|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Cost: $5150, all meals included from breakfast on August 11 through lunch on August 21. Single supplement: $930. (Please contact us for details on the pre-safari or post-safari extension to Rwanda for two days of Mountain Gorilla visits, subject to permit availability.) Airfare to Kenya: Approximately $1800 East Coast/Nairobi and $2000 West Coast/Nairobi. Leaders: Gail and Doug Cheeseman and our favorite Kenyan drivers. Outfitters: Rhino Safaris in Nairobi providing five nine-seater stretch Land Cruisers with covered poptops and lots of room for photography with only 4 people, plus our naturalist/driver, in each vehicle. Excellent lodging, beautiful surroundings, wonderful food and private baths. For Rwanda travel with Origins Safaris whose offices are in Kigali, Rwanda, and in Nairobi. Size: 18, plus Gail & Doug Cheeseman. Deposit: $1500 Conditions: A non-smoking safari. Itinerary updated 11/07 This is the definitive wildlife enthusiasts’ short safari with five days in Kenya’s Masai Mara, plus Lake Nakuru in the Rift Valley, and Samburu in the Northern Territory, all the while enjoying top quality lodging. For forest walks and night viewing we’ll visit Mountain Lodge at the base of Mt. Kenya. Timed at the peak of migration in the northern Serengeti ecosystem, we’ll experience the incredible abundance of African mammals, as the wildebeest, and zebra move into the Mara. The mammal and bird diversity is guaranteed to impress! Two enticing extensions are also part of the safari choices while here in Kenya. Doug & Gail have been leading safaris to Kenya since 1978.  Itinerary in brief
August 9 Fly to Amsterdam on KLM
or to London on BA. (Other excellent airlines also available). Itinerary in Full Saturday – Sunday, August 9 - 10: Flights to Nairobi, Kenya Depart on Saturday, August 9, to connect with a flight in Amsterdam or elsewhere in Europe on Sunday to Nairobi. Upon arrival in Nairobi, clear customs, then meet our Rhino Safaris “meet and greet” person to transfer to the Mayfair Court Hotel. Doug and Gail will arrive at the Mayfair by 6 pm on Sunday from a safari in southern Africa and will be delighted to meet you when you arrive this evening, ready for a good night’s sleep. If you would like to arrive a day earlier, the extra overnight at the Mayfair Court is $160 per room, including breakfast. Meals on your own or on your international flights.
The Mayfair serves a magnificent breakfast. We’ll plan to meet for breakfast at 6:30 am. Our very experienced Kenyan drivers will arrive by 7:15 am. We’ll introduce our wonderful drivers, Grephus, Zach, Peter, Daniel and John, who are long time friends, as well as very knowledgeable drivers, and Titus Imboma, an outstanding ecologist and ornithologist, who has led six previous Kenya safaris with us. Depart Nairobi down the eastern escarpment of the Great Rift Valley, across the Rift Valley and up the western escarpment into the part of the Serengeti Eco-system with the most rainfall, the Masai Mara. We’ll have five full days here at the peak of the famous wildebeest/zebra “migration”, the first 3 nights at Simba Lodge in the SE Mara and the last 3 nights in the NW Mara at Kichwa Tembo. The Mara has great habitats: riverine forest, acacia woodland, grasslands, croton bush (a favorite hideout for Black Rhino), termite mounds, marshes, escarpments and rocky outcrops. The Mara receives more than 20 inches of rain per year and has the greatest concentration of mammals anywhere in the world at this time of year when the eastern Serengeti in Tanzania is at its driest. The Mara's lush grasses, especially the Red Oats Grass, sustain the herds during the dry season. Even into the 1960's the Mara was bushland, not savanna, and the grazing antelopes did not migrate into the Mara as they do today. Back in the 1950's hot fires and elephants browsing on trees began cutting the bush back. In the 80's and 90's the Mara became almost entirely savanna, except for the few remaining riverine forest areas along the Mara River and tributaries. It will be interesting if the cycle of change brings the Mara back to bush. The "Migration" will be in huge numbers in the Mara by now, as the Burchell’s Zebras come first from Tanzania feeding on coarse grass followed by Wildebeest, then Thomson's Gazelles. The number of species in the Mara is an incredible reminder of "The Glory of the Pleistocene". Not only mammals, but birds are abundant and very visible here and easily photographed. Explore on foot in certain areas where allowed, such as the hippo pools at the Mara bridge near the Tanzania border and on the lodge grounds. Thursday
- Saturday, August 14 - 16: The Masai Mara Game Reserve A bit of luck will have us watching a true wildlife spectacle: the
movement of thousands upon thousands of Wildebeest in one of the greatest
remaining wildernesses in the world. The African Lions and other predators,
which follow the “migration” will be in action as well. In
August the “migration” concentrates throughout the Mara.
We’ll take picnic lunches and spend time close to the Tanzania
border and the Mara River in what is know as the “Mara Triangle”,
where we are allowed to drive off-road.
Monday, August 18: Lewa Downs Safari Camp on the Laikipia Plateau in Lewa Wildlife Conservancy Enjoy a before breakfast game drive at Nakuru, the best time for lovely light on the wildlife around the lake. After breakfast depart from Nakuru for the journey north to the Laikipia Plateau. Going up the side of the eastern escarpment of the Great Rift Valley, agricultural lands, especially tea cultivation, are prominent. It is important to note that East Africans are very conscious of their land problems and have embarked on tree planting to help restore woodlands and slow down erosion problems, which we will see during our drives between reserves. Look down on a spectacular view into the Rift Valley from where we have just come as we ascend the escarpment, then continue east across the northern tip of the Aberdare Mountains to Nyaharuru (Thompson’s Falls) with a stop for our picnic lunch. Along the southern edge of the Laikipia Plateau we’ll meet the vehicles form Lewa and bid kwaheri to our Rhino Safaris drivers until tomorrow morning when we’ll meet up with them again. Drive to Lewa Safari Camp, situated on a private ranch and reserve on the Laikipia Plateau. One of Kenya’s early ranches, Lewa Downs, has been home to the Craig family since they moved from Scotland and began raising cattle in 1924. Lewa Downs is one of very few private ranches in the world where you can see such a remarkable variety of mammals and birds and their interaction with each other in a natural habitat. This reserve is extremely well patrolled and protects African Elephant, two species of rhino, Reticulated Giraffe, many species of antelope, including Greater Kudu, and Lion, Leopard and Cheetah. Two species of zebra graze the plains: Burchell’s and the rare Grevy’s. In fact, this reserve is essential to the continued survival of the Grevy’s. Do a night game drive in custom four-wheel-drive open-top vehicles owned by Lewa Safari Camp. The experienced guides know all the best areas for spotting game and enjoy sharing their knowledge with us. Look for Springhare, Zorilla, Leopard, Lion, Lesser Galago, owls, nightjars and other nocturnal species. The small nocturnal primate that looks like a lemur, the Lesser Galago or Lesser Bushbaby, is closely related to the Greater Galago that we should have seen at Kichwa Tembo, but much smaller as the name implies. Lesser Bushbabies live most of their lives in one or two trees, foraging at night among the high branches. At night their glowing red eye shine flashes back and forth. The accommodations include 12 safari tents with private baths and
a charming dining lodge situated inside this large private reserve. At
Lewa the Anna Merz’s Ngare Sergoi Rhino Sanctuary for endangered
Black Rhinos encompasses a total of 61,000 acres - all of the Lewa
Downs Ranch plus the neighboring forest reserve. The Craig/Douglas
family first came to Lewa Downs in 1922 and managed it as a cattle
ranch for over 50 years. Unlike many other ranchers in the area, they
had always valued the wildlife that shared the land with the cattle
and developed wildlife tourism as an additional activity. By the early
1980s it was uncertain whether any Black Rhinos would survive in Kenya.
Poaching for horn had reduced Kenya's rhinos from some 20,000 in the
mid-1970s to a few hundred by 1986. It was clear that the only way
to prevent their complete extinction was to create high-security sanctuaries.
In 1983 the Craigs and Mrs. Anna Merz - who funded the project - decided
to establish the fenced and guarded Ngare Sergoi Rhino Sanctuary at
the western end of Lewa Downs. The rhino sanctuary was stocked partly
with animals from other reserves and partly from isolated individuals
from northern Kenya, whose likely survival in the wild was a matter
of months at most. The Black Rhino that were caught settled down and
bred and White Rhino were added. After ten years it was clear that
the rhinos needed more space and the sanctuary was expanded to cover
the rest of the ranch and the adjoining Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve.
The perimeter was almost entirely fenced for security and to ensure
that elephants did not raid crops in neighboring farms, but the ecological
connections between Lewa and neighboring wildlife areas to the north
with Samburu were maintained by leaving gaps in the fence for animal
movements. At the same time the entire property was converted to a
wildlife sanctuary, as the Craig family handed over the management
of the ranch to a non-profit organization, the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy Check in at Samburu Lodge right on the Uaso Nyiro River by mid-afternoon in time for a rest, then along the Uaso River for a late afternoon game drive. Explore along the banks of the river, where African Elephants and other wildlife that come to water are active throughout the day. By dusk massive Nile Crocrodiles come ashore at the edge of the lodge grounds, due to the longtime practice of feeding them a leg of goat meat. Leopard is also often seen at the platform across the river if a piece of goat is hung there in the evening. Scavengers also sometimes come to check if any pieces have fallen to the ground, a chance to see Striped Hyena, which is a nocturnal, very shy smaller relative of the Spotted Hyena. Also in the morning if the goat meat is still hanging there, a Palmnut Vulture will arrive and show its acrobatic skills, as it dangles from the meat with its talons and rips the meat with its beak. Birding on the lodge grounds is fantastic and during one game drive you may take the option of joining Titus and the Samburu Lodge resident naturalist for a two hour walk. The open dining room at the lodge also is a marvelous experience, both the setting and the cuisine with diverse cuisine, Indian, Kenyan and European. During our stay, there’s time on Wednesday to attend an optional Samburu tribal dance at the lodge before venturing out into the reserve again for the late afternoon. We do not encourage stopping along the roads to the park to photograph Masai and their close relatives, the Samburu. The reason for not stopping along the roads is simply that it encourages begging, certainly beneath the dignity of these wonderful people. Children hold out their hands along the roads, a practice that both the government and tour operators do not wish to encourage. In many cases money from tourism is now an important source of income for nomadic people whose lands are fast becoming victim of overgrazing and desertification. We will pass by many “cultural manyattas” outside the boundaries of the Masai Mara and in this area outside Samburu and Buffalo Springs. By staying on their land, the Masai and Samburu have a far better existence than going to a city where unemployment runs very high. However, there is one big problem with the “cultural manyattas”. The money from manyatta visitors ($100 per vehicle) goes right into buying more livestock, which accelerates overgrazing and competition with wildlife. The Masai and Samburu people do not use banks to store their money. When they need cash, they sell a cow. There is one famous manyatta beside the Samburu gate that is different, in that the women collect the money from tourist visits and use it for their families, especially for education, so if you would like to do a cultural manyatta visit during the mid-day game drive at Samburu, let us know by Tuesday, so we can reserve a visit at this special Samburu manyatta.We'll do before-breakfast game drives when the predators are most active, another sortie before lunch and an afternoon game drive until 6:30 pm (dusk) on Wednesday. Samburu and Lewa Downs are definitely highlights of the safaris, as well as the Masai Mara! Overnight two nights at Samburu Lodge. Thursday - Friday, August 21 - 22: From Samburu to Nairobi and homeward After an early breakfast, we’ll slowly game drive out to the Samburu Gate, then head south back through Isiolo and Nanyuki through the Kenya Highlands along the flanks of Mount Kenya. Much of the land south of Nanyuki is wheat, flowers and fruit agriculture, as well as the hillside cultivation of the Kikuyu in the Kenya Highlands between Mt Kenya to the east and the Aberdare Mountains to the west. Before reaching Nairobi we pass by Thika in the rich Kikuyu lands described by Elspeth Huxley in “Flame Trees of Thika”. We’ll arrive in Nairobi with time to visit the newly remodeled National Museum of Natural History. Titus Imboma works at the Bird Department here and has spent much time preparing the new exhibits, along with being a full time student at the University of Nairobi in the biological sciences. The museum also has a gift shop with a good selection of books and crafts, which benefits their very worth-while ongoing projects. Throughout the safari, the lodge gift shops are excellent, but you may have some shopping to do here. Return by late afternoon to the Mayfair. Dinner on your own this evening and transfer to the airport by 6:30 pm for evening flights or overnight for a morning flight on Friday. If you wish to stay longer in Nairobi, extra overnights at the Mayfair are $160, including breakfast, per double or single. Airport transfers are included on Thursday evening or Saturday morning. Separate transfers at other times are $40 per vehicle. Gain back 8 hours to the East Coast and 11 hours to the West Coast of the USA from Kenya with arrival home on the 22nd or 23rd, depending on your departure date. If staying one night in Amsterdam, the Hotel Ibis, located very close to the airport, provides a free shuttle every half hour and is reasonably priced. Reservations: To reserve a place, please mail a deposit of $500 ($150 non-refundable) to: Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris
Not Included: Tips to our drivers are not included. Our drivers give us many extra hours in the field viewing wildlife. We recommend a gratuity of approximately $10 to $12 per day, collected at the end of the safari. Bottled beverages, laundry services and personal expenses are not included. Reading and Field Guides: Some favorites are Craig Packer’s Into Africa, describing his lion research in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater and Cynthia Moss’ Elephant Memories and Portraits in the Wild. We recommend that you consider buying a book on mammals of East Africa and a field guide to the birds. Jonathan Kingdon’s field guide to the mammals is the most complete one and the most up to date. Excellent East Africa bird books, one by Terry Stevenson and one by Zimmerman and Turner, are available. Ian Sinclair’s Birds of Africa is also a good choice. Travel Insurance: Unless you specifically decline travel insurance, Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris requires, at a minimum, insurance to cover emergency medical care and evacuation for the duration of the tour. We have had good experience with Access America. Visit their website for complete details and we will also send you their brochure with your trip materials. You can purchase a policy via their website, phone or by mail. If you choose, separate trip cancellation insurance to cover trip costs is also available. Whatever insurance you purchase, be sure to review the terms of all available policies carefully in order to buy the policy that you need.
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
