Fly and Drive Kenya Safari, 2021

I have just wrapped up a big fly and drive safari around Kenya with a Rwandan gorillas adventure at the end. This was two and a half years in the making, as the covid pandemic postponed the original 2020 summer date. There was a time when it looked like even 2021 summer might be touch-and-go, but everyone stuck in there, jumped through a bunch of hoops, and made it happen. And in doing so, got the trip of their lives.

We spent eleven nights in Kenya, visiting five different parks. Then we spent three nights in Rwanda, but I'll touch on that more in the next post. Our experience in Kenya ranged from having our own private driver and safari landcruiser, nicknamed the 'Blue Rhino', to taking small bush planes into unpaved airstrips. We stayed in luxury tents, had coffee delivered to our rooms, shared a pool with warthogs, saw amazing stars and nocturnal animals on a night safari, fed giraffes, crossed the equator....twice, saw snow on Mt Kilimanjaro, watched countless sunrises and sunsets (some with gin and tonics in our hands), had epic close encounters with lions, and witnessed one of the greatest wildlife shows on the earth, the Great Migration as it crossed the Mara River.

We started by experiencing close encounters with giraffes at the giraffe center in Nairobi, followed by lunch at my go-to trendy spot in Karen called Talisman. Then we made our way out to Acacia Lodge in the middle of the Swara plains. This was the site of our first sundowner. We sipped local beer and wine while watching zebras and wildebeests grazing in front of the distant Nairobi skyline. Peter and Dee got the full nocturnal bush experience with some screaming tree hyrax just outside their bungalow. The next morning Andrea, Charlie, and Katie woke up early to join me for a five mile walking safari through the ranch. This is one of the rare places where we can walk with wild animals since there are no big cats, buffalo, or elephants.

Our trusted driver, James, picked us up after breakfast and drove us four hours down the Mombasa highway to the entrance of Tsavo West National Park. We stayed at the Kilaguni Serena lodge, which looks out over a beautiful water hole. We all spent time sipping wine and gin and tonics, admiring all the different animals that visited the water hole during our stay. But having our own driver and vehicle means we could spend extra time out on game drives. We would all gather around the coffee station at 6am then walk out and meet James for our morning game drive. Then we are back by breakfast around 9am, then pool, pictures, relax, and lunch before heading out again around 3 for a long afternoon and sunset game drive. James would have the roof raised so we could stand up during the game drives. It can be a bit bouncy but it is worth it to have a high, 360 degree view of the landscape.

The group had a lot of first here in Tsavo. We had lots of elephants, elands, impala, and buffalo. Most of the usual suspects while on safari. The dik diks were out of control, but the big cats were elusive. We searched and searched, but it wasn't until our last night here that we found the jackpot, a mother leopard with an older cub. After all our searching on tree limbs and in bushes, the leopard ended up being ontop of a brick road sign in the middle of the road. It was as surprised to see us and we were to see it. The two leopards casually walked down the road before slipping off into the dense bush. I had waited sixteen years to see a leopard cub. Everyone was filled with adrenaline and excitement for their first big cats of the safari!

The fab five on the lava flows of Tsavo

After two nights in Tsavo, we drove through the red dirt and lava flows towards Mt Kilimanjora which was towering in the distance across the Tanzanian border. We entered Masaai land, passing villages and young boys herding goats and cattle across the dry landscape. At each gate crossing the local ladies would rush out to the vehicle, their hands full of Masaai jewelry, art, statues, and more. Before we knew it we had left the red dust of Tsavo behind and entered the white dust of Amboseli National park. This arid park is centered around lush, green marshes fed by underground springs from Kilimanjaro.

Amboseli is such a stark change to the dense bush of Tsavo West. Here you can see elephant families lounging in the green marsh from miles away. Pink flamingos dot the shorelines and zebras and wildebeest are peppered throughout the plains in big herds. And here is where the group got their first lions...and lots of them! We ended up seeing a group of nine lions lounging by the marsh towards the end of our first afternoon game drive. Then in typical fashion we raced off deeper into the park when James got word that other lions were seen up and about. We didn't have much time to spend searching, since our 7pm deadline for being back in the confines of the lodge was approaching quickly. But James found them in the fading light, then we raced back to the Serena Amboseli with just seconds to spare.

Amboseli is where we did our night game drive, finding nocturnal animals like civets, a white tailed mongoose, hyena on the move, and a serval on the hunt. With only a few other groups at the lodge we really felt like we had the place all to ourselves. Andrea did some dealings with the locals for a black market masaai blanket, and drinks by the pool were on everyone's agenda.

This is where the safari turned it up a notch and we started the fly-in safari portion. From Amboseli we flew in a small 12 seater plane with Safarilink to the domestic airport in Nairobi. We quickly changed planes to another 12 seater for an hour flight north, across the equator to Samburu National Reserve. It was pretty fun flying in and seeing James and the 'Blue Rhino' waiting for us next to the airstrip. We stayed on the Buffalo Springs side of the river, which turned out to be where the large herds of Grevy zebra were located. The big highlights from our three nights here were fighting zebras, tree climbing lions, mating lions, cubs, and finding the Samburu 5 (grevy zebra, reticulated giraffe, gerinuk, besia oryx, and the somali ostrich.) We did get used to having our trio of desserts here and everyone enjoyed the traditional method of getting hot water. We all had wood fires heating the shower water outside our rooms in the mornings and evenings. On our last night we stayed a little too long with mating lions on the Samburu side of the river. When James looked at the clock he hit the gas and took us on a wild ride. We survived the 'Kenya 1000', obviously coming in 1st, and were all relieved when we slipped back into camp 11 minutes late but with no reprimand from the gate guard.

James and the Fab Five in the 'Blue Rhino'

Samburu is also where we had one of the most unique experiences of our trip. I took the group to a local Samburu village. I have been going to this village for 16 years. Our host and English speaking guide there is a wonderful man named Gabriel. It has been such an experience watching him, and his village grow older through the years. The tour usually consist of a dance by the men and then the women, where they invite the group to dance with them. The men traditionally compete with who can jump the highest. Then the women sing and welcome us into the village as we go and see how their village is built and set up. The Samburu are very similar to the more well-known Maasai tribe. Their life revolves around their cattle and goats. Young boys herd the animals to find food and water in the arid environment. Sometimes this leads to conflicts with wild animals like lions, but that is the way of the Samburu. Their village is surrounded by a thick wall of thorny acacia branches. This keeps the cows safely inside at night, and the lions and hyena out. The villagers themselves live in huts that were traditionally made out of sticks, dung, and straw...but now have evolved into corrugated metal, plastic and cardboard. A small fire inside is for cooking, and stretched animal hides provide a softer place to sleep.

The very young kids are taught right there in the village. They gathered for us and sang out an ABC song and counting in English...which is now the official language of Kenya. But their mother tongue is still their tribal language. They will learn Swahili when they go to school...if they go to school. While the government is trying to mandate all kids be educated, the life of these pastoralist means many kids are ushered into being shepherds instead. After seeing the adorable kids, we watch in awe as a couple of the men of the village start a fire the traditional way, rubbing two sticks together. Word of wisdom, you need good calluses on your hands before attempting this. They manage to ignite some dry dung, then transfer it to a pile of straw. After some careful blowing the smoke turns into fire right in front of our face.

After a wonderful three nights here, including a sundowner ontop of a hill that only the blue rhino could get to, we had to say goodbye to James. We loaded up into another bush plane and flew south to the crown jewel of the Kenya safari parks, the Masai Mara. After two scheduled, and one unschedule fuel stop, we made it to the Kichwa Tembo airstrip for our stay in the the luxury tented camp. We were greeting with the traditional welcome song at the camp, then promptly took covid test for our future exit of the country. This was our nicest camp yet, and everyone got pretty excited when they found out they could order coffee to be delivered to their rooms in the morning. The sleeping tents were huge, the beds comfortable, and the surrounding forest filled with animal noises. As I facetimed with Fisher and Heidi back in VT they could hear the howling hyena through my phone.

Dennis was our guide here and he really put on a good show. The only big 5 animal we hadn't seen yet was a rhino, so we put that high on our wish list for Dennis. He tried very hard our first evening to find us an elusive black rhino, and had to drive like a bat out of hell just to make it out of the park by seven. The next morning was one of the best game drives ever. Dennis started out the morning by finding two black rhinos, a mother and calf. The sun was still rising and backlighting the mother and calf as they hustled across the savanna towards the brush where they often hide. The we stumbled upon a serval crossing the road. Servals are medium sized, spotted cats that look like a house cat mated with a leopard. Then we drove across the mara to check on the herds gathering at the river crossings. There were large numbers of wildebeest on the other side of the river methodically working their way closer.

We had enough time to set up a wonderful breakfast under a lone tree on the savanna. Dennis provided a feast for us while we watched the lines of wildebeest get closer and closer. After everyone was stuffed we drove down closer to the river. Dennis put us in a great position as the front few wildebeest bounded over the edge of the cliff towards the Mara river. Unfortunately one private vehicle drove right up towards the wildebeest on the other side of the river and they all stopped. The few that had gone down came back up the same side and it looked like we missed our chance to view the famous river crossing of the Great Migration.

Luck and patience were on a side, after about thirty minutes of waiting the wildebeest suddenly turned back towards the river. This time they didn't stop. They kicked up a cloud of dust, then burst out into the river, crossing to fresh grass on our side. As we marveled at the sheer number of wildebeest and chaos of the crossing, our attention was turned towards upstream where a monster crocodile was swimming towards the crossing. He swam past a herd of lounging hippos, dwarfing them as he swam past. He must have been 15ft. I fully expected at least one wildebeest to end up in this crocodiles jaws. Sure enough a few moments later there was a big commotion as the croc latched onto one of the wildbeest, dragging it off away from the rest of the stomping hoofs.

The crossing continued even as this wildebeest fought for its life, never managing to get out of the massive jaws of the hungry croc. I expected the struggle to end much sooner than it did, but the will to live was strong with this one. The young wildebeest fought in the shallow water for forty minutes before finally slipping under the water one last time. It was the circle of life, the drama of the Great Migration, unfolding right in front of our eyes. It is awesome to witness something like this, and to know that most people will only ever get to see this on the national geographic channel.

The Mara gave us lots of lion encounters, and some fun off road driving with Dennis. We found ourselves in the middle of thousands of wildebeest and zebras, becoming one with the Great Migration.

Some Highlights of Safari life in Kenya