A Kenya Safari Holiday In The Masai Mara Is Essential

If you take a Kenya Safari Holiday then you will probably visit the Masai Mara Reserve, and if you do, then you should choose Keekorok Lodge as your accommodation..

Keekorok Lodge is situated very close to the border with Tanzania, and is in the perfect place to witness the beginning of the Great Migration in late June/July, when the Wildebeest and Zebra begin their great trek.

One of the reasons that Keekorok Lodge is a great place to be is because it is one of the oldest Kenya Safari Holiday Lodges, and so it is positioned in just the right place in the direct path of the migration.

When the great migration is at its peak sometime from August to November, it is completely surrounded by animals, a truly amazing experience.

Keekorok has large and beautiful grounds, and it has been renovated recently, with 100 rooms in bungalows, single story blocks, and comfortable chalets with large private verandas.

They are all well furnished and tastefully decorated with only the best materials. The ensuite bathrooms look out over the plains and distant hills.

Keekorok has a good swimming pool, which is a great place to relax between game drives, a restaurant and a bar, with a viewing deck over the hippo pool, which is full of hippos, and extensive walkways allowing great viewing from the lodge straight onto the game in the park.

The best and quickest way to get to Keekorok is by light aircraft, which comes in from Nairobi and Mombasa .

Food in the restaurant is of good quality, and is buffet style, with lovely cakes and fresh fruit flown in daily from Nairobi. You can sit outside on the terrace at the adjacent bar, well protected by the Masai who will also entertain you. A Kenya Safari Holiday without seeing the Masai dance is an definitely incomplete. You could need the Masai guards when you are sitting outside because Keekorok Lodge has no fences which can at times make like quite interesting, but is definitely a plus point. You might for example hear lion chasing zebra outside your room at night!!

You will see on the game drives in the Masai Mara lions and cheetahs, hyenas, and the defenseless game they follow, but the real joy of Keekorok is the wildebeest and hyena during the migration. Whatever you do, arrange a balloon trip with the champagne breakfast floating over the mass of wildebeest, which is a truly unforgettable experience.

Apart from the balloon trip, it is a good idea to organize your game drives through Keekorok, so you can be sure of being by yourself and family, and not in a minibus which many of the Kenya Safari Tour package holidays organized from home seem to be based around.

To summarize, Keekorok is a great and modern Lodge in the middle of the Masai Mara, and as such a necessary stop on any Kenya Safari Tour. It is large and busy in comparison with other lodges, but if that is what you want as part of your Kenya Holiday then you will like it very much indeed. It is well run, comfortable with excellent service

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A Kenya Safari Holiday Taking In Bateleur Camp In The Masai Mara

A Kenya Safari Holiday taking in the Masai Mara, and wanting to see as much wildlife as possible, must include the top class Bateleur Camp at Kichwa Tembo, and here is why it should be a compulsory part of your luxury African safari.

Firstly if you are taking a Kenya Safari Holiday, then you must want to see the Great Migration between June and October, and the Bateleur Camp overlooks the sweeping Masai Mara plains, where during the migration you can witness the massive passing throngs of animals.

Bateleur camp has been deliberately designed to give the feel of the Kenya Safaris of the 20's and 30's and the nine tented suites in each of the two camps certainly do that.

The suites sit in a lush forest kept moist by the river, and are classically elegant with polished wooden floors, ensuite bathrooms with glass walled showers, twin hand basins and a separate flushing toilet.

Each tent has a private verandah, and most importantly it overlooks the vastness of the Masai Mara, and the plentiful game. Add to this a personal butler to cater to your every whim, and it is easy to see how your Kenya safari holiday in the Masai Mara becomes a top luxury African Safari!!

When we come to the public areas of the Camp, the sitting area is full of antiques and artifacts, and you can eat indoors or outdoors. Your butler will be only too happy if you want to eat on your verandah, or even a candlelit dinner under the African sky. The food by the way is quite superb, three great meals every day with wine and cocktails included. In addition no children to disturb your tranquility!!

The great thing about Bateleur is the situation overlooking the plains of the Masai Mara, so the activities will be geared to some extent to the time of year, dominated by the great migration. You will go on morning, and afternoon game drives, always with a qualified guide in your own open safari vehicle, so no having to stand to view. The game drives are included in your daily rate.

Add to this night drives in Kichwa Tembo's private concession, bush walks, Masai community visits, hot air ballooning, and you will have the safari of your life here.

To cap it all you can opt for early morning bush breakfasts, romantic sundowners looking out over the Masai Mara, and candlelit dinners overlooking the Mara river.

This safari camp also has the huge advantage of being in the exclusive West Mara, so at no time will your safari be in the company of dozens of other vehicles.

Bateleur Camp is a must as part of your Kenya Safari Holiday, and if it is a luxury African Safari you want, don't miss it!!

A Kenya Safari Holiday At A Private Game Lodge Next To The Lewa Conservancy

A Kenya Safari Holiday, part of which is spent at a Private Game Lodge called Borana adjacent to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy may not at first seem to be what you are looking for, because Borana is probably a name you are unfamiliar with.

You are going to spend a lot of money taking any African safari Trip, especially one at the luxury end of the scale, so it is very well worth your while doing a lot of research before committing your hard earned cash to a safari picked because you liked a picture in a brochure. The best Private Game Lodges are very often not in the popular holiday brochures

Choosing a Kenya Safari as part of your Holiday in Kenya can be difficult, and then on top of that there can be a bewildering choice of accommodation from Camps to Lodges. More often than not you will take a package and these decisions will be taken out of your hands, and this can be a great pity.

There are Game Lodges, and private Game Lodges, safari camps and luxury camps, and there are very popular and sometimes overcrowded game parks, and on the other hand places that are less well known, which will have all the game you could want to view with no other vehicles in sight at this time.

There are game lodges where you will pile into a mini bus for a game drive, and others where you have your own 4x4 with your own knowledgeable guide who will go where you want to go.

With this in mind, study Borana Lodge at the foot of Mount Kenya roughly 6500 feet above sea level, and only sixteen miles from the equator.

Your temporary Kenya Safari Holiday Home at Borana Private Game Lodge has six cottages, so it is small, a good thing as far as it meaning personal attention. There are two cottages with large double beds, and four with Queen sized beds. They are all situated well for privacy, and views from their verandahs, and each has an open fireplace, and ensuite bathrooms.

At Borana there is a selection of available activities which includes Game drives accompanied by rangers and trackers who know all there is to know and more about everything that moves and even stuff that stands still, like trees, flowers, and bushes.

You can take game walks with an experienced guide.

There will be night Game Drives and you will be staggered at the activities of those nocturnal creatures you encounter.

You can explore the 35000 acre ranch on horseback.

Eat farm fresh cooked bush meals wherever and whenever your fancy takes you.

On returning to Borana Lodge you can relax and unwind in the swimming pool which has lovely views over the valley below.

In addition you can choose trips to Lewa Wildlife Conservancy specifically to see the black and white rhino who are protected here.

You can take professionally guided walking safaris.

Above all else remember that whilst you are on a Kenya Safari Holiday, living in some luxury at Borana private game lodge, that Borana is not just a game sanctuary it is also a working ranch, so take the time to be shown round and try to understand the challenges facing those who live and work in what are pretty hostile conditions, where dangerous game such as lions and elephants cause damage and death on an everyday basis.

Borana Private Game Lodge is a very different way to spend part of your Kenya Safari Holiday, but its situation next to the Lewa Conservancy gives you the opportunity of a lifetime to see and do things out of the ordinary.

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A Kenya Safari Holiday Must Include The Meru National Park

The Meru National Park is a must go to destination if you are planning a safari holiday in Kenya.

It is over 320 kms from Nairobi, on the slopes of the Nyambeni Mountain range to the north east of Mount Kenya at an altitude of between 1000-3400 Ft and has an area of over 850 sq Kms.

It has been in existence since 1968 and became famous as the home of George & Joy Adamson and Elsa the Lioness, whose grave is marked here, who lived in the Kora National Reserve, which along with the Bisanadi, Rahole & Mwingi National Reserves are associated with Meru.

Meru is a great place to go for a Kenya Safari Holiday because not only is it wild, beautiful and relatively uncrowded, because it is the least visited of Kenya’s larger Parks, but it also has a good cross section of game to view.

This is brought about firstly by the position of Meru which lies across the Equator, and is split by thirteen rivers and many mountain streams, which branch out from the Tana River at the southern border.

In terms of scenery there is everything from high woodlands to wide open plains with a huge number of riverbanks.

A section of the park has been designated as a wilderness area, and so there are no roads there, although the rest of the park has decent access roads and tracks, which deteriorate quite dramatically in the rains.

The game you should expect to see will include large prides of lion, elephant, cheetah, leopard, and Lesser Kudu duiker and Dik Dik antelopes. You may also see some of the largest herds of buffalo in Kenya, with a lot of hippo and crocodile in the rivers. Meru was one of the areas that suffered most through poaching twenty years ago, but good policing and security patrols have driven out the poachers.

There are believed to be over 300 different species of birds here at Meru so if your Kenya Safari Holiday is primarily one of ornithology then you should be more than happy to see species including Peter’s Finfoot, Pel’s fishing owl, kingfishers, bee-eaters to name just a few.

The beauty of Meru is that you will not encounter many other tourists when out on a game drive.

To get to Meru is a question of driving for around eight hours from Nairobi to Meru town. In all probability you’ll need to organize a Safari Lodge package, and this would be part of it. If you want to access Kora National Reserve, along with the Bisanadi, Rahole & Mwingi, then this can be difficult and needs organizing in advance.

There are three airstrips that you can use to access Meru on your Kenya Safari Tour.

The times to visit Meru on your Kenya Safari Holiday are definitely the dry months, and the climate is generally hot and dry with an average altitude of around 2000 feet. You’ll find the nights are quite pleasantly cool, even a jersey in the evenings!!

The summer months are December through March, the rain then falls between March and May. The winter is July to September and it rains again between November and December.

At Meru you will need to take precautions as it is a malaria area, so wear light long sleeved clothing and long trousers with DEET sprayed on as the most effective insect repellent.

You need to sleep under treated mosquito netting, and the doors and windows should be screened against mosquitos. If you are lucky enough to have a fan or even airconditioning then even better, but just remember malaria prophylaxis doesn’t totally prevent Malaria, it’s best to cover up and spray.

The Meru is probably not the best National Park to visit if this is your first ever Kenya Safari Holiday, but if you have an eye for detail and previous experience then you must not leave it out as part of your next Kenya Safari Tour.

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A Kenya Safari Holiday In Amboseli National Park

Your Kenya Safari Holiday could well start at Amboseli, not only because Amboseli National Park is only an hour by air from Nairobi, but also because the wildlife viewing is top class all the year round, and the views of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background are truly spectacular.

As a park Amboseli is comparatively small, being less than 400 sq km, but it does boast over 50 of the lrger species of mammal, and over 400 species of birds.

It is also the home of the Maasai people, tall proud and brave, and nomadic, so there is evidence of their abandoned villages because they move wherever, and whenver the cattle grazing is used up. The cattle's damage to the grassland, added to the sheer numbers of animals along with the popularity of Amboseli, the huge number of tourists, their four wheel drive vehicle damage, has meant a restriction in where vehicles can go.

Having said all of that Amboseli is a great place to start your Kenya Safari Holiday because of the numbers of game that you can view, and the sheer beauty of seeing the game on your Kenya Safari Holiday against the backdrop of the snow covered Mt. Kilimanjaro.

The centre area of Amboseli national park is basically a dried up lake, and swamps and springs fed by the melted snow, from underground rivers originating on Kilimanjaro give the animals permanent sources of water even during the periods of drought. The best place to view game on your Kenya safari holiday is around the swamps, and there is a great place to go called Observation Hill.

The big question of course is what game will you see on your Kenya Safari Holiday to Amboseli?
The list will incude baboon, vervetmonkey, lion, cheetah, elephat, zebra, hippo, black rhino, oryx, wildebest, gerenuk, impala, and gazelle.

Amongst the camps you need to check out for your Kenya safari Holiday in Amboseli includes Amboseli Serena Lodge, Ol Tukai Lodge, Amboseli Sopa Lodge, Tortllis Camp, and just north of Amboseli is Porini Camp.

A Kenya Safari Holiday In Aberdare National Park

A Kenya Safari Holiday must include a visit to the Aberdare National Park, not only because a visit to Treetops possibly the most famous safari lodge in Kenya is here, but also because of the amazing scenery, and the variety of wildlife that can be found.

Aberdare National Park is a great Kenya Safari destination for both these reasons.

The Park varies from around 7000 feet to 14000 feet so there is everything from moorland to rainforests, bamboo forests to mountain peaks, all broken up by deep river valleys with streams rivers and beautiful waterfalls.

This in turn means a large range of wildlife to view on your safari holiday and Aberdare National Park of course has te best known safari lodge in the world which is Treetops. At Treetops and the Ark, both of which are treehouse hotels, where the walkways and rooms are up in the sky in the forest canopy. They are marvellously situated beside waterholes and natural salt licks, there is all day and all night game viewing without leaving the hotel, thanks to the floodlighting. There is even a bell system in the room to waken guests if a good sighting arrives in the hours of darkness!! There is even an underground viewing hide so close to the waterhole, that you could almost reach out and touch.

The great spread of height in the Park means different species in different environments, and up high the moorland is very reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands, butat 10,000 feet the bamboo thickets hide the bongo a rare and elusive forest antelope.

If you have come to see the big five,then elephants dominate the waterholes, and lions hve to give way. Leopards can be sighted there but mostly a night.

The Park also contains large numbers of black rhino.

Aberdare National Park is not a malaria area because of the height, butrecautions must continue to be taken, because you will be coming from or going to spots where Malaria is a real danger.

In summary no Kenya Safari holiday would be complete without visiting Aberdare.

A Kenya Safari Holiday Based In Chyulu Hills National Park

Before booking a Kenya Safari Holiday, perhaps even a honeymoon in Kenya, you need to do your homework.

It is possible you might never have heard of Campi Ya Kanzi which is in the Chyulu Hills National Park, but this would be the perfect place for a luxury African safari.

Campi Ya Kanzi means ‘Camp of The Hidden Treasure’, but effectively for you the hidden treasure is the sheer quality of this luxury tented safari camp in Southern Kenya, which is almost in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro which is only 35 miles away, and it lies within a 400 square mile private ranch.

There are outstanding features concerning Campi Ya Kanzi making it an outstanding base for a luxury African safari and some of them are as follows.

The maximum number of guests is limited to fourteen in six thatched roof tented cottages, and the two suites called Hemingway and Simba. Each tented cottage is made of stones fabric and wood.

The tented cottages all have different views and are extremely private, just one reason that Campi Ya Kanzi is a must visit on a honeymoon in Kenya.

The suites all feature a king size bed, a dressing room, and the bathrooms have double wash hand basins.

The cottages have either twin or king size beds, and have like the suites a full size bath, shower, bidet, flush toilet and hot and cold running water. Electricity is supplied by a solar system to every cottage.

Elegance is added to by the fact that the plumbing fixtures are brass, and fresh flowers are replaced every day.

Each cottage as Camp Ya Kanzi has a wide veranda with superb views of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Tsavo Hills.

Each guesthouse has a designated Maasai attendant, and at night the camp is patrolled by guards so you can feel safe and totally secure at Campi Ya Kanzi.

The meals are all served at Tembo House which is the clubhouse at the epicentre of the camp. Like the cottages it is made of local materials and thatch. It is open to the outside and the views of Kilimanjaro from the terrace are to put it mildly spectacular. It also has a large lounge for relaxing reading and having a quiet drink.

Tembo House is more like being a guest in a friend’s home than an hotel. Even dining is at a large wooden family dining table, set with fine china, silverware and crystal to further this impression, and food which has an Italian theme, and is of course home cooked by specially trained chefs is superb, but stands alongside local and international dishes, plus vegetables from the vegetable garden, local fresh milk and eggs from the chickens.

Campi Ya Kanzi has two goals, the first of which is to help the Maasai preserve their wildlife heritage. The second is to give you the most memorable vacation of your life.

Your safari day will start with coffee or tea brought to your cottage by your Maasai attendant, and then after enjoying the view from the verandah you will have a morning game drive, or if you would prefer a walk. Breakfast follows with fresh local fruit, then possibly an escorted safari on foot. Campi Ya Kanzi is famous and rightly so for its foot safaris. The Maasai game trackers will go out first, then you will follow in your own vehicle, getting close enough to whatever game you have indicated you want to see. It is then on foot, with your armed professional guide and the trackers. In this way you will get close and personal, whilst remaining safe at all times.

All of this is as far as you can get from the mass vehicle pursuit of animals in the Masai Mara, and indeed you will never want it any other way in the future.

All of the activity in the bush is what you want and not part of a rigid program. You will almost certainly see all of the big five, but on foot, and what could be more exciting than that.

If you want to take a luxury African safari, or have your honeymoon in Kenya, then Campi Ya Kanzi could be the perfect solution plus the fact every dollar you spend helps the Maasai preserve their wildlife heritage.

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