Category: Planning Travel

Jogging on safari?

Jogging on safari?

by Arusha ♥ 1 Comment

From LeslieK463@

Q.    We are a very active couple and want to go on safari, but don’t like the idea of spending the whole time in a vehicle.  Can we jog around sufficiently?  Do most places have a pool?

A.    The short answer to your question is that you should do your safari in South Africa.  The reason for this is that in most of the safari destinations (including most of those in South Africa) the kind of activity you enjoy simply isn’t possible.  You will be most of your time in a car.  But if you go to South Africa, you’ll be able to intersperse a few days on safari with all sorts of other touring which will let you be very active.  Think of a safari in South Africa as similar to visiting Yosemite.  There are many great roads in Yosemite where you can’t get out of the car in order to see the elk and bears, but the next day you can hike in the mountains all day, or take a quick trip into San Francisco.  That exists in South Africa, but in virtually no other country with safaris.

Once on safari, no, you can’t leave the vehicle often.  And no, you can’t jog outside the perimeter of the lodge/camp, and there are plenty of reasons for this.  Read my blog on April 30, 2009: “Elephant Suit”.  But yes, many of the better places have pools.

When is the best time for Samburu?

When is the best time for Samburu?

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From angie@

Q.    When is the best time to visit Samburu and the northern frontier areas, like Laikipia?

A.    These beautiful areas just west and further north of Mt. Kenya include two actually different ecological zones, and so the answer is just a bit different depending upon which zone you have in mind.

The southern and western portion, commonly referred to as Laikipia, is still at a fairly high altitude, ranging from around 6,000′ (Ol Pejeta) to 4,500′ (Ol Mukutan).  This zone is divided from the much larger which includes Samburu by a steep escarpment, and everything in this much larger zone is much lower, around 2,500′.

Both areas are semi-arid, very similar to much of America’s southwest.  Most of the year it is dry, and when the rains come (late March and again in November), the desert plants like a variety of cactus and heavy-wooded bushes bloom spectacularly and it transforms in a very short time from a sort of brownish, wind-swept area into a vertible Garden of Eden.

So for both zones if you’d like to see the area at its prettiest, and when many of the birds are at their peaks, then travel just after the rains begin, either in late March or mid- to late November.

Animal viewing is great in these areas year round, but it is better during the dry seasons.  This is particularly true of the southern zones, where several important rivers (like the Ewaso Nyiro through Samburu) concentrate huge amounts of game.  But if you are traveling to the southern zone (Samburu, Shaba, Buffalo Springs and the Mathews Mountains) too long into the dry season and even the animals start to disappear, because these rivers dry up.  So for the southern zone for game viewing I recommend December, January and the first half of February; or July and August.

The northern zone is less effected by the dry season because of its higher altitude.  And so for places like Lewa Downs, Sweetwaters, Borana, etc., there is a wider window for good game viewing: December – March, and July – October.

Best Camps in the Mara?

Best Camps in the Mara?

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From MotherGoose335@

Q.    We’re planning our safari right now for next summer and we’re going to be ending in the Masai Mara in Kenya.  When I went online to see available places to stay, I was absolutely overwhelmed, there are so many.  Do you have any recommendations?

A.    I know exactly how you feel!  There are around 6400 bed nights in the Maasai Mara and surrounding private reserves, more than 100 different properties and camps.  Before I tell you my favorites, here are some guide lines for deciding.

First, about half of these are actually inside the reserve, with the other half outside in private reserves.  This is very much a southern African model.  Consider the great Kruger National Park in South Africa.  Most of the lodging is actually outside the park in private reserves like Sabi Sands.

But this model doesn’t work as well in Kenya as it does in South Africa.  The game viewing in the Mara is absolutely better inside the reserve than outside.  But it is also much more crowded inside the reserve than outside.  So for better game viewing: inside the reserve.  For a more exclusive or boutique experience: outside the reserve.

The time of year matters.  If you are traveling to the Mara when the wildebeest herds have normally arrived from the Serengeti (late June – October), then your best bet is to stay as far north in the reserve, or as far south outside the reserve, as possible.  (Except for when they just arrive and just leave.)   For the rest of the year (November – May) it really doesn’t matter, as the game viewing throughout the areas is about the same.

Budget is very important.  Right now there are three main budget levels: $200-300 per day per person; $300-400 per day per person; and more than $400 per day per person.  (These are gross averages.  During the lowest seasons, these could be reduced by 50%; during the highest seasons, like the December holidays, they are doubled.  There are discounts available in all sorts of ways at all times of the year, and your final costs will also have to at least include transport and park fees.)

The lowest budget level really restricts you to the larger lodges, and there is often nothing wrong with these other than that they’re larger.  There are a few camps at this level, but none that I would recommend.  So at this first level, I like Mara Sarova Lodge.  Also at this level, I like the Mara Serena Lodge but its location is good only seasonally, from July – October, and the company is very directed to large suppliers rather than individual bookings.

Most of the properties are in the mid range, and of these my recommendation is solidly Governor’s Camp.  Governor’s actually owns and operates a family of camps in the Mara, and it is Main Governor’s that falls in this range.

At the top end I like Sala’s Camp and Olonana Camp.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I hope it gives you a start.  And note one thing: they are all inside the reserve.  For me, game viewing is the most important thing!

East or South for our Family?

East or South for our Family?

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From LeeAnn1023@

Q.    We are planning a family safari vacation now that our kids are in college, and the great debate is whether to go to East Africa or South Africa.  What do you say?

A.    Both destinations are fabulous.  And they are very different.

Think of East Africa as more like “the Congo than California.”
Think of southern Africa as more like “California than the Congo.”

East Africa is more exotic, much less developed, has much better game viewing and not a whole lot else.  Southern Africa has good game viewing (not as good as East Africa), but that’s usually just a part of a good itinerary, there.  It has lots of safe adventure acitivities like hiking and rafting and surfing, a deep and fascinating history with lots of wonderful museums, and extremely modern and exciting cities like Cape Town.  Oh, and by the way, Victoria Falls.

More and more, people are beginning to treat southern Africa very much like they treat Europe or South America.  East Africa doesn’t have that diversity, yet.

Here’s a good gauge for game viewing.  On a 12-day trip to East Africa in the summer (when family vacations usually occur) you can expect to see 80-100 lion.  On a 12-day trip exclusively game viewing in southern Africa, you’ll likely see around 20 lion.

So if your question is for game viewing, it’s hands-down East Africa.  But if you want a wider experience than just game viewing, then southern Africa is the answer!

How many shots do we need?

How many shots do we need?

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From FrankLFriedreick@

Q.    Do we have to get a lot of shots to go on safari?

A.    No, but your doctor might think so.  Here’s what I mean.  The only shot that any of the governments of sub-Sahara Africa might require is a vaccination against yellow fever, and then only in certain cases and with certain countries.  But that doesn’t mean that your doctor may think that’s all you need.

Several physicians in Munich, Germany, recently were recommending that families planning to visit Disneyland get immunized against hepatitis.  This because of a heptatis scare traced to a fast food place in Orlando.

American hospital travel clinics often recommend quite a cocktail of shots, and I do think some of them are unnecessary.  What I would do is not go to a travel clinic, but make an appointment with your own physician.  This is sometimes difficult, because individual physicians are often trained to funnel you to their hospital’s travel clinic, but I think the time and money you might spend insisting you see your own internists will ultimately pay off.  I really think of travel clinics as profit centers with little real science behind them.

Delightful Gibb’s

Delightful Gibb’s

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It’s so damn hard to tell people they can interrupt game viewing to do other wonderful things in Africa. And when I succeed by having them stay at Gibb’s Farm, it’s something they never forget.

It wasn’t hard to get the Cleveland Zoo to dedicate two of its safari days to Gibb’s Farm, because director, Steve Taylor, and his wife, Sarah, had stayed here a year ago. Two years ago Gibb’s redid itself, and it’s spectacular.

The old farm remains, including the extensive coffee plantation and outstanding gardens. Located at the edge of the Ngorongoro rain forest, the birds and plants are incredibly beautiful.

But the new owners are trying very hard to expand its reputation as one of the most delightful places to stay between the two game parks, Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara. The forest trail into the conservation area has been expanded, wonderful partnerships with the local Tloma village and school have been established, and local experts from Maasai shaman to area educators and artists have been employed to transform what had been a beautiful way station into a destination in its own right.

I think they’ve succeeded. The new Nantucket Cottages are exceptional, each almost like a small home. The staff is really top of the line, and the food – well, after all it does come from its own garden. But the chefs have figured out some extraordinary dishes!

The full free day was filled with all sorts of activities, including a farm and garden tour, participation in the early morning bread-making, and an evening conclave with the local Maasai naturalist doctor. We even offered a dawn game drive to Lake Manyara, which allowed us to save what would normally be an entire day allocated to that, so that the stay at Gibb’s could be expanded to two days.

“I never believed a place like this could exist in Africa,” Frank Wagner said to me with utter delight. That’s what Gibb’s has become, a most delightful place!

Is Kenya safe enough for a Honeymoon?

Is Kenya safe enough for a Honeymoon?

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From RachDogger@

Q.    My fiancee and I want to go on safari for a honeymoon, but we’ve been told it’s not safe to visit Kenya.  The U.S. State Department shows warnings.

A.    I’ve written a lot about this, and you might want to read my blog to the left, “Is Kenya Safe?”  I think it is … safe enough.  And also keep in mind, there are many options to Kenya in Africa that will give you a fabulous honeymoon!  The short answer, though, is YES, Kenya right now is safe enough.  Now for the lengthy explanation of what that means, see my blog.

Is Kosher available on safari?

Is Kosher available on safari?

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From SimonandMariaLWagner@

Q.    We recently returned from a wonderful safari to South Africa (Kruger, Phinda and Bushkloof) which we had been planning for some time, because we need kosher meals throughout.  Now we’d like to visit Tanzania.  Is this possible?

A.    Right now, no.  If you stayed most of your time around the bigger cities of Arusha and Dar-es-Salaam, taking short day trips to nearby parks, then it could be arranged.  And I know of a few cases where kosher meals were actually chartered in from South Africa, though that would have been very, very expensive.  So for now, I’m afraid the answer for normal budgets is no.

Best Time To Go

Best Time To Go

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First-timers always ask, “When is the best time to go?” to East Africa. There’s no easy answer, but there are many wrong answers!

I got a lovely email this morning from Amy who is planning her safari honeymoon. Honeymoons are a large part of any tourism business, and according to lovecarnival.com, more and more couples are not going on the honeymoon right after the wedding, but rather waiting until “just the right time.”

Honeymooners also spend more on their trip than the average tourist, and more than they will spend on future trips in their near future. So honeymooners, especially, want to get it all right. So there’s no better person for me to answer, “When’s the best time to go,” than the soon-to-be-married Amy!

So I haven’t answer, yet… I loathe this question, but Amy has motivated me. It’s time to try. But beware, this isn’t going to be easy.

First of all, “best” reflects an incredible personal bias. “Best of what?” Best animal viewing? Best weather? Amy understandably wants to end her trip on a beautiful East African beach, so that helps immensely in giving her an answer. She obviously doesn’t want to celebrate her marriage on a beach when it’s storming. East Africa doesn’t have hurricanes, but it has pretty awful coastal storms from about the end of April – the middle of August. So for Amy, at least, no summer trip.

But then “best of what” next? I’m continually amazed at all the bad advice posted on sites like TripAdvisor. For a safari, it seems that whenever anyone goes is the “best” time. Well, it obviously was for them, and that’s the point.

There’s virtually not a time in the year when people aren’t on safari, and virtually all of them are having a great time. And that’s because a safari is so dynamic and exciting, no matter when it occurs.

Cop out. Well, sort of, but I’ve lived there. I’ve spent my life there. What if I asked you, “When’s the best time to visit your home town?” I suppose we all have our preferences, but then we start to think about a bit more carefully.

Yes, it’s 20 below outside my window in January, but my gosh how beautiful it is! And if you like snow – well, we have skiing, skating, snowboarding, and it’s the best time of the year to see bald eagles! Then, again, right now in the fullness of summer, the forests are outstanding, the hike along the river trail…..

So you see, it’s simply not easy to answer. But there are many wrong answers:

Don’t trust any advice from someone who’s been only once or twice. They’re probably very earnest, but they just don’t have the experience. They might be very worthwhile in directing you to an expert, but they aren’t the expert.

Don’t read travel brochures. All they want to do is sell you something.

Beware about magazine and newspaper articles. They used to be very unbiased and good, but in today’s media crunch, they’re more often infocommercials than real information.

Guide books can be very useful, but make sure they’re current. A Lonely Planet guidebook can lose value in just a few years. This is as true about the weather (with global warming) as about the best lodge (decaying with time).

My personally favorite time to go on safari is March and April. That’s when I schedule my migration safaris, and when I’ve most enjoyed guiding for the last nearly 40 years. And here’s my bias:

1) It’s the wet season in northern Tanzania, and that makes it the most beautiful time of the year. Quite apart from wild animals, the landscapes are at their most spectacular.

2) It’s the only time of the year when the entire wildebeest migration is concentrated in a single area: the southern grassland plains of the Serengeti. This is the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth.

3) It’s a low season! Yes, that’s right! So there are fewer people and prices are lower.

But I’ll be quick to qualify my bias. In April many of the better camps and lodges close, because there just isn’t enough business. Keep in mind this has nothing to do with game viewing or weather or anything else except that April and May worldwide are the months with the fewest travelers.

So someone insisting on “optimum comfort and style” every single night should not join my April safaris.

I think the best game viewing occurs in March and April, but this is mostly true just for the great plains where there aren’t any trees! A lot of East Africa is bush, and during March and April game viewing in the bush can be challenging. The forests are full and dense, and the animals are dispersed, because food and water is available, everywhere. At the height of the dry season (October) a 12-day safari normally finds between 60-70 lion. During the wet season (April and May) it’s usually only half that.

So someone whose “best time” means “seeing the most lions”, then I’d advise traveling in October.

What about babies? The most animal babies occur in February and March.

Temperature? Hottest times in January and February; coldest times in July.

Rain? Forget about this. It absolutely doesn’t matter if it’s raining or not.

Snakes? Best time during the rains, in … oops.

Birds? Best time is when the largest numbers of migrants can be found: January – March.

Elephants? During the dry season: June – October.

Prices? Cheapest March – June; most expensive around holidays and July & August. This is as true for on the ground services as for your airline tickets.

So now that I’ve totally confused you, let’s make it simple. My favorite time is March and April, but it may not be your favorite time, for all the reasons above.. and many more.

The best way to get a straight answer is to ask a straight question. Make sure before asking you know, like Amy, some important things that you want or are expecting. Then, the answer will be easier, too!

Border Opening?

Border Opening?

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Overland border crossings between Kenya and Tanzania have been restricted since the late 1970s. Are things about to change?

While in the Mara for the last three days I talked with a border policeman at the Sand River Gate. He said that in the last week, Kenyan customs and immigration officials have arrived with new vehicles, housing materials and new radios.

He claimed that the Sand River Gate, which links Kenya’s Mara with Tanzania’s Serengeti, is about to reopen after more than 30 years.

This corresponds with COMESA’s (the organization of East African states) announcement last month that trade in many industries, including tourism, was going to be facilitated by reduced tariffs and import/export regulations.

This would be fantastic. We could again accomplish our circle tour of both countries, without encountering the huge local air costs now associated with doing so.

My family safari, for example, was at Ngorongoro Crater before ending in the Mara. The Mara is about 160 miles north of where we were, through the Serengeti. But instead of this obvious direction, we had to double-back to Manyara, fly to Kilimanjaro Airport, then fly to Nairobi, and then take a third flight into the Mara. This was not only time-consuming, but very expensive.

The history of the closed border goes back to a dispute in the late 1970s. That dispute no longer exists, but Tanzania discovered that by closing the border it could accelerate its own tourist development by excluding the dominant local Kenyan companies from monopolizing the market.

That was a very reasonable position to take, particularly 30 years ago when Kenya was the economic giant in the area and Tanzania was a crippled, failed socialist republic. And the strategy worked. But now that Tanzania is becoming its own powerhouse economy in the area, with agriculture and mining much more important than tourism, the jumpstart could be over.

The economic downturn demands these types of radical reorientations. Stay tuned. We’ve all got our fingers crossed!

Crater of Cats

Crater of Cats

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This is not the best time to visit Ngorongoro, because so many of the animals have left during the dry season. And that meant for us, lots of cats!

Travel brochure description is a communication form that is often low on truth. And economies often motivate the travel companies to use the same description of a place – like Ngorongoro Crater – regardless of when during the year a visit might occur.

That might be understandable, given Americans penchant for exhaustive competition for the best price in travel, but once unmasked the reaction is often just as wrong. You can’t go on safari at any time of the year in East Africa and be visiting the many places you should each at their own best times.

Ngorongoro and the Serengeti have their lowest animal concentrations in the last half of the year, during northern Tanzania’s single one long dry season. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad time to go. If you also visit the places that are at their best when you go (as we did in the Mara), you’ll find that even the less-than-best times elsewhere can be lots of fun!

Many animals don’t leave. Like the cats. Our visit to Ngorongoro started as we drove up the driveway to our lodge, Sopa, on the west side of the crater. We were greeted by two young male lions walking down!

Their bellies were empty and they looked a bit disgruntled. Their new manes were yet to color, so they had an appearance almost of being angel lions! Clearly, they had been recently kicked out of their pride, and they apparently were contemplating becoming the new pridemasters of Sopa Lodge!

Our game viewing in the crater was truly wonderful. It was cat dominated, although we did see several rhinos, many resident wildebeest and had a beautiful picnic breakfast beside a lake filled with hippo. In fact, the lake was so beautifully filled with hippo that Bill tried to capture the whole scene by stepping further and further away until we had to corral him back.

Even as we ate breakfast, a cat hunt unfolded within view! We watched several females who may have been hunting zebra and buffalo that were hardly 150 meters away.

We also found one of the big tuskers near the forest, which I regret to report is diminishing so quickly that I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s gone in just a few years.

And the scenery of the crater, of course, never gives up its premier position in our memories. Chris is a painter, and her sketchbook start to fill with several pages of beautiful crater landscapes.

But the cats abound! Males on kills, females with cubs, disgruntled youngsters… it was truly a crater of cats.

Overland Attractions

Overland Attractions

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There’s a lot more to coming to East Africa than just to see animals, as I’ve often written. And overland travel increase those options even more.

Our day of travel from Kenya to Tanzania (from Amboseli to Tarangire) was made easier by the enthusiasm of everyone to do everything on the way! So we left very early, around 7 a.m. I was mightily impressed by this gun-ho group demeanor. The drive out of Amboseli reminded us of how bad the park is: parts of the drive were really little more than desert. I was reminded of villages in northern Cameroun near Chad.

And to make matters worse, we were on Kenyan roads. Now granted that there is a lot of road building going on right now, which has an appearance of something better than the last 25 years. But there was no road building from Amboseli to the Namanga border, and our three courageous Landcruisers were traveling with accomplishment over some of the worst dips, potholes, gutters and canyons I’ve ever seen in something dared to be called a road.

I suppose it was inevitable. I was with James in the front car and we stopped at a giant termite mound when the cell phone reception stopped and we could no longer see Bonface or Sammy in their respective Landcruisers.

Finally, there were a couple of antennas on my phone and I got through to Bonface. His car “had been defeated.” He had enlisted the help of a nearby Maasai village, but no one could restart the vehicle. Ari, Dillon, Marley, Tim and Hayley all piled into Sammy’s car which was on its way. We turned around immediately and headed to their defense.

It was only a few minutes and Sammy’s car was racing towards us like a true Kenyan matatu, now with 11 people in a 6-passenger vehicle, plus everyone’s luggage! According to Ari the Maasai weren’t very helpful, and during the attempt, she “killed eight flies.”

Despite the setback we actually got to Namanga pretty early, which is a definite plus, since border crossings between Kenya and Tanzania can take hours. Fortunately, this time it didn’t. Tumaini, Charles and Justin were waiting for us with our new set of Landcruisers; we pretty much sailed through customs and immigration on both sides when…

We met the Tanzanian road builders! The road from Namanga to Arusha is completely torn up, with heavy equipment looking even more enthusiastic than I’ve seen in Kenya. But torn up is the key phrase, and we lumbered to Arusha when we should have been sailing.

The drought effected areas continued most of the way. Erosion is one of Africa’s biggest problems, and just north of Arusha huge hunks of earth have been lost to overgrazing followed by erosion. Encouraging, though, was the area just north of Arusha which is being reclaimed by local landowners and citizen groups. Combined with new irrigation in the area, it transformed a desert into pretty agricultural landscapes. Kudus for Tanzania!

So despite all our problems we were at the Arusha hotel more or less on time, and several people walked around the town for a while as others changed money. We then headed to Meserani, as nearly everyone wanted to see the snake farm. We had a wonderful guide, and at the end of the tour, Marley, Bill, Dillon, Hayley and Ari got themselves draped with a (non-poisonous) snake for a few exceptional photos.

Marian teaches at Bank Street U in Manhattan and among her classes are some in museum use, management and design. She took several of her family across the street to the Maasai Cultural Center (the ticket for the snake farm allows free entry, there) and said she was pretty impressed.

After wolfing down our lunches and shopping at the curio store and Tinga Tinga gallery, we finally started our final leg into Tarangire National Park, arriving the welcoming baobab tree at the park gate around 4:30p. Game viewing hadn’t even begun and it had already been a pretty full day!

Nairobi Museum

Nairobi Museum

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For all the stress of Nairobi, the city, its stellar museum makes it all worthwhile.

My second safari of the season, the Howard and Godfrey families, arrived unusually altogether on Saturday night. Like most travelers to East Africa, what they wanted to do was see animals, so I’d been unsuccessful suggesting a two-night stay in Nairobi to begin.

Two nights gives you a full day to see all of the city’s attractions, and they’re really nice: in order of my preference: the museum, walking downtown and visiting contemporary art galleries, the Karen Blixen Homestead, Giraffe Manor and Kazuri Beads. There’s also the elephant feeding at Daphne Sheldrick’s orphanage which is wonderful, but the 11 a.m. schedule in the Langata area often makes any other additional option then difficult.

So I made the decision that on our first day out of Nairobi, hardly 12 hours after everyone arrived, that we would visit the museum and the city, have lunch, and then bee-line it down to Tsavo. After all, it was a Sunday, the quietest day of the week, and I knew traffic would be manageable. I was … sort of right.

But the morning in the museum was a hit. I start with Ahmed, the huge (“hugest” according to Dillon) elephant ever found in Kenya. Guarded until its death a generation ago, it is now fiberglassed for eternity, and provides an excellent place to begin the fascinating discussion of elephants.

We then visit the gourd pyramid, where gourds from ethnic groups around Kenya are beautifully linked together as a demonstration of how varied the people of East Africa are.

But my favorite room is the early man exhibit, including what I really believe is one of the most phenomenally valuable exhibits of any museum in the world.

There are a number of excellent early man exhibits in museums around the world, and South Africa’s Sterkfontein Cradle of Mankind museum is probably the overall best. But what I find so wonderful about Nairobi’s exhibit is that they seem to keep it contemporary. When Michel Brunet published finding Toumai, what may be the earliest hominid ever discovered (6 mya), the display in Nairobi was changed pretty quickly to reflect this possibility.

The long glass display case of casts of early hominids is excellent arranged, with perfect, concise description. And it all begins with a hands-on exhibit of what a fossil is.

But the gem is the smaller, square and often sealed-off room that displays the original skulls of 7 early hominids including both Nutcracker Man and Turkana Boy. These are two of the most important finds ever made, certainly vying with Lucy for the most important ever. I think of the protection that Lucy received during her recent world tour, versus the trust that museum officials in Nairobi accord their visitors who stick their noses up to the glass of these invaluable fossils.

I think everyone was pretty pleased with the tour. We followed it with a walking tour of Nairobi and lunch at the Stanley’s Thorntree café.

I hope they were, anyway. The subsequent drive into Tsavo on the “new” Mombasa road was a nightmare. The truck traffic was unbelievable. More on this in a later blog.

Beautiful Sasaab

Beautiful Sasaab

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In the earliest days of African travel, visitors came to hunt. Later, they used cameras instead of guns, but animals remained the principal reason. Today travelers are more interested in a wider experience, and one that includes real R & R as well.

Animals remain the main reason an American would choose an African safari vacation. But today there is a growing interest in the peoples and cultures of the area as well, both historical and contemporary. I often think this has something to do with the incredible availability of wildlife documentaries and the growing sensitivities of our increasingly stressed planet.

But within the last few years another motivation has become to appear: just good R&R.

That’s what vacations were always intended to be. The educational component of vacations really didn’t appear until the 1960s. Many Americans traveled to Europe since the earliest parts of the last century, but rarely then did they visit museums or have cliff notes on politics and society. They normally took cruises that rarely docked or found a single splendid villa in Florence to spend a month. It was, afterall, a retreat from the pressures and demands of a working life.

The more exotic destinations like Africa were never presumed to have a spa. Boy, has that changed!

There is hardly a lodge or even tented camp in Africa, today, which doesn’t have a full-time masseuse. And as travelers became more and more enamored of such amenity, the spa has become a virtually essential ingredient of any good property. And some properties are beginning to emphasize the “retreat” to R&R and spa, above animals.

Such is the outstanding remote Kenyan lodge, Sasaab. It’s also a community based tourism project with the local Samburu, assuring a mutually beneficial success to its own investors.

Sasaab is located west of Samburu National Park, in a remote part of Laikipia on the Ewaso Nyiro River. My family safari just spent two wonderful days here. Nine gargantuan rooms with 40-foot thatched roofs and individual plunge pools were all set on a bluff above the river with fantastic views of hundreds of square miles of Laikipia. It is absoluely conceivable that you would spend four days here not leaving your own little villa. The architecture is northern African Arab, perfect for the warm climate. The public areas are all open. The food is unbelievable and the hosts, Tony and Ali Alport, become fast friends to all who enter the massive arched entry from the long bumpy road from Samburu.

The children adored the big pool, the camel rides, the visit to the Grevy’s zebra orphange, and the climb to the top of a flat rock for sundowners. We did see game, including elephant, but it seemed secodary to the relaxing if breath-taking experience. Annie spoke for all the adults in the family when she said, “This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever stayed at.”

Forest High

Forest High

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The Aberdare Forest is the perfect way to begin an exciting safari. There is a lot of game and beautiful scenery.

Most visitors to the Aberdare National Park travel only to one of the famous tree hotels, which we did on our second night. But our entire first day was spent deep in the park all the way up to the spectacular Karura waterfalls.

The Aberdare is a huge park, stretching almost 100 miles from Thomson’s Falls (Nyauhuru) in the north to east of Naivasha in the south. About 50 miles of east-west tracks link the west side with the east side, and the habitats traveled over this route are astounding.

We didn’t traverse the park, but rather entered from the east at around 7000′ through the Moi Nyayo Tea Estate into the middle forests just below the bamboo line. There was a lot of evidence of elephant, but we saw none.

We climbed through the bamboo forests, which were horribly dry and brittle, and encountered our first family of elephant at around 9,000′. The family of eight individuals was literally encased in white flowering bush shrubs that must have hidden a small marsh.

We continued onto the moorland bumping into Jackson’s francolin all along the way, but it was very dry and we didn’t see the mountain reedbuck as we usually do. Instead, we encountered bushbuck above 10,000′ which is rather odd. Once again, I think the unusual weather is contributing to the unusual animal situations we’re finding.

Near the top of the road, though, rain had fallen and it was quite green and lush. So the waterfalls were lovely, and it is a welcome half-hour trek from the carpark to where several viewing stands have been constructed. On the way back we had our box lunch.

The kids were much more adventuresome with our lunch than their parents! I showed everyone how to bite off the top of a passion fruit and suck in the seedy fruit, and India fell in love with the taste. She began trading parts of her lunch for fruit from others.

Ada remarked on how beautiful the park was, and that’s half the reason for the day’s outing. Peter said it was the most beautiful place he had ever been. It was a bonus when we descended into the heavy forests near the park’s edge and began seeing great game. We encountered several elephant families, a lot of buffalo, and more bushbuck and baboon.

But the highlight of the whole day was seeing several families of colobus monkey. The first sight of a colobus brought screeches of delight from Emma and Phoebe. Phoebe immediately pronounced the monkey the best animal in the world! They are truly striking, thick black coats covered with a long white manes. Their very long, bushy white tails fly among the forest as they leap from tree to tree.

We got to The Ark tree hotel just as a number of elephant arrived. After Zanzy got his requisite tea down, we went immediately to the bottom turret and watched fabulous elephant encounters as multiple families came to dig for salt.

Later, in fact, more than 30 elephant congregated on the salt lick at the same time, with remarkable behaviors as certain families met or remet others. There were very young babies, and the mothers combined to try to keep all the males away.

Until super-Ele arrived! One of the largest male elephants I’ve ever seen, he must certainly have approached six tons and stood 11-12′. The females didn’t try to move him out of the salt lick, and he went politely among the different families introducing himself to the special delight of the youngsters.

The day ended after dinner with giant forest hog and hyaena. Everyone left their buzzers on, which awakens you to anything special, but the day had been so exciting, not a soul stirred the whole night long!