By Gina Storey
I would be delighted if you would like to join me on an adventure to Kenya and Tanzania with an option to add on trekking with the gorillas.
Each year I take a small group on a fabulous journey and in 2027 our Kenya and Tanzania trip will be for 16 days.
I have handpicked the lodges to make sure you experience authentic yet great quality camps and lodges.
We will be travelling in November 2027, a wonderful time of year where the tourist numbers are lower and yet the animals are active, nurturing their young in the springtime.
Karen is on the outskirts of Nairobi and named after Karen Blixen of Out of Africa fame.
We will visit her home for a taste of a colonial era of yester year, we will also visit the Daphne Sheldrik elephant orphanage.
We fly north to Laikipia to stay at the wonderful Sanctuary Tamabarare Lodge – under canvas your spacious well-appointed accommodation has a large ensuite bathroom and a deck facing out into the wilderness.
The staff are a joy and enhance the experience of your safari.
You will soon feel the rhythm of Africa as we rise early and head off in open sided four wheel drive vehicles with our driver and guide, stopping to observe giraffe feeding on the high leaves of the thorny acacia trees; warthogs running through the scrub with the tails standing vertical.
We will see lions lazing in the grass or perhaps stalking their prey.
Rhinos are in abundance in this area, grazing and lumbering through their territory.
You can see elephants for miles wandering along the ridge of a distant hill, their distinctive silhouette in the early morning light or evening sunsets.
Buffalo roam in herds through the savannah and the call of the wild is everywhere.
Elegant giraffe stride through the wilderness.
Predators leave their carcases for scavenges to devour.
Monkeys call out to each other as they run about.
Birds fly overhead scouring the land for nests and food.
The pattern of your day is the early morning game drive returning for lunch and a restful afternoon before heading out again at sunset.
Perhaps enjoy a bush breakfast or sundowners by the water hole before returning for dinner in camp.
This is the beat of Africa that you will become acquainted with.
Your days are leisurely yet fulfilling and you never tire of the ever changing vista.
We move from camp to camp flying over the great rift valley or visiting Ngorogoro crater, the landscape changes.
Meet the Masi in their local villages, stay on a coffee plantation, view snowcapped Mt Kilimanjaro and journey to Serengeti – we really will explore Kenya and Tanzania.
If you choose to continue, we will fly over the vastness of Lake Victoria and head to the misty mountains where gorilla roam in family packs through the forest.
One of the most extraordinary experiences is to hike with the trackers and guides to come face to face -with these weirdly familiar animals – keeping our distance we observe babies riding on the parents backs and teenagers tussling in the short grass and climbing through the branches while the parents watch with care.
There are so few gorillas in the wild that the number of visitors is strictly controlled and our time with them monitored closely.
It truly is a privilege to share their habitat.
Just about everything is included on this trip.
I will take 10 or 12 people maximum.
On the longer journeys between camps I have included flights rather than long road transfers.
Join me on this wonderful journey to Africa.
Travelling Places would be delighted to discuss this adventure with you.
P: 07 5545 1600 or E: travel@travellingplaces.com.au.
