Take advantage of Kenya’s deserted safari camps

By Staff Writer Ruth Jackson May 30, 2008

Ruth Jackson

Last year two million tourists visited Kenya. This year, due to last year’s outbreak of violence, things aren’t looking so good: in January, usually one of the peak months, a mere 55,000 visitors turned up. The result? Cheap flights and empty safari camps.

The plains of Kenya are as “empty as a baggage carousel at Terminal 5”, says Simon Calder in The Independent. Given how crowded they were before last year’s troubles – scenes of safari vans queuing to see lions were far from uncommon – that means “there has rarely been a better time to visit the Masai Mara”. So where should you stay?  

Holidays in Kenya: Tassia Lodge

Tassia Lodge is the ultimate luxury safari eco-lodge. No trees were cut down in order to build it, the electricity is solar-powered and the water is heated in drums using small fires. Better still, it is Masai-owned, which means that profits go to the community. “We will build a primary school first, next boreholes for water, then a clinic and a proper chief’s office for all our documents,” says the assistant manager, Simon Nantiri, in The Daily Telegraph.

And the animal viewing? “It has always struck me as something of a paradox that safari lodges rave about their eco-credentials yet drive their guests around in fuel-guzzling vehicles,” says Gill Charlton in The Daily Telegraph. Good news then that Tassia Lodge offers only walking safaris (accompanied by armed guides).

For more information, visit Tassia Safaris, or call 00 2 547 2597 2923. 

Holidays in Kenya: Kicheche Camp

This tiny camp (it has room for only 22 people) puts up its guests in astonishingly luxurious tents, complete with proper beds and en suite bathrooms. It also offers excellent meals, given its size, says Stephen Bleach in The Sunday Times. Think “hearty bush food”.

But the best thing about Kicheche is its location. It is situated so deep into the bush that, “lions, elephants, buffaloes and leopards” roam the (unfenced) camp at night, says The Sunday Times: guards are on hand to escort you back to your room after dark. The camp, like Tassia Lodge, has impressive eco-credentials: laundry is done by hand and a charcoal-walled shed operates as a fridge for much of the food.

For more information, visit Kicheche Camp, or call 00 2 542 089 0358.

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