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#1
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Kenya Safari September 2005
Hello all.
I've been having a scan of this group for a couple of days and you seem like a helpful bunch. (Hoping flattery helps!) I'm sure this question has been asked before and I apprectiate that it is very difficult to answer. We are thinking about a trip to Kenya in September and have been trying to do some research into what would be the best options and finding it almost impossible to objectivly compare different offerings. We seem to have rather unscientificatly decided upon the Cheetah Safari from Kuoni with possibly extending it for a few days on the coast. Does anyone have any suggestions or can spot any glaring ommissions in the itinerary below. Thanks Stephen Shamlesssly stolen from kuoni.co.uk: Nairobi: 1 night Samburu: 2 nights Treetops: 1 night Lake Naivasha: 1 night Masai Mara: 2 nights Beach: optional Day 1 Wed or Sun Depart Heathrow by Kenya Airways scheduled flight. Day 2 Thu or Mon One night at the Holiday Inn. Day 3 Fri or Tue Drive to Samburu with lunch en route. Afternoon game-viewing. Overnight at Samburu Lodge (approx. 195 miles). Day 4 Sat or Wed Morning and afternoon game drives. Overnight Samburu. Day 5 Sun or Thu Drive south to the Aberdare Mountains and to world famous Treetops. Lunch at the Outspan, then to Treetops your spectacular viewing perch for the night, where the game is attracted by the waterholes and salt licks around the lodge (approx. 115 miles). Day 6 Mon or Fri Early morning tea at Treetops and breakfast at Outspan, then drive via Thomson's Falls, to Lake Nakuru National Park for game drive and lunch. Continue to Lake Naivasha for overnight (approx. 150 miles). Day 7 Tue or Sat After breakfast, drive to the Masai Mara Game Reserve. Overnight at Keekorok Lodge (approx. 153 miles). Day 8 Wed or Sun This may be the last day of your safari, but it could be the most thrilling, for the vast Mara plains provide the best game-viewing in Kenya. Serengeti and Mara are really one great reserve, covering over 6,000 square miles divided by the Kenya/ Tanzania border, and home to thousands of animals. Morning and afternoon game drives into the heart of the reserve - a fitting climax to an exciting safari. Or take the optional Balloon Safari. Overnight at Keekorok Lodge (approx. 40 miles). Day 9 Thu or Mon Leave Keekorok after breakfast, arriving in Nairobi around midday (approx. 160 miles). Kenya Airways flight to Heathrow arriving next day. You may extend your holiday to the Kenya Coast, Zanzibar, Seychelles or Mauritius. |
#2
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In message om
"Stephen Robertson" wrote: Hello all. I've been having a scan of this group for a couple of days and you seem like a helpful bunch. (Hoping flattery helps!) I'm sure this question has been asked before and I apprectiate that it is very difficult to answer. We are thinking about a trip to Kenya in September and have been trying to do some research into what would be the best options and finding it almost impossible to objectivly compare different offerings. We seem to have rather unscientificatly decided upon the Cheetah Safari from Kuoni with possibly extending it for a few days on the coast. Does anyone have any suggestions or can spot any glaring ommissions in the itinerary below. If you want to go on a group trip out of the UK, Kuoni is about the best 'bangs for bucks' available. Nothing wrong with the Cheetah safari, but also consider the slightly longer Leopard, which was the one we did on our first trip. It might surprise you that it isn't necessarily (much) more expensive to get a private trip (though it is with Kuoni, ironically) from a specialist, then you can pick and choose where you go and how long you stay in each place, but a Kuoni trip is great for a first time, then you have more inside knowledge on which to base future trips. Safari njema Liz -- Virtual Liz now at http://www.v-liz.com Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Seychelles; Galapagos "I speak of Africa and golden joys" |
#3
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Thanks very much for your reply. We are trying to do things on a
reasonably tight budget, so I think the Leopard would just be that little bit more than we were wanting to pay. But this is our dilema do we need to pay the extra to get something like the Leopard or is it simply , as I read it , mainly just a longer trip. I am under no illusion that there are no guarantees what we are going to see when we go. But what I would hate to happen is to be in a situtation where we come back saying I wish we had seen X, and someone saying "Oh for that you should have paid the extra for the Y safari" |
#4
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In message .com
"Stephen Robertson" wrote: Thanks very much for your reply. We are trying to do things on a reasonably tight budget, so I think the Leopard would just be that little bit more than we were wanting to pay. But this is our dilema do we need to pay the extra to get something like the Leopard or is it simply , as I read it , mainly just a longer trip. I am under no illusion that there are no guarantees what we are going to see when we go. But what I would hate to happen is to be in a situtation where we come back saying I wish we had seen X, and someone saying "Oh for that you should have paid the extra for the Y safari" If there's anything you particularly want to see, post here and we can bat around your best chances of seeing it and where. As you say, there are no guarantees: in all my weeks on safari, I've never actually seen a kill happening. Once we met an American family on a *five-day* safari who had seen a caracal - which we've never seen and our driver had only seen once. Hahaha - I'd love to see a Black Heron fishing: when we were at Baringo, the ornithologist advised us to go on the early morning boat trip, as the sunset one was really 'for the tourists'. Right enough, we saw more species, but they saw a Black Heron and we haven't seen one yet (not very easy in Kenya in July, except maybe at Lake Jipe). One of the frustrations of driver/guides is that visitors watch wildlife programmes and thereby imagine that all the 'action' they see on the progs is concentrated into a small period of time, not realising that it can take many months to make a one-hour programme, so they get annoyed when they don't see it all at once. But you know there are no guarantees, so although you may be disappointed, you won't be angry: and it gives you something to go back for! I see the Leopard is quite a bit more expensive, though better value (£500 to double the trip length). Generally, the longer the trip, the more chance you have of picking different things up: a lot of time is spent driving between Game Parks - although the Kuoni brochure is good at telling the mileage between parks, you may not realise that it will usually take much longer to cover that distance than it does at home. I'd say the main place which is missing from the Cheetah trip is Amboseli: but also see that you have an option to add a couple of nights at Ol Tukai/Amboseli onto the Cheetah trip, which would be worth considering. On the Leopard trip, you'd include Tsavo West, which IMO is the most 'missable' - they put it in first because it will almost certainly be eclipsed by places you visit later. The Outspan is interesting, but not essential: you'll visit it briefly on your way up to Treetops, and will probably have your breakfast there on your way down, unless things have changed (they were expanding Treetops last time we were there) and Lake Baringo is a must if you're birders, but otherwise also missable. Anyway, whatever you decide, you'll have a great time. And you'll be able to visit other places on later visits. :-) Slainte Liz -- Virtual Liz now at http://www.v-liz.com Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Seychelles; Galapagos "I speak of Africa and golden joys" |
#5
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In message .com
"Stephen Robertson" wrote: Thanks very much for your reply. We are trying to do things on a reasonably tight budget, so I think the Leopard would just be that little bit more than we were wanting to pay. But this is our dilema do we need to pay the extra to get something like the Leopard or is it simply , as I read it , mainly just a longer trip. I am under no illusion that there are no guarantees what we are going to see when we go. But what I would hate to happen is to be in a situtation where we come back saying I wish we had seen X, and someone saying "Oh for that you should have paid the extra for the Y safari" If there's anything you particularly want to see, post here and we can bat around your best chances of seeing it and where. As you say, there are no guarantees: in all my weeks on safari, I've never actually seen a kill happening. Once we met an American family on a *five-day* safari who had seen a caracal - which we've never seen and our driver had only seen once. Hahaha - I'd love to see a Black Heron fishing: when we were at Baringo, the ornithologist advised us to go on the early morning boat trip, as the sunset one was really 'for the tourists'. Right enough, we saw more species, but they saw a Black Heron and we haven't seen one yet (not very easy in Kenya in July, except maybe at Lake Jipe). One of the frustrations of driver/guides is that visitors watch wildlife programmes and thereby imagine that all the 'action' they see on the progs is concentrated into a small period of time, not realising that it can take many months to make a one-hour programme, so they get annoyed when they don't see it all at once. But you know there are no guarantees, so although you may be disappointed, you won't be angry: and it gives you something to go back for! I see the Leopard is quite a bit more expensive, though better value (£500 to double the trip length). Generally, the longer the trip, the more chance you have of picking different things up: a lot of time is spent driving between Game Parks - although the Kuoni brochure is good at telling the mileage between parks, you may not realise that it will usually take much longer to cover that distance than it does at home. I'd say the main place which is missing from the Cheetah trip is Amboseli: but also see that you have an option to add a couple of nights at Ol Tukai/Amboseli onto the Cheetah trip, which would be worth considering. On the Leopard trip, you'd include Tsavo West, which IMO is the most 'missable' - they put it in first because it will almost certainly be eclipsed by places you visit later. The Outspan is interesting, but not essential: you'll visit it briefly on your way up to Treetops, and will probably have your breakfast there on your way down, unless things have changed (they were expanding Treetops last time we were there) and Lake Baringo is a must if you're birders, but otherwise also missable. Anyway, whatever you decide, you'll have a great time. And you'll be able to visit other places on later visits. :-) Slainte Liz -- Virtual Liz now at http://www.v-liz.com Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Seychelles; Galapagos "I speak of Africa and golden joys" |
#6
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Hi Stephen,
My wife and I went on our first Safari in September 2001 on the very trip you are looking at. We had an absolutely brilliant time and saw an amazing amount of animals. As Liz has already pointed out there are disadvantages to going with Kuoni, such as being in a minibus with other people, the fairly long distances that you drive some days (although we quite enjoyed the bumpy roads!), and the inflexibility of the itinery. However, it is a great way to be introduced to Safari. It gave us the bug and we have since done a more personalised safari in Tanzania. Having done the personalised safari I wouldn't go back to a company like Kuoni as we managed to see the country on a more intimate basis, however, we do not regret going on he cheetah safari the first time round. The advantages were, the accommodation was good quality (you will be amazed at how good the food is!) it can be nice to have company, to share your experiences. Also as kuoni has a large number of vehicles in each park they can talk to one another, which helps with locating the interesting animals. This way you are almost certain to see a lot of animals. Also if you are lucky, this time of year is a great time to be in the Masai Mara. The migration should be near by so there should be plenty going on. It's not everyones cup of tea but we went on the optional balloon trip which was absolutely amazing. We were lucky that the migration was right underneath us, oh and one of the balloons landed right next to a pride of lions which was fun! If you are thinking of doing this I would recommend it! To sum up, if you do choose to go with Kuoni you will have a fabulous time. Juts remember to take plenty of film for your camera! Cheers Dave Stephen Robertson wrote: Hello all. I've been having a scan of this group for a couple of days and you seem like a helpful bunch. (Hoping flattery helps!) I'm sure this question has been asked before and I apprectiate that it is very difficult to answer. We are thinking about a trip to Kenya in September and have been trying to do some research into what would be the best options and finding it almost impossible to objectivly compare different offerings. We seem to have rather unscientificatly decided upon the Cheetah Safari from Kuoni with possibly extending it for a few days on the coast. Does anyone have any suggestions or can spot any glaring ommissions in the itinerary below. Thanks Stephen |
#7
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Nice to see the support for the Kuoni operations
from people who have enjoyed their trip with them. I operate a similar itinerary - slightly different in that clients stay at Lake Nakuru instead of Naivasha. The drive to the Mara, thus, is about an hour longer. And I use different properties - but the ones in your trip are all quality places also. Counting the drives to and from Samburu Lodge when you are at the reserve, you will have 9 game drives and should see a lot. September, as you probably know, is an ideal time to be in the Masai Mara. |
#8
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On 1 Mar 2005 01:28:06 -0800, "Stephen Robertson"
wrote: Nairobi: 1 night Samburu: 2 nights Treetops: 1 night Lake Naivasha: 1 night Masai Mara: 2 nights Beach: optional Stephen, just a few thoughts that may contain some useful information for you. Please consider that it is probably impossible to design the safari in detail on your own, you probably have to take the schedule as it is. But at least you can understand the details of the plan better, so I'll just write what I think. I think this itinerary is nearly the best for a short stay like 9 days. The two main places are Samburu and Masai Mara, which would be my choice for a first time visit as well. Given that I think that the itinerary is quite good, let me think how I would change and improve it if I could. Lake Naivasha made me think, but it is pretty obvious that they insert the overnight stay there for the simple reason that they can't make it from Samburu or even Treetops to Masai Mara in one day. In fact, they probably could, but it would be a very long, tiresome trip. The Lake Naivasha Country Club, where you will probably spend the night, is, in fact, quite nice, and I sometimes use it for an intermediate stop as well, for example, when I leave Nairobi very quickly with newly arrived friends and want them to acclimatize in peace. For this, Lake Naivasha is ideal. If you're there for lunch or in the early afternoon, you can consider taking a boat ride to see several interesting birds and even some large animals on Crescent Island and hippos and perhaps the occasional crocodile in the water. You may also see fishermen at work. Treetops is one of the three mountain forest lodges where you spend a night and watch forest animals around a salt lick and water hole in floodlight at night. This is fascinating, but it has the disadvantage that you spend only a little time there, which you have to split between watching and sleeping. In the morning you are rushed back down and leave, in all of these lodges save The Ark even before breakfast. So the question is whether this is a good idea on a first visit to Kenya. If you want to stuff as many different impressions as possible into your trip and even sacrifice a good night's sleep, then it definitely is, because are unlikely to see any forest animals without it. If, however, you value a slower pace and a good night's sleep, then it may seem like too much of a rush. Some people really like these forest lodges, some like them a little less. At least nobody seems to regret having been there once. Another thought concerns Nairobi. My personal idea is to get out of Nairobi as quickly as possible after I arrive. If you arrive in the evening, then you will usually have to spend a night there and can leave the next morning. If you arrive in the morning, I would prefer leaving the same day. Generally I think that two nights are the lower limit for major nature reserves, and your itinerary obeys that, which is good. I hope this information is at least a bit useful. Hans-Georg -- No mail, please. |
#9
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On 1 Mar 2005 01:28:06 -0800, "Stephen Robertson"
wrote: Nairobi: 1 night Samburu: 2 nights Treetops: 1 night Lake Naivasha: 1 night Masai Mara: 2 nights Beach: optional Stephen, just a few thoughts that may contain some useful information for you. Please consider that it is probably impossible to design the safari in detail on your own, you probably have to take the schedule as it is. But at least you can understand the details of the plan better, so I'll just write what I think. I think this itinerary is nearly the best for a short stay like 9 days. The two main places are Samburu and Masai Mara, which would be my choice for a first time visit as well. Given that I think that the itinerary is quite good, let me think how I would change and improve it if I could. Lake Naivasha made me think, but it is pretty obvious that they insert the overnight stay there for the simple reason that they can't make it from Samburu or even Treetops to Masai Mara in one day. In fact, they probably could, but it would be a very long, tiresome trip. The Lake Naivasha Country Club, where you will probably spend the night, is, in fact, quite nice, and I sometimes use it for an intermediate stop as well, for example, when I leave Nairobi very quickly with newly arrived friends and want them to acclimatize in peace. For this, Lake Naivasha is ideal. If you're there for lunch or in the early afternoon, you can consider taking a boat ride to see several interesting birds and even some large animals on Crescent Island and hippos and perhaps the occasional crocodile in the water. You may also see fishermen at work. Treetops is one of the three mountain forest lodges where you spend a night and watch forest animals around a salt lick and water hole in floodlight at night. This is fascinating, but it has the disadvantage that you spend only a little time there, which you have to split between watching and sleeping. In the morning you are rushed back down and leave, in all of these lodges save The Ark even before breakfast. So the question is whether this is a good idea on a first visit to Kenya. If you want to stuff as many different impressions as possible into your trip and even sacrifice a good night's sleep, then it definitely is, because are unlikely to see any forest animals without it. If, however, you value a slower pace and a good night's sleep, then it may seem like too much of a rush. Some people really like these forest lodges, some like them a little less. At least nobody seems to regret having been there once. Another thought concerns Nairobi. My personal idea is to get out of Nairobi as quickly as possible after I arrive. If you arrive in the evening, then you will usually have to spend a night there and can leave the next morning. If you arrive in the morning, I would prefer leaving the same day. Generally I think that two nights are the lower limit for major nature reserves, and your itinerary obeys that, which is good. I hope this information is at least a bit useful. Hans-Georg -- No mail, please. |
#10
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Thank you everyone for your replies.
I've booked it now so in a few months I'll know for myself! We're also having a few days at the beach afterwards. I'm a little dubious about Nairobi, we are spending two nights, one either side of the safari. By all accounts it doesn't sound like the sort of place where you want to leave the hotel at all or is that making it out to be worse than it is? I'm not sure how much time we will have in Nairobi, or how much we will want to do considering the flight times. Anyone have any suggestions if we do have some time. Stephen. |
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