Sept 9 - 11, 2013
Factoids (from
http://www.maranaboisho.com/page/know-more/index:)
The Naboisho Conservancy is located in Kenya adjacent to the Masai Mara National Reserve. This private conservancy is a ground breaking project of tourism benefiting conservation and community. Unlike its neighbour, the Masai Mara National Reserve, this private conservancy strictly monitors the number of tourists who enter the area, reducing the number of vehicles and the human impact on the environment and wildlife. The 50,000 acre conservancy is made up of land contributions from 500 Maasai landowners. The conservancy fees provide the Maasai community with a sustainable livelihood and ensure the conservation of the wildlife in this vital corridor of the Masai Mara eco-system.
Our experience:
The Naboisho Conservancy and camp were totally as advertised.
The permanent tented camp is beautiful. It totally blends into the environment and is eco-friendly. When you arrive you are greeted by staff with damp cloths to wipe off the dust and refreshing drinks. The staff at Naboisho are from the Maasai tribe. The camp management is mostly from South Africa. Accommodation is in separate tents. There are a total of 8 tents in camp. The tents are very comfortable and have indoor facilities and king sized beds. There is a common lounge and dining area in a separate tent. The food was amazing. Naboisho camp has bucket showers as there is no hot running water in the tents - only cold. The bucket showers are excellent. At Naboisho camp you can have inside or outside bucket showers - the outside enclosure is very private. You can request bucket showers at any time. Staff heat water to the appropriate temperature, carry the water to the tents in buckets. They use a pulley system to lower to leather buckets that feed the showers, fill them with the shower temperature water and then raise them. They then call out to you to let you know the shower is ready to go. It is a very efficient process and the showers are great. There was always more than enough water but you need to get wet, turn the shower off, wash yourself and then turn the shower back on. Imagine the water we would save if we did this at home!
The general routines in the camps that we stayed at was to have morning and afternoon game drives. Morning game drives are from 6:30 am to noonish and afternoon game drives are from 4 pm to 7 - 7:30 pm. Lunch is at 1 pm and dinner at 8 pm. We chose to do private game drives. It costs a little more but that way you can do what you want without having to get consensus from other guests who may have different interests than you do. For example, we love the birds and we were forever stopping to look at them. If you were in a vehicle with others who were only interested in seeing the big 5, this could quickly become an issue. You always have the option of skipping a game drive or going out later/coming back earlier.
All the camps we stayed at also offered walking safaris. We took advantage of this in all the camps and really enjoyed them. When you go on walking safari you always have a guide who is the leader and then another guide or guard who is at the end. At least one of the guides has a high powered rifle for protection. The focus of the walking safaris is the small things - termite hills, ant hills, hoof prints, scat, flora and smaller animals. On our first walking safari, we were also fortunate enough to be within 30 - 40 metres of a herd of zebra, wildebeest and gazelles. It was amazing. The early morning light in Africa is magical and it seems particularly so on the walking safari.
The one thing we found difficult on safari is that you don't get an opportunity to get much exercise as you are restricted to the confines of the camp. I guess I should have mentioned that camps are not fenced which means that the animals can and do wander through the camp at will (yes, lions, zebras, elephants, buffalo - you name it, it comes through camp). This is unusual (but not impossible) during the day but after dark, it is unsafe to walk from your tent to the dining tent and back without an escort. Having said that, we never once felt threatened or unsafe but you do have to exercise caution and follow the security guidelines. Falling to sleep to the sounds of roaring, chomping, grunting etc is amazing (I'm talking about the animals, not Steve).
A word about the roads. We had heard that the roads in the conservancies and parks were terrible. Image the worst country roads you have ever driven on at home and multiply that by 20+. They are unbelievably rough and bumpy. However, they are part of the environment and improving them would not be right. I am very grateful to all those bloggers I read before we left who strongly recommended the need for sports bras. What a lifesaver. Steve was wishing he had them as well!
Our guide for the driving safaris was Wilson who is a Maasai. He was wonderful. He had an amazing ability to anticipate the animals behaviours, a great eye for light and composition for the photos and was generally very interesting and willing to share information about the Maasai culture (there will be a separate blog on the Maasai).
The Maasai staff all spoke 3 languages. English which is the language of instruction in school (the guides all had good English, some of the other staff were more limited as education can be iffy in Kenya), Swahili (also taught at school) and Maasai which is the language they learn at home. We made an effort to learn a few Maasai words (Hi, thank you, goodnight etc). The staff enjoyed our efforts and were happy to correct our pronunciation.
wow. i love the shots with the slate grey skies and zebras especially. xoc&c
ReplyDeleteLIONS! Glad you didn't get "et".
ReplyDelete