Kenyan Safari - August 2013

I went on the Virgin Holidays Masai Explorer safari with my wife, 2 daughters (aged 18 and 15) and my son aged 13. Hopefully this may be of interest to others who are interested in or considering doing similar. I myself have done a previous safari with virgin: Kenya 2011. If you have specific questions please feel free to drop me a line at Thecrow at Hoodedcrow.net or via facebook.

Overall, this was as good, if not better than the last visit, because of the extra duration and different places we visited. These holidays are an excellent experience in some of the most awe inspiring places on earth. Relaxing (though with early mornings), the service at the lodges is amazing, the animal experiences are stunning and you will have a fantastic time. I simply can't recommend it enough. I love the country and I will go back again.

Firstly the links to the photos/more detailed write ups (please note, I've resized these, if you'd like copies of the originals please contact me and I'll make the originals available to you):

Giraffe Species comparison

For videos and photos from my 2011 Safari which included the Giraffe Centre, Lake Nakuru and the Masai Mara please see here: Kenya 2011

Summary:

August 25th left Heathrow on Kenyan Airways, surprisingly good. Very polite staff (anyone from BA reading this?)

August 26th arrived Nairobi. Quickly through immigration and met outside by Virgin rep. Took just an hour to reach the Jacaranda Hotel which is a very nice hotel. Got our rooms quickly and then off on the excurion to the DO NOT MISS Giraffe centre.

August 27th. Travelled to Samburu, very long drive (c. 6 hours) and the stop was the worst place I've come across for the locals using sharp practices to try to seperate you from your money and more. Game drives in the park and home for the next 2 nights at the Samburu Simba Lodge. Awesome place.

August 29th. Travelled to Treetops(3 hours). You actually go to the Outspan hotel and from there are transferred to Treetops as they are trying to keep the traffic down. Don't go to the Baden Powell "museum" unless a display of multi-coloured scarves and woggles is your thing. I did warn the wife! Treetops was interesting and gave some very close encounters. It's also cold, take a jumper or jacket.

August 30th. Travelled to Lake Nakuru(5 hours) and stayed at the Lake Nakuru Lodge. We were supposed to see the Thomson Falls but the journey took ages and so our guide decided to push on instead and get to the lodge for lunch. Least favourite of the lodges, least friendly staff, worst food and a little grotty. Still it was only one night. Game drive was better in the park 2 years back because they've had too much rain and the park is flooded so the views of the flamingo's were unfortunately not forthcoming. We saw them but not in the numbers we did before.

Auguest 31st. Travelled to the Masai Mara(5 hours) and stayed 2 nights at the Mara Simba Lodge, which may just be my favourite place on Earth, though the Samburu one competes. First floor balcony with a view over the river meant we saw elephant, antelope, the resident croc and some hippo's without even needing a game drive. The latter are also in a league of their own when you get to the migrant herds.

Sept 2nd. All done and a 4.5 hour drive back to Nairobi and the Jacaranda. Got there for lunch but didn't have a flight until midnight so sat around the hotel and used their facilities for 6 hours before being transferred to the airport at 7:00. That may sound a lot but actually whiling away time in their pizza garden and then sitting by the pool was really relaxing and a good way to finish after the amazing holiday we'd had.

Sept 3rd. Landed at Heathrow at about 7:00 am. Now to plan the next one.......

Some thoughts:

Fire at Nairobi airport: the authorities have done a good job of sorting themselves out and despite the need to use marquees they are processing visa applications, sorting luggage etc. really well. The paperwork is needed, but seemed to go straight in the bin without being looked at! We got through immigration really quickly.

Visas: Get them at the airport. Have $50 US in exact money. As last time, I printed out the UK embassy 2007 form and filled these in. However there is a new form they are using that has a couple of criminal conviction type questions. However we just grabbed these, stood in line and transferred the information from the 2007 forms while we queued, so i was still glad I'd done them. The same with the blue arrivals form that you need to fill in. The queue moved really quickly and we were through immigration in no time.

Money: got mine changed at Tesco! Great exchange rate, beat the Post Office.

Insurance: Barclays were better than the Post Office (yes I was amazed too, especially as the Barclays Bank staff recommended the Post Office rather than their own!)

Virgin use 4x4 vehicles (through Rhino safaris) rather than the standard Hiace. This was a good thing!

Hawkers and "curio shops". You'll stop at these to use the loo's on journeys and the owners can be very pushy to get you to buy their goods. The odd one wasn't this time, they must be learning, but some are very bad. Say no and check the prices in the lodge shops (which are fixed price) before you barter at the curio shops or you will get severely ripped off. The couple of things I bartered for I got for about a seventh of their starting price and even then probably paid over the odds! Oh and anything you do will have a cost! Don't enter into anything! The other trick they are now all trying is to show you a pound coin and ask how much it's worth in Kenyan Shillings. They then ask to change it, even for silly amounts (100KSH in one case). Don't play the game, i just claimed on the way out that I had no small notes and no, I wasn't going to tell them the smallest I had. On the way back i claimed I'd spent everything except enough to buy my family lunch before going home, that actually got rid of one pest! Not sure of the game here, I guess they are trying to see how much you have and to start you working an exchange with them which they can then expand.

5 people travelling! The brochures said 2 people to a room for this tour. We'd had bed rooms with 3 beds when we'd travelled before so i knew most of the lodges were OK for 3. Actually in Nairobi last time when we'd asked about this on arrival at the Jacaranda, the rep had asked why we didn't sort this when we booked. So we asked about getting a 2 bed and a 3 bed room. Well the excellent Virgin staff (especially the sales lady we dealt with) said she'd ask and see what they could do. I'm a cynic and, as we'd already booked, I didn't hold out much hope, but Virgin were brilliant! We got confirmation that we had a three and a two bed a week or so later and they refunded a couple of hundred quid (result!) This worked excellently as the kids all shared and at most places we had adjoining rooms with a connecting door (The Samburu and Treetops actually apologised for not being able to do this!). At the Masai Mara lodge they gave us a whole top floor as a family, which made it wonderfully simple.

Things to pack:

Mosquito nets: didn't hear of any problems from others this time, but was still glad we had them. The only lodge that had these in place was the Lake Nakuru lodge and did they need them. See the write up there for comments on this trip and see also my 2011 trip comments. Personally i'd recommend taking them, small and light, better safe than sorry. Bought from Boots, they appear to have stopped doing them and are just using up current stock. I'll Ebay them now and recoup half the cost.

Insect repellent: We took a couple fo 125ml bottles of Jungle formula/Boots own (Repel) and it sorted us out for the week.

Immodium: I took enough to constipate a herd of elephants. I didn't use them, but being prepared to deal with any issues is very reassuring. We were just very careful to only eat cooked food and were pretty much fine. The food was actually really good.

MP3 player: long drives are better with some good music!