Allure of Magical Kenya’s wildlife experience

Andrew Iro Okungbowa

It is a pure delight to bask in nature, with all it appeal and colour. Wildlife holds real fascination and attractive pull for nature lovers or conservationists because the deeper you immerse yourself the more you ecstatic you become.

Magical Kenya offers captivating and appealing wildlife experience given its enriching safari offers scattered across its amazing wildlife enclaves, ranging from the Massai Mara National Park that is the apogee for many tourists, Meru and Amboseli national parks to the pockets of conservatories that enrich the landscape.

In chase of the Big Five at Meru National Park

It was therefore, a delight to be part of the Hosted Media Group 4 pre-Magical Kenya Travel Expo 2024 tour that covered both Meru and Amboseli national parks, spanning September 27 and October 1, 2024 while the expo itself, which was the 14th edition, held between October 2 and 4, 2024 at the Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi.

The journey to the wild of Meru National Park began on September 27, with members of the group; Francis (from Ghana), Christine (from France), Edgar (from Ugandan) and Willy, (From Tanzania) in high spirit and filled of expectations of what these two prime wildlife enclaves hold for the seeker.

A common dominator was the notion of exploring the wild for the Big Five (Elephant, Buffalo, Rhine, Lion and Leopard), which for any tourist is more like a trophy or batch of satisfaction once you are able to achieve the sighting of these landlords of the wildlife.

With Josephat Karanja from Mombasa office of Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) as our chaperon, we set on this voyage of discovery of sorts. Captain Eddy landed the chopper of Air Kenya safely on the runway of Kinna Airstrip in the cool of the day. We were welcomed by the breezy and airy cold of the open savannah of Meru National Park.

We were received by the duo of Jonathan Liaram and John Tompoi, both of Porini Camp, and later joined by John Stone, who doubled as our tour guide and driver.

After the exchange of pleasantries, we set out on the exploration of the 870 square kilometres stretch of the park that is located on the north eastern part of the country, close to Tanzania border. The tribe of Meru are the main occupiers of this end of the country.

Besides being home to quite a number of wildlife, the park is also a bird sanctuary, hosting over 400 different species of bird including Kenya’s national bird. For many ornithologists, this park is certainly a delightsome sanctuary to explore all day because of its suffusing and abundant bird sightings.

The game drive on this morning turned out to be quite exciting and satisfying as it came up with a lot of sightings of such animals as zebra, giraffe, antelope, impala, Africa buffalo and the king of its all, rhino.

Rhinos are endemic to this park as it is said to have over 130 rhinos, this numbers does not include the cubs. Interestingly, it is also home to elephant, lion, leopard and buffalo; four of the big five.

Rhino River Camp

Of this big five, rhinos dominate and they are common sightings. To drive this home, the lodge that was our home for two nights, is called Rhino River Camp. We arrived this camp in the afternoon and were warmly received by the manager, Felix and his team.

The camp, which is located at the fringe of the park, is a forested enclave, boasting seven tents, all stylishly fitted and furnished. The tents easily fit the picture of a boutique facility, quite amazing and sophisticated for its location.

For us, what was more fascinating and satisfying was not elegant styling and fittings, but the services that turned out to be topnotch when you consider the fact of its location and the personnel, who are not your usual city professionals, with all the sophisticated sophistry.

Yes, they are not urbane and no pretense about it. What you cannot take away from them is their humane disposition and love for service. Their personal touches and eagerness to please and attention to details are quite commendable.

Chef Daniel and his kitchen staff were excellent, they spoilt us silly with their different cuisine as they tried to make foodies of us. You feel quite safe, secured and comfortable around them. They were simply at your beck and call, waiting out there with smiles etched on their faces.

Nature walk

The highlight of the games drive was not just the sightings of three – buffalo, elephant and rhino – of the big five, alongside other major wildlife, but the discovery for the first time of the existence of the class of the smallest five, the ugliest five and the five big trees or plants as well.

However, we were told that the ‘beautiful ones are not yet born,’ as the class of what we jokingly called ‘the beautiful five’ does not exist.

All of these and many more were revealed to us by Jonathan, our tour guide, during the nature walk. Jonathan almost turned us into overnight Botanists and Zoologists as he regaled us with different tales and discoveries about the life of faunas and floras. He gave us valuable lessons on their medicinal values among others.

Visit to Elsa’s enclave

Another highlight of the game drive was the visit to Elsa’s section of the park, where we were told by our tour guides, John and Jonathan, that sighting of lions was a possibility. Unfortunately, we drew blank on our drive.

After what appeared like an unending drive for hours through the untamed wild and on rugged and bumpy-like terrain, we ended up at the grave site of Elsa, a lioness. We breathed a sigh of relief and later settled down for our bush breakfast.

But not without being regaled with the chilling and moving tale of Elsa by our tour guides. Elsa’s history is a testament of the age-long commitment of Kenya to conservation and protection of the wildlife.

Elsa was an orphaned cub that was cared for by the Adamsons, park rangers at the time.

Amboseli: The romance with nature continues

The game drive did not end with Meru National Park as we also explored Amboseli National Park after two nights and three days encounter with the wild of Meru to continue with our romance with nature and chase of the big five.

The park has an enduring history as it is said to have been set apart as the Southern Reserve in 1906 while it became a game reserve in 1948. It was proclaimed a national park in 1974 and years later, precisely in 1991, it was declared a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Man and Biosphere Reserve.

We warmly received at the airstrip located in the middle of the park by our guide and driver, Brandon, who I ended up calling Marlon Brandon. Though his physical appearance and attributes are way off those of the legendary Brandon of Hollywood famed, however, he displayed apt understanding of his job and the wild.

Besides some of the little tales we were told of the park prior to our visit, Brandon raised the tempo of expectation and ignited the excitement as well as the insatiable urge of the tourists to always conquer and immerse himself/herself in the offerings of the destination.

He thrown the first salvo shortly after we had settled into the four wheel game drive vehicle when he noted that the park is known for its salty sands, dry, very dusty and its open savannah.

However, as if in consolation, he said, ‘‘the park is very beautiful and fun. You will see almost all of the big five, buffalo, lion, leopard and elephant.’’

As we took this in, ‘‘but you will not see rhino,’’ he interjected. Fair enough, we concluded as we were optimistic of having a complete and fulfilling immersive experience of sighting the lion and leopard to complete the quest for the big five sightings having sighted buffalo, rhino and elephant at Meru National Park.

Unlike Meru National Park where we were the only tourists on games drive, not so with Amboseli, as the park teemed with a lot of tourists and the number kept increasing on a daily basis. We were told the period is within the peak season of the park, so it was a common sight to behold.

Though we drew blank on our quest of sighting lion and leopard on our first two days, however, we had a fulfilling time feasting on the other creatures endemic to the park as we drove through the various sections of the park.

Just like Meru, Amboseli is also richly populated with different species of wildlife. One of the outstanding features of the park is the fact that it is nestled against the sprawling Kilimanjaro Mountain, which seems to cast its glorious shadows over the park.

However, we put the disappointment of the first two days aside on the morning of the third day, our final day at the park, as we eagerly looked forward to another fun filled game drive. Having drove through the various sections we ended up at Noomotio; bird’s eye view section, a rocky and hilly ranges, with a resting shades. Here you are afforded a bird’s eye view of the entire park’s landscape.

Finally, lions showed up

Descending the Noomotio section to make our way back to the lodge, suddenly, a pride of lion, consisting man and female, with some of their cubs, finally decided to honour us with their majestic presence. This time, they left the inner recesses of the wild to the open grassland.

They put up a really good show for us, like rocking the runway, but this time, I should say the ‘grassway,’ as they came up in full view, strutting up and down the ‘grassway’ for our benefit.

In no time, every of the tourists on morning game drive caught wind of the good news and made their way to the section to catch a glimpse of the pride of lion. It was a more than fulfilling and glorious moment for us to finally tick off the lion from the bucket list of the big five.

Balloon safari

While the excitement of finally catching up with the lion after almost five days in the wild of Meru and Amboseli was real, however, it was nothing comparable to the rhapsodic and rapturous feeling that came with the balloon safari that we had undertaken the previous day.

For this reporter, the first time one ever came close to witnessing balloon safari in motion was in Massai Mara National Park. Ever since then one has secretly nursed the desire of taking a tour in one.

So, you could imagine how excited it was for this reporter and the other team members. The expectation and excitement were not only palpable but turbo-charged.

As earlier as 5am we had departed our Elephant Gorge Lodge for Kilimanjaro Balloon Safari camp at the fringes of the park for the much anticipated safari. It was indeed an adventure of a life time and Captain Dan Bechwith, one of the two operators of the balloon safari, made a point of robbing this in, as he made you signed away your life, howbeit, momentarily, for the duration of the over one hour hot air balloon safari.

His calm and debonair disposition as well as cowboy looks were disarming enough to drive away your fear or any phobia and entrust your safety into his hands. He took us through the drills and we later watched him and his boys set up and fired up the balloon for the life time treat.

It was quite a serene and ecstatic adventure going as high as over 1,000 meters and as low as 30 metres altitude in the course of the flight to view the overwhelming, stunning and majestic landscape of the park, with its enriching wildlife in view.

The climax was the breakfast way back at the camp, which the operators have christened ‘traditional champagne celebration.’ Here, you are treated to continental breakfast, variety of chef prepared made to order.

At the end of it all, he presented every participant with a personalised balloon ascension certificate signed by him to show that you indeed took part in the balloon safari.

It was indeed a pleasurable and fulfilling moment to have ‘walk the winds’ with Kilimanjaro Balloon Safari.