By Jenny Carless (2005)
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Another place to enjoy East Africa's charismatic wildlife without
a herd of vans all around you is Kicheche Camp – a luxury
bush camp just outside the borders of the famous Masai Mara Reserve.
Away from other lodges and camps, it's tucked in unobtrusively
among olive trees on the Aitong Plains in the northern Koiyaki
Lemek region of the Mara.
Because Kicheche is unfenced, it’s not uncommon for wildlife
to wander through the camp at night. On the second night of my
most recent stay, I woke once, groggily, to hear a lion groaning
nearby. Later the same night, the rumbling sound of an elephant
told me the small herd that had visited us earlier around the
campfire had returned. The next morning, dung on the pathway next
to my tent assured me I hadn’t been dreaming.
Like Elsa’s Kopje, Kicheche offers personalized safaris
with friendly, knowledgeable drivers/guides, all members of the
Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association. The camp managers
Andy & Sonja Webb, provide everything from delicious meals
to specialized bird-watching walks.
A maximum of 22 guests (there are just 11 tents) gather around
the campfire each evening before dinner at communal tables with
the hosts and the guides.
Daily game drives from Kicheche might visit the nearby Kilorti
Plain, go farther afield to the Musiara Marsh or extend to a full
days game drive to the Mara River—where, in the fall, it’s
possible to witness the drama of thousands of wildebeest and zebra
crossing the river as part of their annual Serengeti – Mara
migration.
The camp also organizes guided walks, overnight 'fly-camps'
and birding expeditions. (Andy Webb is sought out for his East
African birding expertise).
One chilly morning on my first visit to Kicheche, we headed
out from camp in the gray light of dawn. Julius our knowledgeable
and ever-enthusiastic Samburu guide, wanted to show us a young
mother cheetah and her cubs who frequented the plains not far
from Kicheche. So far on the trip we’d had good ‘big
cat luck’, chancing upon two leopards – they're normally
elusive – plus a maned lion and a family with four very
young lion cubs. And we’d witnessed a cheetah stalking and
taking down a gazelle. On this morning our luck held out, and
before we reached our planned destination Julius spotted the mother.
He parked the Land Cruiser a considerable distance away so as
not to disturb her or the cubs, who we knew must be nearby. Soon,
we discerned through our binoculars three fuzzy, four-legged youngsters.
While the characteristic black cheetah spots aren’t quite
so obvious under a layer of fluffy fur, cubs do have the pronounced
black ‘tear drop’, just like their parents. For the
next hour we sat entranced as the three romped around an jumped
all over their long suffering mother, eventually coming within
about 15 feet of the vehicle. |
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