TRAVELLERS' TALES

Kenya Safari  (mouseover the image thumbnails to view larger versions)

Regular client Charles has been booking his holidays with Marco Polo Travel for many years and here he talks about his love for safari holidays.

"My first safari was in Kenya in 1984 and I found it extraordinary that I was really able to see some of the wildlife spectacles which I had seen on TV. Since then, I have returned many times and have enjoyed just about the full range of types of safari holidays – from the camping type to the luxury lodge. You may well ask: why keep returning for the same kind of holiday? Well, no two safari trips are alike – the environments, times of year, animals or birds seen and camps or lodges are all so different."

"Kenya is the easiest and quickest to reach of all the African countries offering big game safaris. There is no denying the spectacle of places such as the Masai Mara National Reserve, with almost all the big game animals on view, Amboseli with its elephants and the wonderful backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro and Lake Nakuru with its thousands of flamingos. Kenya has a huge range of accommodation to suit all budgets and more recently there has been an increase in small camps in conservancy areas which offer a high standard of service in areas rich in wildlife. You can guarantee that you will be watching wildlife on game drives without a fleet of other vehicles around."

"One of these conservancy areas is Lewa Downs and this hit the headlines following the royal engagement and I recently visited the neighbouring Ol Pejeta Conservancy and then later the Masai Mara North Conservancy where I stayed in the Kicheche Laikipia and Little Kicheche Mara camps. These are both excellent small camps which offer top-class game viewing and excellent food! In a week split between these two camps I enjoyed sightings of cheetah, leopard, elephant, black rhino and white rhino with lions being seen on almost every game drive. I really cannot recommend these camps too highly."

"Marco Polo Travel has a huge range of brochures to choose from, including small group tours, and I am soon to travel to Rwanda to see the gorillas. Marco Polo have helped plan tailor-made trips for me to areas I am particularly interested in and I particularly enjoyed self-drive in Namibia where I stayed up all night to watch the black rhino, lions and elephants visiting a waterhole and tracked cheetah on foot at the Africat foundation."

"For me there is nothing more memorable than staying overnight by a river and enjoying the sounds of the wildlife at night, particularly the hippo, or the soft footsteps of an animal padding by the tent."