sundowner

Crosscheck's trip report is great! It sure makes me even more excited about going.

I don't know how you and Travelynn, Sandi, Sharon etc, can remember all of these trip details and reports.

AKR1

Here is the Amboseli part of my Trip Report late June 2010 while definitely not in the same league as Crosscheck, could still be interesting for you:
Our Mombasa Air flight was scheduled to leave at 1.30 pm. We only left camp after it landed as we were the only passengers and the airstrip is 5 minutes from camp. Seeing that plane sitting on the desolate airstrip waiting for us with animals grazing nearby was another scene to remember. We loaded up and took off with one stop in the Mara to pick up passengers and an hour later landed in Amboseli. Two vehicles from Tortelis camp were waiting for us- these were completely open with canvas roofs. We loaded up and the Tortelis staff got our park fee receipts from the ranger and were soon on our way to camp seeing elephants and flamingos on the way- it takes about 35 minutes to camp. Kilimanjaro was clouded up which was a bummer but Tortelis was fine. We were greeted by a relief manager Barbara who had a nice Italian accent and it appeared Italian was the default language in camp. Several staff members were from Italy- Neo once again pulled off 4 tents for us- the manager said she had prepared two tents with three beds but Neo called that morning and “requested” a fourth which she gave us as the camp was only half full during our stay. The look and feel of the place was very different from Ngerende. The camp was much larger with 30 tents compared to just 7 at Negrende and the atmosphere while very professional was more business-like. The bar area is beautiful directly overlooking Kilimanjaro and an illuminated waterhole about 150m away at the edge of the property. The clouds parted as if to greet us and there was Kilimanjaro. The mountain is truly awe inspiring and one look made me happy we had decided to come here. The dining area is right next to the bar also with direct views of Killi. A number of famous people have stayed at Tortelis and the library has dozens of books and periodicals featuring Tortelis camp. I read Michael Palin’s chapter in his on the trail of Hemmingway book where he stayed at Tortelis and drank his first Tusker beer in Africa the same brand Hemmingway had drunk when he pitched a tent in Amboseli not far from Tortelis. I opened a Tusker and sat there contemplating the mountain. The tents are great with zip up fronts and a nice bathroom- the inside is well thought out with plenty of storage and flat surfaces to place stuff on. We had a view of Killi from the tent but there was a large bush obscuring it- I did’nt understand why they did not trim the bush. It’s a long walk up from the tent but given the amount of food we were eating, good exercise. The food at Tortelis is Italian and they have an excellent reputation- Stephano Chelli the founder came from a family of chefs. However, in my opinion the food was fresh and good, nothing more, far outclassed by Ngerende’s 3 star chef Edward (the stars are given by me not Michelin).

Game drives: Amboseli suffered terribly from last years historic drought but has recovered considerably due to the abundant rains this year. Gnus and zebra were decimated last year- we saw their bones all over the park. The elephants tend to be the Amboselis strong point and we saw large herds that appear to be thriving. Amboselis main attraction for us was seeing the animals juxtaposed by Kilimanjaro and for the 2 days we were there, Killi was visible clearly for roughly one day- one full afternoon and the next morning till noon. We got several beautiful shots of elephants, a lion, giraffe, buffalo, ostrich, zebra, gnus etc with Killi in the background. Off roading is not allowed and several animals were too far away to photograph properly but were clearly visible with binoculars. In particular we saw thousands of flamingos doing very well but the distance between the pond and where we were was about 150m too far for our 640mm lenses. We had a surprise bush breakfast overlooking Killi that was great and was our best meal at camp. Also, on the last evening sundowners were provided by a second vehicle and staff on top of a very steep hill – the views were incredible but unfortunately Killi was obscured by clouds. Our driver/guide Simon was very good. The second vehicle had two different drivers on our two days. We also saw the photographer Nick Brandt who was staying at Tortelis for a few weeks – he had a special vehicle with few seats and was sitting on the floor to I assume get eye level shots of animals and also had a few dedicated spotters in different vehicles. Unfortunately I was not able to meet him.
Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1032282...eat=directlink

sundowner

Thank you for sharing that, AKR1. It does sound like a good area and you have some great pictures!

annah58

Sundowner, We stayed at the Porini camps Sept 2010 and are going back this Sept. We spent one day at Amboseli park and 2 days in the Selenkay conservancy where the camp is located. There was really no difference in the game seen between the 2 areas except for elephants. We saw elephant tracks in the conservancy but no elephants! Tons of elephants in the park. We didn't see any cheetah though either. The difference in the tourist traffic was nice. Very few other vehicles seen in the conservancy. We also visited the village and really enjoyed it.
We also spent 4 days at Lion camp in the Olare Orok conservancy only one day in the the Masai Mara park. There really wasn't any difference in the game viewing but once again not a lot of vehicle traffic! One day in the park was plenty, we really wanted toand got to see a migration crossing. That was when ran into a lot of traffic and also to my surprise, rude tourists!