Your Kenyan Safari Experience

For first time safari-goers to Kenya, it is important to understand the difference between what staying in one of the National Parks (such as Amboseli) or reserves (such as the Masai Mara) means versus staying in one of the many private conservancies which are located just outside the main Park or reserve ‘official’ boundaries.

The National Parks and reserves are managed by local councils or governments, who are responsible for maintaining roads, controlling poaching, and security within the parks and reserves themselves. Typically, the number of visitors are not restricted, and the safari experience is therefore open to everyone.

Game drives within the Park and reserve boundaries are restricted only to the extensive road network, and also between set hours – normally 6.30 am until 6.30 pm – meaning no night drives are allowed at all.

You will find that on game drives, you will certainly see other vehicles - whether you are in your own car (which incidentally is not the type of trip recommended by Travel Butlers, as the main highways to get you to your safari destination are either poor quality and / or extremely long driving distances from the main cities that most visitors would be setting off from), or in an open 4x4 Land Rover, or even if you are part of an organised tour.

Especially in the Masai Mara during the Great Migration months, if you head towards the Mara River to witness the famous wildebeest / crocodile crossings, you will be sharing this experience with up to as many as 50 other vehicles.

The safari lodges, or rather, should we say the safari ‘resorts’, that are situated within the actual National Park and reserve boundaries are most definitely geared towards the ‘mass market’. They cater primarily for the tour groups, both small and large, who descend on their safari destination in coaches, minibuses and minivans from Nairobi or Mombasa.

The resorts will typically have over 100 rooms, and are sold only on a Full Board basis – so if you are not part of a tour group, your rate would include your accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner, but drinks and guided game drives would be an extra cost. The general resort facilities are fantastic though – large self-service restaurants, bars, curio shop, swimming pool, spa room, and most also have a Business Centre where you can catch up with friends and family on email.

The other alternative would be to stay at a safari camp situated in a private conservancy, where it is possible to escape the crowds and experience the African wilderness without the presence of other tourist vehicles.

Private conservancies are a relatively new initiative in Kenya, and one which was pioneered back in 1997 by Porini Camps, and their owner / Managing Director Jack Grieves-Cook. The local tribal communities living alongside the National Parks and reserves are encouraged set aside areas of their land as a wildlife conservancy, which benefits many different parties.

For example, local community members are employed as staff in the camps that are then able to set up in the conservancy; the tribal community earns an income from leasing their land to the conservancy and they also earn a proportion of the tourism income subsequently generated by the camps who supply a high quality safari experience; and the land creates wildlife dispersal areas outside of the parks and reserves which increases wildlife numbers and species variety, and regenerates vegetation.

The safari experience for guests to these conservancies is completely exclusive. Only the game viewing vehicles belonging to the camp are allowed to drive in the conservancy, so if your morning game drive is on the conservancy, you can be certain that all you will spot will be wildlife!

Also, because you are outside the boundaries of the National Parks and reserves, the rules governing where and when you can drive are not applicable – so the guides can drive off road in search of big cats, and night drives from the camp after dinner in search of nocturnal animals such as ardvaark, or leopards hunting by moonlight, are a highlight of a stay in one of these camps.

With the camps being staffed by the local community, this also gives guests the unique opportunity to interact with staff members and learn about them and their culture.