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Kenya Most Romantic | Photographers Paradise - Kenya
Photographers Paradise - Tanzania | Tanzania Most Romantic | Wildest Most Remote Places

Kenya is, without doubt, a stunningly beautiful country. From the bleached sands of the eastern coast lapped by the aquamarine waters of the Indian Ocean to the primitive aridity of little-visited Turkana, Kenya offers a wonderful variety of landscape, a people that are utterly charming and friendly, a rich and fascinating culture and, of course, fabulous wildlife. The picture many have of Africa, that of golden savannah dotted with game and studded with flat-topped umbrella acacias is actually the landscape of Kenya. It has featured in so many Hollywood movies and wildlife films that it is embedded in our psyches as the real Africa. This is the land of the classic safari and luxurious lodges, the land of wide blue skies and the land of enchantment.

RATES 2008:
LOW SEASON : 8799.00 per person twin share, and 1224.00 per person single supp
HIGH SEASON : 9175.00 per person twin share, and 1290.00 per person single supp

(closed april 1-15 june 08 & nov 1-15 dec 08 all rates subject to change)

Please check for seasonality.

ITINERARY AT A GLANCE

ITINERARY DETAILS

Day 1 Nairobi
Upon arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International airport you will be met by a Vintage Africa Representative who will meet and assist you through immigrations and transferred to your hotel for check-in followed by dinner and Overnight at Ngong House LDBB.

Day 2 Meru National Park
Breakfast, check out and transferred to Wilson airport for your scheduled flight to Meru departing at 0800hrs. On arrival at 0845hrs you will be met by Lodge 4x4 vehicles for game drive enroute in Meru National Park which of all the Kenyan parks, presents the widest variety of landscapes and habitats together with numerous animals and birds. Arrive at your lodge for check-in followed by lunch. After lunch relax with afternoon game activities to return to lodge before sunset for dinner and Overnight at Elsa's Kopje LDBB

Day 3 Meru National Park
Today spend full day in Meru National Park where you will enjoy game drives or applicable activities offered at your lodge with all meals being served at your lodge with overnight at Elsa's Kopje LDBB.

Day 4 Meru National Park
Today spend full day in Meru National Park where you will enjoy game drives or applicable activities offered at your lodge with all meals being served at your lodge with overnight at Elsa's Kopje LDBB.

Day 5 Laikipia
Breakfast at your at your lodge check out and transferred to the local airstrip for your onward scheduled flight to Loisaba departing at 0830hrs. On arrival at 0920hrs you will be met by lodge 4x4 vehicles and transferred to your lodge for check-in. Morning activities with lunch thereafter afternoon game activities at your camp with Overnight at Ol Malo LDBB.

Day 6 Laikipia
Game activities + all meals with Overnight at Ol Malo LDBB.

Day 7 Laikipia
Game activities + all meals with Overnight at Ol Malo LDBB.

Day 8 Masai Mara National G.R
Breakfast at your lodge, check out and transferred to Loisaba airstrip for your onward scheduled flight to Mara departing at 0930hrs. On arrival at Siana at 1045hrs you will be met by camp 4x4 vehicles and transferred to your camp for check-in followed by lunch. Afternoon game activities at your camp with dinner and Overnight at Ol Seki Camp LDBB.

Day 9 Masai Mara National G.R
Morning and Afternoon game activities with all meals at your camp with Overnight at Ol Seki Camp LDBB.

Day 10 Masai Mara National G.R
Morning and Afternoon game activities with all meals at your camp with Overnight at Ol Seki Camp LDBB.

Day 11 Masai Mara National G.R
Morning and Afternoon game activities with all meals at your camp with Overnight at Ol Seki Camp LDBB.

Day 12 Departure
Breakfast, followed by morning activities before transfer to the local airstrip for your scheduled flight to Nairobi departing at 1100hrs. On arrival at 1215hrs you will be met by a Vintage Africa Representative who will meet and transfer you to Jomo Kenyatta International airport for your onward departure flight. A Vintage Africa Representative will reconfirm your onward departure flight and assist you to check-in.

The Package Includes:

1Night Ngong House ( Includes: Drinks (excluding Champagne)
3Nights Elsa's Kopje Package (Includes: Return airstrip transfers, 2 extended game drives by camp 4x4 vehicle, full board accommodation, guided walks, bush breakfast, lunch, dinner, Night Game drives, laundry, fishing, soft drinks, beer & house wine (champagne, luxury spirits are not included)
3Nights Ol Malo Package (Includes: Full board accommodation, Include soft drinks, beer & house wines, airstrip transfers, laundry, game drives, day & night, guided walks, horse riding, camel treks & Samburu cultural visits)
4Nights Ol Seki Camp Package (Includes: Full board accommodation, Include soft drinks, beer & house wines, airstrip transfers, laundry, game drives, day & night, guided walks, Masai cultural visits)
Arrival and Departures transfers airport transfers in 4x4 Vintage Africa Vehicles
All meals as per itinerary
All game drives as per itinerary
All the park fees as per itinerary
Professional English driver guide service
Transport in camp shared 4x4 wheel drive vehicle

The Package Excludes:

All International Flights + Taxes
Visas
Travel & Personal accident insurance
Tips & personal expenses such as telephone calls...etc.
Excursions not detailed in above program

Included flights:

Scheduled flights Nairobi - Meru on day 02
Scheduled flights Meru - Loisaba on day 05
Scheduled flights Loisaba - Masai Mara on day 08
Scheduled flights Masai Mara - Wilson on day 12

Added Value:

Vintage Africa Gift Pack
Complimenmtary 188 pages Vintage Africa Safari Guide covering the whole of East Africa
Complimentatry Vintage Africa Safari Pouch with a pen
Complimentary Vintage Africa Hat

Optional services:

 USD 25.00 Per person Flying Doctor Rescue & Evacuation Service (Subject to change and vendor terms & conditions).
 USD 425.00 Per person cost for hot air balloon ride while at Masai Mara

NB: Flight cost is subject to change.

ACCOMMODATION INFORMATION

Ngong House

Ngong House lies on the outskirts of Langata, on the land once cultivated as Karen Blixen's coffee estate. Paul Verleysen, the charming owner, had the concept of a private home that would also offer exclusive and personalised service to a small number of guests. Germane to the concept was that the accommodation would be original, would fit seamlessly within the landscape, would utilise indigenous materials and styles, and would benefit from Paul's engineering skills. His creation complies perfectly with the self-imposed brief and, in addition, offers the ultimate luxuries of space, light and true style.

Accommodation comprises five wooden houses raised on stilts with peerless views of the misty Ngong Hills and the surrounding countryside. There is also a further bedroom within the attractive original house. The furnishings and decorative artefacts are, with very few exceptions, resolutely sourced within Africa, and primarily Kenya. The furniture may be constructed from camphorwood, which mellows to a rich dark patina with age, or perhaps, romantically, made from hardwood sleepers from the old Mombasa-Nairobi Railway. Each  "tree-house" has its own spirit and ambience. The beautifully intricate hand-carved furniture of Lamu features in one, whereas another features a clear and tranquil blue combined with the  strong lines of wrought iron pieces. Generous four-poster beds grace the upper-level bedrooms, crisp cottons and feather pillows promise a luxurious nights sleep. On the lower level the spacious living area has a large sofa to sink into, comfy chairs and an intimate dining area. The verandah is the ideal place from which to bask in the sun, take afternoon tea, observe the teeming birdlife or gaze into the sunset.

The cuisine is of the highest quality, imaginatively prepared using mouth-wateringly fresh ingredients. Meals, hosted by Paul or his son, Christof, may be served in the elegant dining room, under the shady trees, or in the covered yet open-sided dining area in the gardens in which a roaring fire is lit on chillier evenings. Enormous care is taken with presentation; flowers, hand-made glasses and beautiful plates with rich glazes glow by the soft light of many candles. Ngong House is truly inspirational.

Elsa's Kopje

Meru National Park, in the old Northern Frontier District, is wild Africa at its most alluring. The animals are shy and unused to humans. Here you will find Elsa's Kopje, named for Elsa, the orphaned lioness reared by George and Joy Adamson and returned to the wild in Meru. This private hideaway is perched on top of Mugwongo Hill, site of George Adamson's first camp. This park is renowned for its low rainfall, yet at the same time thirteen rivers and numerous streams run off the nearby mountains to provide a landscape of arid land laced with ribbons of green.

From your private cottage, placed well away from your neighbour, you will enjoy a 270-degree view of the surrounding park with its scattered kopjes and mysterious baobab trees. The open plan rooms are individually designed, incorporating the rocks into the structure. Traditional African-made furniture, bright ikat fabrics and whitewashed walls are simple yet superbly comfortable and stylishly effective. Two rooms have monolithic baths which would be at home in the most modern of style magazines, yet fit perfectly with the landscape which you can see from them. George Adamson's words explain the attraction of Elsa's Kopje - "I felt a surge of elation as I left the artificial world....for the last time and drove north to Meru...". You will feel it too!

Ol Malo

Ol Malo, meaning "The Place of the Greater Kudu", is the home of Colin and Rocky Francombe. The five thousand-acre ranch and game sanctuary lies along the Uaso Nyiro River on the edge of Kenya's north-eastern province. It overlooks the Mukagodo, home of the nomadic Ndorobo people, with views that unveil the very face of Africa. Colin and Rocky welcome guests into their home and offer them a very personal and exclusive experience in this peaceful wilderness.

Built of natural rock with thatched roofs, and shaped by the rocks and the curve of ancient olive wood, their home overlooks a much frequented water hole and salt lick, surrounded by miles of rugged bush with Mount Kenya looming in the distance. The fabulous swimming pool, edged with natural stone, appears to grow organically from the landscape. At Ol Malo days are as full or as restful as guests prefer.

Ol Seki Camp

Set on a wonderful rocky promontory, overlooking the Ol Sabukioi River north of the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, our luxury seasonal Ol Seki Mara Camp enjoys panoramic views in an area teeming with game but not tourists. The eastern sector of Koiyaki is adjacent to the Mara, and provides an opportunity to enjoy wildlife viewing, in an area not frequented by the masses. This oasis of beautifully designed safari tents is nestled amongst Cordia and Acacia tree and the area attracts an abundance of wildlife and many species of birds. Romantic candle lit dinners, special dining for honeymooners, a resident masseuse and your own experienced camp crew will make your stay truly memorable - a delight for all senses!  With all the amenities of a permanent tented camp, crisp linen, thoughtfully designed solar lighting, flush loos, and en suite hot showers, we've kept the ambience of the traditional mobile safari camp, in this tranquil and private setting

The six spacious tents each with a double and a single bed, and two extra double tents have panoramic views and are complemented by the comfortable library tent and separate mess/dining room.

Activities
Landrovers/Landcruisers equipped with roof hatches for game viewing and good driver/guides.  Bush picnics and sundowners. Nearby opportunities to walk with experienced Maasai guides and visit local villages.

Meals
Elegant dining, with fresh produce catering for special dietary requirements.

Season and climate
The camp will cover the time of the famed wildebeest migration and opens in July 2005. Temperatures roughly 12°C-28°C.  Bring lightweight raincoats in case!

Access
Twice daily scheduled flights or private charter flights from Nairobi's Wilson Airport, to two airstrips (Siana (half an hour away) or Ol Kiombo (an hour and a half away)) give an opportunity to drive to Ol Seki through miles of wilderness and wildlife.

Extras
Optional extras include the chance to do a balloon safari or a day fishing visit to Lake Victoria. Transfers other than to Siana, champagne, liqueurs, spa treatments, and gratuities.

Meru National Park
It was at Meru that Joy and George Adamson famously rehabilitated Elsa, the lioness, raised from a cub, whose tale was told in the film Born Free and it was here that George Adamson later set up his "little camp under Mugwongo Hill" in order to reintroduce to the wild the young lions that had been used in the filming of the story. Here, also, Joy Adamson lived with the cheetah Pippa, a story told in the book The Spotted Sphinx. This area was first made a reserve in 1962, in order to protect land under great pressure from hunting. In 1966 it became the national park it is today. Although Meru has suffered from poachers in the past, as have virtually all African parks and reserves, game stocks are now quite high. Meru lies almost in the centre of the map of Kenya. Bounded at its northernmost point by the Tana, Kenya's longest river, which attracts serious amounts of game, the park has Grevy's zebra, lion (of course), rather shy elephant who, nonetheless, are very keen on the nuts of the doum palm that grow here, leopard, ostrich, reticulated giraffe and good birding. The main wildlife habitats are savannah, bush and woodland. On the south of the park lies the Ura River, on the north the Tana and in the north-west the Nyambeni Hills are misty in the distance.

The tree-lined edges of the rivers offer the gerenuk with its elongated neck, buck, cheetah and both hippo and crocodile. Meru also has some wonderful examples of the stately giant baobabs, huge trees with swollen trunks that look rather as though they have been planted with their roots in the air. They figure prominently in African folk tales and legends and those with children, who may have watched The Lion King rather more often than strictly necessary, may remember that Rafiki, the wise baboon, lived in one. These great trees are also big favourites with foodie elephants who like to peel away the bark in order to get at the moisture-retentive tender central core.

Masai Mara National G.R
 Probably the most famous of the reserves, the Masai Mara, in Kenya's southwestern corner, boasts an astonishing amount of game. Unfenced, the Mara is bounded in the east by the Ngama Hills and in the west by the  Oloololo or Siria Eascarpment. Gazelle, wildebeest and zebra graze in large numbers and where prey is found so are predators. Not only is this a great place in which to find game, but the wide greeny-gold savannahs spotted with thorn trees make it ideal for photography. The Mara, as it is known in Kenya, is ravishingly beautiful and also offers long, undisturbed views and utterly dramatic panoramas. The weather really means something here. The sun may beat down unforgivingly, huge clouds in fabulous shapes may sweep across the widest of skies, the wind ripples the grasses as though they are stroked by a giant hand. The landscape is stunning.

The famously black-maned Mara lions are possibly the stars of the Mara show, but cheetah, elephant, kongoni, topi, Thompson's gazelle, waterbuck, hyena, and primates are all here too. As with the rest of Kenya, the birding is good. There is no settlement within the reserve however, the Mara is in theory owned by the Maasai, pastoralists and, in earlier times, renowned lion-killers. Lodges and hotels offer the opportunity to buy their beadwork, checked cloths and copies of their spears. It is said that if lions scent approaching Maasai on the breeze they move swiftly in the opposite direction.

Famously, the Mara is the northerly end of the Great Migration, that great primeval surge of wildebeest, zebra and antelope that sweeps in from Tanzania's Serengeti to Kenya's Masai Mara as the Tanzanian grass starts to fail. They are tracked by the large predators who pick off the weak, the stragglers and the young. The great herds, nearing their destination by July, mass along the Mara River, pushing, shoving and fantastically noisy, just waiting for the first animal to cross so that they can all follow, lemming-like, on the final leg of the journey. However, crocodiles lie in wait, sluggishly cruising the waters, fully prepared for their best meal of the year. Many fail in the life-and-death struggle - drowned, eaten by the crocodiles or, made careless or weak by their stressful swim, brought down by lions. The Masai Mara is terrible yet wonderful, and not to be missed.

Luggage:
PLEASE be reminded that the luggage allowance on our schedule flights is strictly 15KGS PER PERSON and that SOFT BAGS are highly recommended, if not essential.  In light aircraft the baggage area and weight allowance is limited. Hard Samsonite type suitcases do not fit into the cargo compartment easily, if at all. Due to limited space available for storage in safari vehicles, we strongly recommend use soft duffle bags rather than hard suitcases.

Contact Cindi at Africa Discovery to reserve your spot!

For more information
Contact:
Africa Discovery
@
1-800-886-7321 • phone: (415) 444-5100 • fax: (415) 444-5560
or
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