kenya on my mind
So you may have noticed that it’s been a while since we last checked in. Well, as I think we may have mentioned, guzoguy and I recently completed (or began, depending on how you look at it) a new adventure: we have expanded our family via international adoption! And as you can imagine, that’s pretty much turned our world upside down (in the best way) and it’s taking us a while to get back on track with all of our pre-guzokid projects. But when we created this site, we had the intention of posting at least once a week, and we still want to stick with that goal… so consider this the first of many new posts to come.
As it happens, guzoguy and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary today, so I’ve been reminiscing about our honeymoon in Kenya and figured a post about that trip might be a good way to get back into the swing of things here.
Now I have to warn you, our honeymoon was truly a trip of a lifetime, and I don’t think there is any way I can possibly do justice to that experience, but I hope I can share the highlights and pass along the names of a few places that I think everyone should have on their list of places to go.
We split our time in Kenya among four different locations: three safari locales and one luxurious beach locale (we wrote more about it here). It was the perfect mix of nature and sightseeing on the one hand, and quiet and relaxation on the other. By the way, I wouldn’t exactly say we roughed it during the safari portions of the trip, but ending the trip with some time at a private beach villa was definitely a nice way to unwind before heading home to the big city.
Our journey took us to the Masai Mara, Amboseli, and Meru for safari, and then to the coast near Mombasa for some time at the beach. Of the three safari locales, the Masai Mara has the most wildlife by far and you will have a very good chance of spotting the “Big Five” (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino) if you spend time there. It is also where we stayed at our favorite spot in Kenya, if not the world: Kichwa Tembo Bateleur Camp.
There are simply not enough words to describe how wonderful Bateleur Camp is and how truly amazing and lovely the staff there was. Like all of the locations we stayed at, Bateleur Camp is small and has a limited number of guests, so you will always feel like you are one of a privileged few. But unlike the other safari accommodations, the staff at Bateleur Camp went above and beyond at every step to personalize our stay and to ensure that our experience in Kenya was one we would never forget, not to mention one that would be difficult to match anywhere. Imagine you are on what you think is a “routine” safari drive (in quotes, because safari drives are by their nature not routine), when you suddenly come around some brush to find a tent set up in the middle of the bush… and in the tent you see Stanley, the warm and friendly manager of Bateleur Camp, a fully stocked bar, a chef preparing you (and by you, I mean just you and your new husband) an afternoon BBQ with lots of goodies and a visit from members of a local Masaai tribe complete with song and dance. (Oh, and of course Stanley has also set up a portable bathroom including sink and scented soaps, just in case). That’s what you get at Kichwa Tembo’s Bateleur Camp… and so much more. (Oh and I should note that CC Africa, the company that runs Bateleur Camp, adheres to a model of sustainable ecotourism… we were so impressed by the company’s philosophy and portfolio of accommodations that we will look to stay at CC Africa properties when we return to Africa and the other locations they serve).
From there we traveled to Amboseli and Tortilis Camp. Tortilis Camp seems to be mentioned often on “Top 100″ and “Best of” lists, and while we certainly thought the accommodation, food, and services were all very good, we didn’t think they were anything special. Perhaps no hotel could have awed us so soon after our stay at Bateleur, but even when I try to be more objective and not to compare the two, I just can’t rate Tortilis as one of the best places we’ve stayed. We found management a bit aloof and the overall stay was nice, but not special. Even though there were probably less than 20 guests while we were there, we felt no different than we would have had we been at a big city hotel with hundreds of rooms. As for Amboseli itself, well, it is quite different from the Masai Mara - more open and dry. The park sits in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which makes for some pretty cool scenery. We had very good luck in terms of game viewing, but it was quite an odd experience, as the landscape is so open and unprotected, that you literally see lions and hyena and cheetah just wandering about with no bush to keep them hidden.
After Amboseli, we made our way to Meru and Elsa’s Kopje. Elsa’s Kopje (named for Elsa the lion made famous by the movie Born Free - read more about the connection here) is managed and operated by the same company that manages Tortilis and there were some obvious similarities (such as dining, staffing). And while it still did not live up to the fantastic Bateleur Camp, it felt more personal and unique than Tortilis. For example, each cabin has its own special feature - ours had an outdoor jacuzzi that was literally set into the mountainside. Also, Meru is pretty hard to get to. In general, you need to take smaller, charter flights to travel to any safari location in Kenya, but in order to get to Meru, you literally have to charter your own plane. What an odd experience it is to have a young man in shorts walk up to you, shake your hand and introduce himself as “Pilot Jamie,” then help you and your luggage into his tiny plane - guzoguy up front in the co-pilot’s seat, guzogal in the (small) back seat with the bags! Crazy! Anyway… back to Elsa’s. Because of the need to charter a flight to Meru, not many people travel to this region of Kenya and that’s a shame. The landscape is quite different than that of the Masai Mara or Amboseli - much lusher and greener and denser… and Elsa’s is atop a small mountain (or kopje), providing for a beautiful setting. Because of the landscape, the game viewing is not as good as the other two locations, but we never really minded. On each safari drive, we would enjoy breathtaking scenery and the fact that we never saw another person!
From Meru we made our way to the coast for a little relaxation and pampering at a private villa. Since we’ve previously written about the villas at Alfajiri, and this post is already getting pretty long, I won’t start rambling about that part of the trip now. Suffice to say that anyone who ventures to Alfajiri will know what it feels like to be treated like royalty. It is the definition of “the good life” for sure.
I’m going to skip our usual ratings here, because it’s hard to compare safari camps with other hotels: in each case, pretty much everything is all-inclusive and the basic set-up of each camp is similar. What sets the camps apart are: the actual accommodations (of the three I mentioned, Tortilis was the most basic, Elsa’s the most modern, and Bateleur Camp the most reminiscent of a fancy safari camp from the 1920’s); the staff (all Kenyans at Bateleur Camp - incl. management); the food (good everywhere and simply amazing at Bateleur Camp (thank you Chef Meshach)); and the extra touches like breakfasts and sundowners in the bush (all camps), hotwaterbottles in our beds to keep them warm after the sun went down (Bateleur Camp), etc.
What else can I say? If it isn’t obvious, this was a trip we will never forget and also one we hope to do again.
So you may have noticed that it’s been a while since we last checked in. Well, as I think we may have mentioned, guzoguy and I recently completed (or began, depending on how you look at it) a new adventure: we have expanded our family via international adoption! And as you can imagine, that’s pretty much turned our world upside down (in the best way) and it’s taking us a while to get back on track with all of our pre-guzokid projects. But when we created this site, we had the intention of posting at least once a week, and we still want to stick with that goal… so consider this the first of many new posts to come.
As it happens, guzoguy and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary today, so I’ve been reminiscing about our honeymoon in Kenya and figured a post about that trip might be a good way to get back into the swing of things here.
Now I have to warn you, our honeymoon was truly a trip of a lifetime, and I don’t think there is any way I can possibly do justice to that experience, but I hope I can share the highlights and pass along the names of a few places that I think everyone should have on their list of places to go.
We split our time in Kenya among four different locations: three safari locales and one luxurious beach locale (we wrote more about it here). It was the perfect mix of nature and sightseeing on the one hand, and quiet and relaxation on the other. By the way, I wouldn’t exactly say we roughed it during the safari portions of the trip, but ending the trip with some time at a private beach villa was definitely a nice way to unwind before heading home to the big city.
Our journey took us to the Masai Mara, Amboseli, and Meru for safari, and then to the coast near Mombasa for some time at the beach. Of the three safari locales, the Masai Mara has the most wildlife by far and you will have a very good chance of spotting the “Big Five” (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino) if you spend time there. It is also where we stayed at our favorite spot in Kenya, if not the world: Kichwa Tembo Bateleur Camp.
There are simply not enough words to describe how wonderful Bateleur Camp is and how truly amazing and lovely the staff there was. Like all of the locations we stayed at, Bateleur Camp is small and has a limited number of guests, so you will always feel like you are one of a privileged few. But unlike the other safari accommodations, the staff at Bateleur Camp went above and beyond at every step to personalize our stay and to ensure that our experience in Kenya was one we would never forget, not to mention one that would be difficult to match anywhere. Imagine you are on what you think is a “routine” safari drive (in quotes, because safari drives are by their nature not routine), when you suddenly come around some brush to find a tent set up in the middle of the bush… and in the tent you see Stanley, the warm and friendly manager of Bateleur Camp, a fully stocked bar, a chef preparing you (and by you, I mean just you and your new husband) an afternoon BBQ with lots of goodies and a visit from members of a local Masaai tribe complete with song and dance. (Oh, and of course Stanley has also set up a portable bathroom including sink and scented soaps, just in case). That’s what you get at Kichwa Tembo’s Bateleur Camp… and so much more. (Oh and I should note that CC Africa, the company that runs Bateleur Camp, adheres to a model of sustainable ecotourism… we were so impressed by the company’s philosophy and portfolio of accommodations that we will look to stay at CC Africa properties when we return to Africa and the other locations they serve).
From there we traveled to Amboseli and Tortilis Camp. Tortilis Camp seems to be mentioned often on “Top 100″ and “Best of” lists, and while we certainly thought the accommodation, food, and services were all very good, we didn’t think they were anything special. Perhaps no hotel could have awed us so soon after our stay at Bateleur, but even when I try to be more objective and not to compare the two, I just can’t rate Tortilis as one of the best places we’ve stayed. We found management a bit aloof and the overall stay was nice, but not special. Even though there were probably less than 20 guests while we were there, we felt no different than we would have had we been at a big city hotel with hundreds of rooms. As for Amboseli itself, well, it is quite different from the Masai Mara - more open and dry. The park sits in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which makes for some pretty cool scenery. We had very good luck in terms of game viewing, but it was quite an odd experience, as the landscape is so open and unprotected, that you literally see lions and hyena and cheetah just wandering about with no bush to keep them hidden.
After Amboseli, we made our way to Meru and Elsa’s Kopje. Elsa’s Kopje (named for Elsa the lion made famous by the movie Born Free - read more about the connection here) is managed and operated by the same company that manages Tortilis and there were some obvious similarities (such as dining, staffing). And while it still did not live up to the fantastic Bateleur Camp, it felt more personal and unique than Tortilis. For example, each cabin has its own special feature - ours had an outdoor jacuzzi that was literally set into the mountainside. Also, Meru is pretty hard to get to. In general, you need to take smaller, charter flights to travel to any safari location in Kenya, but in order to get to Meru, you literally have to charter your own plane. What an odd experience it is to have a young man in shorts walk up to you, shake your hand and introduce himself as “Pilot Jamie,” then help you and your luggage into his tiny plane - guzoguy up front in the co-pilot’s seat, guzogal in the (small) back seat with the bags! Crazy! Anyway… back to Elsa’s. Because of the need to charter a flight to Meru, not many people travel to this region of Kenya and that’s a shame. The landscape is quite different than that of the Masai Mara or Amboseli - much lusher and greener and denser… and Elsa’s is atop a small mountain (or kopje), providing for a beautiful setting. Because of the landscape, the game viewing is not as good as the other two locations, but we never really minded. On each safari drive, we would enjoy breathtaking scenery and the fact that we never saw another person!
From Meru we made our way to the coast for a little relaxation and pampering at a private villa. Since we’ve previously written about the villas at Alfajiri, and this post is already getting pretty long, I won’t start rambling about that part of the trip now. Suffice to say that anyone who ventures to Alfajiri will know what it feels like to be treated like royalty. It is the definition of “the good life” for sure.
I’m going to skip our usual ratings here, because it’s hard to compare safari camps with other hotels: in each case, pretty much everything is all-inclusive and the basic set-up of each camp is similar. What sets the camps apart are: the actual accommodations (of the three I mentioned, Tortilis was the most basic, Elsa’s the most modern, and Bateleur Camp the most reminiscent of a fancy safari camp from the 1920’s); the staff (all Kenyans at Bateleur Camp - incl. management); the food (good everywhere and simply amazing at Bateleur Camp (thank you Chef Meshach)); and the extra touches like breakfasts and sundowners in the bush (all camps), hotwaterbottles in our beds to keep them warm after the sun went down (Bateleur Camp), etc.
What else can I say? If it isn’t obvious, this was a trip we will never forget and also one we hope to do again.