A First Safari Foray

We had the extraordinarily good fortune of being among the first guests at Angama Amboseli. As veteran travellers, but first-timers to Africa and Kenya, we did not know what to expect. But any expectations we might have had were dwarfed by the reality of the Amboseli National Park in general, and Angama Amboseli and its Sanctuary in particular.

It is hard to find enough words to capture the sprawling immensity and diversity of the 39,000 acre National Park, home to herds of African elephant super-tuskers and teeming myriads of other species of wildlife and birds. Giraffes, lions, cheetah, wildebeest, warthogs, hyena, buffalo, hippos — simply too many to catalogue. It was a visual feast unlike anything we had seen in our previous travels.

Angama Amboseli’s Kimana Sanctuary, a still immense, but more manageable 5,700 acres is itself a jewel. Our expert guide Jeremy Lorinyo was a font of information about the habitats and the wildlife and pretty much anything else we wanted to learn, never once tiring of our questions. More than that, his sweet, friendly and warm personality transformed our experience. He personified the Kenyan national character of friendliness and hospitality — characteristics we have experienced in our travels elsewhere, but never omnipresent, honed and refined to the degree we were treated with here in Kenya.

Another thing we loved about our safari experience was the safari vehicles. Here, you can choose how long you want to be on safari for and, having come all this way, we wanted to spend most of our days out exploring. We spent hours driving through the park looking for wildlife, and, when spotted, it was key to be able to see the animals from inside the vehicle (there’s no getting out to get a better vantage point). Most other tour vehicles we saw were either closed-in vans, sometimes with pop-tops. Angama has large Land Cruisers that seat six comfortably in stadium seating so that everyone has a view, and it is so open you feel like you are truly out in nature and in the fresh air.

With the four-poster bed that gazes through the screen door out onto the soaring beauty of Mount Kilimanjaro and beautiful linen robes reminiscent of Jedi warriors from Star Wars, it was hard to leave the comfort of our Suite. But the safaris within the National Park and the Sanctuary demonstrated the same level of professionalism and thoughtfulness we experienced in abundance at the lodge. For example, on our arrival at the airstrip in the Amboseli National Park, we were greeted by Jeremy who had set out a picnic table ladened with a sumptuous breakfast served with Laguiole cutlery. No matter where we were (even in the remote areas of the National Park), Head Chef Edmund and his team prepared one astonishingly good meal after the other.

Whether it be on game drive or relaxing in our private Suite, truly, we lacked for nothing. But most memorably, we were treated with such warmth and consideration as we have never before experienced in our many years of travel. We couldn’t recommend the safari experience more highly.