Wildlife encounters in the Masai Mara

At its simplest, a safari consists of 4 key elements, the game drives,  the food, chilling out and sleeping arrangements. With the last of these often the least important of the 4 for us, as the time we spend in our rooms is time we aren't seeing or listening to wildlife - and the reason for being in Africa – the use of two-person tents provided a great experiment for us.

We knew we were in for a special 6 days 

What we didn't realise was that whilst the sleeping element may have been basic, through choosing this option, we super-charged the other key elements and had one of best safari experiences ever. The camp, set in a Masai conservancy area outside of the main Masai Mara park, was easily served by a short 45 minute flight from Nairobi meaning we were in camp within 12 hours of leaving London and it couldn’t have been a more different world. Limited to 6 tents behind a low fence – the  lions and hyenas do get close - first impressions presented clean and simple, and as it turned out, comfortable sleeping on firm mattresses  in our own sleeping bags. Coupled with a small enclosed individual bathroom and safari shower per tent - hot water requested by radio during drives and always welcome on return after a long but exhilarating day's game watching - this was both low impact and more than adequate for our needs in one.

However we weren’t in Africa to sleep, and from the first drive we knew we were in for a special 6 days. Starting with tea, cake and sundowner orders, around 4.00pm in the main tent  where all food was served, from a resting pose in one of the deckchairs or hammocks, we met our guide Josphat and driver Tipa whose passion and interest was evident from the first few minutes and whose  knowledge was carefully shared – but not always remembered - by our small group of 3 travellers for the duration of the trip.

Cheetah, lion, leopard....

We had so many wonderful wildlife encounters we could write a book - cheetahs (10 in total) or lions (including 6 cubs to two different mothers but the same father) and in some cases both on every game drive plus a leopard devouring a kill it had made earlier which it had stored up in a tree, herds of wildebeest including views of them crossing the Mara river, more giraffe and zebra than we've seen anywhere else plus some wonderful birds, including on our final drive a brown snake eagle which had just killed and part eaten a black mamba.

But perhaps the best part of being in the conservancy (after experiencing the “Tokyo underground crush” in the main Mara park on a day trip there) was the fact that we were able to go off-road knowing that with so few vehicles allowed in the conservancy (we were often the only car sharing an “event” ), the impact would be minimal, and we often had no hard time deadlines for returning to the camp which combined made for a much more immersive experience then we’d had before. With the support of Richard looking after our stomachs, and Jackson the overall camp,  with our souls enriched by the nature and our physical well-being satisfied, to us the term Adventure is the now a byword to real luxury.

If you would like to experience big cats in the Mara, take a look at our Kenya Adventure Camping safari, or a whistle stop Big Cat Weekend