kimburu

Thanks Jan. Yes, please do ask. It's really puzzling me!

aby

Jan
thanks.
the site that pissed me off was http://www.campsinternational.com/ck/satao.htm
aby

Africa

Thank you Jan, for the great info on Satao Camp. With the showers at Satao - are they bucket or running water?

Thanks

Gaurang

Africa

I found the answer to my question - they're bucket showers.

JanGoss

Africa:

At Satao the suite tents have both buckets filled before dinner and also a hand shower. If I want to shower or wash my hair before the buckets are filled, I can use the hand held anytime. I'm not sure about the smaller tents, but I suspect they have both. They've been doing some improvements this spring putting more tents on the elevated stone foundations so I'll be interested to see the improvements when I get there.

Jan

JanGoss

Kimburu and Aby:

I found two pictures of topi that I had taken back in 2001 and 2002. Both would have been taken in January. Note how green it is in the 2001 picture near Aruba Dam and how dry and burned it is in 2002 near Satao.

Sorry they weren't more close up for you.

I've written Southern Cross Safaris/Satao Camp re your questions regarding weather and whether or not topi were originally translocated. When I hear from him I'll let you know the answer.

Jan

JanGoss

Sorry - I forgot to post the picture connection:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=...&y=-xu617h

JanGoss

kimburu:

Just got an email this morning from Torben, managing director of Southern Cross Safaris re weather and topi. His answers follow:

"1) In Kenya as a whole the short rains are in November and early December and the Long rains are in May and June. However in Tsavo specifically we have a slightly different rainfall pattern as historically we always get more rain in Novermber rains than we do in May/June rains. The reason for the differences in rain fall patterns across Tsavo and the country is mainly
linked the the terrain. Areas which have mountains and high ground tend to
get more rain than the areas located on the plains (i.e Yatta plateau) like
Satao. Best time for him to come would be mid to late October if he wants to
see Elephants.

2) Topi is not a species that is found in huge numbers in tsavo. In fact they
should not even be there according to their normal habitat. However we have
a very few Topis that hand around Tsavo and it appears to be getting more
and more. We now often see Topi at Satao waterhole and on game drives in
that area. As far as I know these animals were not relocated but migrated on their own".

Hope this answers the questions you had.

Jan

Nyamera

Thanks Jan. I didn’t know there were topis in Tsavo. Very interesting.

Nyamera

Tarhi Camp is the perfect camp, or at least it was in 2004 when I was there, I hope they haven’t done any “improvements”. I’m not at all into roughing it and I was perfectly comfortable at Tarhi. I was there in June that’s not the best time of the year, but still there were lots of animals in camp. In July or August there would have been even more as Tarhi is straight on the edge of Kanderi Swamp and a lovely emerald and gold contrast to the brick and silver of most of Tsavo East. I loved it that the tents and the dining area were straight on the ground without platforms and I was told that the whole camp could be removed in 24 hours and after a couple of weeks nobody would be able to tell that there had been a camp. I hope it’s still true.

tuskerdave

hi sue-remember i stopped in there at that camp to see your driver in march. he wasnt there. we didnt go looking around.
but it looked like it was all hidden ya know.
jan i like satao, the tower, bobby is great.but i dont think i am ready to stay there just yet. i remember telling kashu on our 2nd stop there in march. the place was too full. way too many people for me.the tower was also full.bit too loud and much commotion.
thats just me-i think if i had to pick-i would pick the camp that Nyamera is talking about.but for now in my safari life when i can stay at camp site, two person tents i will stick with that
cheers, david

Nyamera

Hi Daudi,
Camping must be the perfect way to go on safari if you’re a natural beauty.
Those strange Tsavo topis must be coastal topi. I’d like to go to Boni N.R. and Dodori N.R. Has anyone been there and seen coastal topi?

tuskerdave

topi in tsavo? i havent been to t.west for awhile. i dont recall seeing them in t.east.
satao-is a nice place-it isnt too puffy ya know. its really ok in that regards. it was just too busy for me.
sue, why do you keep referring to that about the natural beauty thing? c'mon doesnt mean anything
d

kimburu

Jan, thank you. That makes sense of everything.

JanGoss

Dave:

Just for your info. Tarhi guest count is 38 and Satao 40, so they are both about the same size. They were built by the same man. You must have been at Satao during the lunch hour, because many safari companies that do day safaris (beach boys) bring their guests to lunch at Satao before going on another game drive and then heading back to Mombasa. Thus the lunch hour is the only busy time you'll find. Tarhi is fine, but when it is dry season the swamp is also dry, thus not so many animals close to camp. You'd have to go to Aruba Dam to see them at their water supply.

tuskerdave

hi jan-no kidding haha-ok i'll stick with the basic camping thing for now
oh, then in that case-i'll have to pick satao.
see ya later, d

Nyamera

When I stayed at Tarhi there were 10 tents. I had a look and found that now there are 12 double tents and 3 family (5 people) tents. That would be a maximum of 39 guests, but on the website they say their maximum is 35 guests. When I was there the number of guests ranged between 1 and 10 (one night). It still looks like the perfect camp though. I was told the in-camp game viewing was very good in the dry season. I suppose I’ll have to go at that time myself to see if it’s true or not.