Courtesy of our last lodge, we had reservations back to Nairobi. We booked a separate reservation on the same airlines to our next lodge, the Olare Mara Kempinski, and that reservation was from Nairobi Wilson airport to the airstrip on the Olare conservancy. We had 40 minutes to make the connection at Wilson. I’d written to Safarilink to confirm they were aware we were making this connection and they said they were aware and would ensure folks on the ground that day knew. All was good as we departed the Green Hills of Africa and headed to Nairobi. We even landed a few minutes early. We’d joined a large family on our return flight – they were also headed back to Nairobi and on to the Masai Mara – but to a different camp and a different airstrip. Our onward reservation looked exactly the same as the family. So everyone on the flight, all 10 of us, were connecting, all with a 40 minute connection. When we landed the ground staff in Nairobi said they were not aware of any passengers with connections. Here’s where it got a little confusing. We had to identify our bags, and the ground staff kept the bag aside. Then we had to exit the airport. And not through the nearby door into the Safarilink waiting area. We had to walk 5 minutes or so to the edge of the tarmac and exit to “baggage claim”. We then had to walk 5 minutes back along the road to the Safarilink area, where we cleared security and then checked in for our flight. By the time we got to the check-in agent, it was maybe 10 minutes to our scheduled flight departure time. The agent said, “well, we almost left you two. We’ve been paging you”. LOL. We just shook our heads and headed back out to the tarmac, where we identified our bags (they suddenly had luggage tags on them) and took the last two seats on the plane. Whew. We made the connection. As for the large family, they had yet to clear security when we headed out to our flight. They weren’t in any hurry. Not sure what happened to them, and clearly our flight wasn’t waiting for them as there were no more seats.
In the safety briefing before takeoff, where the co-pilot turns around from her seat and tells people where the emergency exits are (plus other things), she quickly said where we were headed. The next destination didn’t sound exactly familiar, but I was all the way in the back, so I just sat back and tried to relax on our flight to where ever. I’d downloaded Google Maps for much of the country and I could follow our location as we flew. And we weren’t heading to the right airstrip. It was a 40 minute flight and I sat wondering how we were going to get to the right place. When we landed, a Kempinski guide was the first person I saw. Whew. As it turns out, the Mara area had a large rainstorm a couple of days earlier and the most local airstrip was being repaired. So indeed we were routed to somewhere other than what was originally scheduled. Just wish someone had told us of this change.
Leaving the Green Hills of Africa. You can see the rock formation we visited and climbed (in the middle of the photo) and Mt. Kilimanjaro towering above everything.
Somewhere over the Masai Mara.
Masai jumping (it's the tradition to jump) upon our arrival.
BACKGROUND ON THE AREA AND THE LODGE
We stayed in the Olare conservancy…a private conservancy adjacent to the Masai Mara; Masai Mara is a large national park adjacent to Tanzania’s Serengeti national park. There are no fences between the above-mentioned places. If you stay in the Mara proper, your driver is limited to the roads for animal viewing; in the Olare conservancy, known for is large lion population, game vehicles can go off-road. I must say folks had some MASSIVE cameras and lenses in the other vehicles we saw. One vehicle, for a different lodge, was specially designed where the sides folded down and the photographers could lie down. We saw this in several locations, and I can see if you’re a professional photographer or a serious hobbyist, this could be useful. There were some serious photo safari folks around…
We were originally drawn to Virgin’s lodge in the conservancy; it’s called Mahali Mzuri and it is architecturally stunning. It’s also gotten some pad press that the tent frames are beautiful and don’t exactly blend into the landscape. That’s a fair assessment. And when we looked at their accommodations, they were nice but didn’t seem to fit the stunning frames. So we looked elsewhere. We’d already decided this area was where we wanted to camp and the next lodge I looked at was Olare Orok, managed by Kempinski. The tents were large and well appointed; the tents definitely blended in more with the landscape. It was all inclusive, like the other camps. And it was available. So that’s where we booked. Would I stay there again? I would stay somewhere else first. The animal viewing was spectacular. The tent was awesome. The food was fine. And each staff person was clearly working hard. But the place didn’t create special moments like other places we’ve stayed. I had an email conversation with the manager after we’d left….she said she visits the camp every 4 to 6 weeks. I think that says a lot. There are other lodges in the conservancy….we had such a great time at the first lodge in Kenya, managed by Great Plains, that we would definitely look first at their lodge in this conservancy were we to return. After our three night stay, at the airstrip for our departure, we saw some guests arriving for the Virgin lodge. The driver whipped out a cold bottle of champagne and served each guest. They were clearly excited. That’s the special kind of moment I missed at the lodge where we stayed.
THE GAME
Drives were each morning and evening. We shared a vehicle at this lodge with others – mostly a couple on honeymoon from India; it was their first safari and their excitement was infectious. I’ve grabbed some highlight photos below. We saw A LOT of lions. Cubs. Prides. Lone Males. Lions eating. We saw several female lions hunt a baby wildebeest. The baby got away this time. We also saw a leopard and several cheetahs. We even saw three cheetahs hunt, kill, and devour a small antelope. We saw other animals as well. But if you’re looking for large cats, this may be a great place to start.
Here you can see two males patrolling their territory. Behind the males you see zebra clearly on high alert at the threat of the lions. These lions were brothers, so it was okay for them to share the pride. Otherwise one male, one pride.
Lion mother and cubs. There are various cubs in the photos...we saw lots of cubs.
Dad and cub
Young male. His mane is just growing out
Males. We saw lots of male lions. One pride had two (brothers). Another pride had three (brothers). Other prides had lone males. We saw a male breeding with one of his lionesses. It’s a multi-day event with the woman in control. She needs action every 15 minutes or so. And the action is over in seconds. They’re apparently both very tired at the end
Lions everywhere.
This one just lounging about, then yawning, and finally licking his giant paw
Various prides....big prides. So many lions.
Twice we saw lion eating. We first saw a lone male finishing up a zebra kill.
Another kill had three female lions somewhat sharing food. There was a lot of growling and swatting going on between the three. When other lions from the pride arrived those others were clearly told to wait.
Leopard are normally quite difficult to spot. We had the fortune of seeing one on our first day. We followed it for quite some time as it meandered along the side of a stream.
The last of the big cats that we saw here where cheetah. We saw a lone cheetah and then three hunting (and eating) together. We saw the trio on multiple days. The hunt and kill were quite exciting. Eating was done in under 15 minutes.
Of course there were other animals. Lots of zebra and antelope that I didn't take any photos of. Wildebeest. A hyena or five. They had lots of hyena here.
Owl. The nearby ground birds (guinea fowl) were squawking up a storm alerting about the nearby owl.
Elephants. We saw some each and every day. We especially loved watching the young elephants.
Hippos. These two were out of the water and near our tent at the lodge. We also saw a large pod in the river. Several of the pod suddenly stood up and began moving. There was a lot of bellowing going on.
Buffalo. We saw lots of them. Somehow I only got a photo of this one.
Giraffe.
We did a bush walk one day. I've always done these at other camps with our driver/guide. At this camp the security guy took us. With a semi-automatic gun. And a Masai person came along (carrying bottles of water in a bag). It was sort of odd. But the walk was interesting. We focused mostly on plants. We looked at the various woods and materials used to start fire (elephant dung is a key item), at plants that produce leaves you can use to file your nails, and at plants that produce drops for adding moisture to your eyes.
We did stop for sun-downers on the 2nd and 3rd night. Not sure what happened on the first night; it was the first time ever I was on a safari where we didn't stop. I don't have any good photos, because there wasn't a great setup to photograph. The first time we stopped they only had red or white wine. We’re not big wine drinkers but did have a snort to be sociable. For our last night, I asked that they have some gin and tonic for us. Which they did. They apparently forgot the wine and had to call for someone to shuttled over wine. One person wanted white wine but they only had sent one bottle of wine, a bottle of red. And there weren't enough wine glasses. We were happy with our gin and tonics and glad we had specifically asked for them. This was not a special moment.
THE TENTS WERE GREAT
The tents were spacious and well appointed. The bed was comfortable. There was an old fashioned soaking tub, an indoor shower, and an outdoor shower. The tents were kept spotlessly clean.
Here are some tent photos….the main area, the tub in the bathroom, and the seating area adjacent to the bed.
THE FOOD
The food was all delicious. There were choices for every meal. Below are sample menus plus some food shots. The soups were particularly good. The presentation was fine but wasn’t nearly as fancy as the prior lodge.
FLYING BACK TO NAIROBI
The nearby airstrip had reopened during our stay and we could use it for our departure. And it was raining in the Mara. Which apparently snarled up some air traffic. So we were sent back on a different flight than which we were scheduled. This was fine by us, until we got back to Nairobi and the ground staff wanted to know who we were. I had to give them my flight confirmation email. It was a bit odd. Like we just decided to hop on the flight and the pilots let us?
We had to walk to the end of the tarmac to exit the airport, and we collected our luggage at baggage claim.
Our Kenyan Safari was officially over, but we still had a nice lunch planned for Nairobi plus the long flight home. These will be covered in the last installment of this trip report.