We spent six days at Kicheche bush camp in the Olareorok conservancy just outside the Masai Mara reserve. Our trip was organised by Safari Consultants of Sudbury, Suffolk.
This page is an introduction; the thumbnail photographs are links to larger versions.
There are separate pages with links to more photographs of
four legged animals and birds. I
used an Olympus Camedia Zoom C60 for general views, and a Sony Cybershot DSC-H2 with 12x zoom and image stabilisation
for photos of animals.
This was our tent. There was a huge wooden bed, verandah with easy chairs, bathroom, flush toilet,
shower filled with hot water from a bucket in the evening, and solar generated electric light.
There was no fence around the camp, so wild animals could wander in. A Masai askari (guard)
escorted us between the tent and dining area after dark.
Every day we saw wildebeest trekking across the plains in long lines, migrating back towards
the Serengeti in Tanzania. On two days we watched then crossing the Mara river, and once we saw
a wildebeest attacked by a crocodile. It tried to struggle back to the bank,
but was dragged under water and drowned.
Our guides had radios and kept each other informed about interesting sightings.
We saw this cheetah and cubs most days, and on our last day they were in the open
and came right past the safari vehicles - the one in the photo is another from Kicheche bush camp.
Our first game drive each day started at 6.30 a.m.. After a couple of hours we stopped for a picnic breakfast,
sometimes by a river with hippos, sometimes under a tree on the plain. We returned to camp for lunch. The evening
game drive started at 4.30 p.m. and ended with the pleasant tradition of sundowner drinks as we watched the sun set.
Our guides were local Masai, wearing their red robes, blankets and beads. Benjamin was our guide and driver for 6 days. He had been trained as a guide at a
local guide college for Masai, which has received funding from the European Union. He had worked
for the Kicheche camps for several years before his course, and the camps sponsored him.
He was very knowledgeable, and very observant. We were delighted to be guided by him.
Copyright 2006 David Hawgood
David Hawgood's photograph Page
This page by David
Hawgood
was amended 1 Nov 2006