Kyle Witten & Elena Theodosiou in Kenya

This October, I was lucky enough to travel with one of my colleagues (Kyle Witten) for an in-depth safari to Kenya! We have worked together for 20 years, and this was our first safari together!

We started at Ol Donyo in the Chyulu Hills (most beautiful expansive views from the decks we had baboons and some naughty vervets trying to get into our rooms!). The hide was incredible and if you are patient and wait all the wildlife will come to you (three huge bull elephants made this incredibly special). The staff was excellent and our server, John the legend, was remarkable. He is the longest staff member at Ol Donyo!

Our next stop was Lewa – I stayed at Sirikoi and Kyle stayed at Lewa House. We were both amazed at the game viewing and the accommodations (I stayed in the two-bedroom cottage – lap of luxury). We saw the unusual gerenuk, ostrich, lions, elephants, and so much more (this is a great place to see rhino). We also visited the Lewa HQ to learn about the incredible conservation work they are doing and how they are taking care of the conservancy and all the wildlife. Definitely a highlight. Sirikoi is farm to table, and I had an incredible back of house tour to see where all the magic happens in the gardens – best vegetables ever and even the flowers in the rooms are grown in the gardens.

From Lewa we both went to the Mara, I went to OffBeat Ndoto and Kyle went to Kichecke Valley and Kicheche Mara. All in private conservancies. It is definitely a Mara experience without the volume of vehicles you get in the Mara itself. In the conservancies they limit sightings to five vehicles per sighting. We both loved our respective camps (tented camps are a favorite). Ndoto does offer a private vehicle for every booking! We saw lions, cheetah, leopard, lots of hyena, plains game and so much more.

Next we visited Mara Nyika – here we got a lovely afternoon thundershower which cleared the air and our afternoon game drive was prolific. Everything you could possibly want to see and more. One of my favorite sightings was a pair of secretary birds (birds have grown into a passion for me) and these incredible birds were so fun to watch. While at dinner that evening the lions roared so loud, we could feel the vibrations – dinner and a symphony!

Last but definitely not least was Mara Toto. This incredible small camp (four rooms) is built in the trees on the banks of a river. Here we had a different serenade at night – it was all hippos and the baboons jumping on top of the tent to roost in the trees! Incredible food and the rooms are very different to other Great Plains properties we visited. We chose to do all our game drives in the National Park (even though Toto does offer conservancy viewing), just so we could compare. The Mara does not disappoint and even though it rained one afternoon we put on rain ponchos and had an incredible afternoon game viewing.

Leaving the camps is always a heartache because we all love Africa and the safari experience so much – and the staff at all the camps were amazing!

Africa is waiting for you – go!