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