The steaming chai wards off the early morning chill and the lazy sparkling constellations fade into their daily hibernation. The smug rumble of a nearby lion drowns out the bickering hyenas and keening jackals and the eastern horizon blushes with the first glimmer of the false dawn.
The Mara has color unlike anywhere else in the world and it has it for much longer. Too often African parks and reserves feed on scraps of good light, the Mara gorges itself, a classy narcotic for any photographer or true wilderness junky.
There is no such thing as a dull sky here, whether it be billowing cumulus or towering, brooding thunderheads, but they are book-ended by the most consistently sumptuous and vivid sunrises and sets.
Conservancies have the best predator sightings in the world and they have them without the crowds. They also have off-road driving unlike almost anywhere else in Africa and they are gilded almost every morning and evening by these remarkable skies.
Flights leave daily for Nairobi from London, Joburg and in October, New York.
