whiskey

I just returned from my Kenya and Tanzania trip (my first) on the week end and wanted to thank the folks on this board for all of their helpful information. I had the trip of a lifetime (I’m still day dreaming it about it and have had 2 pretty unproductive days at work thus far!) and this board was invaluable in my planning, not only for information about locations, the myriad of choices of camps and other lodgings and various operators, but also for all of the seemingly mundane but very important information (what to pack (and what not to) and camera tips, for example). Seeing the animals and the stunning landscapes was incredible, but the people I met in both countries also made the trip memorable. It was certainly eye opening.

I booked the tour through Kiliwarriors and was extremely pleased with them – I would certainly use them again. Eben, Miriam, George and Wilbert were terrific and even managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat when I landed in Tanzania for what was supposed to be three nights and decided I wanted to add another three! [The last minute thing is a bit of a theme for me as I didn’t start to plan this trip until September] For anyone who is interested, I stayed 5 nights at Serian, in the Masai Mara and then was in Tanzania for 6 nights, 3 nights at Oliver’s in Tarangire NP and the last 3 nights at Olakira in the central Serengeti. I would go back to any of these camps 3 in a heartbeat – the tents were very comfortable and I like the relatively small size, the staffs were very warm and welcoming and the food was excellent.

I really don't have a negative thing to say about the trip, other than it had to end. I'm already planning my return to Africa (in my head at least). So thanks once again to everyone who takes the time to post here.

Cheers

Whiskey.

sandi

So glad to hear it was fab.
Africa has hooked another!
Whoopie!

I dare not mention report; mine is long overdue, so whenever..........

Kavey

Welcome back!

We too stayed at Serian and Oliver's on our recent trip and have wonderful memories of both.

connor02

Whiskey,

Glad to hear you had a fantastic trip. I will also be staying at Oliver's and Olakira next summer. Was just wondering if you could give some more detailed thoughts and descriptions. Any pictures would also be great.

Thanks,
Connor

divine54

good to hear that you enjoyed the asilia camps!

always a good bet!

div

whiskey

Sandi, I've been reliving the trip day and night since I got back - and trying to decide where I will go next May for my birthday And I will force myself to cobble together a report (I'm not very good at getting around to these), although having read so many reports on this board that made the places described jump off the page (even for someone like me who had never been) I know I will not do it justice.

In the meantime Connor02, I'd be happy to give you my thoughts on Olakira and Oliver's if you want to send me an email. More informed persons on this board will have more info no doubt but I think Olakira will be in a different location when you are there in the summer [the camp moves twice a year I think?] I do have a couple of pictures of both camps as well which I can send you. My photos pale in comparison those posted here, so I've limited my distribution to friends and family who are aware of my shortcomings as a picture taker

cheers

atravelynn

Welcome home Whiskey and feel free to post those "shortcomings" like the rest of us do if you are so inclined. Few of us are pros or close but we all like to see animal pics.

Nice to hear about Kiliwarriors.

connor02

Whiskey,

Here's my email address [email protected].

I would love any and all information you could provide about Oliver's and Olakira. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Connor

Leely2

Welcome back, whiskey. Even if it's just a bullet point list of highlights and lows, a report in some form will be appreciated.

Glad you had fun!

connor02

Whiskey,

Sorry I typoed my email address. Should be [email protected]

Thanks.

Feistybrit

Whiskey, thanks for the post. Happy to hear you liked Kiliwarriors as my daughter and I leave for our very first safari to Tanzania next week through Kiliwarriors.
We are very excited, but nervous at the same time. After a year of waiting the time is almost here and I know it will be over very quickly!

Sue

whiskey

I hope its not bad form to post my report here but I wasn't sure if I ought to start another thread.

Apologies in advance for the length - once I started putting down my thoughts I could not stop. I will post in sections so that its hopefully somewhat manageable.

My Itinerary

5 nights – Serian Camp in the Masai Mara

3 nights- Oliver’s Camp in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

3 nights – Olakira Camp Central Serengeti, Tanzania.

PRELIMINARY MATTERS – PLANNING AND PACKING.

To get the very basic info out of the way, this was my first trip to Africa, I am female and I was traveling solo. The trip was fairly last minute - I didn’t start planning until late August. I’ve never used an agent before, as I like to plan my own vacations, but figured I needed some help with this one. After doing some research (talking to friends who had been, spending hours on this board when I was supposed to be working) to get a general idea of what was out there, I emailed about 7 agents, giving them a basic outline of what I wanted to do. Most of them were very responsive and helpful, but I eventually settled on Kiliwarriors, in large part because Eben asked me as many questions as I asked him – about what interested me and what I wanted to experience during my time in Africa.

I was extremely happy with Kiliwarriors from start to finish – Eben gave very helpful info as I was trying to settle on an itinerary and once I had booked also provided extremely useful advice before I left for the trip. Once I arrived in East Africa, everything went smoothly from their end as well (including my “real time” add on of the 3 nights in the Serengeti!).

Lynda’s packing list, posted on this forum, and the packing list that Kiliwarriors provided came in handy. Nevertheless, I still managed to leave home without my binoculars – even though it was on my list!! I did pick up a pair of Steiner “safari pro” at Heathrow [is there anything you cannot buy at that airport?] They weren’t terrific but it was better than nothing. I will invest in a much better pair of binoculars for my next trip.

I took only carry on baggage while on safari, which is nothing sort of a miracle for me. My one piece of advice on the clothing front is … bring layers. I had not appreciated how cool it would be the early mornings.

Next up - Game Drives and Sightings.

whiskey

GAME DRIVES / WILD LIFE.

I would definitely choose to do private game drives again, as opposed to shared (admittedly other than a half day in Tarangire, I didn’t have any shared, so can’t do a true comparison). I like the flexibility of being able to choose my itinerary [or even change it at the last minute if I wanted]. Also, all of my guides were great in that they pointed out so many things and gave me lots of information about what we were seeing (and answered all of my dumb questions) but they didn’t feel the need to fill each moment of the drive with chatter. I hope I don’t sound completely anti-social with those comments, as I really looked forward to the times back at the camps when I had the opportunity to chat with the staff and also meet up with the other guests and hear about their day. But during the drives, I liked being out on my own with the guides.

Anything I say about the animal and bird sightings has been said a million times before - and said much better. As amazingly descriptive and vivid as so many of the trip reports here are though, nothing really prepared me for the rush of seeing the animals and the birds up close.

I am a cat lover (big and small) so the lion, leopard and cheetah sightings were highlights for me, as were the two crossings we saw (one in the Mara, one in Serengeti). I also really enjoyed the times spent quietly watching the animals going about their business. I live in the city, so my few “wildlife” sightings are generally limited to a few deer or caribou [not to be confused with “Karibu” ☺] that we see at the cottage. I could have spent hours watching the elephant, giraffe, zebra, gazelle and impala doing their thing. One of my more memorable experiences was several hours spent with my guide Alfred in Tarangire NP, around mid-day, having lunch near a large watering hole and watching the elephant, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest come and go. I really enjoyed this and 3 hours whizzed by like it was 30 minutes.

MARA

We saw a number of prides of lion, as well as three mating pairs, as well as several cheetah in the Mara, including one mother cheetah (with a thomson gazelle kill) and her 3 cubs. We heard that she’d had six cubs originally, but 3 had been killed. We also saw two leopard and one of them walked right by our vehicle, so close that I could have reached out and touched her – I did not ☺. I thought they were stunning.

I have nothing to compare to of course, but the leopard and mama/cub cheetah spottings were the only times (other than the migration) where there was any significant crowd of vehicles surrounding the animals and even at the leopard sighting, the vehicles gave them their space. There were perhaps a dozen vehicles surrounding the mother cheetah and every time she made a move with her kill, the vehicles would all move with her. She may have been entirely nonplussed by this, but I found it a little disturbing. We did not stay long here and moved on to have lunch. On the way we spotted the 3 little bundles of greyish fur waiting for their mom to return with their lunch. They were adorable.

In the Mara we saw many elephant, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, impala, thomson gazelle, spotted hyena, warthogs, elan, waterbuck, hippos, crocodiles, as well as two black rhino. I hope I don’t sound blasé, in just listing these off as it really was a thrill for me every time we saw something. The giraffe were particularly fascinating to watch and I thought they were very graceful. The waterbuck were beautiful.

It surprised me how quiet the elephant herds were as they move through the grass and around the trees. The only sound was a very quiet swish. I really enjoyed watching the elephant herds interact, especially when there were babies in the group. A few times we saw a baby elephant wander off just a bit too far for the mom’s comfort, and she would rein it in by wrapping her trunk around the baby and pulling it back.

On my last full day in the Mara we were fortunate enough to see a crossing of wildebeest and zebra. We came across a large herd of wildebeest grazing near the river, along with a small group of zebra – there were about 6 or 7 other vehicles who had been watching and waiting. We were there for about 45 minutes (during which, at one point a large group of the wildebeest suddenly started running to our left, and just as suddenly appeared to forget why they had taken off in the first place and abruptly stopped). A short while later without warning, they all started racing in the opposite direction and headed into and across the river. All of the vehicles careened towards the river bank. I think I now know what its like to be chased by the paparazzi!

The crossing itself was spectacular and I was not prepared for the sheer “power” of it (that isn’t even the word I am looking for, but it’s the best I can come up with at the moment). Most of the wildebeest made it over safely – we saw two of them nabbed by the crocodiles, but that seemed to be a pretty good average. A number of the wildebeest jumped back in and crossed back the way they had just come (talk about tempting fate!) which Jackson said they most likely were doing to find babies or mothers they had become separated from.


While not a game drive per se, I also did a hot air balloon ride while in the Mara – booked through Governors camp. I’d never been in a balloon before, so this was a neat experience, not necessarily for the game seen, but for the different vantage point (including the spectacular sunrise). That being said, I thought it was expensive and I wouldn’t repeat it – once is enough IMHO.

TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK


I really enjoyed Tarangire and it was quite different visually from the Mara (and I thought it changed quite dramatically as you drove through the park). The baobab trees are very impressive.

I did a walking safari my first morning at Oliver’s in Tarangire. Roelef, who manages the camp with his lovely wife, Helen, was the guide. There was another couple on the walk and we were also accompanied by a ranger and one of the drivers/guides from Olivers. This walk was one of the highlights of the trip. While I had many terrific sightings from the drive vehicles, it was nice to experience the bush from a different perspective (not to mention to get some exercise!). We saw lion tracks, closely observed buffalo and impala, saw a python wrapped around a tree and the skeleton from a leopard kill sitting in a tree, watched bees returning to a tree hive with pollen and examined the lower jaw of an elephant [the jaw was on the ground – not still in the elephant ☺] . The walk lasted about four hours, but it went by far too quickly. If I had been staying longer at Oliver’s I would have done a second walk. Side note: This was really the only time that I found the tse tse flies particularly bothersome (and it was for just a portion of the walk).


Many of the animals I had first seen in the Mara were also at Tarangire: elephant, giraffe, cheetah, zebra, wildebeest, impala, gazelle. I saw my first dik dik here, as well as a rock hyrax and 2 monitor lizard. I had one sighting of 2 gerenuk, from very far away. Although the game drives are shared at Oliver’s [unless you come with your own guide] I shared for only one half day, and that was with a very nice couple from Scotland who had also been on the walk with me in the morning. My second day there it was just myself and Alfred, the guide, and we went out for the full day and headed up to the northern part of the park (where we spent several hours at a watering hole I mentioned earlier).


OLAKIRA CAMP/CENTRAL SERENGETI

My game drives at Olakira were with George, from Kiliwarriors, and as with the other guides I had, he was terrific. He was particularly adept at spotting and identifying birds, and I really came to appreciate the many and varied species. I’ve never been a bird person, more due to my own ignorance about them than anything else (they fly, chirp, build nests and lay eggs – what else is there to know??) but now have some understanding of what the serious “birders” are on about.

I was hopeless at remembering the names of the birds we saw though. I like to think I am reasonably intelligent, but I do have a mental block when it comes to telephone numbers, and I can now add bird names to this list! It became a bit of a running joke while we drove, as George would test me, asking me the name of a bird we’d seen before – and my stock answer would be either “lappet faced vulture” or” lilac breasted roller” – the only 2 names I could seem to recall. George was kind enough to sit down with me on my last morning and identify many of the birds I’d taken pictures of. I did pick up a copy of the Princeton Field guide to the birds of Eastern Africa once I got home and its something I would like to focus on more in a future trip.


For anyone interested, the birds we saw included: Goliath heron, hammerkop, marabou stork, lappet faced and white backed vultures, bateleur eagle, pygmy falcon, kori bustard, lovebirds, verraux eagle owl, little bee eater, lilac breasted roller, red billed hornbill, d’arnauds barbet, northern white crowned shrike, purple starling superb starling, splendid starling, African pied wagtail, dark chanting goshawk, white browed coucal, ruppels starling, crowned plover, white bellied bustard, purple roller, grassland pipit, temminck’s courser, two banded courser and rufus tailed weaver.

Apart from the many birds, in the Serengeti we also saw grants gazelle, defassa waterbuck, vervet monkey, elephant, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, buffalo (including several adolescent buffalo which I’d not seen before), lion (including a tree climbing lion) and leopard. One of the Serengeti highlights for me was watching a hyena and her puppies. The pups were very frisky and kept playing around mom while she was trying to nap – she didn’t look amused. I quite liked the much maligned hyenas.

Another Serengeti highlight was a second crossing of wildebeest and zebra. We had been at the hippo pool for a while (I don’t think anyone will be trying to bottle the smell at the hippo pool any time soon!) and just as we were about to head back to the vehicle, George spotted some wildebeest to our right, on the other side of the river, heading down towards the river. It was a smaller group than I had seen in the Mara but still very exciting. From what we could tell, they all successfully made it over - no crocs in sight.

One funny moment just a few moments after the herd of wildebeest had finished crossing - three buffalo slowly and quietly ambled across the river in exactly the same spot and when they got to the other side, one of them looked up towards us as if to say ”well what did you think of THAT” – it was a bit of an anticlimactic end.

whiskey

THE CAMPS

SERIAN CAMP (MASIA MARA).

After flying to Nairobi from London, I spent Friday night (Oct 3) in Nairobi at the Panari hotel. It was then off to Wilson airport Saturday morning for my flight to Musiara. I was met by my Masai guides, Jackson and William, who I had for the entire stay at Serian. They were both excellent - Jackson, who did all the driving, was a wealth of information. William (who didn’t speak as much English) was the spotter. They both had wicked senses of humour. At the start of every drive Jackson would pronounce: “Let’s see what nature will provide for us today” I think this is a very good credo to take with one on safari.

Serian was my favourite camp of the three I visited, maybe in part because it was my “first” so everything was new and thrilling to me. I think it was Hari who posted about their flexibility, and I agree. This probably sounds hokey but during my five nights there I felt like I was staying at a friend’s place. I was in the main camp, in the first tent closest to the mess/lounge area, with great views of the river from the deck (as well as the sounds of the hippos as I lay in bed). The tent is on a wooden deck, with a double bed, several night tables, a writing table and small area for hanging clothes. The bathroom is in a separate structure, a few steps away from the main tent. The shower and beautiful bathtub look out over the river as well. I saw baboons, elephant and giraffe (and heard the hippos) while showering so that was a definite first. There is running hot water, but no electricity at the camp (other than the office area where you can have items charged) so its kerosene-lit at night, which also gives the camp a very special ambience.

The managers and staff at Serian were very good. I think Kavey had some issues with management not being around for the first part of their trip, but Alex, Nico, Paoli (not sure of the spelling) Isaac and Miranda (Miranda manages Ngare but was in the main tent area for the first night as Nico and Paoli were away) were all around and available at varying times, so I had no issues in the service department.

The food at Serian was delicious (as it was at all 3 camps). I am a vegetarian and ate extremely well. I’m not a breakfast person (other than the requisite caffeine fix) so can’t offer any comments on breakfasts, but the lunches and dinners were very good. I don’t know what is typical at most camps, but Olivers and Olakira had “box” type lunches if you chose to stay out for the full day. While these lunches were always tasty, it still felt a bit like you were having an airline meal. At Serian I did two all day drives, with packed lunches, and it was as if they’d simply moved lunch from the camp out into the bush – a full spread of salad, cheeses, pasta, samosas, fresh bread, dessert, coffee, fresh fruit – with a table and cutlery even ☺. It not something that would make or break a trip for me obviously, but it was a nice touch.

My only “regret” at Serian is that I didn’t do the mobile camping. Alex had asked me if I was interested in it when I arrived and I hemmed and hawed and eventually did not do it and am now kicking myself in a major way.

OLIVER’S CAMP – TARANGIRE NP

On leaving Serian I flew from Musiara to Wilson airport, where I had a short flight to Kilimanjaro and then was met by George (Kiliwarriors guide) for the drive to Tarangire NP. The flight was almost an hour late arriving at Musiara and I guess even 5 nights in the Mara wasn’t enough to totally extinguish the type A from my personality, and I was a bit panicked that I would miss my flight from Wilson to Kili (I had only an hour and half between flights). I rushed up to the pilot after he’d landed at Musiara explaining my plight and he calmly said - don’t worry, I’m also the pilot for the flight to Kili and this is the plane you’ll be going on, so chill out – or words to that effect.

The delay did result in it being a very long day though. By the time we arrived at the airstrip in Tarangire (which is where the Oliver’s guide met us to take me the rest of the way to the camp) it was close to 6pm and then dark by the time we arrived at Oliver’s (although we did see a leopard on the way to the camp.)

It was also during the drive to Tarangire that it finally dawned on me: what the heck am I doing spending 5 nights with my sister in London at the end of this trip, when I could have more nights in Africa! (with all due respect to my sister and to London). After a quick call to push back my flight from Nairobi to London by 3 nights, and some great work by Eben and Miriam from Kiliwarriors I had 3 extra nights in Tanzania, to be spent in the central Serengeti.

I really enjoyed both Oliver’s and Tarangire and would like to spend more time there – in hindsight I think I could have stayed the 3 extra nights at Oliver’s and been quite content.

The tents at Oliver’s are very spacious, with an adjoining bathroom area (“adjoining” in the sense that a door leads from the tent to the bathroom although its actually a separate adobe style structure). There are bucket showers here although I didn’t ever use up all of the hot water in the shower. The tents at Oliver’s have electricity for lights, rather than kerosene lamps.

The tents at Oliver’s are directly on the ground, not on permanent wood structures as in Serian, but they are very well spaced through out the camp and were very private - at least the location of mine was (I was in tent #4). I couldn’t hear any other people from my tent, or any animals for that matter, other than the birds who gave me my wake up call every morning. Everyone else heard the lions roaring at night, but I clearly slept like a rock.

As everywhere, the Oliver’s staff were very warm. I was greeted with a wet facecloth and cold drink whenever I came back to the camp. Helen and Roelef, the couple who manage the camp, were extremely helpful and knowledgeable. They clearly love what they do and their enthusiasm (as well as that of the staff) was a huge part of what made Oliver’s a great experience for me. That continued even after my stay – no more than a couple of hours after I had left Oliver’s, Roelef had emailed me with some further information on a topic we’d been discussing at breakfast that morning.

On my last night at Oliver’s, a table was set up just off from the lounge area, with lights hanging from the trees. Dinner was served here with Roelef and Helen, and two other guest couples and we enjoyed some South African sparkling wine. It was a really beautiful setting and perfect way to end my stay at Oliver’s.


CENTRAL SERENGETI – OLAKIRA CAMP.

The morning I left Oliver’s I was met by George (from Kilwarriors) at the Kuro airstrip in the park, for the long long drive to Olakira camp in the Serengeti. If I’d been less of a last minute planner I would have tried to avoid the 2 fairly long drives I had during my trip, as they pretty much ate up 2 days. The drive from Tarangire to Olakira was quite scenic though and we stopped to view Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater (although it was fairly misty at the Crater, so the views were not ideal).

The drive through the Serengeti was just how I’d envisioned the plains – it seemed that if you drove for long enough you’d simply fall off the edge of the earth. The road from the Serengeti NP entrance though is dreadful. I now understand why “sports bra” was on some women’s packing lists – not that I need one!

The tents at Olakira are quite similar to Oliver's - spacious with very comfortable beds. However, the bathroom area is part of the enclosed tent area at Olakira. There is a bucket shower, much like at Oliver’s, although the shower s enclosed with shower curtains (its an open shower concept at Olivers). As with Oliver’s, there is electricity for lights within each tent. The tents at Olakira are closer together than at Oliver’s and at times you could hear people’s voices from the nearby tents. So overall, I preferred the Oliver’s set up over Olakira, as there is more privacy at Oliver’s.

Also, each group of guests at Olakira dines on their own and I preferred the “communal” style of dining at Oliver’s [and at Serian]. I was traveling solo, so this might not be a significant point for couples or groups, but I really looked forward to chatting with the other guests at meal times.

The food was also fantastic at Olakira. There were great vegetable dishes, and the chef, Joe, made a delicious vegetarian curry one evening and also a very tasty vegetarian lasagna. I don’t know how this man managed to make such flaky pastry out in the middle of no where. One evening during drinks around the camp fire they served pumpkin tempura as a nibbly, and it was delicious.

The manager of Olakira is a very sweet man Pasquali (again I’m not sure of the spelling) who made a point of seeking out every guest at some point during each day to make sure we were all enjoying our stay and to find out how our day had been. He always had a huge smile on his face [he was the “anti-buffalo” who look perpetually grumpy..]

Someone posted about the bug problems at Olakira - I think that might have been when it was in a different location - but in any event this wasn’t an issue for me while at Olakira. The only camp where I even noticed insects was Oliver’s, and that was primarily the tse tse flies during the walking safari (and a few bees occasionally buzzing around the breakfast table.)


Final Thoughts.

I could go on but I won’t at the risk of boring you (too late you say!). I honestly cannot find anything significant to find fault with or that I would consider a disappointment. Apart from the fabulous wildlife encounters, I was struck by how little many of the people I met have (I am speaking materially of course, compared to many of us visitors), yet how proud they are. Its a little sobering. For instance I met a woman staying at Serian who runs a charity that sponsors orphans to go to high school and she was telling me that the annual cost to put one child through for a year is about $US500. For many of us, that is really an insignificant amount. It was an eye opening trip in many ways.


My head still really isn’t back here yet, and I’m already noodling ideas for a May trip for my birthday (any suggestions are welcome) Hopefully the Canadian dollar will be co-operative ☺.

I've managed to get some photos uploaded to Picasa but am not exactly sure how I link them. That is my next task...

Cheers and thanks again to everyone (asante sana).

twaffle

Really am enjoying your report … aren't the animals amazing in the wild, I never get tired of watching them or reading about other people having great experiences watching them so thanks for sharing. I haven't been to Tarangire … what were the different landscapes you write about. Sounds interesting.
Will you be posting photos?

twaffle

Oops, you must have posted an update just as I posted so you obviously have done the photo thing. Will wait for the link.

atravelynn

Great itinerary and you've given anybody else thinking about doing the same thing lots of helpful information.

The quiet elephants were noteworthy to me too.

When you arrived at Serian, you were given the option of going on a mobile at no extra cost? That seems strange that you'd have a choice. I can see why you declined since it was your first stop.

Nothing antisocial about wanting no distractions when you are out in the wild.

Glad to know there will be some pics. On other sights you email an invitation to yourself to view the sight, then copy the link here.

Leely2

Wonderful! You didn't go on too long at all. I'm so antisocial I think I'd also like the separate tables at Olakira.

Asante sana for this great report, Whiskey.

raelond

I really enjoyed your report and found your descriptions of the camps very helpful. I was at Olakira when it was in the Southern Serengeti and agree with you about dining together. We were there for Easter and suggested that we all dine at the same table, but we were told that they couldn't do that as people might not like it. The manager was away at the time, so maybe that had a bearing on their decision.

whiskey

I just had a second before I had off to work and was trying to post some of my pictures but when I paste the link in here, it shows up twice when I preview my reply. Can anyone tell me what I am doing incorrectly?

Thanks