Please keep in mind that this article is written from the point of view of a serious amateur photographer. In fact, my favorite lion photograph from my trip was taken at 10am with a 80-200mm zoom lens hand held from a vehicle cramped with ten passengers. You can get lucky occasionally, but the odds are against you under those conditions. There were 12 participants in our group which used four Land Rover vehicles. The Mountain Lodge is essentially a hotel built on the side of a waterhole where a lot of animals frequently come by for a drink.
Visitors have the luxury to watch wildlife right from their hotel rooms.
Lewa Downs is a private sanctuary with, among other wildlife, about 40 rhinos. The other three destinations are more well known and are usually visited by photo safaris. Samburu is in northern Kenya just north of the equator. Besides lions, elephants, cheetahs, etc., some species specific to northern Kenya can be seen there, such as the Grevy zebra, reticulated giraffe, and gerenuk. Lake Nakuru is well known for its flamingo population.