South East Kenya Safari 2015

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1 South East Kenya Safari 2015 Tour description I ve traveled to Kenya numerous times and still can t get enough of its beauty and wildlife. Join me on this wonderful safari, get to know this beautiful part of Kenya and enhance your photography skills in the field. We ll be traveling to the South East part of Kenya and visit two beautiful national parks: Tsavo East and Amboseli. Tsavo East National Park is one of the oldest and largest parks in Kenya at 11,747 km2. It was opened in 1948 and is named after the Tsavo River, which flows west to east through the national park. Most of the park consists of semi-arid grasslands and savanna. It is considered one of the world's biodiversity strongholds. Its popularity is mostly due to the vast amounts of diverse wildlife that can be seen, including the famous 'big five'; lion, black rhino, cape buffalo, elephant and leopard. The park also is also home to a great variety of bird life. Tsavo East National Park Amboseli National Park is 392 km2 in size and is part of an 8,000 km2 ecosystem that spreads across the Kenyan & Tanzanian border. It s the second most popular national park in Kenya after the Maasai Mara. The park is famous for being the best place in Africa to get close to elephants and also offers spectacular views of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest freestanding mountain in the world. Amboseli has some of the best opportunities to see African animals because its vegetation is sparse due to the long dry months. Its home to wild animals, which include the elephant, cape buffalo, impala, lion, cheetah, hyena, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and numerous kind of birds. The trip is limited to 5 guests (plus me). Join me on this wonderful safari in a beautiful part of Kenya! Male Waterbuck PAGE 1

2 Itinerary Day 1 Depart from home and travel to Mombasa. You must schedule your flights in such a way that you will arrive in Mombasa on the early morning of day 2. Tip: Swiss Air operates in cooperation with Edelweiss Air a very good flight schedule between Zurich and Mombasa that fits right in our itinerary. Arrival is around 8:00 AM on the morning of day 2. Day 2 Early arrival in Mombasa. Because everybody flew overnight and not knowing how long it will take us to get through Kenyan customs and immigration, we decided to use the rest of this day to relax and to prepare for the upcoming safari. A close friend of mine, who s a Kenyan resident, an official KWS guide and who will also be one of our drivers, will pick us up at the airport and transfer us to his hometown near the coast. Here we have an entire house for the whole group to ourselves. The house is situated right on the beach and the Indian Ocean is just a couple of meters away. We should arrive in time for (a late) lunch. After lunch you can relax, take a refreshing dive into the pool or prepare yourself and your gear for the upcoming safari. With some luck we ll already be able to do some first photography this afternoon; depending on the tide African Fish Eagle, different kind of Egrets and Woolly-necked Stork may sit right on the beach in front of our house. Woolly-necked Stork Just before dinner we ll have a short briefing of our upcoming safari. After the orientation our cook will prepare a fresh seafood dinner for us; and by fresh I mean fresh! The local fishermen will bring their catch from that day for us to eat at night. You cannot get it any fresher that this! For the ones who don t like seafood, we ll offer of course an alternative. Overnight: private house, Coastal Kenya. Day 3 After a good and early breakfast we pack our cars and head for our first safari destination. The vehicles we ll be using are 4x4 wheel-drive Toyota Safari Land cruisers. Both have electrical outputs, beanbags and radio VHF security communication devices. The first part of the trip is pretty straightforward because we ll be driving on tarmac roads. Our adventure really starts when the tarmac ends and we start driving on dirt roads. You will see beautiful rural Kenya at its best. We should arrive in Taita Hills right around lunchtime. After checking in and after enjoying our lunch we have a 15 minute drive to our first safari lodge PAGE 2

3 The Salt Lick Game Lodge is an incredible place! The whole lodge (except the entrance) is elevated above ground. During the dry season it is a magnet for all kind of animals because of the waterholes. You ll be amazed by the number of elephants, buffalo s and antelopes gathered around the lodge. Sometimes even the lions come in and have a drink. Herd of elephants at Salt Lick Lodge Imagine going to bed at night, looking out of your window and seeing a herd of elephants walking underneath your room towards the water. In the morning an elephant trumpeting might wake you up. It can all happen at Salt Lick. This afternoon we ll have our first official game drive. Overnight: Salt Lick Lodge, Taita Hills. Day 4 We start our game drive just before sunrise, which should provide us a beautiful morning light. We ll take a packed breakfast with us, so we don t have to return to the lodge for breakfast. This allows us more time in the field. Besides the gazelles, antelopes, buffalo, elephants and birds we ll start looking for lions, cheetahs and if we re really lucky we might find the elusive leopard. We ll be back at the lodge in time for lunch. After lunch you ll have some time to relax or do some photography around the lodge. Tip: Salt Lick Lodge has a small tunnel that leads to an underground viewing point. This unique viewing point gives you an up-close and ground level view of the animals that come in to drink. You could be standing there while an elephant rubs the mud of his belly against the roof of this viewing point. You can t get any closer than that! Late afternoon we ll go out on a game drive once again. Overnight: Salt Lick Lodge, Taita Hills. Elephant photographed at ground level Day 5 After our final early morning game drive in Salt Lick, we ll be leaving for our second destination; Amboseli. Upon arrival at the lodge we ll be welcomed with music and a nice refreshing drink & towel after a dusty ride. After dropping all our luggage and gear in the tents, we ll enjoy a nice lunch out in the open. Shortly after lunch we ll head into Amboseli for our afternoon game drive. Amboseli is famous for its view of Mount Kilimanjaro and we ll certainly be concentrating on getting the typical elephant in front of the Kilimanjaro shot. Overnight: Amboseli Sentrim Tented Camp, Amboseli. Amboseli landscape PAGE 3

4 Day 6 Today will be fully dedicated to photographing inside Amboseli National Park. We ll head deep into the park and stop at every photo opportunity. You ll be amazed how much animals you will see today. Again we ll concentrate on framing wildlife against Mount Kilimanjaro should the opportunity arise. Elephant herd in front of Mount Kilimanjaro Overnight: Amboseli Sentrim Tented Camp, Amboseli. Giraffe Hartenbeest with calf Day 7 Early morning before breakfast we have the best chance of a clear view of the Kilimanjaro from our camp. Sentrim has a special Mount Kilimanjaro viewing point that will take only a few minutes to walk too. After hopefully photographing a cloudless Mount Kilimanjaro, we ll have our breakfast and pack all our gear in the cars and head back to Tsavo East for our last safari destination. We ll have our last afternoon gamedrive here. Overnight: Tarhi Tented Camp, Tsavo East. Lilac-breasted roller PAGE 4

5 Day 8 After our final early morning drive we ll be back at our camp for a late breakfast. After breakfast we pack our cars for the journey back to the coast. Once back at the coast you can relax and start packing and preparing for the upcoming travel day. With some luck we might again get chances to photograph African Fish Eagle, different kind of Egrets and Woolly-necked Stork on the beach depending on the tide. Our cook will serve us a very tasty Kenyan farewell dinner on our last night. This would also be a good time to reflect on our safari and share some pictures with each other. Overnight: private house, coastal Kenya. Cheetah Day 9 We ll enjoy our last breakfast together. When everything is packed in the cars, we ll be transferred to Mombasa airport for our international flight back home again. Dates Zebra taking dust bath in black & white November 2015; exact dates to be determined. Price Includes: Welcome drink and free use of swimming pool on arrival day; Light lunch and dinner on arrival day; All transfers, safari lodging based on full board at each safari location; All park and conservatory entrance fees; All photographic game drives including expertise instruction in the field; Water bottles during the game drives; Farewell breakfast on departure day. Excludes: Cost for visa application to enter Kenya; International airfare to and from Mombasa; Gratuities/tips for safari & lodging staff; Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks not being the water provided during the game drives; Items of personal nature (souvenirs, laundry, etc.); (Travel) insurance; Total price: between (Depending on $ exchange rate, additional fuel charge and price increase for 2014) PAGE 5