A few quick turns down a dirt road through scrubby African savanna, less than an hour after our bush plane touched down, we came upon a large, fresh buffalo carcass, curled antlers still attached.
But we weren’t there for the carcass. We had come to see the pride of seven lethargic lions, bellies distended from gorging, lounging in the midday sun, too full to even wander off at the sound of our safari vehicle. I couldn’t help thinking about Thanksgiving dinners and wondered whether the lions’ pronounced yawns were actually that or just an easy way of making sure I saw their sharp, powerful teeth. The sound of teeth gnawing on bone hung in the air.
This photo-op with the lions was the most remarkable of the stops during my first ride in a safari vehicle in Africa. And we weren’t even technically on a game drive. Our group of four was being ferried with our luggage to our home for the next few days, Elsa’s Kopje, of “Born Free” fame, the only lodge inside Meru. The first animals we had seen earlier during the ride were seven giraffes, making me swoon at the sight of the odd and gentle creatures that had captured my heart as a child. When we had gorged enough on lion photos, we moved on.
But there was another delay: more giraffes and baboons around the next bend, minding their business amid the dried grassland and acacia trees. A few more turns, and our guide and driver, Phillip Ndungu Mukuhi, shouted “Ellie,” and stopped the car.
There, just beyond the roadside, was a parade of elephants, about 50 of them. And, yes, parade is the correct term for a group of elephants. How perfect! There were babies and full-grown ones in this crowd, and, after we arrived, they slowly turned, showed us their rear ends and walked off through the trees.
Lions, giraffes, elephants and baboons. All before lunch.
Exhausted from jet lag but bursting with excitement from the morning’s animal encounters, we made our way to Elsa’s ready to rest. But the place was so magical, it was a few hours before our exuberance calmed. Stone cottages carved from the hill seemed like little Hobbit houses filled with natural woods and local fabrics, each having an elaborate stone bathroom with views over the park. Pathways throughout the camp led visitors up and down hills to individual cottages, arranged for privacy and quiet. Central to the cottages was the open-air dining room and bar, furnished with overstuffed sofas and chairs and overlooking a granite infinity pool with seemingly limitless views of Meru and a sky that never ends.
It’s difficult to contain the hyperbole, but the sky in Kenya really does seem bigger than in other places. Maybe it’s a function of being fully immersed in a natural setting with only organic sensations; the giraffes munching treetops or neon-blue lizards resting a few feet from your chair, the throaty grunts of a leopard as you doze off at night or the feel of the equatorial sun and a mountain breeze on wet skin as you stand in the pool, gazing farther than you can imagine.
We had arrived at Meru at the end of the dry season, and a few brief showers on the first day made the next morning one to remember. With the first rains and the first hints of green came the insects. And with those tasty morsels on display, birds and monkeys and lizards turned the camp into a Disney movie of animals chirping and squawking and darting around the grounds, almost as if there were songs playing in the background. The humans all stopped to watch.
Meru had the lock on first-day wonders, but my African safari’s last day was no less memorable.
We had traveled south and west to the Maasai Mara National Park and Cottars 1920s Safari Camp, where owner Calvin Cottar carries on the family business of one of the original safari companies in Kenya. Six white canvas luxury tented bedrooms and four larger family tents surrounded the main dining and recreation tent. The individual tents were furnished with antiques and had natural stone bathrooms and sitting areas that open to sky and bush and mountains. Guests used walkie-talkies to reach their personal butlers, who cheerily supplied gin and tonics — or any other drink — to be savored in privacy by guests. In fact, instead of supplying alarm clocks, butlers brought coffee or tea and cookies to wake guests before dawn for the morning safari drives.
The tents could be closed up tight at night, or you could do as I did and ask the butler to leave the canvas window flaps open to the night air and animal sounds. Strong screens keep out the bugs and any stray wild animals (there are no fences to keep animals out of the camp). But it actually was the spear-carrying Maasai warriors on staff who made me feel safe in my king-sized bed. In traditional garb, they escorted guests to and from their tents in the dark of early morning or late night and kept watch on the property through the night. Cottar, a tall, slender white Kenyan who is an award-winning safari guide, grew up with the Maasai and has a relationship with them that benefits his guests.
As the first day of my African safari was outstanding, so was the last, remarkable not only for wildlife viewing but for the chance to visit a Maasai village and go inside one family’s house.
We visited the village in late afternoon as the men were returning livestock to the wood-fenced pens and children were coming home from school. The village elder, Kelian Mbirikani (who has six wives and sometimes visits Cottars for afternoon naps on the sofas there) greeted us with a wide smile and friendly handshake. But another kind of welcome was more poignant and comes to mind often when I recall my visit with the Maasai: Children returning from school approached us slowly with shy smiles and offered their bowed heads for us to touch, a sign of welcome and respect. For me, that was the sweetest greeting of all.
As for Ebola
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is hitting the safari industry hard, despite the fact that the outbreak area is about 500 miles closer to Paris than it is to Meru National Park in Kenya. Even London is almost exactly the same distance from the outbreak area as the western border of Kenya.
If you go
Airfare from the U.S. will be one of the biggest expenses. Book as early as possible to get the best rates. We flew into Nairobi, and air and land transport from there was included in the camp package prices.
Safari packages are pricey. At Elsa’s, the midseason nightly rate is $570 per person, based on double occupancy; at Cottars, that rate is $740. Included at both places are all meals, guided bush walks, day and night game drives, and meals in the bush along with sundowners, the delightfully civilized safari tradition of cocktails in the bush at sunset. At each place, discounts are offered for booking in concert with stays at other camps in the Cheli and Peacock portfolio of safari properties. For details go to elsakopje.com, cottars.com or chelipeacock.com.
