag apiece — up into the rainforest.

Aberdare National Park, though only 100 kilometers north of Nairobi, tends to be a less-visited relative to Kenya’s more famous parks. Mountains, rainforest, rivers and waterfalls can all be found within the park’s strictly-regulated borders. Due to the terrain and dense tree cover, game drives are less popular in Aberdare than observing the animals near the lodge.

Our lodge in Aberdare, the Ark, was just that: a giant wooden boat on stilts in the middle of the trees. The Ark looms over a salt lick and watering hole, and every room in the lodge is wired with an elaborately coded buzzer system designed to ensure that guests don’t miss a single wildlife-viewing opportunity. The sheer density of the forest canopy, combined with the mountainous terrain, renders obsolete the traditional jeep game drive. At the Ark the animals come to you.

Unless, of course, an apocalyptic thunderstorm breaks out in the late afternoon. I moped about, peering through torrents of rain at the watering hole, invisible even with spotlight illumination. Finally, with a flourish, my husband presented me with my Christmas gift: my favorite champagne, lugged from San Francisco to New York to Cairo to Kenya. We whiled away the long hours of the storm, drinking champagne in the wood-paneled dining room. Tiny twinkling Christmas lights dotted the banisters and walls, and sure enough, tinsel and ornaments decorated our tables.

The buzzers stayed silent that Christmas night, but we were treated to a dazzling sunrise over Mount Kenya in the morning. The best gift of all? Five more days on safari still to come. et

Savvy travelers can find relative bargains for high-end soft adventure trips, due to the lingering — and largely irrelevant — negative perceptions of safety and stability in Kenya. While Kenya’s tourism agencies operate under rigorous safety and health standards, the industry took a hit from the violence following the December 2007 elections. Most of the post-electoral violence, primarily concentrated in Nairobi, the Rift Valley and the Western Provinces, had ended by February 2008. Nairobi has a high crime rate, but very few incidents of violence against tourists outside the capital have been recorded.

Typically, Kenyan safaris last between five and 20 days and can include side trips to Lamu Island on the country’s Indian Ocean coast, Lake Victoria on the western border or Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Safari itineraries highlight wildlife observation in several of Kenya’s game parks, but the pacing and transport options between parks remain the visitor’s choice. Anywhere from five to more than a dozen game parks can be experienced on a single safari, and lodging can range from backpacker-style tents to midrange safari lodges to luxury tent camps.

We used Nairobi-based Travel ‘n Style Ltd (+254 (20) 606241) to tailor our itinerary. A private van, an English-speaking guide, all park fees, accommodation, food, taxes and services were included in the cost.

Be sure to read tour operator and lodging reviews in reputable guidebooks or on traveler review websites such as TripAdvisor.com or responsibletravel.com before booking.

Samburu National Reserve is 350 kilometers north of Nairobi, about a six-hour drive. Serena Hotels operates Samburu Serena Safari Lodge (+254 (64) 30800 serenahotels.com) on the banks of the Uaso Nyiro River. Other properties, at varying budgets, are available in Samburu and the neighboring Buffalo Springs National Reserve.

Ol Pejeta Conservancy (olpejetaconservancy.org), approximately three hours north of Nairobi, is Kenya’s largest sanctuary for the Black Rhinoceros and also contains the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, operated by the Jane Goodall Institute. Guests can learn about local Kenyan tribes at the Conservancy’s Cultural Manyatta. Serena Hotels manages several properties in the Conservancy, including Ol Pejeta House and The Sweetwaters Tented Camp (+254 (62) 31970 serenahotels.com)

Aberdare National Park has two popular lodges: Treetops Hotel (aberdaresafarihotels.com) and the Ark (no official commercial website, but many safari operators arrange reservations).

Kenya Tourist Board: magicalkenya.com

Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO): katokenya.org

Organization representing some 250 licensed Kenyan tour operators. Website includes customizable search engine for getting safari price quotations from KATO members.

Kenya Airways (kenya-airways.com) has daily flights between Cairo and Nairobi.

Egyptair (egyptair.com) flies between Cairo and