BIG CATS of the MAASAI MARA
March 3-10, 2012 LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE - ASK NOW!!!
One of the legendary boys called The Bodybuilders.
Daryl & Sharna Balfour invite you to join them in a new departure in Kenya’s acclaimed Maasai Mara National Reserve. Although we have run special wildebeest migration safaris in August and September each year for the past decade we have had consistently good game viewing in the Mara at other times of the year as well. In fact we have on occasion felt that without the distractions of the migrating herds of wildebeest and the pressure we all feel to locate river crossings each day, the Mara can be at its best outside of the migration period. To this end we have scheduled two new safaris in the Mara during March 2012. As we have done in past years for the migration, we will set up an exclusive private tented camp, accommodating a maximum of 12 guests. Acclaimed South African wildlife photographers and authors Daryl & Sharna Balfour will be on hand to offer insights into taking better photos of your safari-in-a-lifetime, while our resident naturalist guides, Pierre Burton and Phil West are among the best in East Africa and will ensure that your safari is both memorable and informative. The Mara is undoubtedly one of the best places in Africa to see and photograph the big cats – lion, leopard and cheetah – and we will spend much of our days tracking and photographing them.
An exclusive “mobile” private tented camp offering top quality catering from our four experienced and qualified chefs, with seven tents accommodating a maximum of 12 guests, will be erected solely for the use of these safaris, at a secluded and private location in one of the best game viewing areas of the Maasai Mara. The camp will feature spacious walk-in safari tents with a choice of large queen-sized beds or comfy twins, each with private en-suite ablution facilities featuring a fully enclosed dressing room with washbasin and clothing racks, private HOT bucket showers in a fully enclosed attached cubicle and a flush toilet for each tent, while meals will be taken under the stars or in a large, airy mess tent at truly spectacular linen-covered candle-lit tables set with fine china and stemware.
Click on each image below for caption details:
An exclusive “mobile” private tented camp offering top quality catering from our four experienced and qualified chefs, with seven tents accommodating a maximum of 12 guests, will be erected solely for the use of these safaris, at a secluded and private location in one of the best game viewing areas of the Maasai Mara. The camp will feature spacious walk-in safari tents with a choice of large queen-sized beds or comfy twins, each with private en-suite ablution facilities featuring a fully enclosed dressing room with washbasin and clothing racks, private HOT bucket showers in a fully enclosed attached cubicle and a flush toilet for each tent, while meals will be taken under the stars or in a large, airy mess tent at truly spectacular linen-covered candle-lit tables set with fine china and stemware.
Click on each image below for caption details:
We have
endeavored to recreate the atmosphere of the original mobile hunting
camps of the past with our camp, and this is the way Ernest Hemingway,
Teddy Roosevelt and Robert Ruark experienced and wrote about Africa,
(with many more modern luxury trimmings, of course) and is the best way
to avoid the over-crowded mass-market tourism of the bigger commercial
lodges and safari hotels. We place a premium on the wildlife experience
too, with our guides being among the best in the industry not only in
finding and locating the game, but also being informative about the
country, its people and its wildlife. Our guides are all thoroughly
experienced at ensuring you will have the best position and angle to
optimize your photography and will offer advice and assistance whenever
required.
Your eventful and full days will be spent exploring this, the northernmost limits of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, seeking the area’s abundant wildlife – which at this time of the year should include the big cats for which the Mara is rightly famous as well as many other of the usual plains game species along with elephants, giraffe and Cape buffalo. Our guides will do their utmost to ensure you an experience of a lifetime.
Our daily schedule, which we adjust and fine-tune according to the likes and needs of safari participants, usually involves a pre-dawn wake-up call followed by tea, coffee and a light breakfast in the Mess before we head-out in search of the day’s offerings. Each vehicle is equipped with a ‘tea & coffee basket’ along with freshly baked cookies, cinnamon buns or even egg & bacon jaffles (closed toasted sandwiches) for a mid-morning stop out in the wilds. We return to camp around 11.00am for a slap-up brunch, after which most safari-goers enjoy a well-earned shower and siesta. Afternoon tea is served around 3.30-4pm followed by the afternoon drive. Sundowners are often enjoyed in the field, (if we have the time with all the wildlife viewing!) after which we return to camp for pre-dinner drinks at the fireside followed by a three-course dinner. Some days we may modify this schedule and take a picnic lunch with us, staying out all day as we explore furtherafield. The animals and the wilderness dictate our schedule – we place more emphasis on the wildlife experience than we do on camp timetables, and our chefs and camp staff are totally adaptable to our ways!
Your eventful and full days will be spent exploring this, the northernmost limits of the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, seeking the area’s abundant wildlife – which at this time of the year should include the big cats for which the Mara is rightly famous as well as many other of the usual plains game species along with elephants, giraffe and Cape buffalo. Our guides will do their utmost to ensure you an experience of a lifetime.
Our daily schedule, which we adjust and fine-tune according to the likes and needs of safari participants, usually involves a pre-dawn wake-up call followed by tea, coffee and a light breakfast in the Mess before we head-out in search of the day’s offerings. Each vehicle is equipped with a ‘tea & coffee basket’ along with freshly baked cookies, cinnamon buns or even egg & bacon jaffles (closed toasted sandwiches) for a mid-morning stop out in the wilds. We return to camp around 11.00am for a slap-up brunch, after which most safari-goers enjoy a well-earned shower and siesta. Afternoon tea is served around 3.30-4pm followed by the afternoon drive. Sundowners are often enjoyed in the field, (if we have the time with all the wildlife viewing!) after which we return to camp for pre-dinner drinks at the fireside followed by a three-course dinner. Some days we may modify this schedule and take a picnic lunch with us, staying out all day as we explore furtherafield. The animals and the wilderness dictate our schedule – we place more emphasis on the wildlife experience than we do on camp timetables, and our chefs and camp staff are totally adaptable to our ways!
Girls just wanna have fun!
The
Maasai Mara is renowned for its predators - lions, leopards and cheetah
are there in abundance - all attracted by the large numbers of
herbivores, and is regarded as one of the best wildlife viewing
destinations in Africa by Daryl & Sharna Balfour, as well as by many
other top wildlife photographers and film makers. The Mara is
specifically featured in the BBC’s acclaimed documentary series Big Cat Diary and Big Cat Live and we are likely to see many of the lions, leopard and cheetah that have become the stars of this TV series.
Birding in the area is also excellent, and first-time visitors to the area are sure to see a number of “lifers”.
Transport will be in comfortable customised Toyota 4x4 safari vehicles equipped with cooler bags with cold drinks and water, with a maximum of four guests to a vehicle (as opposed to the East African safari norm of six –eight, or even nine). Each person will have their own open window as well as a large open roof hatch overhead. Ample large beanbags are provided for the use of photographers in all vehicles, and we assure everyone of opportunities to capture award winning images!
Birding in the area is also excellent, and first-time visitors to the area are sure to see a number of “lifers”.
Transport will be in comfortable customised Toyota 4x4 safari vehicles equipped with cooler bags with cold drinks and water, with a maximum of four guests to a vehicle (as opposed to the East African safari norm of six –eight, or even nine). Each person will have their own open window as well as a large open roof hatch overhead. Ample large beanbags are provided for the use of photographers in all vehicles, and we assure everyone of opportunities to capture award winning images!
Olive (left) her son Bertoli, and her latest cub.
A cheetah strolls past one of our 4x4s
All Big Cats of the Mara safaris begin and end in Nairobi on the safari dates specified below. You should make your own flight or other arrangements to be in Nairobi on the morning of or the day before your safari begins. SAA and Kenya Airways offer daily flights to Nairobi from Johannesburg. Delta Airlines are introducing direct flights from New York sometime soon, while BA, Kenya Airways, Virgin, Swiss, Air France and KLM also offer direct flights from the UK and Europe. We use a private charter flight in a 12-seater Cessna Caravan C208 direct from the domestic Wilson Airport to the Maasai Mara at 14h00 on the day your safari begins, and returning to Wilson Airport at the end of your safari, arriving about 12h00 well in time for outgoing international connections.
Most international flights to Nairobi arrive in the early morning, allowing guests to transfer from the international JKIA airport to Wilson Airport on the same day. For those flights arriving the evening before we can offer suggestions of places to stay in the city, either in hotels or private guest houses or B&Bs. Should you require hotel accommodation and transfers in Nairobi either before or after your safari, we will be happy to make these on your behalf.
The cost of the safari excludes airfares to Nairobi, allowing you to make your own personal flight arrangements, utilise frequent flyer air miles, arrive from other destinations, etc.
Dates for the 2012 safaris are: March 3-10 (LIMITED SPACE NOW AVAILABLE!)
The cost of the safari includes a private charter flight by 12-seater Cessna Caravan from Nairobi on the start day of your safari, to the Maasai Mara, full board in camp, all drinks including beer, fine South African wine, spirits and soft drinks, all Park fees, services of the camp staff (including complimentary daily laundry), and the assistance & guiding of world-renowned wildlife photographers and photo-journalists Daryl & Sharna Balfour. Our other guides, Pierre Burton and Phil West, are among the leading naturalist-guides of East Africa and are indeed involved in the training of other up-and-coming guides in Kenya.
The fully inclusive cost of the seven night safari is US$6290 per person sharing. A single supplement of $1950 may be payable for single tent occupancy. Please note that due to currency fluctuations and other possible increases and surcharges beyond our control the tour price remains subject to change. A $2500 non-refundable deposit will be payable to confirm a booking. Full payment is required 100 days prior to commencement of the safari. The price does not include the airfare from your home to Nairobi, visas, airport departure taxes, curio purchases, gratuities for guides and camp staff or other personal expenses.
Daryl & Sharna Balfour have been among Africa’s leading wildlife photographers and authors for the past 24 years. They have published more than a dozen best-selling coffee-table books including: Simply Safari; African Elephants – A Celebration of Majesty; Chobe – Africa’s Untamed Wilderness; This is Botswana; ETOSHA; and Rhino – The Story of the Rhinoceros. Their work is represented worldwide by several of the world’s leading image libraries, and they have been published in magazines such as National Geographic, Audubon, BBC Wildlife, Africa Geographic, GEO, Stern! and numerous others.
Most international flights to Nairobi arrive in the early morning, allowing guests to transfer from the international JKIA airport to Wilson Airport on the same day. For those flights arriving the evening before we can offer suggestions of places to stay in the city, either in hotels or private guest houses or B&Bs. Should you require hotel accommodation and transfers in Nairobi either before or after your safari, we will be happy to make these on your behalf.
The cost of the safari excludes airfares to Nairobi, allowing you to make your own personal flight arrangements, utilise frequent flyer air miles, arrive from other destinations, etc.
Dates for the 2012 safaris are: March 3-10 (LIMITED SPACE NOW AVAILABLE!)
The cost of the safari includes a private charter flight by 12-seater Cessna Caravan from Nairobi on the start day of your safari, to the Maasai Mara, full board in camp, all drinks including beer, fine South African wine, spirits and soft drinks, all Park fees, services of the camp staff (including complimentary daily laundry), and the assistance & guiding of world-renowned wildlife photographers and photo-journalists Daryl & Sharna Balfour. Our other guides, Pierre Burton and Phil West, are among the leading naturalist-guides of East Africa and are indeed involved in the training of other up-and-coming guides in Kenya.
The fully inclusive cost of the seven night safari is US$6290 per person sharing. A single supplement of $1950 may be payable for single tent occupancy. Please note that due to currency fluctuations and other possible increases and surcharges beyond our control the tour price remains subject to change. A $2500 non-refundable deposit will be payable to confirm a booking. Full payment is required 100 days prior to commencement of the safari. The price does not include the airfare from your home to Nairobi, visas, airport departure taxes, curio purchases, gratuities for guides and camp staff or other personal expenses.
Daryl & Sharna Balfour have been among Africa’s leading wildlife photographers and authors for the past 24 years. They have published more than a dozen best-selling coffee-table books including: Simply Safari; African Elephants – A Celebration of Majesty; Chobe – Africa’s Untamed Wilderness; This is Botswana; ETOSHA; and Rhino – The Story of the Rhinoceros. Their work is represented worldwide by several of the world’s leading image libraries, and they have been published in magazines such as National Geographic, Audubon, BBC Wildlife, Africa Geographic, GEO, Stern! and numerous others.
The Mara remains one of the very best places in Africa to photograph hunting cheetahs.
