Kichwa Tembo Tented Safari Camp

Kichwa Tembo

This tented camp was run like a military operation. Your Driver was intent on the £5 tip if he found you the Big Five, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Buffalo and Rhino. People got you up and you stumbled to the vehicles to go on the early morning game drive. This was the best time to see animals and birds, trying to get their breakfast, it was a buggery bollix pity I hadn't had mine. One thing you have to remember about the Mara is that although you are on the Equator, it is bloody cold in the mornings. In an opensided vehicle open to the winds, dressed in piddly thin tropical clothes, you damn near freeze to death in the fresh breeze. Fortunately, the Kichwo Tembo people had blankets on board. There were welcome cups of hot tea upon return to the Camp.

The Camp was the Rolls Royce of service. Although in a tent, with a bonfire driven hot water system, the water was in an old oil drum with a small pump to transport it to your Masaai shower, the hot water bottles in the beds was an amazing comfort. The Masaai warriors were there to chase the wild animals away despite the fact that the warthog crept underneath the electrified wire.

I loved the small birds and pygmy mongoose vistitors to the camp in the morning. The trick was NOT to let the monkeys know you had food in the tent or else they would wreck it!

I'll try to find pics for you.

Unique Quality: SO close to the animals. Hearing the lions roaring in the night was amazing. The giggling of the hyenas and the zebras sounding late at night, you could only imagine the dramas going on in the Mara as you tried to sleep in your amazingly comfortable tent beds.

I loved the paraffin lamps and the mosquito killer incense sticks. It made me imagine that I could actually live in the wild and get back to my origins in Africa, except for the sad fact that I am pale skinned, red haired and would burn to a crisp. Kudos my brothers and sisters in Africa.