One safari holiday never enough

My wife Christine and I have had two holidays to Africa, both brilliantly organised by Encompass Africa.

 We’ve done a lot of travelling since we retired, but Africa was always on our list. We thought we’d visit once, tick the box, and that would be it. But it was so amazing, we had to go back! [One safari holiday is never enough!]

Our first trip was in 2019, when we visited Uganda to see the Mountain Gorillas, Tanzania for Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, Victoria Falls and Botswana, for a Chobe river cruise and the Okavango Delta.

We returned in 2023 for a four-week holiday in Kenya and Zambia, which was no less spectacular than 2019 (except perhaps for the lack of gorillas!).

We flew to Delhi with Air India, and then went to Nairobi where we had a few days at Ololo Safari Lodge, which is located in a national park right next to Nairobi. One of the highlights of our stay was visiting the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to see the great work they’re doing with orphaned baby elephants. They were incredibly cute and came rushing in from the bush to get their bottles of milk.

 Then we hopped on a small plane and flew up to Central North in Kenya, where we stayed at Sarara. It was beautiful. We stayed in a treehouse for one night, which was really good fun, and then the main lodge for three or four nights. We like to spend a few nights at each place so we don’t have to rush and can really relax.

Sarara is also where we came across young Samburu warriors taking part in a fascinating tradition. They led their cattle to a dry river bed, stripped off down to nothing, and started digging deep wells for drinking water for their animals. They sang while they were digging, and their herds were able to locate their well from the individual songs – they actually recognised their master’s voice! It was extraordinary.

Thanks to our guide we were also lucky enough to witness a Samburu wedding while at Sarara. The dancing, music and colours of the Samburu people dressed up for the wedding were just spectacular. We also went on game drives twice a day, and enjoyed spectacular wildlife viewing at the waterhole which is only about 50 metres from the lodge’s main lounge.

We then headed down to the Masai Mara, where we stayed in several lodges at Kicheche, and spent one night camping out after a walking game drive. We’re in our 70s, and they were really concerned that we weren’t going to make it. They kept asking, “Do you really want to do this? It’s a big walk and it’s pretty rough!” But we were fine. We walked for about 10 kilometres to a luxury tent that they’d erected for us for the night. There were six staff members, including a chef, to look after just the two of us.

The game drives were excellent at Kicheche. We saw leopards, lots of elephants, baby lions – you name it, they were all there. It’s incredible how close you get.

For most of the trip, it was just the two of us on every game drive. I was happy to go out with another couple, but I didn’t want more than four guests in a vehicle. I’m a reasonably keen videographer, so if we were going to share a vehicle I wanted someone who knows about photography as well, so we could work around each other. We shared a vehicle with an English couple on a couple of days, but he was a mad photographer as well, so it was all good.

At Kicheche we also managed to witness the Great Migration river crossing. They don’t normally offer this, but we arranged it before we arrived, and they were more than happy to take us.

We travelled in July-August 2023, as everyone told us that August is the best month to see the crossing in the Masai Mara, but even then nothing’s guaranteed. We were very lucky. We had an excellent guide, and he got us the best spot you could imagine, on top of the cliffs, overlooking everything. It was an awesome position for viewing.

We witnessed a fight between two massive crocodiles, which was really exciting and I got some good video. With the crocs distracted, we watched a few hundred wildebeest make it safely across the river. But they got into trouble on the other side because there were two lions waiting for them! We saw the lions get a couple. It was a long day, but totally worth it.

After Kenya, we flew down to the Lower Zambezi in Zambia, where we spent five nights at Royal Zambezi Lodge. We stayed in a luxurious stone cottage on the river and enjoyed water safaris, lunch on a boat for just the two of us, daily game drives in the national park, awesome meals, and elephants who’d wander right into the lodge. It was excellent and we’d definitely go back.

Our last stops before heading home were at two Robin Pope camps: Luanga Bush camp and Tena Tena, further up the river. The hippos were a real highlight here. We faced the river, and could hear them come up onto the banks during the night.

Everywhere we stayed, the staff were incredible and we were treated like a king and a queen. The camps were all über-luxurious, the food was incredible, and everywhere had an open bar, so you could drink as much as you wanted – although getting up early for game drives every morning makes you take thing easy!

Our advice to anyone else thinking about going to Africa is to go for a decent amount of time. And if you can afford it, go private. Like I said, we thought we’d be “one and done” when it came to visiting Africa, but the first trip was so good, we’ve already been back. And who knows? Perhaps we’ll go a third time. I know I wouldn’t have to convince Christine!