Kenyan Safari - August 2017

I went on the Virgin Holidays Masai Explorer safari with my wife, 2 daughters (aged 22 and 19) and my son aged 17. Hopefully this may be of interest to others who are interested in or considering doing similar. I have done a previous safaris with virgin: Kenya 2011 Kenya 2013. If you have specific questions please feel free to drop me a line at Thecrow at Hoodedcrow.net or via facebook.

Every trip to Kenya is different and we stayed in different lodges. Generally they were lower quality than previous trips but better placed (especially the Samburu where we were by the river this time). However it does suggest Virgin is cost cutting. 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.

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):

  • Hotel, Nairobi Giraffe Centre and Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage
  • Samburu
  • Treetops anc Thomson Falls
  • Lake Nakuru
  • Lake Naivasha - under construction!
  • Masai Mara - under construction!
  • Giraffe Species comparison

    • For videos and photos from my 2013 Safari which included the Giraffe Centre, Samburu, Treetops, Lake Nakuru and the Masai Mara please see here: Kenya 2013

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

    Summary:

    August 27th left Heathrow on Kenyan Airways. Very good & polite staff (anyone from BA reading this? I'll never fly BA again!)

    August 28th arrived Nairobi. Very early! Met outside by Virgin rep. Took an hour and a bit to reach the Sovereign Suites Hotel, wow, this is some place! The rooms had bathrooms that were huge, showers, baths (separate), dressing rooms. My son had a bathroom bigger than his bedroom. The whole place was gorgeous, heavily recommended. Got our rooms quickly and then off on the excurion to the DO NOT MISS Giraffe centre and Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage.

    August 29th. Travelled to Samburu, very long drive (c. 6 hours). Stopped in the place I really disliked last time, but no hassle this time. Maybe they've learnt. Game drives in the park and home for the next 2 nights at the Samburu Game Lodge. Not as nice as the previous trip (Samburu Simba Lodge) but much better placed, being on the river. Lots to see with the river including big crocodiles. One morning we were also joined by an elephant who decided to cross the river and wander around behind the lodge. They also have a crocodile feeding every night, though the guy doing it managed to hurt the croc by dropping a huge bone on its snout. Once might have been just a bad throw, but twice? The man needs to be reprimanded, it was simply nasty. Other than that, I was very happy with the place and plenty of wildlife wandering around.

    August 31st. Travelled to Treetops (3 hours). You actually go to the Outspan hotel for lunch and from there transfer to Treetops. Business is down due to tourists not coming with the various threats, such a shame as places like this wills truggle to survive and that's not good for the wildlife. Don't go to the Baden Powell "museum" unless a display of multi-coloured scarves and woggles is your thing. A lesson learnt from last time. Treetops was more disappointing than last time because for some reason there weren't herd after herd of elephants. There were some though and a better view of a hyena than before. Still a worthwhile stopping point. Stephen, the wildlife expert was his usual fascinating self too. It's also cold, take a jumper or jacket.

    September 1st. Travelled to Lake Nakuru (5 hours) via the Thomson Falls, which were impressive. The game drives in the Nakuru were still impacted by the flooding and the flamigos are still absent, a shame as they are an incredible sight. We got good views of the tree climbing lions, which are wonderful. We also stayed half hour further south, closer to the Mara, at Lake Navaisha Country Club. This place was excellent. The wildlife comes up on the lawn and there were giraffes by the lake when we arrived. The security guys insisted on escorting you because of the wildlife and actually took my son down for a close encounter with a hippo grazing on the lawn later that night. He also had to stop on the way back to make way for a Giraffe crossing the path. The place was far better than the previous trips accomodation (Lake Nakuru Lodge), higher quality and much friendlier, a definite step up.

    September 2nd. Boat trip on Lake Navaisha in the morning, great close up views of hippos, eagles, giant kingfishers, a saddle bill stork and much more. Worth the cash. After that we travelled to the Masai Mara (5 hours) and stayed 2 nights at the Keekorok Lodge (lower quality than the Mara Simba Lodge we've used previously), This place was more open to wildlife coming in camp. It certainly won on the hippo front, having its own huge herd and a viewing area. Also got to see bush babies in the trees at the front of the lodge. Fun place, couldn't complain, though internet connectivity was up and down, so beware if you're trying to communicate with the world outside.

    September 4th. All done and a 4.5 hour drive back to Nairobi and the Jacaranda. Got there for lunch. This time we were staying overnight and flying early the next morning. Their pizza restaurant has been done up and has a wider menu and it's still a great place to chill at the end of the trip.

    September 5th. Flew home, leaving Nairobi around 9:00am and landed at Heathrow at about 4:00 pm.

    Some thoughts:

  • Nairobi airport: get your visa online a month or two before you travel and then queue in the visa line (it's not clear that you need that queue, as it reads like "if you need a visa" and we had them).
  • Money: got mine changed at Tesco. Exchange rate beats the Post Office, however it's done by Travelex and they gave me $200 in old $100 notes. The Kenyans and a number of other countries don't take them. The response from Travelex on my return "That's your problem". They did eventually exchange back at the rate I got them but with barely an apology and it negatively impacted my holiday. Travelex, horrible company with no customer service. Won't use Tesco Money Exchange or Travelex ever again.
  • Insurance: Boots were by far the cheapest, including UK organised safaris in their quotes. Shop around, you get huge differences, they were 1/3 the price Barclays quoted. They were cheaper than the Post Office too.
  • 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, but they generally accept no for an answer. The odd one is more pushy, though I felt it was generally better this time, they really must be learning. 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, work on it being 10x more expensive AFTER you've bartered. Oh and anything you do will have a cost, take small notes for the honesty boxes at the loos, then you've paid for using them and they can't use that against you in the shop. The £1 coin trick was tried again, I just said they were old pound coins and not valid currency, that stopped that one dead.
  • 5 people travelling! See the 2013 trip comments if you want triple rooms.

    Things to pack:

  • Mosquito nets: most places had them this time, but I'd still pack one each and be certain. We used them in some places, the Sovereign Suites for example had them in some rooms and not others. See the write up from previous trips for comments. Personally i'd recommend taking them, small and light, better safe than sorry. Bought from Boots, they appear to have stopped doing their own and are now selling LifeSystems ones which is a shame as the latter are smaller and therefore much harder to keep a decent room underneath. I Ebay them after and recoup some of 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!