It's Your Safari, Your Way

Imagine a day that begins with the aroma of Kenyan coffee or tea brought to your tent by your personal Maasai attendant. Enjoy your coffee or tea and the view of Mt. Kilimanjaro on the veranda, and then head out for your morning walk or game drive.

After your safari, return to the camp for a breakfast that includes fresh local fruit such as mango and pineapple or enjoy a picnic breakfast in the middle of the savanna, complete of eggs and bacon cooked on a bush fire. Following breakfast, you can enjoy an escorted safari on foot, or just relax at the camp. At lunchtime, we can organize a grand picnic for you, featuring fresh vegetables from our garden, or you can dine at Tembo House and then take an afternoon siesta.

At other safari camps, guests frequently find themselves tied to an inflexible, predetermined safari schedule. Not so at Campi Ya Kanzi: our guests really appreciate that they can work directly with their professional guide to design each day's safari and activities. All will depend on your desires, time of the year (game moves within the reserve and certain safaris are better in certain time of the year) and length of your stay.

It will be up to you to decide what you will like most to do. Consider these options:

• Game drives in open Land Rover
• Tsavo and Chyulu National Park excursions
• Maasai cultural villages visits
• Bush breakfast, picnic, dinner
• Forest walks
• Escorted game walks
• Bird watching
• Visit the Trust activities (schools, dispensaries, etc.)
• Mobile camping
• Air excursions, including a Kilimanjaro scenic flight

Wildlife

The ranch is immense and has a wide variety of natural habitats, so it is home to a remarkable range of wildlife and bird species. This diversity makes it a very valuable area for conservation in Kenya. It also ensures a truly thrilling safari for our guests! Of course, we have lions, elephants, leopards, buffaloes and the common animals of the plains, but also many rare species thrive on the ranch (African wild dog, lesser kudu, and cheetah). Conservation efforts have been so successful that black rhino have recently moved onto the ranch!

More than 60 species of mammals and almost 400 bird species inhabit the ranch (» Download Campi ya Kanzi mammals list [PDF 130 Kb]). The most recent game count revealed an abundant local wildlife population: 2,016 zebra, 945 hartebeest, 810 Grant gazelles, 514 impala, 432 eland, 362 giraffes, 340 buffaloes, 329 elephants, 19 lions, and 5 leopards... We also have hundreds of gnus, waterbucks, Thompson's gazelles, baboons, and oryx. A walk through the gentle hills near the camp will reward you with a view of mountain reedbuck, the graceful klipspringer. While exploring the riverbanks, you might catch a view of the shy lesser kudu or a glimpse of the bushbuck. In the plains you will see the amazing gerenuk.

You'll find different wildlife on your safari to one of the nearby watering places, where lions, elephants, and other large game animals gather in the mornings and in the evenings. For an authentic tribal experience, you can also visit the local Maasai village where your tracker lives. Towards the end of the day, you'll find that late afternoon is also an excellent time for a safari. At dusk, you can make an easy climb up one of the beautiful volcanic hills surrounding the camp. This provides a stunning view of animals grazing on the golden plains below you.

Birdlife is amazing, once again thanks to the incredible diversity of the topography of the reserve. The forest narina trogon, Hartlaub turaco, silver-cheeked hornbill are extremely rare elsewhere, and yet easy to be found here. Kori bustards, many different hornbills, many colorful sunbirds are also common. Birds of prey are plenty, including the rare Verraux eagle.

In summary, wildlife is abundant and varied. You'll discover something different every day of your visit, while playing an active role in their preservation! Dont forget that for every day you spend at Campi ya Kanzi $30 conservation fee are set aside to assist the Maasai community and to protect their wildlife.