CONSERVING KENYA!

I have been to Kenya several times. I even honeymooned there so far back I don't want to say. However it has been a good 10 years since i visited the last time, mainly because I found that the Safari operators in Kenya had lost their way and started making a Disney attraction out of what was a spectacular country.

 

Since then, I had been looking for Karen Blixen's proverbial  Out of Africa experience. I did Safaris in south Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. I tried to track the great gorillas of Uganda and Rwanda several times, but was challenged by terrorists each time.,….consequently, that is still on my "bucket list".

 

Invited to see the new Kenya on invitation from the Kicheche camps of several new

Conservancy groups, i jumped at the chance. I had heard about these private groups purchasing large swaths of land throughout Kenya to preserve the animals and to preserve the country. Just before the rainy season, I left the us to see what had been accomplished.

On the first day alone, in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy at the base of Mt. Kenya, i saw most of the

Big five! Elephants, lions, cape buffalo, and rhinoceros all roamed freely across this giant fenced wilderness. That very night two cheetahs lay sleepily in the grass not far from the tented camp that Kicheche had provided.

Now when i say tented, this was not like your average tent in the woods. These tented camps Have proper bathrooms with running water. You can even get a shower every night...not a long one...but long enough even to wash your hair if you need to. Don't look for the hair dryer  However, as these camps don't have electric current. They are solar powered and that lasts just so long in the cool dark evenings.

So what could be better than sitting by the fire, hearing the lions roar in the distance and then sitting down to a gourmet feast in the main tent, complete with candle light and full service wait staff to attend with french service. No buffets here....only the best will do.

At 5:30am (dawn), one of these same waiters brings you coffee or tea and cookies to your tent door, to wake you up so you can prepare to go on your first game drive. What a great way to get a wakeup call!

Out at 6am and back around 9am filled with stories about who saw what. Best of all, within the Conservancies, it is illegal to have more than two safari vehicles together at any one time!  Gone were my memories of the old Kenya where when someone spotted a pride of lions within 5 minutes, there were 25 other vehicles surrounding them filled with tourists from around the World uttering adoring words loudly and clicking a myriad of camera shutters. None of that in the new Kenyan conservancies. There are now six conservancies covering thousands of acres all over Kenya. Best of all, these conservancies are giving jobs to locals and educating them about the preservation of the earth and its animals. No more plastic bags floating across the Mara. The people now pick up what waste and trash they see and stow it properly.

 

People from the US are afraid to travel to Kenya after hearing about terrorists and mall bombings....but the Conservancies of Kenya couldn't be more peaceful and wonderful.

 

Thank you Kicheche Camps....so glad you are educating us all!