The Splendid Safari: Trekking for the Big Five, No Roughing It Required
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- A new breed of African safari delivers bucket-list wildlife viewing—think Big Five and beyond—without roughing it, pairing expert guides with plush lodges, private villas and pampering amenities.
- In Kenya, travelers ease in with a night at Nairobi’s Hemingways before tracking elephants, rhinos and lions in Meru and Mt. Kenya, then breakfasting with rare bongos at a storied Fairmont club.
- From a mountaintop Maasai Mara villa to a Serengeti watering-hole lodge, guests watch lions and leopards roam, join guided walks and photo safaris, then unwind with Maasai-inspired dinners under the stars.
Editor’s Update: The writer’s airfare, ground travel, accommodations and meals were paid for by Micato Safaris. The organization had no editorial involvement in this story and did not review or approve it before publication.
While visiting the Serengeti, your quarry includes the big five — lion, elephant, rhino, cheetah and bison. Armed not with a rifle but a camera, you’ll be lucky to see all five; but a guide like Philip Bet of Micato Safaris, armed with encyclopedic knowledge on the flora and fauna of the area, can considerably up your odds. Among your best chances lies in Kenya, including both Meru National Park and Maasai Mara, as well as Tanzania’s Serengeti and Ngorongoro.
“Safari” is the Swahili word for “journey,” and yours begins in Nairobi where you spend the night at the luxurious 1930s-styled Hemingways. There you’ll recover from what is, for many, the longest flight (or, really, series of them) you’ll ever take. Feeling refreshed the next day, start easy with a visit to the home of renowned Danish novelist Isak Dinesen. Sadly, her coffee plantation was consumed by a destructive fire, but happily not her books, “Babette’s Feast” and “Out of Africa,” which will live forever among readers and fans of the Oscar-winning film adaptations. The latter, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, was filmed at this location.
Your first move into the wild is Meru National Park, festooned with dense acacia bushes in the shade of baobab trees, and replete with wildlife large and small. A 400mm lens might give you an extreme, up-close look, but a standard zoom kit lens (think 105mm) can get you as close as you need for most sightings. Here, you’ll find elephants and hippos bathing in streams, giraffes idly feeding on the upper branches of the commiphora or a cervet cutting through tall grass, its spotted coat cloaking it from prey. Home to the 80-square-kilometer Meru Rhino Sanctuary, it’s where some 70 black rhinos, hunted to a record low of just 15 in the 1980s, graze and tend to their young.
Bed down at Elsa’s Kopje, location of one of moviedom’s favorite big cats — Elsa the lion, star of the 1966 classic “Born Free,” which won an Oscar for its hit song of the same name. This rustic but elegant retreat features indoor/outdoor living with lodgings that seem to have emerged from the landscape. A rickety foot bridge will take you to the Honeymoon Suite with its thatch roof and spacious balcony blurring the line between bed and bush. Don’t worry if you hear a lion roar in the middle of the night; he’s not stalking you. But be on guard for blackfaced monkeys scavenging leftovers while you’re lunching on the patio. They’re not aggressive, but are vigilant in their pursuit.
Next stop is the equator, literally, where Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club straddles the border between hemispheres — wake up in the north and breakfast in the south. The hotel’s partnership with Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy’s Mountain Bongo Breeding and Rewilding program offers the rare opportunity to breakfast with the bongos, a morning repast in the bush among an uncommonly elegant ungulate hunted nearly to extinction for its singular white-striped and chestnut-colored pelt.
More than a hotel, the Fairmont is practically an institution, dating back to 1959 when movie star William Holden purchased the property and made it what it is today, inviting a who’s who of Hollywood, including Humphrey Bogart, Grace Kelly, Marlon Brando and Clint Eastwood, among many others — not to mention Stefanie Powers, who, after Holden passed in 1981, started an animal orphanage inhabited by leopards, zebras, lions and an ostrich that freely roams the grounds. Set amid the club’s beautiful 9-hole, par-3 golf course is a Hollywood soundstage built by MGM for the 1962 jungle drama “The Lion,” starring Holden.
If you’ve ever wanted to tee off in the shadow of Mt. Kenya, the continent’s second tallest peak at 17,057 feet, here’s your chance. But watch that slice so as not to injure the baboons or exotic birds, like the gold-crested grey crowned cranes, that roam the fairways.
Safari in nearby Mt. Kenya National Park among zebra, buffalo and elephants — the latter grazing up to 1,550 pounds of roughage per day. Although they may appear outwardly to be simple beasts, their brain is three times the size of ours, with broad intellects and stirring emotional capacity. A bull elephant can measure nearly twice as large as a female but is generally harmless unless in musth or provoked. When a challenge is perceived, body language constitutes fair warning with a fanning of ears and rigid posture.
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A short plane ride takes you south to the Maasai Mara National Reserve, wide open miles of green fields (brown in the summer), populated with lions, elephants, baboons, gazelles and roughly 600 bird species. In the winter months, you might encounter rain, but the verdant fields and turbulent clouds provide a breathtaking backdrop and buffer the burning heat of summer.
Home for you here is the Loirien Mara Villa which, for some, might be the most luxurious stay ever. On a mountaintop overlooking the plain sits this 9,500-square-foot, single-story contemporary villa offering three bedrooms, private terraces, an infinity pool and spa, as well as a roof garden and tree swing with breathtaking views. Tending to your every need is your own personal staff, chef, driver and masseuse. While the indoor/outdoor design is a plus, be careful of roaming wildlife — baboons in the front yard or a persistent pack of mongoose who, after being chased out of the master bedroom, immediately returned for another round of exploration and foraging.
Upon departure in the early light of day, you round a corner and stumble upon a pair of recumbent lions not 20 feet away. Both male and female look lazy under a blanket of flies, semi-asleep in their usual torpor (up to 20 hours a day). But when the male, weighing as much as 450 pounds, stirs from slumber, he steps slowly over to the female, roughly 200 pounds lighter. She greets him with a snarl, then kittenishly rolls on her back, baring her fangs, before resuming her original position. Seconds later you’re privy to some real lion-based “adult situations,” which will be repeated off and on for up to seven days.
If you hope to catch a stalking pride, plan a night safari or set out at dusk and dawn. Females do most of the hunting with a high success rate of 15% when solo and 20% when in groups. Prey include buffalo, zebra and gazelle, while elephants and giraffes tend to be avoided unless hunting in groups, although even then only rarely. During the low season, such a scene might pull three carloads of safariers, since drivers communicate over radio when they come upon a sighting. It might sound like a lot — but triple that number during high season.
Hop over the border to Tanzania, where acacia trees ornament the wide-open landscape like verdant umbrellas shading free-roaming fauna from the sun’s scorching rays. Tanzania’s first national park, the Serengeti, covers an area of 14,000 square kilometers that combines the density of Meru with the sparsity of Maasai Mara and features horizons that suggest the edge of the world. Included are the Ngorongoro Highlands, bordering the crater of the same name, an area dense with wildlife set within the extinct volcano’s natural boundaries.
The leopard is a shy beast, difficult to spot during the daytime. Keep your eyes on the grass, but more importantly the trees, where their tail — a vertical line dropping from a branch — will divulge their place of rest. It’s where they spend most of their time, and where they drag their prey for consumption, away from interlopers like hyenas and lions, which will easily run them off a recent kill. With such short legs, their strength isn’t speed but stealth, often creeping to within a few yards of their prey before attacking. Like the lion, they hunt at night so they are most likely to be found during crepuscular hours.
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Safari isn’t necessary to see wildlife during your stay at the Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti. A watering hole near the pool attracts a remarkable array of animals — ungulates, elephants, giraffes and even lions — all of which roam the property unchecked, as there is no fence of any kind to keep them at bay. You might even wake up one morning to be greeted by a baboon casually perched on your balcony.
As lunchtime rolls around, settle in at the Maji Bar and Terrace, where a bold little hyrax — roughly the size of a housecat — competes with robin-chats and weavers for scraps from your plate. After a full afternoon of game viewing from a land cruiser, trade four wheels for two feet on a guided “sunsetter” walking safari, complete with armed escorts for peace of mind, followed by cocktails and light bites. Or join a photo safari led by experienced professionals who offer hands-on guidance for capturing wildlife like a seasoned naturalist.
Evening brings dinner at Boma Grill, where Chef Moustafa Rezk serves inspired dishes within a space modeled on a traditional Maasai gathering place, brought to life by a spirited tribal performance. The hotel’s warm staff will teach you a few Swahili phrases — “jambo” to greet, “asante sana” to give thanks — along with a sense of genuine hospitality that will linger long after you leave, and no doubt draw you back for future adventures.
