The African Safari – part II – the Saruni Lodge in Samburu, Kenya

The African Safari – part II – the Saruni Lodge in Samburu, Kenya

In the last article I wrote about my impressions about the Tortilis camp in Amboseli, Kenya. But I haven’t given you the proper review by forgetting to mention the many nuances that made this particular lodge unique and memorable. In order to accomplish this I’ll use a rating scale. The scale will range from 1 to 7 with 7 being outstanding (I’ll use the same scale to rate the Saruni Lodge in Samburu and later the Cottar’s Lodge in Masai Mara). In this article we’ll be landing in Samburu National Reserve (a little over an hour of flying from Amboseli’s air strip onboard Boscovic’s charter planes). To locate Samburu National Park just look right above the Equator line and right below the word Kenya. If Amboseli is the realm of large families of Elephants highlighted by the endless-horizon vistas and the ever present majestic Mt. Kilimanjaro, then Samburu is the country of the Big Five (as in big cats).

So without further ado here is my rating of my experiences at the Tortilis camp:

·         Your personal tent - 7. Please remember that you are sleeping in the wild with only your tent walls with the built-in mosquito nets separating you from the wild.                                                                             

·         Beds and amenities - 7. Clean and comfortable.

·         Service - 7. Top notch in every respect. Expect to find little souvenirs left for you by the foot of your bed.

·         Food and drink - again, absolutely fantastic. You can call this camp ahead of time and request a diet that suites your particular tastes or needs. Our meals were prepared by an outstanding chief.

·         Staff - 7. Courteous, attentive and with a great sense of humor.

·         Weather – 7. Warm during the day (I’d say lower to mid-eighties) and cool and breezy during the night (so please be sure to pack a long sleeve shirt and a light sweater)

·         Panoramic vistas from the hotel – 6, but the views on the plains of Amboseli’s National Park are nothing short of amazing.

·         Amboseli Safaris - 7. For the first time Safari traveler I was very impressed. The trips were well thought out and organized and at a relaxed pace – perfect for the first timers (like myself).

·         Safari guides - 7. Excellent in every respect - our Masai guides were very knowledgeable, patient and accommodating, not to mention their excellent driving skills. The amount of wild life facts and trivia that we learned still astonishes me (I am an avid Discovery and Animal Planet viewer and I didn’t know a lot of the facts that our guides shared with us). I’ll share some of these facts with you, my readers, at the end of this article.

·         Safari vehicles - 6. A bit on a bumpy side (especially in the back row), but otherwise clean, roomy and very stable.

Samburu immediately struck me as rugged but beautiful. It is densely populated by a species of Acacia trees that are shorter in statue but growing much denser (as opposed to Amboseli that for the most part is plains with endless horizon lines). It is hotter and drier here – almost desert like. The contrast of deep blue sky, parched (reddish) soil and the green of numerous close and distant hills is very striking. The drive to the lodge is just about twenty five minutes, but it took us nearly an hour to get there because of the numerous stops we made to observe and admire Samburu’s wild life. Not a minute after driving off from the airstrip (on occasion pilots have to circle the runway several times to chase away animals that graze near the runway) we spotted a plethora of wildlife. Even the air smells very different than in Amboseli. The exotic colors of the Guinea Foul, the alien shapes of termite mounds and the rocky landscape of Samburu immediately captivated me. If Tortilis camp was a little laid back in its setting and temperate in its climate, then Samburu was its wilder brother. The camp is situated on top of a rocky cliff (probably about a hundred plus feet above the plain below). 

To get to the lodge the Safari trucks inch along an untouched (unmodified in any way) steep and rocky incline with several forty-five degree turns. For the faint-hearted I’d suggest not to look to the side closest to the cliff side – because there are no guard rails (believe it or not but it is less of a hair raising experience when climbing this stretch of the rocky terrain in the pitch black of the night – mainly because you can’t see anything to the sides of the head lamps).

We arrived at the camp at around 1:00PM local time. Walking through the gate of the main terrace you are completely and utterly blown away by the scenery – an expanse of the lodge’s terrace falling off into the heart-stopping beautiful expanse of the vista that opens in front of your eyes. It was truly an “Oh My God” moment for all of us. It was both amazingly (almost speechless) beautiful and at the same time very humbling. After a brief welcome session (which included “for your safety” tips) the inn keepers Johan and Zoe assigned us to our individual quarters escorted by our accommodating Masai staff. During this welcome session we learned that apparently a very friendly Leopard makes his nightly stays on top of certain roof tops (precisely which roof tops we were not told, but were instructed to keep our ears open for low-pitch rumbling roar). My daughter and several others are absolutely certain that they heard the Leopard’s roars right above the open balconies.

The interior of lodge’s rooms and inter-connecting hallways has the influences of Moroccan architecture. The windows are canvas partitions with mosquito netting and the same is true for the larger “doors” that lead out onto the balcony. After sun down you are discouraged to walk alone to and from the main terrace (a bit of a walk actually) and your room for obvious reasons. You feel so very well taken care of here, that on a few occasions I forgot to ask to be accompanied back to my room (and survived to tell the story). It’s very surreal to look into the pitch black of the night in the direction of the distant mountain ranges silhouetted against the dark sky studded with numerous bright stars next to an open fire pit with its flames dancing in the warm breeze.

Here is my rating of my experiences at the Saruni camp in Samburu:

·         Your personal room - 6. Please remember that you are sleeping in the wild with only your tent walls (with the built-in mosquito nets) separating you from the wild. You are encouraged to keep the terrace canvas walls closed after sun down. There are mosquitoes here, so use both cream and spray for bed netting (which is essential here). You have to watch your step after dark. I brought a rechargeable flash light with us and was very grateful I did.                                                                        

·         Beds and amenities - 7. Clean and comfortable. Nothing like taking a shower at night while  wondering just how close was that low-rumbling roar you just heard.

·         Service - 7. Top notch in every respect.

·         Food and drink - again, absolutely fantastic. Same as at Tortilis, you can call this camp ahead of time and request a diet that suites your particular tastes or needs.

·         Staff - 7. Courteous, attentive and with a great sense of humor.

·         Weather – 6. Hot during the day (I’d say mid-nineties) and warm and breezy during the night (you’ll need to run a fan at night to be comfortable).

·         Panoramic vistas from the hotel – an absolute 8!

·         Samburu’s Safaris - 8. I was very impressed. The trips were well thought out and organized and are geared for the more adventurous – even though you are not required to exert yourself at all. Please check my blog for pictures and the videos from this location (the easiest way to find my blog is to Google my name + the word blog - Arthur Areyan blog).

·         Safari guides - 7. Excellent in every respect - our guides were very knowledgeable, patient and accommodating. Again, we learned a lot of facts about the local wildlife and the Masai people.

·         Safari vehicles - 7. More comfortable than the makes and models used in Tortilis.

I would highly recommend this destination. The memories you’ll collect here won’t be easy to forget.

And as promised here are a few facts we learned from our Masai guides:

·       Of the big five, Leopards are the most aggressive and unpredictable. The Masai guides do not turn off the engines (usually they do when observing other wild life) and always point the Jeeps in the direction away from a Leopard (even if the Leopard is in the tree).

·         The second most aggressive animal of the African Safari is a Cape Buffalo. When in heat male buffaloes are especially aggressive and will attack herders by ambushing them. There are several ways of surviving a charging Cape Buffalo (as told by our Masai guides) – either climb a tree and wait for the buffalo to leave, use a tree’s trunk as a barrier and simply move around it until the buffalo gets tired or bored, or lay perfectly flat on the ground. The latter works well if the buffalo doesn’t decide to leak the exposed skin of a Masai herder (as is often the case). Buffalo’s raspy tongue and certain parts of the human anatomy cause a man to either roll or flex which is enough for the buffalo’s razor sharp horns to grab a hold.  

·         If a Masai man dies in his hut, then all of his belongings and the body are left untouched; then the entire village disassembles their huts and moves to a different location. Masai are nomadic and do migrate from location to location every eight to ten years.

·         Masai are polygamous. Their first wives are chosen by the elders. A bride can be chosen from a distant village and often times years before the actual marriage. For a man to have a second wife he’ll need to prove himself as a good husband and a father, only then he’ll be allowed to choose his second wife.

·         The Masai huts are built by their women and only when they are in agreement. On average it takes about two months to build a typical hut.

·         To let others know that a husband is with one of his wives, the man leaves his spear at the door of the hut.

·         Gold, silver and precious stones have no value to the Masai; man’s (or family’s) wealth is measured by the number of goats or cows one has (or the number of wives).

·         Each wife has her own hut which is comprised of the parent’s (larger) quarters, a tiny hallway / kitchen and a smaller children’s room. Just about anything is used to build a hut.

·         Masai have neither official calendar nor birthdays.

·         Masai name their children for their traits or for the marked events of a year they were born in or after grand-parents.

·         Most of the tools or materials that are found at Masai villages are exchanged at traveling bazaars; the exchange currency is goats or cattle.

Stay tuned for the next edition of the African Safari where we’ll be visiting the amazing Cottar’s lodge in Masai Mara. I’ll be sure to share more interesting facts form the bush (as Masai call the Safari). Wishing for you all to stay well and prosper.